OBJECTIONS: The union said the airline’s demand that it sign an agreement that contains vaguely worded terms and conditions may be used against its members

Taipei Times
Date:  Jul 05, 2019
By: Ann Maxon  /  Staff reporter

The Taoyuan Flight Attendants’ Union yesterday said it was unable to reach an agreement with EVA

Airways due to differences in opinion over how to handle future conflicts.

The company asked the union to sign an agreement pledging to pay a fine if it defames the company, its management or shareholders by making false accusations, the union said in a statement.

Also included in the agreement is a clause pledging that it would not bully, exclude or discriminate against employees through words or actions, it said.

The terms of the proposed agreement are vague and could be used to retaliate against members in the future, it said.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 03 July, 2019
By: Shirley Lin

The Taiwan Railways Administration on Wednesday launched an upgraded version of its Hello Kitty-themed train, first launched in 2008.

The train’s six cars were repainted with six different Hello Kitty images. The themes include popular Taiwanese tourist attractions, local foods, and native animals. The train is now also painted on the inside and decorated with an assortment of cartoons. There’s even a car equipped with a karaoke machine. Another car has a bar which provides beverages with free refills.

The train makes one trip around Taiwan every day. Over 55,000 passengers rode the train last year.
[FULL  STORY]

Songshan Cultural and Creative Park is holding an exhibition that looks at the long history of the former state-owned tobacco factory

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/07/03
By: Lyla Liu, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News)— Songshan Cultural and Creative Park has launched an exhibition to celebrate the history of the former tobacco factory, which will run until August 18.

The exhibition, “Songshan 80” (松菸八十), celebrates the 80th anniversary of the historic site. It will be hosted by Yi Yi Space (藝異空間) until August 18.

The exhibition showcases architectural drawings from the 1980s, and the film, “Conscience and Guilt,” which was shot 60 years ago at the factory. In addition, there are hundreds of old photos of the factory, and tobacco brand logos such as New Paradise, Longlife, Gentleman Cigar, and many more.

Director of Songshan Cultural and Creative Park, Chen Yu-Show (陳玉秀), said the exhibition has been planned for two years. The organizers connected with old factory workers to learn as much as they could about the history of the site.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/07/03
By: Flor Wang and Chen Wei-ting

Taipei, July 3 (CNA) The Taiwan Nurses Association (TNA) shed light Wednesday on bullying of Taiwan by China at the just-concluded 2019 congress of the International Council of Nurses (ICN) held in Singapore.

"The rude and unexpected move by China's representative caught everyone by surprise at the venue, which clearly demonstrated China's malicious and unscrupulous intentions toward Taiwan," the TNA said in a statement on its website.

According to Chen Ching-min (陳靜敏), TNA vice chairwoman and a lawmaker of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, when the ICN chairman was greeting representatives of member states on stage at the closing ceremony of the event Tuesday, Chinese representative Wu Ying (吳瑛) suddenly reached out her "salty pig hand" and flipped over the name tag of Huang Lian-hua (黃璉華), a Taiwanese representative.

Huang's name tag had a Republic of China national flag sticker on it, and the shameful behavior by Wu was obviously meant to cover the flag so that nobody would see it, Chen said, adding that Wu went even further by hiding it with Huang's scarf before Huang turned it back.
[FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 04, 2019
By: The Guardian

Zdenk Hib had been Prague’s mayor for little more than a month when he went face-to-face with the

Czech capital’s complex entanglement with China.

Hosting a meeting with foreign diplomats in the city, Hib was asked by the Chinese ambassador to expel their Taiwanese counterpart from the gathering in deference to Beijing’s “one China” principle.

Given Chinese investments in the Czech Republic — including the acquisition of soccer club Slavia Prague, a major brewery and a stake in a private TV station — the fledgling mayor could have easily agreed.

The Prague City Council had, under his predecessor, signed a twin cit3ies agreement with Beijing that explicitly recognized the “one China” principle.    [FULL  SORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 02 July, 2019
By: Jake Chen

The Fu Jen Catholic University (FJU) Hospital in New Taipei City announced on Monday that it has purchased the first ever Senhance robot-assisted surgery device in Taiwan.

The company behind the device, U.S.-b2ased TransEnterix, claims that the surgical robot is capable of performing minimally invasive procedures on patients, and that it helps add precision and visual control for surgeons.     [FULL  STORY]

Bloomberg
Date: July 1, 2019
By: Christopher Bodeen, Associated Press

Beijing (AP) — Recent anti-government protests in Hong Kong are echoing in Taiwan, possibly giving the island's President Tsai Ing-wen a lift in her campaign to resist Beijing's pressure for political unification and win a second term in next year's elections.

The demonstrations sparked by Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam's now-shelved push for unpopular extradition legislation have turned a glaring spotlight on China's "one country, two systems" framework for ruling the former British colony, the same formula it envisages imposing on self-governing Taiwan.

That proposal has never found much support among Taiwan's independence-minded voters. Events in Hong Kong now seem to be handing Tsai even more ammunition to attack opponents who argued that an accommodation with Beijing could be reached.

"People on the street understand that President Tsai took the anti-extradition law episode as a boost for her campaign," said Andrew Huang, strategic studies professor at Taiwan's Tamkang University.
[FULL  STORY]

Central Park's SummerStage will feature four acts by Taiwanese performers on Aug. 3

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/07/02
By: Lyla Liu, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The annual music festival SummerStage is in full swing at Central Park and will feature the "Taiwanese Waves," which comprises four different musical acts, on August 3 from 6 to 10 p.m.

SummerStage has been one of New York's most popular music events for the past 30 years. This will be the fourth appearance of the Taiwanese Waves, curated by Mia Yan (嚴敏) to showcase the work of Taiwanese musicians, at the festival.

This year also marks the first time that Taiwanese Waves receive the sponsorship of the General Association of Chinese Culture (GACC). GACC Vice-president Antonio Chiang noted that the event reflects the close relationship between Taiwan and the United States 40 years after the signing of the Taiwan Relations Act.

Chiang expressed that at last year's festival, he was deeply moved to see Taiwanese musicians perform on an international stage. This is GACC’s goal: to promote Taiwanese culture, he said.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/07/02
By: Lee Hsin-Yin

Taipei, July 2 (CNA) EVA Airways on Tuesday canceled 550 out of 1,655 flights between July 11-19 due to an ongoing strike by its flight attendants, which is expected to affect 86,900 passengers, the airline said.

While EVA Air will be able to increase its transport capacity from 60 percent to 70 percent during the period as it said more cabin crew have changed their minds and returned to work, it is unlikely that the airline's flight schedule will return to normal by the end of the month.

The announcement followed an impasse in negotiations between the carrier and the Taoyuan Flight Attendants Union (TFAU), which had lasted 11 hours Tuesday but made little progress.

While the company backed down on a decision to punish 27 flight attendants who left their positions before the strike started June 20 before further investigation is carried out, it remained reluctant to withdraw a statement it issued May 8.    [FULL  STORY]