Radio Taiwan International 
Date: 05 April, 2019
By: Paula Chao

President Tsai Ing-wen says her government’s agricultural policy is taking care of Taiwan’s farmers.

In a Facebook post Friday, the president said the agricultural council has begun offering higher subsidies to farmers who purchase agricultural machinery. The total amount farmers can receive has risen from NT$400 million (US$13.3 million) to NT$800 million (US$26.6 million). Tsai also said that agricultural exports have hit a 20-year high, and that the government will work hard to increase exports and food processing to boost revenues.

To protect farmers’ income, Tsai said the government has also pushed for a registry system that guarantees incomes while lowering production risks.    [FULL  STORY]

Animal might face rejection by other Taiwanese macaques

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/04/05
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – After visitors to a park in Dongshan reported they had seen a

monkey covered in red paint, the Yilan County authorities said they would try and catch it to wash off the potentially toxic dye.

A group of friends were on their way to a mountain hike Thursday morning when they spotted about 20 Taiwanese macaques at the Renshan Botanical Garden, the Central News Agency reported.

One of the monkeys looked completely red, making the passersby think at first that it was a different species of animal.

Officials at the county department for agricultural affairs said that if a monkey had been attacked by humans, it would have run away and any paint would have left uneven marks over its body. However, in this case, the macaque looked red from top to bottom, raising the suspicion that somebody had first caught the animal and then sprayed it with paint, according to CNA.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/04/05
By: Kuay Chau-churh and Emerson Lim

Taipei, April 5 (CNA) A book titled “Anthology of Short Stories: Malaysia-Taiwan Vol. 2” was launched Friday in Kuala Lumpur, signifying a new milestone for cultural exchanges between Taiwan and Malaysia.

The book is a collection of eight short stories from both sides, including “The Boat Sacrifice” by Dong Nian (東年), “Fish” by Huang Chun-ming (黃春明), “The Flying Fish Festival” by Syaman Rapongan (夏曼．藍波安) and “The Daughter Well” by Chen Shu-yao (陳淑瑤).

The project was completed under the supervision of Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture and co-published by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Malaysia, the Malaysia Institute of Language and Literature (DBP), and the Han Culture Centre Malaysia (HAN).

Launched amid the designation of Kuala Lumpur as World Book Capital for the year 2020 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the book is also the first non-textbook Chinese publication published by the DBP over the past 62 years since it was founded.    [FULL  STORY]

HEAVEN SENT: A handful of paper model makers are taking the art to a new level with their intricate carvings of luxurious items such as mansions and a film studio

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 06, 2019
By: AFP, TAIPEI

From a modern summer villa with an outdoor pool to a fully equipped film studio or a

casino, paper model makers in Taiwan are ensuring the dead enjoy an eternity of luxury.

Across the globe for ethnic Chinese, burning paper offerings has long been seen as a way to send ancestors gifts that they can use in the afterlife.

In recent years, traditional paper incarnations of money and gold bars have given way to the more modern — paper iPads and mobile phones, washing machines, cars, televisions and credit cards.

However, a handful of paper model makers in Taiwan are taking the art to a new level and crafting offerings that bestow on the dead the kind of trappings only experienced by the truly rich and famous in the land of the living.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International 
Date: 04 April, 2019
By: Natalie Tso

The WTO just announced record high global trade figures for 2018. Exports worldwide were worth US$19.5 trillion, a 9.8% increase from 2017.

2018 was a record-breaking year for Taiwan’s exports as well. Taiwanese exports last year were worth US$ 335 billion. Taiwan was the 18th biggest exporter in the world last year, accounting for 1.7% of the world’s total exports.

China was the largest exporter in the world last year, accounting for 12.8% of global total. Following China were the US, Germany, and Japan.

2018 was also a year of record imports. The top five importers last year were the US, China, Germany, Japan, and the UK.    [FULL  STORY]

Lai promised continued investment in education

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/04/04
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – On the occasion of Children’s Day Thursday, former Premier William Lai (賴清德) published a picture from his childhood on his Facebook page.

Because he was so poor growing up in Wanli on Taiwan’s north coast, he said he was more than ever convinced of the importance of education.

In the black-and-white picture, Lai is shown barefoot in a tree smiling at the camera.

As premier, he always valued educational policies and legislated for the expansion of public schools, an increase in funding for children up to the age of four, and tax cuts for parents, Lai said on Facebook.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/04/04
By: Chen Chi-chung and William Yen

Taipei, April 4 (CNA) Just over 75 percent of children in Taiwan are satisfied with their lives, but the percentage is below the global average, according to the results of a survey released by a non-profit child welfare organization on Thursday, International Children’s Day.

In the Child Welfare League Foundation (CWLF) survey, 75.8 percent of Taiwan’s children in the age category of roughly 11-14 rated their subjective life satisfaction higher than 60 on a scale of 0-100.

The world average, however, is 87.5 percent, as was found in a survey of students in a similar age range that was conducted by the World Health Organization in 2016.

According to the CWLF poll, 13.9 percent of children in Taiwan are very lonely, 10.3 percent think they lack companionship from their parents, and 37.6 can sit down for a meal with their parents no more than four days per week.    [FULL  STORY]

HEFTY HAUL: The security guard allegedly distracted his partner so he could take bills while replenishing ATMs in convenience stores around Taichung, investigators said

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 05, 2019
By: Jason Pan  /  Staff reporter

Taichung police have detained an armored truck security guard for allegedly stealing

about NT$13 million (US$421,845) from ATMs that he was replenishing.

The suspect, surnamed Yao (姚), 41, had been working for a security firm in Taichung for more than six years, investigators said, adding that he was usually paired with another guard to escort armored trucks on cash delivery runs.

When Yao was detained in Nantou County’s Caotun Township (草屯) on Thursday last week, NT$8 million in cash was found in his backpack, police said.

“We formed a task force to tackle this case after receiving calls from a security firm, which reported that one of its employees had stolen millions of New Taiwan dollars during armored truck delivery runs,” said Lin Hung-lin (林宏霖), deputy squad leader of an investigation unit at the Taichung Police Department’s Fourth Precinct.    [FULL  STORY]