Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/07/21
By: Wu Wan-ting and Kuo Chung-han

Taipei, July 21 (CNA) The budget for an episode of an average local TV drama is rarely more than NT$3 million (US$93,748), about 12.5 percent that of the South Korean TV drama “Descendants of the Sun,” Public Television Service (PTS) board of directors said on Thursday.

In a joint statement signed by PTS board members and supervisors, they called for the government to raise PTS’s budget and “look squarely” at the development of cultural and creative industries.

The PTS’s annual budget has been NT$900 million for 15 consecutive years since 2001, when the Legislature last decided the amount.

The operating income (or revenue) of Korean Broadcasting System (KBS), PTS’s counterpart in South Korea, was NT$44.8 billion, some 50 times that of PTS’s budget, said the statement.     [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 22, 2016
By: Stacy Hsu / Staff reporter

Former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) yesterday urged President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to file

a case at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea with regard to the nation’s rights over islands in the South China Sea, while calling on the ruling and opposition parties to initiate a name-rectification movement for the nation.

Lu made the remarks at the legislature at a forum on how to rectify problems posed by a ruling issued by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague on Tuesday last week regarding a dispute between the Philippines and China over features in the South China Sea.

Lu said Taiwan is the one to suffer amid a wrestling match between China and the US over South China Sea issues, quoting an African proverb: “When two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers.”

Losses the nation has sustained in terms of its maritime rights and resources are beyond measure, she said.     [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: July 22, 2016
By: Stephanie Chao

TAIPEI, Taiwan — A special committee meeting to review the controversial “one fixed day off, one

flexible day off” (一例一休) bill was canceled Thursday morning after opposition lawmakers occupied the podium and the convener was a no-show.

Legislators from the New Power Party (NPP), which opposes the Cabinet-backed bill, occupied the convener’s podium of the Health and Welfare Committee as early as 6 a.m.

At 9 a.m., Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) committee head Lin Hsu-fen failed to appear to convene the meeting.

The standoff ended at around 11 a.m. after ruling DPP party caucus whip Ker Chien-ming emerged from a closed-door party meeting with fellow DPP lawmakers and Labor Minister Kuo Fong-yu, who quickly escaped the media by taking a rear elevator.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-07-20
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The relatives of 24 Chinese citizens among 26 deaths in a bus blaze will travel to Taiwan by charter flight Thursday afternoon, a travel association said Wednesday.

A bus taking a group back to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at the close of an eight-day tour erupted in flames and hit the railings of the No.2 Freeway. Not a single person managed to escape the blaze, leading to a death toll of 26, including the driver, a Taiwanese and a Chinese tour guide.

The group originated in the northeastern Chinese province of Liaoning.

Since there were no scheduled direct flights between Dalian and Taiwan on Thursday, a flight would be chartered to bring the relatives to the island, according to the Travel Agency Association of Taiwan.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan Today
Date: July 20, 2016

President Tsai Ing-wen convened her first National Security Council meeting July 19 at which she

unveiled the government’s five actions and four principles relating to the recent award rendered by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the South China Sea arbitration initiated by the Philippines.

During the NSC meeting, Tsai said the July 12 award’s inappropriate designation of the Republic of China (Taiwan) and wrongful classification of Taiping Island as a rock severely jeopardize the rights of the nation. The award is totally unacceptable to the people and has no legally binding force on the ROC, the president added. The ROC will therefore take actions based on four principles.

The first action is that the government will step up patrol missions to safeguard the rights and safety of Taiwan fishermen operating in the South China Sea. Second, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is instructed to enhance multilateral dialogue with other relevant parties on collaboration and consensus.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/07/20
By: Lien Chin-feng, Liao Jen-kai, Wang Shu-fen and Lilian Wu

Taipei, July 20 (CNA) The possibility of an electrical short circuit cannot be ruled out in a deadly fire that engulfed a tour bus, killing all 26 people aboard, including 24 Chinese tourists, experts probing the cause of the fire said Wednesday.

The experts noted that a fuse box at the front of the bus had melted, pointing to the possibility of a power overload leading to an electrical short circuit.

The experts targeted the front area of the bus as a possible starting point for the fire, and were continuing their assessment, checking the driver’s door and various electrical appliances such as a drinking fountain at the front, a refrigerator underneath the aisle, and the main fuse box behind the driver’s seat.

They also compared the bus with another of the same type, particularly two transformers situated underneath the driver’s seat.     [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: July 21, 2016
By: Stephanie Chao

TAIPEI, Taiwan — President Tsai Ing-wen on Wednesday encouraged newly sworn-in Democratic

Progressive Party (DPP) committee members to be diligent in their work, urging them not to forget that the public would closely scrutinize the party’s every action.

“It is a responsibility, not a privilege, to hold positions as executive elites within the DPP,” she said.

Tsai, in her capacity as the party’s chairwoman, made the opening remarks at the inauguration of the 17th Central Evaluation Committee, Central Executive Committee, and Central Standing Committee members, who were elected during Sunday’s national party congress.

The current situation in Taiwan was not easy, she said, citing four photos she presented at the congress depicting crises that have occurred since her administration took power two months ago, including airport flooding and typhoon damage.     [FULL  STORY]