Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/09/10
By: Chen Wei-ting and Lilian Wu

Taipei, Sept. 10 (CNA) Taiwan has recorded its seventh imported case of Zika virus infection, a 20-year-old female student from Singapore who is studying at a university in southern Taiwan, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said Saturday.

The CDC said it was the first reported case of Zika from Singapore, and the patient was the youngest among all the imported cases.

The student is from Aljunied Crescent, one of the cluster areas of Zika virus in Singapore, and visited Japan for sightseeing Aug. 26 to Sept. 3, according to the CDC.

On Sept. 1, she developed a rash, joint pain, headache and conjunctivitis, and she sought medical attention on Sept. 3, two days after she arrived in Taiwan, the CDC said.

Based on the patient’s account of her activities during the incubation period of the virus, the CDC confirmed that she had been infected in Singapore.     [FULL  STORY]

‘Eatgether’ matches users so you never have to eat alone again.

The News Lens
Date: 2016/09/09
By: ZiQing Low

Taiwanese startup Eatme has launched a new app that allows strangers to eat meals together. The

mobile app, launched on Android devices on Aug. 31, has been downloaded as many as 5,000 times since its release.

“Eatgether” was released as a website in May, with up to 25,000 users registering in the first 90 days.

While the web version of Eatgether only notified users of a match via e-mail, Kimi Lai (賴柏成), chief operating officer for Eatme, told The News Lens International that the app allows users to actively browse through and connect with other users.

Users set a date, time, and place for the meetup, and interested people can register to join in.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/09/09
By: Tony Liao and Elizabeth Hsu

Washington, Sept. 9 (CNA) The United States will give the green light to a proposal to sell Mk-48

heavyweight torpedoes to Taiwan after many years of delay, the U.S.-based Defense News reported Thursday, citing an official at Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense (MND).

The Advanced Capability torpedoes will be outfitted on Taiwan’s two remaining combat attack submarines after they undergo an upgrade to extend their lifespan, the report from Taipei said.

It pointed out that Taiwan purchased the two Dutch-built Sea Dragon-class (Zwaardvis Mk 2) submarines in the late 1980s.

“The recent US$200 million procurement of 32 UGM-84L Sub-launched Harpoon Block II anti-ship missiles will also give the Dutch-built submarines a bigger punch,” Defense News said.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-09-09
By: Maggie Huang, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

The Executive Yuan has approved a plan to extend NT$30 billion in preferred loans to to the local tourism sector amid a fall in the number of Chinese tourists visiting the island.

Along with other measures, the loans are aimed at helping the domestic tourism business upgrade its hardware and software in a bid to improve the quality of the industry and eventually attract more visitors to Taiwan.

Since the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party government took office in May, there has been a 30-percent year-on-year decline in the number of Chinese tourists taking part in group tours to Taiwan, with the latest data also showing that tourist numbers fell 15 per cent year on year in July and probably fell further in August.

Premier Lin Chuan has approved the loan, which has lower interest rates than in the market. The Executive Yuan also indicated that it will help the local tourism industry come up with innovative tour packages which are expected to provide an insightful look at Taiwan to attract more inbound foreign tourists.     [SOURCE]

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 10, 2016
By: Abraham Gerber / Staff Reporter

The government’s plan to open up mutual funds to Chinese investment amounts to “smuggling

through” the cross-strait service trade agreement — which formed the focus of the 2014 Sunflower movement — without legislative approval, critics said yesterday, while calling for supervisory legislation to be reviewed by a special joint legislative committee.

“At a time when the Cabinet has not passed the cross-strait service trade agreement, Premier Lin Chuan’s (林全) Cabinet is trying to smuggle through one of the provisions of the agreement,” Economic Democracy Union convener Lai Chung-chiang (賴中強) said, citing the Cabinet’s decision earlier this month to relax restrictions on Chinese investment in Taiwanese mutual funds.

Financial Supervisory Commission Vice Chairman Kuei Hsien-nung (桂先農) earlier this month said that the government would relax restrictions on Chinese visitors, allowing them to invest up to US$500 million in New Taiwan dollar denominated mutual funds while in the nation — and allowing Chinese outside the nation to invest in foreign-currency-denominated funds that track Taiwanese stocks and bonds.     [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: September 10, 2016
By: Sun Hsin Hsuan

TAIPEI, Taiwan –The Education Ministry, a participant in the Tsai administration’s “New Southbound

Policy,” is working to build a deeper connection with Southeast Asia through student exchange programs, vocational courses and internships, and academic partnerships.

In what critics called a shift from her predecessor’s emphasis on the cross-strait relationship, President Tsai Ing-wen had formed a new southbound office directly under the Presidential Office to emphasize that all southbound affairs should be the top priority in all government agencies.

The office was charged with cultivating a deeper, stronger and more critical relationship with countries in the Southeast Asia.

Although responsibility for the office was later transferred from the Presidential Office to the Executive Yuan — the result of a personnel shuffle following the Singapore envoy’s DUI violation — Tsai has repeatedly made it clear that Southeast Asia ranks at the top of Taiwan’s priorities.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan Today
Date: September 8, 2016

A Taiwan team’s efforts to combat the Zika virus have been realized in a device designed to provide

timely point-of-care analysis that will significantly contribute to the battle against contagious diseases.

The device, dubbed BluBox and characterized by its capacity to analyze blood for the presence of the Zika virus in roughly 10 minutes, is the result of collaboration between the National Taiwan University Germination Program and Technical University of Denmark. It was honored in August by the U.S. Agency for International Development as part of its Combating Zika and Future Threats: A Grand Challenge for Development initiative.

“Fighting the spread of the Zika virus is a global challenge. BluBox is a groundbreaking innovation and can greatly enhance the effectiveness of existing preventive measures to combat the Zika outbreak,” said Hwu En-te, principal project investigator of the NTUGP.

Slated to enter the market in 2017 and featuring cutting-edge Blu-Ray optical technology from Taiwan, BluBox requires only a drop of blood for Zika virus screening. Unlike most other systems, which are costly and complex, BluBox is simple, low-cost and portable. It can also be used to screen for the dengue virus, according to Hwu.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-09-08
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

A judge on Thursday gave a lenient sentence to a Korean woman who confessed to stealing a wallet from an Indonesian female tourist at Shifen Old Street and kept pleading for leniency as she has a 70-year-old mother and a 3-year-old daughter who is looking for her every day.

Shifen, a village along the Pingxi railway line in Pingxi Township, New Taipei City, is a hot spot for foreign tourists and well known for flying lanterns.

The Indonesian woman was picking out a flying lantern on the street of Shifen around 1 p.m. on July 10 when her wallet was nabbed. After reviewing surveillance camera footage, police found two males unzipping the backpack of the Indonesian while she was paying for her purchase. After the backpack was unzipped, the Korean woman surnamed Pak, 43, with her right hand holding a bonnet for cover, sneaked her left hand into the backpack and took out a black wallet, which contained NT$20,000 in cash, identity cards, and credit cards.

Pak got a share of NT$2,000 from the stolen money, and encouraged by the success, she and three men went back to Shifen Old Street the next day, to look for a next target.     [FULL  STORY]