Taipei Times
Date: Mar 16, 2018
By: Staff writer, with CNA

Taiwan is joining the #Me Too movement to raise awareness about sexual assault and

harassment by setting up a Web site and hotline to give victims of such crimes a platform to be heard, a coalition of groups said yesterday.

Taiwan Women’s Link, the Taipei Association for the Promotion of Women’s Rights, Taiwan Occupational Safety and Health Link and End Child Prostitution in Asian Tourism-Taiwan announced the launch of the support channels at a news conference.

According to Taiwan Women’s Link, victims of sexual assault and harassment often stay silent for a number of reasons, including fear of backlash, shame, lack of privacy and repeat attacks.

This culture of silence allows perpetrators to continue to assault people, because little is done to stop them, the group said    [FULL  STORY]

The Telegraph
Date: 14 March 2018 
By: Neil Connor, beijing  

British Airways has been hit with a wave of criticism from China’s fiery, nationalistic

Internet users for listing Taiwan and Hong Kong as countries on its website.

BA has become the latest overseas brand to come under attack in China, where any perceived misinterpretation of the country’s national borders can cause widespread anger.

However, the British flag carrier does not appear to have followed other global businesses in immediately changing its online platform.

Other global companies have been forced to make public apologiesfor offending Chinese sentiments, and Chinese media said that Lufthansa recently chose to adjust their category of “Taiwan” to “Taiwan, China” on its website.    [FULL  STORY]

Supermarket spread price rise rumor in order to help its own promotion for toilet paper: FTC

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/03/14
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The Fair Trade Commission (FTC, 公平會) said Wednesday it was

fining supermarket chain RT-Mart (大潤發) NT$3.5 million (US$119,800) for the false announcement of price hikes for toilet paper which caused nationwide shortages.

Consumers fearing imminent price increases lined up at supermarkets across the island and bought as many rolls of toilet paper as they could move, leading to bare shelves for days on end.

As a result of the public outcry, the government investigated five major supermarket chains and three paper producers. An official said the investigation into whether the latter had colluded to raise prices had not been completed yet, and a new round of sanctions might be taken at a later date, the Central News Agency reported.

RT-Mart said Wednesday it would first wait to read the message from the FTC before formulating a reaction.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/03/14
By: Lee Hsin-Yin

Taipei, March 14 (CNA) Cantonese restaurant Le Palais was the only establishment to

receive a three-star rating when Michelin unveiled its first gourmet food guide in Taipei on Wednesday to cheers from hundreds of catering business representatives and food critics.

“It’s a huge honor, but I also feel great pressure to live up to the three-star accolade,” said Ken Chan (陳偉強), executive chef of Le Palais, who moved to Taiwan from Macau nearly 20 years ago.

Chan and his team “have mastered the art of cooking a variety of Chinese cuisine types,” Michelin said.

“(Le Palais’) baked egg custard tarts are sublime,” said Michael Ellis, International Director of the Michelin guides. “All of the chef’s creations have won inspectors over.”
[FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Mar 15, 2018 
By Lin Chia-nan  /  Staff reporter

Practical interaction with the Holy See is beneficial to sustaining Taiwan’s diplomatic

relations, Minister Without Portfolio Audrey Tang (唐鳳) said on Tuesday, following her introduction on Saturday of the nation’s democratic progress at a technology conference at the Vatican.

The Artificial Intelligence, Monopoly, Privacy and Democracy conference was organized by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and attended by representatives from more than 10 nations, including the US, Germany, Israel, Italy and Brazil.

Tang promotes “open government” and was invited to serve as the minister responsible for digital policies in October 2016.

Opening her speech with Taiwanese values as touted by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Tang spoke about how technology serves as a driving force for the nation’s democratic development.  [FULL  STORY]

ABC News
Date: Mar 13, 2018
By: Christopher Bodeen, Associated Press

In this Sunday, March 11, 2018, photo, Chinese President Xi Jinping applauds after hearing the results of a vote on a constitutional amendment during a plenary session of China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. China’s move to scrap term limits and allow Xi to serve as president indefinitely puts him on track to deal with some of the country’s weightiest long-term sovereignty challenges, especially the fates of Hong Kong and Taiwan. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)more +

China’s move to scrap term limits and allow Xi Jinping to serve as president indefinitely puts him on track to deal with some of the country’s weightiest long-term sovereignty challenges, especially the fates of Hong Kong and Taiwan.

The question is, will Xi bet big on bold moves that could result in potentially disastrous consequences?

Hong Kong offers a delicate initial test. Since passing from British to Chinese rule in 1997, the financial hub has operated as a “special administrative region,” retaining its own legal and economic system and enjoying a considerable degree of autonomy from Beijing.

That arrangement was supposed to last 50 years, until 2047, but calls for political reform in the city and what many see as Beijing tightening its controls and encroaching on freedoms there have created rising tensions.    [FULL  STORY]

Member of China’s state-run media rolls her eyes in disgust with peer’s prepared question

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/03/13
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — China’s carefully orchestrated press briefing for the National

Party Congress (NPC) became the butt of jokes online after one of its state-run media reporters become so nauseated with her peer’s excruciatingly boring question, that her eye-rolling and disgusted looks have gone viral.

In the video, a hand-picked female reporter dressed in red, Zhang Huijun, poses a prescripted, carefully screened question for a government official, while another state media reporter, Liang Xiangyi, watches on. As the reporter in red first parrots standard praise about China’s Belt and Road initiative before dutifully spouting out her carefully rehearsed, but inane question, Liang becomes increasingly impatient with the seemingly endless question, before finally making an exasperated expression and rolling her eyes.

The nature of the question was directed toward Xiao Yaqing, the newly-installed director of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, with a banal question about establishing a better monitoring system over the assets of state-run companies operating overseas and how to prevent their loss.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/03/13
By: Joseph Yeh 

Taipei, March 13 (CNA) Two German search and rescue NGOs became the first to establish branches at the international NGO (INGO) center in Taichung on Monday.

The two NGOs, the Bundesverband Rettungshunde e.V. (German Search and Rescue Dog Association) and I.S.A.R. Germany (International Search and Rescue Germany) officially opened branch offices at the INGO center in the central city’s Wufeng District during an opening ceremony held on Monday and presided over by Vice President Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁).

The opening of the two NGO’s branch offices, which will specialize in the training of rescue dogs and search and rescue teams, is expected to boost Taiwan’s capabilities in those areas, according to a Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) statement.
[FULL  STORY]