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TSU invites Rebiya Kadeer to visit Taiwan

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 25, 2017
By: Chen Wei-han / Staff reporter

World Uyghur Congress president Rebiya Kadeer has accepted an invitation from the Taiwan Solidarity

Left to right, Japan Uyghur Association president Ilham Mahmut, Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Chairman Liu I-te and TSU social movements department director Chang Chao-lin display correspondence related to the party’s invitation to World Uyghur Congress president Rebiya Kadeer in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times

Union (TSU) to visit Taiwan at the end of March, which would be the activist’s first visit to the nation.

The visit, if approved, would see Kadeer hold talks with Taiwanese activists and politicians about human rights, self-determination and independence.

In a video played at a news conference in Taipei yesterday, Kadeer expressed a deep interest in visiting Taiwan, and connecting with local activists and politicians, urging the government to give the green light to her visit.

“Taiwan is in unity with East Turkestan, Tibet and Southern Mongolia. We have to help each other, and exchange opinions and experiences at all times,” Kadeer said. “We support all the movements you launch in the name of freedom and we also need your support.”

She congratulated President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on her election victory last year and expressed support for Tsai’s administration.

Japan Uyghur Association president Ilham Mahmut said Kadeer had long been planning to visit Taiwan, but the administration of former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) denied her entry in 2009, even though Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) had helped file a visa application for Kadeer’s participation at a film festival.    [FULL  STORY]

CEO Hsu could face 30 years for securities fraud

The China Post
Date: January 25, 2017
By: Sun Hsin Hsuan

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Prosecutors indicted Aaron Hsu (許金龍), the Chief Executive Officer of the local game developer XPEC Entertainment Inc. (樂陞科技) on Tuesday, advising the court to punish him with the heaviest possible sentence of 30 years in prison.

Hsu was charged for violations against the Securities and Exchange Act, with which crimes he illegally obtained more than NT$4 billion, prosecutors alleged, while asking the Taipei District Court to confiscate the money.

Charges are False: Hsu

Hsu denied all charges late Thursday, saying, “One can be killed, never humiliated.”

The indictment came months after the biggest financial scandal in Taiwan’s game developer history hit the nation last August.    [FULL  STORY]

Majority of public supports pension reform this year: survey

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/01/23
By: Wang Cheng-chung and Ko Lin

Taipei, Jan. 23 (CNA) A majority of the public supports carrying out pension reform this

(CNA file photo)

year, according to a survey released by the Taiwan Style Foundation, a local think tank, on Monday.

Among those polled, 64.9 percent said they supported the government’s plans to carry out pension reform this year, compared with 29 percent who were against the idea.

At the same time, 63.3 percent of respondents said they were broadly supportive of President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) pension reform plans, despite a large protest staged by retired and active civil servants, public-school teachers and military personnel last Sunday.

More than eight of 10 respondents (84.6 percent) from the public sector said pension reform was needed, and 53.8 percent of respondents supported eliminating the 18-percent preferential interest rate on retirement savings accounts for public sector employees.    [FULL  STORY]

Ministry pursues absent Women’s League material

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 24, 2017
By: Abraham Gerber / Staff reporter

Financial documentation provided by the National Women’s League falls far short of legal requirements, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday, adding that the group submitted only one of four types of required documents.

“We have received the documents, but they are not complete, so we will ask them to make a supplementary filing,” Civil Affairs Department Deputy Director Luo Rui-ching (羅瑞卿) said.

While the league has provided 10 years of revenue and expenditure balance sheets, it has not provided any of the other required documents, which are a financial statement, a list of property holdings and an asset-liability balance sheet, he said.

The information provided was insufficient to draw conclusions about the league’s finances, he said, adding that the ministry would wait until the additional documents are provided before publicizing any information.    [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: January 24, 2017
By: The China Post news staff

TAIPEI, Taiwan — The Kuomintang (KMT) may have gained an at least temporary

The Kuomintang (KMT) may have gained an at least temporary reprieve in its battle to regain control of assets frozen by the government.

reprieve in its battle to regain control of assets frozen by the government.

The Taipei High Administrative Court ruled Monday that the party should have access to the funds — totaling more than NT$740 million — until a lawsuit between itself and the Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee was settled.

The committee in November ordered a freeze on the assets, namely NT$330 million in deposits in a Bank SinoPac account and eight checks, each with a face value of NT$52 million, issued by the Bank of Taiwan.

Whether it was legal for the committee to freeze the accounts was questionable, the court found.    [FULL  STORY]

Dry, chilly weather to last until Monday

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-01-22

A strong cold air mass from China which arrived in Taiwan last Friday is likely to keep the weather cold and dry until Monday. That was the word from the Central Weather Bureau on Sunday.

The head of the bureau’s forecasting center, Cheng Ming-dean, said the cold front produced lows of 11-13 degrees Celsius in northern Taiwan on Sunday. Lows of 11-12 degrees were also expected in the north on Monday morning.

Forecasters say the cold air mass is likely to weaken starting on Tuesday with temperatures rebounding and a greater chance of occasional rain in the northern and eastern parts of Taiwan.

But another weather front is expected to bring precipitation on Wednesday and another drop in temperatures later in the day.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Metro launches adjustments during Chinese New Year holiday

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/01/22
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

During the 2017 Chinese New Year period from January 27 through February 1, the Taipei Metro

will run in holiday mode, according to Taipei Rapid Transit Corporation (TRTC). Additional train services will be provided to avoid over-crowding when necessary, the TRTC said.

Passengers are also allowed to travel by the Metro System with their bicycles during this period (excluding Tamsui Station, Taipei Main Station, Daan Station, Zhongxiao Fuxing Station, Nanjing Fuxing Station, and all stations on the Wenhu Line), the TRTC said.

The average headway on the Tamsui-Xinyi Line, Songshan-Xindian Line, Zhonghe-Xinlu Line, and Bannan Line is about 5~10 minutes and about 12~15 minutes after 23:00. The average headway on the Wenhu Line is about 4~7 minutes, and about 12~15 minutes after 23:00, according to the TRTC.

Taipei Children’s Amusement Park, Maokong Gondola, and Taipei Arena Ice Land are close on January 27 (Chinese New Year’s Eve) and will resume service on January 28, t3he TRTC said.
[SOURCE]

Teacher retirement age to be raised to 60: Education Ministry

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/01/22
By: Lo Kuang-jen and Kuo Chung-han

Taipei, Jan. 22 (CNA) A pension reform proposal to raise the age of retirement for K12 teachers to

CNA file photo

60 and that for non-teaching staff to 65 incorporate different perspectives on retirement age, the Ministry of Education said in a statement on Sunday.

The ministry was responding to opinions that K12 teachers’ age of retirement should be either as late as 65 or as early as 55.

The reform proposal for Taiwan’s pension system was drafted by the Pension Reform Committee under the Presidential Office.

Under the proposal, teachers’ age of retirement will be 60 in 2028, after a 10-year transition from the current “75 retirement index,” which is a formula based on a minimum retirement age of about 50 and 25 years of service, said the ministry.    [FULL  STORY]

REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: Taiwan to see if optimism over Trump has merit

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 23, 2017
By: Stacy Hsu / Staff reporter

Newly inaugurated US President Donald Trump’s election on Nov. 8 last year has brought about mixed feelings in Taiwan, a small nation that, despite being more than 12,000km from the US, whose international status and national security hinge on the policy direction of the world’s leading power.

The US Republican Party’s relatively pro-Taiwan stance, or most importantly its antagonism against China, has raised hopes that Taiwan could stand to gain from a Republican administration, mainly through warmer Taiwan-US ties or larger arms sales packages from the US.

Trump’s perceivably provocative rhetoric targeting Beijing and moves that stirred the waters in the Taiwan Strait since his election have reinforced those hopes, in particular the tycoon-turned-politician’s decision to go about telling the world about his unprecedented telephone call with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and his questioning of Washington’s long-standing “one China” policy.    [FULL  STORY]

Seafarer’s death highlights interpreter shortage

The China Post
Date: January 23, 2017
By: By Stephanie Chao

“It is difficult to leave this place … I’m often insulted by the captain, too. Here is a victim of

Indonesian seafarer Supriyanto is shown after being beaten by members on the fishing vessel on which he worked on. ( Screengrabs )

violence on this ship,” Indonesian seafarer Mualip said in his recorded video of fellow seafarer Supriyanto, who is shown sitting dazed on deck of a ship that left Pingtung’s Dong Gang harbor in May.

In his narration, Mualip describes Supriyanto as having been beaten by crew members on the ship before recording the video. Supriyanto was sporting swelling and bruising on his face. “Thank you, Supriyanto. I hope you will recover soon,” Mualip said.

It would be one of the last glimpses of Supriyanto’s visage. In another video, he was shown on the brink of death in late August.

With the 580,000 foreign blue-collar workers living in Taiwan (as of 2015, the Interior Ministry’s figures showed there were approximately 630,000 foreigners in total) and a vast number of foreign spouses, with those coming from Southeast Asia making up almost 90 percent (149,213 out of 165,902), one would assume that Taiwan would have already set up a comprehensive system to address the needs of this vast population.    [FULL  STORY]