ABS-CBN News
Date: Jun 29 2018

MANILA – The Philippines is one of the top most hated countries among the

Taiwanese, a survey showed.

Taiwan News reported the results of the Taiwan Public Opinion Foundation survey which revealed that the Philippines ranked second (52.9 percent) on the list of countries most hated in Taiwan.

The country came next only to reclusive North Korea, which had a score of 70.9 percent.

Even China, which considers Taiwan a breakaway province and has testy relations with Taipei, is better liked by the Taiwanese, coming in next to the Philippines on the list.

China ranked third at 43.9 percent, followed by South Korea (33.8 percent) and Russia (29.7 percent) respectively.    [FULL  STORY]

Wu Bai and China Blue to hold 25 year anniversary at the Taipei Arena on Saturday

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/06/29
By: Keoni Everington,Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan’s “Godfather of Rock” Wu Bai (伍佰) and his band

China Blue will be having its 25 year anniversary concert at the Taipei Arena tomorrow (June 30).

The concert, called the “2018 South Wind Concert,” was also performed in Taichung on Mar. 24, while the Taipei version will kick off tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. at Taipei Arena. Tickets to tomorrow’s show, which range in price from NT$800 to NT$3,800, have all sold out, according to the kham.com.tw website.

Though many of his songs are in Taiwanese dialect, Wu is one of the biggest rock stars in the Mandarin-speaking world, with a large following in his native Taiwan, as well as China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia. In 1992, Wu debuted his first songs to his credit on the “Dust of Angels Soundtrack,” for which he was nominated for a Golden Horse Award.

In 1993 the soundtrack to “Treasure Island” featured Wu & China Blue, thus this year marks the 25th anniversary of the band’s official existence. In 1999, Wu was the Golden Melody Award Album of the Year for his album “Lonely Tree, Lonely Bird,” and in 2017, he won another Golden Melody Award for Best Album – Taiwanese, for his record “Ding Zi Hua.”    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/06/29
By: Elaine Hou and Flor Wang)

Taipei, June 29 (CNA) A report that Taiwan was considering the idea of leasing

Taiping Island to the United States was “fake news” that could mislead the public, a Taipei-based think tank said Friday.

Spreading such groundless information could affect the public’s understanding of the matter, the Institute for National Defense and Security Research (INDSR) said in a statement, and it urged the media to verify the facts before making such a report.

The INDSR, affiliated to the Ministry of National Defense, was launched in May to study China’s military. Former Defense Minister Feng Shih-kuan (馮世寬) is serving as its first chairman.

According to the statement, Feng while serving as defense minister repeatedly denied the rumor at legislative hearings while answering questions from lawmakers.
[FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 30, 2018
By: Sean Lin  /  Staff reporter

Lawmakers yesterday agreed to advance a slew of proposed adjustments to the

Company Act (公司法) to a second reading, but failed to reach a consensus on 22 disputed draft amendments.

One of the disputed draft bills proposes that if the information provided for the establishment or registration of a company is found to be falsified, the Ministry of Economic Affairs could revoke the registration.

It initially included the proviso: “Exemptions apply where revocation of registration could severely hurt the rights of a company’s shareholders or creditors.”

Despite the proviso being removed following a round of cross-caucus negotiations on Wednesday, legislators yesterday resolved to set it aside to allow time for caucuses to propose their versions of the draft amendment, which would be voted on during a plenary session on Friday next week.    [FULL  STORY]

philstar.com
Date: June 28, 2018

MANILA, Philippines — Filipinos can enjoy another year of visa-free entry to Taiwan as the island state has extended the period until July 31, 2019.

According to a Kyodo News report, Taiwan extended the visa-free travel program for visitors from the Philippines, Thailand and Brunei.

For Thailand and Brunei, the trial period for visa-free travel began in August 2016 and was extended.

Travelers from Thailand and Brunei will only be allowed to stay in Taiwan without a visa for 14 days from the 30 days initially allowed.     [FULL  STORY]

The move is set to improve quality consistency and varieties, making Taiwan’s orchid business great again. 

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/06/28
By: Sophia Yang, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Clean-look and high-end orchids have been the most popular houseplant among the top-notch or luxury hotels around the world. A Taiwan government-funded research agency has successfully developed genetic mapping of Phalaenopsis genome, which is set to provide insights into species adaptation.

Taiwan has prided itself as the kingdom of orchids, but its output value shrank in 2015 and 2016, according to a media report. A survey shows that the Netherlands has replaced Taiwan as the world’s largest orchid exporter, as the country brings orchids to industrial-scale production that allows consistency in size and appearance.

The Agricultural Biotechnology Research Center under Academia Sinica released a statement on Thursday, saying that the genetic linkage map has been figured out by the team, and that will allow researchers and growers in the future to design new breeds at the desired colors, shapes, and other features demanded by buyers.

The study has been published at Plant Biotechnology Journal in late April, 2018.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/06/28
By: Yu Hsiao-han and William Yen

Taipei, June 28 (CNA) Relevant internship or work experience is the most important

factor for employers when choosing to hire new graduates, according to a Ministry of Labor (MOL) survey Thursday.

The survey, which was released on the talent-recruiting website Taiwan Jobs, managed by the ministry’s Workforce Development Agency, shows that 54.27 percent of employers consider relevant internships or work experience to be an important factor when hiring, making it single most cited factor.

The second most important focus when hiring was a candidate’s expertise and skill, noted by 49.96 percent of employers.

In addition, up to 41.42 percent of employers are willing to offer new graduates a higher starting salary if they have related job certification or licenses, followed by 35.40 percent for relevant internship experience and 28.21 percent for multidisciplinary expertise, the survey showed.    [FULL  STORY]