Legal experts offer their opinions on whether government should regulate third party payment services

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/04/21
By: Judy Lin, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News)—FinTech, a new up and coming financial service trend, is

defined as any disruptive financial technology innovation, such as mobile payment, investment bots, and blockchain services.

However, strict financial regulations remain the biggest hurdle for the industry in Taiwan to move forward, agreed experts familiar with the issue that gathered at Hit FinTech forum organized by Chinese-language Knowing media, Thursday.

Ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmaker Karen Yu (余宛如) noted if Taiwan passes FinTech laws, it will become the fifth country in the world to pass third party payment regulations.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/04/17
By: Chang Ming-hsuan and Lilian Wu

Taipei, April 17 (CNA) More than 51,000 people have not used their national health

insurance cards to pay for medical treatment since the cards were first issued in 2004, according to the latest statistics from the National Health Insurance Administration (NHIA).

Pang I-ming (龐一鳴), a section chief of the administration, said that between 2004 and 2016, 51,306 people had not used their cards to seek medical treatment, around 87 percent of whom were under 65 years old, or 44,452 people.

The number of non-users aged 65-79 was 5,752, those aged 80-99 numbered 1,061 and those over 100 numbered 41.

He noted that some of the non-users stay overseas on a long-term basis, but continue to pay national health insurance so that they can keep their household registration.

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 21, 2017
By: Lin Liang-sheng and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writer

The Sunflower movement of 2014 was an “illegal and non-peaceful” protest that does

not qualify as civil disobedience, former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said yesterday.

Speaking at a corporate awards ceremony organized by the Chinese-language Cheers magazine, Ma said that having been involved in the Baodiao movement (保釣) during his college days, he believed that student movements should be peaceful and should not break the law.
Baodiao refers to a movement to defend the disputed Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台).

Illegal or non-peaceful gatherings are not a form of civil disobedience and involve “moral hazards” that lead to people resisting anything they dislike, Ma said.

Quoting a 19th-century US writer who advocated civil disobedience, Ma said people must accept the consequences of their disobedience.    [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: April 21, 2017
By: Kuan-lin Liu

TAIPEI, Taiwan — The latest inspection of the unfinished Taipei Dome found that half of

its 2 million component parts were rusted, according to a statement from Farglory Group (遠雄集團) on Thursday.

Taipei City Councilors Li-Keng Kuei Fong (厲耿桂芳) and Chung Hsiao-ping (鐘小平) visited the Dome Thursday, while Farglory inspected the structure via a drone.

Both parties found substantial levels of rusting that, according to architect Chuang Chin-sheng (莊金生), will affect the overall safety of the arena unless reinforcements are added.

Farglory’s deputy general manager and spokesman Jacky Yang (楊舜欽) said it would cost NT$400 million (US$13.15 million) to remove the rust.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan Today
Date: April 19, 2017

A generous incentives-based program aimed at encouraging top Taiwan doctorate

holders in the fields of science and technology to return home from abroad and share their knowledge and expertise was unveiled April 18 by the Ministry of Science and Technology.

Under the Leaders in Future Trends program, 100 qualified candidates are eligible to each receive annual subsidies of NT$1.5 million (US$49,292), as well as accommodation and education for dependent children in the Hsinchu, Central and Southern Taiwan science parks. In return, the candidates—who must be under the age of 45, Republic of China (Taiwan) nationals and holders of a doctorate awarded by a foreign university—will participate in at least 10 sessions of exchanges and seminars per month mainly at the facilities.    [FULL  STORY]

Shangri-La’s Far Eastern Plaza Hotel features a gourmet journey to Brazil in Taipei

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/04/20
By: Rana Yeh, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) –Shangri-La’s Far Eastern Plaza Hotel, Taipei, in cooperation with the Commercial Office of Brazil in Taipei, will present a special Brazilian gourmet journey in April, inviting Brazilian guest chef Almir Da Fonseca to create authentic Brazilian delicacies for the feast.

Chef Almir Da Fonseca, also a professor at the Culinary Institute of America, has been traveling around Brazil to carrying out a research project called “The Brazil Project” on different Brazilian foods for over 28 years. With his wealth of knowledge and passion for Brazilian cuisine, he has been invited to Taiwan in April to bring authentic Brazilian food to the people of Taiwan.

Brazil is a large country made up of different regions and cultures. Each region has its own culinary specialties. The event showcases traditional dishes from across Brazil.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/04/19
By: Christie Chen

Taipei, April 19 (CNA) Areas around Taiwan, especially in the north and east, are likely

to see rainfall over the following week with the arrival of a weather front and the strengthening of northeasterly winds, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said on Wednesday.

Northern and eastern Taiwan can expect intermittent rain on Thursday as the front approaches, while central and southern areas could see rain or thunderstorms that day as a cloud system moves northwards from the south of the island, the bureau said.

On Friday, the weather in the north and northeast is forecast to turn cooler as the front passes across Taiwan and northeasterly winds strengthen, while heavier rain or thunderstorms are expected in western and northeastern areas, the CWB said.
[FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-04-18

The majority Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is calling for a “rational” discussion

of the government’s pension reform plans. That’s after a group opposing the reforms announced it would launch a sit-in in front of the Legislature starting Tuesday night.

The Tsai Ing-wen administration has made shoring up the country’s deficit-ridden pension system one of its priorities. DPP lawmakers Tsai Shih-ying and Wang Ding-yu held a press conference Tuesday calling for the public to use peaceful and rational means to address the issue of pensions.

Wang said pension reform is an issue that the ruling and opposition camps should face together. Wang said the nation faces financial crisis and that pension reform is unavoidable.    [FULL  STORY]