A LOT TO OFFER:Taiwan has one of the best health-insurance systems worldwide and if leaders care about health, they should let the nation to attend, a doctor said

Taipei Times
Date: May 11, 2017
By: Lee I-chia / Staff reporter

Representatives from 15 healthcare associations yesterday announced a joint statement, urging the WHO to formally invite Taiwan to attend the upcoming World Health Assembly (WHA) in Geneva, Switzerland, this month.

“WHA needs Taiwan, Taiwan needs WHA,” healthcare professionals chanted at a news conference in Taipei yesterday morning, at which they strongly expressed their desire to contribute their professional skills to the world and not to be left out of global health issues.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare on Tuesday confirmed that Taiwan had not yet received an official invitation to attend the WHA this year, after eight years of being invited as an observer under the name “Chinese Taipei.”

“On behalf of nearly 300,000 professionals in 15 healthcare associations, we express deep disappointment over the situation,” Taiwan Medical Association president Chiu Tai-yuan (邱泰源) said. “As active participants in the global healthcare community, we have much to give.”    [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: May 11, 2017
By: Stephanie Chao

TAIPEI, Taiwan — President Tsai Ing-wen and the chiefs of Democratic Progressive Party- (DPP) ruled cities and counties have condemned the continual obstruction of the draft bill for the Special Act for Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Plan in the Legislature.

Both the president’s and mayors’ statements Wednesday came during and after the DPP’s Central Standing Committee meeting. For days, the main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) caucus party has obstructed legislative procedure to review the draft bill that would grant a total budget of NT$882.49 billion for infrastructure projects around Taiwan, including new light railways and several rail extension or improvement projects over eight years.

Taking a harsher tone, Tsai condemned the KMT for employing “irrational obstruction” and resistance over not only the pension reform bills but also the infrastructure plan, calling the former a plan “to lessen the burden on the next generation,” and the latter “to invest in the next generation’s future.”

Magistrates and mayors of all political colors have all wished to acquire more funding for infrastructure projects to improve local living quality, the president said, saying that more consideration should be taken in regards of the needs of Central and Southern Taiwan to balance out regional development all over the island.
[FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-05-09

Fourteen civic groups are calling for a review of the government’s infrastructure plan.

At a press conference Tuesday, the groups said the plan has not gone through a policy evaluation process. They also expressed concerns about a recent session of the Legislature where lawmakers declared a review of the plan finished after only one minute.

National Taiwan University professor Hsu Kuang-jung said Taiwan has become less competitive in many areas and that infrastructure need not be a priority. She asked how the public can be sure it is not putting future generations in debt without analysis of the plans’ cost-effectiveness.

Professor Liu Ching-yi, also of National Taiwan University, said the Cabinet should withdraw its plan and make its proposal clearer.

The groups plan to complete their own review of the infrastructure plan over the coming months.    [SOURCE]

Taipei Times
Date: May 10, 2017
By: Chen Wei-han / Staff reporter

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus is considering legislation that would allow authorities to seize the assets of suspected drug dealers to cut off funding for drug trafficking and help the nation in its war on drugs.

DPP Legislator Chiang Yung-chang (江永昌) is to propose an amendment to the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例) that would allow prosecutors to confiscate illegal sources of income of suspected drug dealers to cut off financial flows to drug syndicates.

At present, law enforcement officials cannot seize the assets of suspected drug dealers unless the items are proven to be illegal.

The amendment would allow prosecutors to impound suspected illegal gains unless the owner can prove they have not been obtained illegally, Chiang said.
The amendment hews to the spirit of newly enacted amendments to the Money Laundering Control Act (洗錢防制法), which authorize prosecutors to confiscate suspected illegal assets of people facing money-laundering charges, Chiang added.
[FULL  STORY]