Page Three

At Hong Kong pride 2017, many in LGBT community look to Taiwan

Organizers reported over 10,000 in attendance at the Hong Kong pride event on Saturday Nov. 25.

Taiwan News  
Date: 2017/11/26
By:  Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIWAN (Taipei News) – The LGBT community came out in large numbers yesterday for

File photo of Hong Kong Pride 2014 (By Wikimedia Commons)

the annual pride event in Hong Kong. Organizers reported over 10,000 in attendance at the march on Saturday Nov. 25.

Several Hong Kong legislators were also in attendance to show their support for the LGBT community in Hong Kong. This year the pride event was held against a back drop of a discussion in government about the status of transgender and intersex people in Hong Kong, and the issue changing one’s gender classification on legal documents.

Looking across the strait to Taiwan, many in the Hong Kong LGBT community are encouraged by the Taiwan LGBT community’s successful push for legislation to permit marriage between gay couples, which must be passed before May 2019.
[FULL  STORY]

Coast Guard cancels Ching Fu patrol boat deal after delivery delay

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/11/26
By: Wang Hung-kuo and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, Nov. 26 (CNA) The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) has terminated a contract

Hsieh Ching-chin (謝慶欽), the deputy head of the CGA’s Maritime Patrol Directorate General

with Ching Fu Shipbuilding Co. (CFS) after the company failed to meet a Nov. 26 deadline for delivery of the 14th of 28 patrol boats it had been contracted to build, the agency said Sunday.

The end of the patrol boat deal is just the latest blow to the financially troubled company, which is currently under investigation for alleged fraud in securing a NT$20.5 billion syndicated loan to finance a separate NT$35.85 billion (US$1.20 billion) contract to build six minesweepers.

Ching Fu won a CGA tender to build 28 100-ton patrol boats on May 30, 2013 and has completed and delivered 13 boats so far. But it has been unable to deliver the 14th boat.

It was originally scheduled to be delivered on April 30, but the company asked for an extension to Aug. 28 due to account for work days lost to wind disasters and typhoons and to new five-day workweek rules that reduced available manpower.
[FULL  STORY]

Refueling planes imply attack exercises

LONG-DISTANCE MOVES:Midflight refueling would enable the PLA’s low-range Su-30s to escort bombers past the first island chain and as far as Hawaii, observers said

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 27, 2017
By: Aaron Tu  /  Staff reporter

The presence of Ilyushin Il-78 aerial refueling planes in the formations of Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft that approached the waters off Taiwan on Wednesday and Thursday suggests not only an increase in PLA activity, but also that it is likely to simulate attack missions, political observers said.

The addition of Il-78 to the regular Xian H-6 bombers, Shaanxi Y-8 electronic-warfare aircraft and Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jets would extend the flight durations, allowing the Su-30s to escort the formation beyond the first island chain.

China has conducted long-distance navigation exercises since 2015, but the frequency has increased from several times a year to several times a month, with a record nine flypasts between July and August.

The exercises were halted during the Chinese Communist Party’s 19th National Congress last month, but have now resumed, with four flypasts this month.    [FULL  STORY]

‘Secret Superstar’ heads to Taiwan, Russia

It opened in 73 screens in Taiwan on Friday

Gulf News
Date: November 25, 2017
By: IANS

Aamir Khan’s Secret Superstar will release in Russia on more than 50 screens on December 3.

The film, which also features Zaira Wasim and which lit up the box office in India on Diwali, opened in 73 screens in Taiwan on Friday.

Zee Studios International is taking the film to the foreign market, read a statement.

In Secret Superstar, Wasim, who hails from Jammu and Kashmir, plays a teenage girl named Insia who dreams of becoming a singer. The film is about how she fulfills her dreams by keeping her identity hidden.

“Russia and Taiwan are great markets for Indian films with Indian cinema legends like Raj Kapoor still revered there. We are ecstatic to showcase Secret Superstar to such countries and offer them a film that’s truly heart-warming and distinctive,” said Vibha Chopra, Head – Zee Studios International (Film Marketing, Distribution, and Acquisition).
“We stand committed to taking our films to international territories, known and unknown, as we strongly believe that good content should not be restricted by borders,” Chopra added.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News Encyclopedia: The Ching Fu shipbuilding scandal

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-11-25

The fraud allegedly occurred when Ching Fu Shipbuilding Co. (CFS) was trying to obtain a NT$20.5 billion syndicated loan from a group of nine domestic lenders led by First Commercial Bank.

Kaohsiung District Prosecutors’ Office, which has been investigating the case since August, suspects CFS used bogus documents to falsify four capital increases that were required under the terms of the loan.

First Commercial Bank filed a criminal lawsuit against Ching Fu Shipbuilding in October for breach of contract. Ching Fu is reported to be on the brink of bankruptcy and incapable of paying the NT$3.1 billion (US$102 million) interest on its debt.
[FULL  STORY]

Pipeline at cement factory in Eastern Taiwan explodes

Pipeline bursts and ignites in Hualien, extinguished in an hour

Taiwan News 
Date: 2017/11/25
By: Renée Salmonsen, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — This morning in Hsiulin Township in Hualien County (花蓮縣秀林

An Asia Cement Corporation pipeline caught fire Saturday morning. (By Central News Agency)

鄉), one of Asia Cement Corporation’s pipelines caught fire, reported CNA.

Around 6 a.m. a pipeline, about 4 stories tall leading away from the Asia Cement factory, exploded.

The blast was described as ‘fierce’. There were no injuries.

After about an hour 12 firetrucks equipped with 24 firefighters were able to control the flames by quickly cutting off the path of fire traveling down the pipeline.

The pipeline was severely damaged though ultimately remains in tact.

The cause of the fire remains unknown.     [FULL  STORY]

GOLDEN HORSE: Actress Hsu Feng honored for lifetime achievement

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/11/25
By: Christie Chen

Taipei, Nov. 25 (CNA) Taiwanese actress and producer Hsu Feng (徐楓), whose cinematic

Taiwanese actress and producer Hsu Feng (徐楓)

career has spanned over five decades, was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Golden Horse Awards on Saturday.

The 67-year-old actress, who received the award from actress-director Sylvia Chang, got a standing ovation from the crowd at the award ceremony in Taipei.

In her acceptance speech, Hsu gave special thanks to late director King Hu.

“If I have accomplished anything, it was thanks to his strict guidance. I would not be here today if it were not for him,” she said.

“This award is not an end for me, but a new beginning,” Hsu added.    [FULL  STORY]

Report calls for caution on visa-free entry plans

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 26, 2017
By: Sherry Hsiao  /  Staff writer, with CNA

A Control Yuan report released on Friday urged the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the National Immigration Agency, the National Police Agency and others to respond to concerns regarding national security and public safety caused by the government’s plans to grant visa-free entry to nationals of more countries.

The research report, initiated by Control Yuan members Chen Hsiao-hung (陳小紅) and Bau Tzong-ho (包宗和), said the government has been researching and drafting a plan to grant visa-free entry to the nationals of 11 Latin American and Caribbean allies, as well as countries targeted in the New Southbound Policy and six South Pacific allies.

Since the policy has been proposed, illegal activities — including drug dealing, smuggling, prostitution and other crimes — by nationals of several foreign countries has already raised national security and public safety concerns, the report said.
[FULL  STORY]

Taiwan’s ‘Cock Robin’ Heads for North America With Cheng Cheng

Variety
Date: November 24, 2017
By Patrick Frater

New York-based Cheng Cheng Films has picked up North American rights to Taiwanese

CREDIT: COURTESY OF MANDARINVISION

psychological crime thriller “Who Killed Cock Robin?”. The film is a front runner in the Golden Horse Awards which will be presented later today in Taipei. It is nominated in five categories, including best picture.

The film is directed by Cheng Wei-hao, who previously made hit “The Tag-Along.” It follows an ambitious journalist’s probe into a hit and run accident he witnessed years earlier.

It stars Mason Lee (“The Hangover Part II,” “Lucy”,) the Taiwanese-American actor who is the son of two-time Oscar-winning director Ang Lee. Lee senior will be on hand to present awards at the Golden Horse ceremony.    [FULL  STORY]

Forum on modern Taiwan and Southeast Asia opens

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-11-24

An international symposium on modern Taiwan and Southeast Asia is underway in Taipei.

Scholars are focusing on exchanges between Taiwan and Southeast Asian countries from the 19th to the 20th century. (CNA photo)

The two-day event opened on Friday. It is jointly sponsored by the Taiwan Study Research Center of National Taiwan Library and National Taiwan Normal University.

Scholars from Taiwan, Japan, Vietnam, Thailand and Singapore are focusing on exchanges between Taiwan and Southeast Asian countries from the 19th to the 20th century.

One organizer, Chen Shi-rong, said National Taiwan Library has a large collection of related historical documents. Chen said that’s because Japan was not quite familiar with Taiwan and Southeast Asia when the island was under its colonial rule from 1895 to 1945. The Japanese authorities conducted systematic research into various subjects during the colonial era. These ranged from local language and customs to folk culture and the natural environment.    [FULL  STORY]