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China protests US bill on port visits

UNSUPPORTED:The Senate bill also recommends more cooperation with Taiwan and would allow aid in helping the nation develop an underwater warfare program

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 01, 2017
By: Reuters, BEIJING and WASHINGTON

Beijing has sent a protest to Washington after a US Senate committee approved a provision calling for the resumption of port visits to Taiwan by the US Navy for the first time since Washington adopted its “one China” policy in 1979.

The call for the port visits was contained in a version of next year’s National Defense Authorization Bill approved on Wednesday by the US Senate Committee on Armed Services. The bill would have to pass the full US Senate and US House of Representatives and be approved by US President Donald Trump to become law.

Asked about the provision, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Lu Kang (陸慷) on Thursday called it meddling in Beijing’s internal affairs, and added: “China cannot accept it.”

The legislation calls for the re-establishment of regular port visits by the US Navy to Kaohsiung Port or any “other suitable port,” and would allow US Pacific Command to receive visits from Taiwanese military vessels.    [FULL  STORY]

Filipino migrant worker rescued from factory fire in Changhua

The China Post
Date: June 30, 2017
By: CNA

TAIPEI, Taiwan — A Filipino migrant worker who was trapped by a massive factory fire in Changhua

(CNA)

County early Friday morning was later rescued and is being treated for smoke inhalation.

All of the other people at the factory were able to make it out safely as the fire broke out at the facility in the county’s Puyan Township that specializes in painting bicycle parts.

The fire spread rapidly because the factory was jammed with flammable objects, according to the Changhua County Fire Bureau, and dozens of firefighters and 19 fire engines had to be mobilized to extinguish the flames.

The 35-year-old female migrant worker, identified only as Anney, was rushed to Changhua Christian Hospital for treatment after being rescued.

According to the hospital, Anney is now in stable condition, with no obvious burns on her body and limbs.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan hosts APEC conference on illegal medication

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-06-28

Taiwan on Wednesday hosted a conference on illegal medication under the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) framework.

Experts, officials, and businesspeople from the United States, Europe, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and Malaysia attended the event. They shared their experiences with inspection techniques and management mechanisms.

Food and Drug Administration Director Wu Shou-mei said Wednesday that Taiwan hopes the conference can help bring the country closer to international standards. She also said Taiwan hopes it will showcase the country’s ability to crack down on illegal medications.

Wu spoke about a scandal that broke in March involving a fake lipid-lowering drug that was circulating in Taiwan. She applauded the recent sentencing of the main suspect to 20 years in prison. Wu said judges should impose heavier fines in future cases involving illegal medication.    [SOURCE]

Word on the street: How did you learn Chinese?

Taiwan News went to NTU to interview foreigners about how they learn Chinese

Taiwan News
dATE: 2017/06/28
By: Michelle Wojtkowiak , Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Many consider Chinese to be one of the hardest languages to learn for Westerner, indeed the Defense Language Institute rates Mandarin a level 4, the highest category on its language learning difficulty scale. Taiwan News went to National Taiwan University (NTU) to find out what strategies foreign students are employing to master the language.

What exactly makes Chinese difficult to learn? Chinese is an entirely different language family (Sino-Tibetan) which, unlike European languages, is based on thousands of characters instead of a simple alphabet. What makes it further difficult is instead of phonetic pronunciation the words are distinguished by four different tones. There are only 400 syllables in the language, and thus there are many homophones, leading to much confusion if a tone and second word is not included to clarify meaning.

The difficulty stems from two different factors: First, the characters themselves are abstract, having diverged greatly from their original pictographic symbols, and thousands need to be memorized for one to become literate. Second, the tonal nature of the language is a very foreign concept to speakers of non-tonal languages.    [FULL  STORY]

EPA urges cooperation on garbage issue in Yunlin

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/06/28
by: Yeh Tzu-kang, Chen Chun-hua, Wu Hsin-yun and Y.F. Low

Taipei, June 28 (CNA) The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) on Wednesday urged various groups in Yunlin County to work together to resolve the county’s garbage disposal problem, after a local city announced it was partially suspending garbage collection services due to an inability to dispose of the waste.

Yunlin is unable to dispose of its own garbage because the county has no operational garbage incinerators.

Although a incinerator was built in the county’s Linnei Township in 2005, it never started operations because of a controversy over the project’s environmental impact assessment.

As a result, Yunlin is dependent on other counties and cities to help it incinerate its garbage, which they do on condition that Yunlin takes back 1.8 tons of ash in exchange for 1 ton of garbage incinerated.
[FULL  STORY]

Marines receive jail terms for torturing, killing dog

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 29, 2017 
By Jason Pan  /  Staff reporter

The Kaohsiung District Court yesterday found three marines guilty of torturing a dog to death, a violation

A marine is pictured abusing a dog in an undated photograph taken in Kaohsiung. The Kaohsiung District Court yesterday found three marines guilty of killing the dog in June last year.  Photo: CNA

of the Animal Protection Act (動物保護法), and handed the three men six-month prison terms, which are commutable to fines.

It was the first ruling in the case and can be appealed.

The incident in June last year involved squad leader Sergeant Chen Yu-tsai (陳祐才) and two privates under his command — Chang Feng-yu (張峰瑜) and Hu Chia-wei (胡家瑋) — of the Marine Corps’ Air Defense Group, which is based at Zuoying Naval Base in Kaohsiung.

As Chang and Hu admitted to wrongdoing and cooperated during the investigation, the court suspended their sentences and placed them on probation for two years.    [FULL  STORY]

This is how cops took down a child porn ring in Taiwan

The China Post
Date: June 28, 2017
By: The China Post

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Tens of thousands of child porn photos. Thousands of videos. Half a million New Taiwan dollars.

That’s what authorities turned up in a series of countrywide raids in May and earlier this month. It was the result of a joint Criminal Investigation Bureau and local police investigation that had started over six months earlier — and at a much smaller scale.

A Facebook Post

In September last year, a user named “Zheng Xing-tai” posted nude photos of a minor to that same girl’s Facebook page.

The images had been photographed by the girl herself, but she had not shared them on Facebook or given them out to “Zheng.”    [FULL  STORY]

Military investigates leak of Air Force missile failure

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-06-27

The Ministry of Defense is investigating how footage of a failed Air Force missile launch became seen by the public.

During a drill on Thursday last week, an Indigenous Defense Fighter launched a Sky Sword II air-to-air missile. The missile did not fire, however, and dropped into the sea off the southern coast of Pingtung. Footage of the incident was subsequently released by a media outlet.

Defense ministry spokesperson Chen Chung-chi said the military is looking into how the footage was made public.    [FULL  STORY]

Registration opens for group wedding at Taipei Children’s Amusement Park

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/06/27
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News)–Taipei City invites couples to sign up for the second group wedding event of 2017 that will take place at Taipei Children’s Amusement Park in the evening of October 22, according to Taipei City Department of Civil Affairs (DCA).

Registration for the collective wedding is accepted between June 27 and July 7, and only 88 openings are available due to space restrictions, according to the DCA. Individuals domiciled, attending school, or working in Taipei City are welcomed to participate, the DCA said.

To mark the special occasion, participants in costumes sporting the theme “fairy tales” will be eligible to enter a raffle which offers an NT$6,000 prize as a honeymoon fund to winners, the department said.

In addition, the newlyweds will receive a home appliance and a chance to bring home a 3-day-2-night accommodation voucher. The lucky ones will be selected in a draw organized by the DCA on the day of the ceremony, the department added.    [FULL  STORY]

President thanks Japan on Twitter for backing Taiwan’s TPP bid

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/06/27
By: Evelyn Kao

Taipei, June 27 (CNA) President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Tuesday expressed her gratitude on Twitter to

CNA file photo

Yoshihide Suga, Japan’s chief cabinet secretary, for voicing support for Taiwan’s participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

Tsai posted a tweet saying that Suga’s support has helped bolster Taiwan’s confidence, and she reiterated her thanks for Japan’s backing.

She also linked a report about Suga’s statement from the Nikkei, a Japanese financial newspaper, to her twitter feed.

According to the Nikkei report published the previous day, Suga said at a press conference that he welcomed various countries and areas, including Taiwan, to participate in the TPP and that Japan will provide the necessary information to countries or areas interested in the TPP-11.    [FULL  STORY]