Taiwan News
Date: 2016-09-04
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

In response to the resistance to the plan of a national pension reform, President Tsai Ing-wen said on Sunday that for the well-being of next generations of Taiwanese people, “We will insist on reforming the country’s pension system, and as the country’s president, I will shoulder the pressure that arises with the reform.”

Noting that thousands of retired and serving military officers, civil servants and teachers marched through Taipei Saturday to show their opposition to the pension reform plan, Tsai said that actually their opinions had been expressed many times in the weekly meetings of the pension reform committee.

She said the purpose of a country’s pension system is to guarantee each of the country’s elderly to have a pension income to sustain a basic standard of living, and therefore there are four principles regarding the pension reform.

The first principle is that the guarantee is comprehensive enough to hopefully cover the cost of basic and minimum living requirements of every old citizen in the country, and the second is that the calculation should be scientific, whether it is regarding the replacement rates of income, individual and government contributing rates, or benefit terms and conditions, Tsai said.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/09/04
By: Wu Che-hao and S.C. Chang

Taipei, Sept. 4 (CNA) It took Vicky Guo (郭韋齊) three and a half hours to finish a 3-kilometer swim across Sun Moon Lake Sunday, a feat that completed the amputee’s three dreams of making the swim, biking around Taiwan and climbing Taiwan’s highest peak — the 3,952-meter Jade Mountain.

Guo was among 187 physically challenged people who comprised the first group of more than 20,000 swimmers from 26 countries to swim across the scenic Sun Moon Lake in central Taiwan Sunday and Monday.

Guided by her coach, Guo, whose hands and feet were amputated at the age of seven due to a high fever and sepsis, strove her way to the other shore of the lake in three and a half hours.

“I take this as the best birthday gift to myself,” said Guo, who turned 23 that day.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-09-03
By: Sophia Yang, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Taiwan’s Ministry of Transportation announced Saturday that daytime running lights should be fitted to

all new types of passenger cars and motorcycles starting 2017 and 2018, respectively, meaning drivers and riders have to keep either their daytime running lights or headlights on during daytime in the coming years.

A daytime running light is an automotive lighting device on the front of a vehicle. Starting January 1, 2017, new motorcycles are mandated to be equipped with daytime running lights or automatic headlights, followed by passenger cars starting January 1, 2018, and trucks and buses from 2019.

Vehicles without either of them are not allowed to hit the road after the rule has entered into force. However, the new rule is not applicable to the vehicles in use, meaning those with a vehicle registration plate.

The ministry cited the data from European countries to support the new regulation, saying headlights on during daytime have been proven to significantly reduce the risk of road crash by 5.9 percent, which can be translated into a decrease of 26 fatalities and 6,668 casualties a year in Taiwan based on official road crash statistics for 2011.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/09/03
By: Liu Chien-pang and Lee Hsin-Yin

Taipei, Sept. 3 (CNA) Public bicycle rental service provider YouBike said Saturday that it will extend a compensatory free rental program through Sept. 5, because bad weather has prevented many people from getting compensated for the suspension of its service between Wednesday and noon Friday due to a system glitch.

Users in the six counties and cities that were affected by the suspension — Taipei, New Taipei, Hsinchu, Taoyuan, Taichung and Changhua — will be able to continue to rent YouBikes free of charge for the first hour, in addition to the originally scheduled period between Friday and Saturday, YouBike Co. said.

The normal rental fee, which takes effect from the second hour of usage, will resume from 11:59 p.m. Sept. 5, it said.     [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: September 4, 2016
By: CNA

Beautiful orange daylily flowers will remain in place in a field in Taimali Township of Taitung County, eastern Taiwan through the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival that will fall on Sept. 15, as the blossom season of the flower this year comes half a month late due to a warm winter seen last year.     [SOURCE]

The China Post
Date: September 3, 2016
By: Sun Hsin Hsuan

The 12th term members of the Examination Yuan on Friday celebrated the anniversary of their second

year in office on Sept. 1.

At a press conference marking the milestone, incumbent president Wu Jin-lin (伍錦霖) weighed in on the fervent debate surrounding national pension reform.

Wu urged Taiwan to “stay calm, rational, and put the interest of the country before the individual.”

Asked if he would prevent members of the Examination Yuan from participating in Saturday’s pension reform protest, Wu said it was the right of all civil servants to protest, and their participation in the event “would not violate the law.”

The comments came after the Defense Ministry spokesman Chen Chung-chi (陳中吉) said it “should not and would not be considered suitable” for active military officers to attend the protest.

The event is being organized by the Pension Reform Oversight Coalition, and is expected to attract more than 100,000 people.     [FULL  STORY]