Page Three

Indonesia 5th largest source of foreign students in Taiwan: MOE

Taiwan News  
Date: 2018/11/01
By:  Central News Agency
Indonesia has become the fifth largest source of international students in Taiwan, with the number more than doubling over the past 10 years, Taiwan’s Ministry of Education (MOE) said Thursday.

There are currently 4,931 Indonesians studying in Taiwan, which is 2.5 times the number in 2008, said Bi Cheu-an (畢祖安), director-general of the MOE’s Department of International and Cross-strait Education.

In recent years, Taiwan has strengthened higher education exchanges with Indonesia, one of its key partners under its New Southbound Policy, as evidenced by some 800 cooperation agreements signed by universities on both sides, Bi said at the Taiwan-Indonesia Higher Education Forum in Taipei.

Meanwhile, Indonesia is planning to send more students to Taiwan to study subjects that meet their country’s development needs, according to Paulina Pannen, a senior advisor on academics at the Indonesian Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education.
[FULL  STORY]

No explanation over prison transfer: wife of jailed Taiwanese activist

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/11/01
By: Miao Zong-han and Ko Lin

Taipei, Nov. 1 (CNA) The wife of Taiwanese democracy activist Lee Ming-che (李明哲)

Lee Ching-yu (李凈瑜/CNA file photo)

said Thursday she has yet to be told the reason her husband was transferred back to Hunan Province, China after being moved to a prison in Hebei last month.

Lee Ching-yu (李凈瑜) told CNA that she was informed by Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) late Wednesday that Lee had been returned to Chishan Prison in Hunan, though no explanation was given.

Lee, a Taiwanese democracy advocate, has been detained in China since March 2017 and was sentenced to five years in prison after being convicted of “subversion of state power” in November last year.

During this time, he was imprisoned at Chishan prison, but on Oct. 19 a Taiwanese business association in Hunan said it was notified by the Chinese government that Lee had been transferred to Yancheng Prison in Hebei Province.    [FULL  STORY]

Proposed criminal bill to protect rights, stop flight

CLOSING GAPS: Proposals to reduce the likelihood of suspects running followed outrage over the vanishing of people released in several high-profile cases on bail

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 02, 2018
By: Hsieh Chun-lin and Jonathan Chin  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer

The Legislative Yuan Organic Laws and Statutes Committee yesterday passed draft amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure (刑事訴訟法) that would change the rights of those suspected of a crime, indicted or appealing a sentence through a preliminary review

The proposed amendments would limit police discretion in the use of restraining devices during a suspect’s detainment, arrest or transport; push the deadline for filing an appeal from 10 to 20 days; and substitute the more commonly used word “judge” (法官, faguan) for the archaic “magistrate” (推事, tuishi).

Judicial Yuan Secretary-General Lu Tai-lang (呂太郎) said the term tuishi is not used in the Constitution and all references to it should be struck from the law.

As prosecutors’ offices no longer identify themselves as belonging to a district court and the Special Investigation Division has been abolished, references to those organizations should be changed accordingly, he said.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwanese filmmakers’ works among top 100 foreign films

Radio Taiwan International 
Date: 2018-10-31

Four movies made by three Taiwanese filmmakers have been ranked among the 100

Taiwanese filmmaker Hou Hsiao-hsien

greatest foreign-language films. That’s according to BBC Culture’s list, which was released on Tuesday.

They include Hou Hsiao-hsien’s “A City of Sadness” and Edward Yang’s “Yi Yi.” Two other films directed by internationally-renowned director Ang Lee also made it onto the list. They are: “Eat Drink Man Woman” and “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.”

In order to come up with the list,  BBC Culture invited 209 critics from 43 countries to vote online for their favorite movies in a language other than English.   [FULL  STORY]

Driver of fatal Taiwan train crash apologises to relatives

Channel News Asia
Date: 31 Oct 2018

Yu (C) wept uncontrollably as he knelt and apologised at the memorial (Photo: AFP/Central News Agency)

TAIPEI: The driver of a train that derailed and killed 18 people this month apologised to victims’ families at an emotional memorial service in southern Taiwan on Wednesday (Oct 31) after being accused of “professional negligence” by a court.

It was the first time driver Yu Cheng-chung had spoken in public since the Puyuma Express derailed on Oct 21. He wept uncontrollably as he knelt and apologised at the memorial in Taitung county, home to 15 of the dead.

“I’m sorry, this will be forever a pain in my heart,” he said in footage aired on local television.

The crash on the popular east coast line also injured over 200 people and left the carriages lying zig-zagged across the tracks in the island’s deadliest rail accident for a quarter century.    [FULL  STORY]

National Danish Performance Team to grace Miaoli with performances on Nov. 16

Admission tickets will be free for the asking and become available from Nov. 3

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/10/31
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

(photo taken from the NDPT’s Facebook https://www.facebook.com/NDPT.DK/)

TAIPEI (Taiwan News)–The National Danish Performance Team (NDPT) will be performing at Miaoli Arena from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Nov. 16, and admission tickets will be free for the asking and become available from Nov. 3, according to a news release posted by Miaoli County Government on its website on Wednesday.

“This world-renowned team of 28 athletes combines display gymnastics, advanced tumbling and vaulting with dance, acrobatics and theater,” according to the introduction to the team on its Facebook.

“The athletes engage, inspire and motivate to a healthy and active lifestyle. A visit of the NDPT is a cultural and personal experience for everyone involved,” a statement on Facebook said.

The team, which is embarking on a world tour, is currently visiting Korea. They will visit Taiwan from Nov. 11 to Dec. 3, performing in Taoyuan, Miaoli, New Taipei, and Taipei, according to the Miaoli County Government.     [FULL  STORY]

ASF virus found in Chinese meat product: COA

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/10/31
By: Wu Hsin-yun and Flor Wang 

Taipei, Oct. 31 (CNA) Amid government efforts to keep African Swine Fever (ASF) at bay, the Council of Agriculture (COA) announced Wednesday that a Chinese meat product brought by passengers into Taiwan has been detected to contain the deadly virus.

“The Animal Health Research Institute discovered the ASF virus today in a meat product brought by passengers from China to Kinmen,” COA Deputy Minister Huang Chin-cheng (黃金城) told a news conference.

The tainted product, Chinese crispy sausage, was sent to the institute for examination after being collected by institute officers Oct. 25 from a garbage container at Shuitou Port in offshore Kinmen County, apparently having been discarded by passengers coming from China’s Fujian Province via the ferry services between the two destinations, Huang explained.

According to Huang, the sausage was made by Shuanghai — the largest processed food maker in China. Shuanghui’s meat products have been repeatedly found to contain the ASF virus since the outbreak of the disease in China first surfaced Aug. 3, he noted.
[FULL  STORY]

2018 ELECTIONS: Committee to monitor Ko campaign spending

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 01, 2018
By: Lee I-chia  /  Staff reporter

Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) election campaign office yesterday announced members

Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je, left, laughs yesterday as his mayoral election campaign manager Lee Yuan, who writes under the pen name Hsiao Yeh, talks to reporters at his campaign office in Taipei.  Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times

of its financial supervisory committee and its campaign expenditures so far as Ko urged other mayoral candidates to follow suit.

Ko asked for a two-hour leave from Taipei City Council to attend a news conference at the office, saying that his campaign expenditures for the 2014 election were publicized by then-campaign office director and political commentator Yao Li-ming (姚立明).

As Yao in March questioned his previous campaign spending, Ko said he decided to hold an open audition and establish a financial supervisory committee to monitor his spending this year.

Office spokesman Lin Hsiao-chi (林筱淇) said four of the total seven committee members were recruited through interviews and three were appointed by Ko, adding that the committee aims to make the expenditures more transparent.    [FULL  STORY]

Turkish entertainer Karlova aka Ufong becomes sensation in Taiwan

Hurriyet Daily News
Date: October 30 2018 

Credit: Kardelen Koldaş

Turkey first heard about Uğur Rıfat Karlova, a Turkish entertainer living in Taiwan, when he won the “Best Host” award in 2012 at Taiwan’s Golden Bell Awards, which is the Taiwanese equivalent to the Emmy Awards. He was the first foreigner to receive an award in that category.

Uğur Rıfat Karlova, 38, is a Turkish entertainer living in Taiwan. He is well-recognized among the Taiwanese by the name “Ufong.” But Turkey first heard about him when he won the “Best Host” award in 2012 at Taiwan’s Golden Bell Awards, which is the Taiwanese equivalent to the Emmy Awards.

Karlova was the first foreigner to receive an award in that category. He was in the spotlight once again when Tom Cruise signed Karlova’s head after an interview for MTV Taiwan. Since then, Karlova has had many other groundbreaking achievements. He became the first foreigner to receive Taiwanese citizenship for his contributions in arts and culture. However, his recent success has gone unnoticed. Eight months ago, Karlova published a Chinese book in which he gives the reader a tour of Turkey. With Karlova, we talked about his journey to fame, his new book and future plans.

After receiving a university degree in tourism, Karlova went back to Tekirdağ and started working at his father’s oil shop. In the winter of 2001, he began to ask himself, “what can I do to change my life?” He found the answer in learning a new language, but his next question was, which language?    [FULL  STORY]

Pentagon official urges Taiwan to boost defence spending in face of possible attack by mainland

David Helvey says the self-ruled island ‘must have resources to modernise its military’
Accuses Beijing of attempting to ‘erode Taiwan’s diplomatic space’ at defence industry conference

South China Morning Post 
Date:  31 October, 2018
By: Zhenhua Lu, US correspondent

David Helvey, US principal deputy assistant secretary of defence for Asian and Pacific security affairs, told a conference in Annapolis, Maryland on Monday that the self-ruled island “must have resources to modernise its military and provide the critical materiel, manning and training needed to deter, or if necessary defeat, a cross-strait invasion”.

Helvey said “Taiwan’s current efforts will falter” unless its defence budgets keep growing, according to a transcript of his remarks released by the US-Taiwan Defence Industry Conference on Tuesday.

The official also accused China of attempting to “erode Taiwan’s diplomatic space in the international arena while increasing the frequency and scale of [People’s Liberation Army] activity within and beyond the First Island Chain”.    [FULL  STORY]