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Taiwan maintains Tier 1 human trafficking ranking for 8th year

The China Post
Date: July 31, 2017
By: The China Post

Taiwan was placed under Tier 1 for the eighth straight year in 2017 U.S. State Department’s Trafficking in Persons report issued on July 27.

The ranking indicates that Taiwan has demonstrated a serious and sustained effort in prosecuting offenders and raising public awareness of human trafficking.

Taiwan was among 36 Tier 1 countries in the world and one of the four Tier 1 countries in the Asia-Pacific, along with Australia, New Zealand and South Korea.

Japan and Singapore were placed in Tier 2, and mainland China was downgraded to Tier 3 in the 2017 report.

Taiwan’s Ministry of the Interior held a two-day workshop last week, inviting local and foreign government officials and NGOs to discuss ways to combat human trafficking.
[FULL  STORY]

Proposal to put philanthropist’s portrait on Taiwan’s 10-dollar coins gains momentum

Taiwan News
Date: 017/07/30
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News)—A netizen’s proposal to put a philanthropist’s portrait on Taiwan’s 10-dollar coins to replace that of former President Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) has gained momentum as the proposal passed the threshold for any online proposal to legally require a response from the government.

The netizen put forward the proposal on a public policy online participation platform to replace Chiang’s portrait on the 10-dollar coin with that of Chuang Chu Yu-nu（莊朱玉女), a woman who sold meals for NT$10 for decades to help low-income families, who passed away in February 2015. The proposal has garnered more than 5,000 signatures within the required two-month period, the threshold required to force a government response.

The public policy online participation platform was set up by the National Development Council. According to the rule of the platform, the government will have to respond to this proposal by September 29.    [FULL  STORY]

Police catch wanted drug dealer, convict on the run

SWEEP:Police detained three people for running an escort service and rescued four women, who they said were drugged and used to sell narcotics for the operators

Taipei Timews
Date: Jul 31, 2017
By: Jason Pan / Staff reporter

Law enforcement officials yesterday touted several arrests in connection with illegal drug possession that they had made in the past few days.

Taichung police said they acted on tip-offs and surveillance and arrested two couples for alleged drug possession.

Police officers last week raided the home of a husband and wife in Taichung’s Wurih District (烏日), where they found seven pouches containing about 5.6g of heroin.

The couple used to live at another location in the city, but they moved to a rented apartment in Wurih, as the husband was on the run after being sentenced to nine months in prison for drug use, police said.    [FULL  STORY]

69 Taiwanese fraud suspects arrested in Indonesia

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017-07-30

Police in Indonesia arrested a total of 69 Taiwanese nationals on Saturday in raids on an alleged international telecom fraud ring.

Police had reportedly been tracking the ring for some time before carrying out the raids in several locations. Twenty-seven people were arrested on the island of Bali on Saturday evening, including 10 Taiwanese and 17 Chinese citizens.

On the same day, 93 people were arrested in Surabaya. Of this number, 59 were from Taiwan, 33 from China and one from Malaysia.

Police said the suspects belonged to the same ring that had been busted in the capital Jakarta. It is believed the gang spread its operations around the country to decrease the risk of detection. Police also said the ring has been active in Myanmar, Laos and Thailand, targeting victims in China and Taiwan.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan admonishes citizens not to use PRC passports

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/07/30
By: Yang Sheng-ju and S.C. Chang

Taipei, July 30 (CNA) Taiwan’s government admonished its citizens Sunday not to use passports issued by China, reminding them that using a People’s Republic of China passport puts them at risk of losing their rights and benefits as citizens of the Republic of China (Taiwan).

The government quoted the law governing relations between the people of Taiwan and the people of the mainland area to abide by the law’s provisions that prohibit Taiwanese people from taking any official position in China’s political, military or party apparatuses.

The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), Taiwan’s top agency for dealing with China, issued a statement in response to a Hong Kong media report indicating that China might launch a pilot program in which it will issue passports for citizens of what it describes as its “Taiwan Special Administrative Region (SAR),” as part of Beijing’s efforts to “solve the Taiwan problem.”   [FULL  STORY]

Ferry damages two navy frigates during typhoon

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 31, 2017
By: Staff writer, with CNA

The navy and the Maritime and Port Bureau are investigating an incident late on Saturday in which two Republic of China Navy frigates docked in Keelung Port were damaged by a passenger ferry as Typhoon Nesat swept over the nation.

The navy said in a news release that a cable securing the stern of the Natchan Rera ferry to the East-3 wharf snapped during strong gusts and at 11:41pm the 10,841 tonne ferry collided with the frigate Lan-Yang (蘭陽), which was docked in front of it.

One minute later the ferry struck the frigate Huai-Yang (淮陽), which was docked parallel to the Lan-Yang.

Sailors aboard the Lan-Yang found a 1m crack on the left side of the ship’s stern that led to the ship taking on water, said Rear Admiral Kuo Chih-kuo (郭治國), commander of Navy Flotilla 131.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Mayor: Typhoon Nesat a test of city’s Universiade readiness

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-07-29

Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je says the city should treat the approach of Typhoon Nesat as a

Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (front, center) inspects sporting venues to be used during the upcoming Universiade Games. (CNA)

test ahead of the upcoming Universiade Games.

Ko was speaking on Saturday. He also said that the approaching typhoon should be used as an opportunity to inspect for problems ahead of the games, with a focus on sporting venues.

This year’s Universiade games, the world games for university athletes, will take place in Taipei from August 18-30. Athletes from some 154 countries are set to arrive in Taiwan for the games. Ko said that there is a standard checklist for typhoons that he has used to direct local government agencies throughout his three years as mayor. However, he said that with the arrival of Typhoon Nesat ahead of the Universiade, this list can be altered. He also said that he will call a review meeting once the typhoon has passed.
[FULL  STORY]

Cambodia hands three more Taiwanese fraud suspects over to China

Ignoring Taiwan’s request to transfer suspects back to the island for trial, three Taiwanese citizens, following four deported to China on July 26, were put on a China-bound flight Saturday.

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/07/29
By: Teng Pei-ju, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Following the sending of four Taiwanese telephone fraud

A Chinese national arrested over an alleged internet scam, is escorted by police officers to be deported at the immigration office in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Wednesday, July 26, 2017. Police says they have deported over a dozen Chinese nationals in an alleged internet scam back to China complying with demands from Beijing. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

suspects to China on July 26 for further trial, Cambodia deported three more Taiwanese citizens to China Saturday, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA).

Even though the official from the Taiwanese representative office in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, had persistently asked the Cambodian authorities to respect the principle of judicial authority and return the Taiwanese suspects to the island, the Southeast Asian country still decided to deport the Taiwanese suspects to China and even forbade the Taiwanese official to visit them during detention, according to Wang Pei-lin (王珮玲), spokesperson of MOFA.

With the information provided by China, the Cambodian police arrested 31 telephone fraud suspects on July 18 accused of scamming Chinese people, particularly the rich and civil servants, into giving sums of money to exchange their nude photos that the fraud group claimed to have acquired.

Among the detained suspects, seven were identified to be Taiwanese citizens, as MOFA learned after the Cambodian authorities notified the Taiwanese representatives based in Ho Chi Minh City.    [FULL  STORY]

Thousands evacuated, extensive power outages as typhoon hits Taiwan

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/07/29
By: Christie Chen

Taipei, July 29 (CNA) Thousands of people had been evacuated and over 100,000 households had experienced power outages as of Saturday evening as Typhoon Nesat swept across Taiwan, according to the Central Emergency Operation Center.

As of 7 p.m. Saturday, 8,760 people had been evacuated to safety, and 1,574 of them were sheltered in 59 locations, figures from the center show.

Meanwhile, a total of 101,910 households in Taiwan had experienced power outages, but more than 40,000 households had had their power restored as of 9 p.m., leaving over 61,000 without power, according to the center.

The main areas where the power outages struck were Yilan, Pingtung and Hualien counties, and New Taipei.    [FULL  STORY]

Executive Yuan budget estimates up 0.6 percent

FISCALLY AWAREThe government has been urged to reduce its overspending to NT$200 billion, inclusive of special budgets, to prove it is financially responsible

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 30, 2017
By: Lee Hsin-fang and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writer

The Executive Yuan on Friday announced the budget and annual expenditure estimate for fiscal 2018, with a slight increase in national expenditure — up 0.6 percent compared with fiscal 2017 — to NT$1.9 trillion (US$62.7 billion).

The Executive Yuan plans large-scale increases in public construction and technological development expenditures, with the former given 16.3 percent more than this year and the latter increasing by 10 percent.

Both budgets included funds from the Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Program.

Social welfare received NT$489 billion, the greatest source of expenditure in the budget, with the Ministry of National Defense budget estimated at NT$330 billion, the Executive Yuan said.    [FULL  STORY]