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New air quality control steps could shut down traffic

The China Post
Date: June 7, 2017
By: CNA

TAIPEI, Taiwan — The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) has updated its air quality control steps that could lead to traffic shutdowns when air pollution in Taiwan reaches an extremely hazardous level.
The revised “Emergency Steps to Prevent Air Quality from Deteriorating” were published Tuesday and will take effect Friday, according to the administration.

It was the first time the air quality measures have been updated in 17 years, and they will now include particularly hazardous PM2.5 particulates in the air quality warning system.

The agency is hoping the updated measures, which are designed to give early warnings of pollution problems, will help improve air quality by getting polluting factories to lower their operating loads or keep polluting vehicles off the streets.
[FULL  STORY]

Media from allied nations visit Taipei hospital

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-06-06

Media outlets representing nine of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies have sent staff to Taipei Veterans General Hospital for a look at Taiwanese medicine and the country’s medical diplomacy. The June 1 visit was arranged by the foreign ministry.

The visit included a tour of the hospital’s dialysis center. The hospital says Taiwan excels in offering quality treatment for chronic kidney disease.

Chronic kidney disease is a major health issue in St Kitts and Nevis, one of Taiwan’s Caribbean allies whose media was represented during the visit. In April, the country began sending medical staff and officials to Taipei Veterans General Hospital for training. The hospital also plans to send a consultant to St Kitts and Nevis.
[FULL  STORY]

Online application for extension of migrant worker contracts is now available in Taiwan

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

TAIPEI (Taiwan News)-Online applications for the extension of migrant workers’

Online applications for the extension of migrant workers’ contracts are available now, Taiwan’s Ministry of Labor said Tuesday, praising the new system. (By Central News Agency)

contracts are available now, Taiwan’s Ministry of Labor (MOL) said Tuesday, praising the new system for being more efficient.

To take advantage of the service, the employer have to log onto the website, which is managed by the MOL’s Workforce Development Agency, complete the application form and pay the fee, the ministry said.

The 24-hour online service reduces the processing time, removes the need to submit a paper application to the MOL during government office hours, and cuts out the part of the process that requires the approval to be mailed to the applicant, the ministry said.

The application for the extension of migrant workers’ contracts is the latest MOL service to go online, after the ministry introduced electronic applications for hiring migrant workers, work permits for blue-collar foreign workers, and reports on departures, arrivals and escapes of migrant workers.    [FULL  STORY]

Teenagers offered trip to S. Korea to learn more about ‘comfort women’

Focus Taiwan
2017/06/06 19:10:01

Taipei, June 6 (CNA) Taiwanese and South Korean groups dedicated to women’s

From Taipei Women’s Rescue Foundation

rights are organizing a summer trip for Taiwanese teenagers to South Korea to learn more about the issue of “comfort women,” women forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II.

As part of the program, 15 Taiwanese aged 16-18 will visit Daegu City in South Korea from Aug. 17-19, according to the Taipei Women’s Rescue Foundation.

During the trip, participants will visit the Museum of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan, call on surviving Korean comfort women, watch related documentaries and attend seminars to discuss human rights in Asia.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei should aim for friendly ties with Beijing: Ko

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 07, 2017
By: Lee I-chia / Staff reporter

Taiwan should be friendly toward China, while maintaining cordial relations with the US and Japan, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said yesterday.

Ko made the remark during a question-and-answer session at the Taipei City Council yesterday afternoon, when Taipei City Councilor Chen Chien-ming (陳建銘), of the Taiwan Solidarity Union, asked if he was “anti-China or pro-China.”

The question came after Tainan Mayor William Lai (賴清德) on Monday said he is “not against China, but rather is pro-China and loves Taiwan.”

“To befriend China would be enough,” Ko said yesterday.

Chen called on Ko to speak out at the upcoming annual Taipei-Shanghai Forum against political suppression by China, such as its move to block Taiwan from attending a World Health Assembly (WHA) meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, last month.    [FULL  STORY]

‘They’re fabricating evidence’: KMT committee leaders storm out of ill-gotten assets committee hearing

The China Post
Date: June 6, 2017
By: The China Post

Kuomintang (KMT) Administration and Management Committee Deputy Director Lee Fu-chuan (李福軒) stormed out of an Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee public hearing Tuesday, charging the administration with “fabricating evidence to incriminate (the opposition KMT)” and “abusing government power.”

The committee seeks to probe KMT party assets, which if determined to be “ill-gotten” would be returned to the state or their rightful owners.

Lee left the public hearing within the first hour and threatened to sue Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) spokespersons Juan Chao-hsiung (阮昭雄), Chang Chih-hao (張志豪) and Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) for slander.

Addressing a “reopened” probe into a land sale, Lee said the KMT bought the land beneath the party’s National Development and Research Institute at the price of NT$105 per ping in 1962, at a price point NT$10 per ping higher than the market price from the previous year.    [FULL  STORY]

National Taiwan Museum to host new immigrant cultural forum

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-06-05

The National Taiwan Museum is set to host a forum on new immigrant cultures on

New immigrants (picture by National Taiwan Museum)

June 18. Taiwan in recent years has become a more culturally diverse society, now home to over a million new immigrant spouses and migrant workers.

National Taiwan Museum researcher Yuan Hsu-wen explains the upcoming event:

“In the morning we will first discuss the topic ‘New Immigrants: Past and Present’ which will focus on the cultural and social acceptance of new immigrants in Taiwan and their adjustment to Taiwan society. The afternoon theme “New Immigrants: Present and Future” will cover the cultural rights of new Southeast Asian immigrants and how that can be included in public policy,” said Yuan.

The forum welcomes new immigrants, migrant workers and the public to participate. There will be simultaneous interpretation in Vietnamese, Thai, Indonesian and English.    [FULL  STORY]

Black rapper ‘Famous’ releases music video shot in Kaohsiung

Candian-born rapper ‘Famous’ releases pioneering video shot in southern Taiwan’s Kaohsiung

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/06/05
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — JUNO (Canadian Grammy’s) nominated rapper “Famous”

Screen shot latest video by rapper ‘Famous’

last week released what he describes as the first music video filmed in Taiwan featuring an established black artist rapping in Mandarin.

James Bishop, who goes by the stage name “Famous,” directed the video titled “FAMOUS – HeiHeiDe 黑黑的 (First Black Man Rapping In Chinese)” is shot entirely on location in and around the Dragon and Tiger Pagodas at the edge of Kaohsiung’s scenic Lotus Lake.

When asked about his inspiration for the video, Bishop said, “I’ve always been a performer. Just this time I decided to rap in Chinese. I wanted to try something new and refreshing. Practice my Chinese.”    [FULL  STORY]

NHIA wants to cut back unnecessary repeat tests for patients

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/06/05
By: Chang Ming-hsuan and Lilian Wu

Taipei, June 5 (CNA) The National Health Insurance Administration (NHIA) said Monday that it will more closely monitor diagnostic testing of patients to avoid abuse of the country’s health care resources.

NHIA Director General Lee Po-chang (李伯璋) said that as part of the effort, his agency last month implemented a cloud-based system that generates a popup notice on the doctor’s computer to show what tests the patient has had over the most recent six-month period.

This is to help avoid unnecessary repetition of tests such as computer tomography (CT scans), ultrasound examinations, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), he said.    [FULL  STORY]

All Japan Taiwanese Union set up

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 06, 2017
By: Chang Mao-sen and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter in Tokyo, with staff writer

A score of Taiwanese compatriot organizations in Japan got together on Sunday for

Members of the All Japan Taiwanese Union on Sunday pose for a group photograph at the Imperial Hotel Tokyo. Photo: Chang Mao-sen, Taipei Times

the founding of the All Japan Taiwanese Union (AJTU) at the Imperial Hotel Tokyo.

Among the union members are the Taiwanese Association in Japan, the Japan Taiwan Medical Union, the Taiwanese Women’s Association in Japan and the World United Formosans for Independence’s Japanese chapter.

The union’s founding is widely believed to be the most significant event in the overseas Taiwanese community in Japan since 1945 and the organizations involved are known for their pro-Taiwan activism.

President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) sent a message congratulating the new organization.
[FULL  STORY]