Page Three

Kaohsiung police to increase patrols after bloody fights

Taipei Times
Date: Mar 06, 2019
By: Jason Pan  /  Staff reporter

Kaohsiung residents yesterday called on the city government to beef up security after police officers were called out several times to investigate disputes that ended in bloody attacks, including a street brawl.

Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) urged residents not to let themselves become angry, and ordered police to increase patrols.

“I ask again for Kaohsiung residents and all friends, please do not turn to violence. It is important to have harmony in our city and to show people that we are a ‘sunny’ city,” Han said. “Many tourists are coming to Kaohsiung, so our residents must by all means eliminate violence and brutality.”

An argument between a carpentry instructor and an apprentice at a KTV parlor in Sinsing District (新興) allegedly escalated into a fist fight before the instructor grabbed a cleaver from the kitchen and sliced the other man.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei, New Taipei City and Keelung to promote street artists and cultural activities

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

Licensed street artists will be able to perform in Taipei and New Taipei City (Picture from Taipei’s Dept of Culture)

Taipei, New Taipei City and Keelung are working together to promote street artist performances and other cultural activities in their cities. The three cities are neighbors in northern Taiwan.

Director General of Taipei’s Department of Cultural Affairs Tsai Tsung-Hsiung said they want to their cities to offer many tasteful and diverse cultural activities.  As many people live and work between the three cities, he said the three cities will work together to promote city services and artistic programs.

The cities are working on 6 areas of cooperation. This includes enabling artists to perform in Taipei and New Taipei City once they receive their license and providing a one-stop window to help those who want to film in their cities. They will also work together to promote their children’s art festivals, artists-in-residence program exchanges and cultural publications.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan protests exclusion from WHO flu vaccine meeting in Beijing

MOFA has filed a protest with the WHO secretariat in Geneva

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/03/04
By:  Central News Agency

Flu vaccine (Image by Science360)

TAIPEI (CNA) — Taiwan was unable to attend a recent World Health Organization (WHO) meeting on flu vaccines because of political interference from China, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said Sunday, expressing dissatisfaction with the invitation process.

The ministry said Taiwan received a letter of invitation to the WHO consultation meeting on the Composition of Influenza Virus Vaccines at 1 a.m. on Feb. 21, the same day it was due to be held in Beijing.

Because the invitation arrived so late, the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) could not send any representatives to Beijing for the meeting, MOFA said.

Through its representative office in Geneva, Taiwan has filed a protest with the WHO secretariat, MOFA said.    [FULL  STORY]

Marshall Islands will always support Taiwan: parliamentary speaker

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/03/04
By: Wen Kuei-hsiang, Fan Cheng-hsiang and Ko Lin

Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全, center) and Kenneth A. Kedi (second left)/Photo courtesy of the Legislative Yuan

Taipei, March 4 (CNA) The Marshall Islands will always show support for Taiwan based on the two countries’ shared values of freedom and democracy, the country’s parliamentary speaker Kenneth A. Kedi said Monday.

Kedi, who arrived on a four-day visit Monday morning, told Taiwan’s Legislative Speaker Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) at a meeting later in Taipei that his country’s parliament recently passed a resolution expressing the Pacific island nation’s support for Taiwan.

The resolution praises Taiwan’s democratic achievements and affirms that Taiwan is a worthy partner for peace and prosperity in the region, Kedi said.

The Marshall Islands was especially intent on passing the resolution at a time when China continues to heighten its hostility toward Taiwan and its allies because of its desire for peace and stability in the region, according to the parliamentary speaker.    [FULL  STORY]

Pre-pregnancy exam subsidies expanded

TAIPEI RESIDENTS: The city health department said that only one of a married couple had to be a Taipei resident to qualify for the maximum subsidy of NT$2,250

Taipei Times
Date: Mar 05, 2019
By: Lee I-chia  /  Staff reporter

Subsidies for pre-pregnancy health examinations this month would be expanded to married couples of whom only one is a Taipei resident, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday.

There were 15,193 marriages registered in Taipei last year, 964 fewer than the year before, Health Promotion Division Director Lin Meng-hui (林夢蕙) said, citing Ministry of the Interior data.

Among Taipei residents, the average age for a first marriage was 31.5 for women and 33.7 for men, while the average age for the first birth was 32.72, the oldest nationwide, Lin said.

To encourage births, the department has expanded pre-pregnancy health exam subsidies to include married couples who do not have children and with at least one Taipei resident, she said, adding that the maximum subsidy was NT$2,250, which involves NT$1,595 for eight items to be screened for women and NT$655 for five for men.   [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan’s national highway bus fares go up March 4

The price for a ticket from Taipei to Yilan City will go up from NT$128 (about US$4.2) to NT$131

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/03/03
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

(By Central News Agency)

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taking a bus to travel on Taiwan’s national highways will become costlier, beginning on Monday (Mar. 4) when Ubus (統聯客運) hikes its ticket prices by 3%, which amounts to an increase of NT$5 to NT$40 per ticket, Central News Agency (CNA) reported on Sunday.

Two other operators of national highway bus transportation, Kuo-Kuang Motor Transportation (國光客運) and Capital Bus (首都客運), will also raise their ticket prices, on Mar. 7 and Mar. 10, respectively, CNA reported.

Ubus said that costs of a total of 18 items for the bus industry have increased, and therefore the company has no choice but to raise bus fares for some of its national highway routes, causing ticket prices to go up from NT$5 to NT$40 per ticket, depending on the distance of the destination.

Wu Chung-hsi (吳忠錫), general manager of the Kuo-Kuang Motor Transportation, said that starting on Mar. 7, the bus company will have a fare hike of about 3%, causing the fare for a bus trip between Taipei and Kaohisung to be about NT$20 more expensive, the news outlet reported.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan’s move to legalize gay marriage a global victory: Canadian envoy

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/03/03
By: Joseph Yeh

Michael McCulloch, Director of General Relations at the Canadian Trade Office in Taipei (CTOT)

Taipei, March 3 (CNA) Taiwan’s decision to soon legalize same-sex marriage is a win for the people of the world, a Canadian diplomat and advocate of LGBTI rights told CNA earlier this week.

Michael McCulloch, Director of General Relations at the Canadian Trade Office in Taipei (CTOT), the de facto Canadian embassy in Taiwan, said Taiwan’s decision made him feel “very hopeful as a person.”

Michael McCulloch, Director of General Relations at the Canadian Trade Office in Taipei (CTOT)

“The reason why it does, is human rights is not guaranteed anywhere in the world,” he said when asked to comment on the Cabinet’s decision last month to draft a special bill to legalize same-sex marriage, which is now before the Legislature and expected to be enacted by May 24.

“It’s like a win for the people of the world,” said McCulloch, one of Canada’s staunchest advocates of LGBTI rights and a former professor of international human rights law.    [FULL  STORY]

Coast guard stops mushroom cargo

Taipei Times
Date: Mar 04, 2019
By: Staff writer, with CNA

Two shipments of mushrooms, believed to be from China, were last week seized in Kinmen County, the

Coast guard officers inspect a box of mushrooms seized in a shipment believed to be from China, at Liaoluo Harbor in Kinmen County last week.  Photo courtesy of the Coast Guard Administration

Coast Guard Administration said yesterday.

The mushrooms, found in 60 boxes at Liaoluo Harbor (料羅碼頭) on Friday and Saturday, weighed 760kg in total, the coast guard said.

Samples have been taken for testing and if it is confirmed that the mushrooms were smuggled from China, charges will be brought against the importers, the Kinmen Coastal Patrol Unit said.
[FULL  STORY]

Taiwan turns to Japan for help in ‘defending shared values’

Washington Examiner
Date: March 02, 2019
By: Joel Gehrke

China has Taiwan in its crosshairs, the island’s president warned Saturday while appealing to Japan for diplomatic support.

“I’m determined to work with like-minded partners such as #Japan in defending shared values,” Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen tweeted Saturday morning. “We’re facing an onslaught of #Disinformation & #FakeNews aimed at undermining democracy. Today, Taiwan is in the crosshairs. Tomorrow, it will be another country.”

Tsai sent that message to elaborate on her recent interview with a Japanese media outlet, a conversation that provided a forum for her public appeal to Japan to help Taiwan join the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade bloc. That would be a controversial request for Japan to support, given China’s claim to sovereignty over Taiwan and hostility to any countries that establish formal diplomatic relations with the island government in Taipei.    [FULL  STORY]

AIT to mark 40 years of Taiwan Relations Act with April 15 reception

List of important guests from US has not been announced yet

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/03/02
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

AIT to host a reception for the 40th anniversary of the Taiwan Relations Act on April 15. (By Central News Agency)

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) will mark the 40thanniversary of the Taiwan Relations Act with a reception at its Taipei offices on April 15, but a list of the prominent guests has not been announced yet.

United States officials and members of Congress would be present at the new buildings in the capital’s Neihu District, but no further details were currently available, the Central News Agency revealed Saturday.

After President Jimmy Carter switched recognition to Beijing, Congress passed the Taiwan Relations Act, which he signed on April 10, 1979. The measure, laying a new foundation for further relations in the absence of official diplomatic ties, was retroactive until January 1, 1979.

AIT, which itself was a product of that act, explained that it was holding the reception on April 15 as a recess in Congressional activities would have started by then, allowing more prominent U.S. politicians to head for Taiwan.    [FULL  STORY]