Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/07/10
By: Chen Chao-fu and Elaine Hou

Kaohsiung, July 10 (CNA) On behalf of 20,000 students and teachers, the Consumer Protection Association (消保會) filed a class-action lawsuit Friday with a district court against edible oil makers that have sold sub-standard products to schools to make school lunch meals.

The suit was filed against two scandal-ridden companies, Cheng I Food Co. (正義股份) and Chang Guann Co. (強冠企業).

Along with the suit, the association also demanded NT$3.7 billion (US$ 119 million) in compensation for the students and teachers.

Before Friday’s move, the association had also filed another class-action suit on behalf of 3,700 consumers against Chang Chi Foodstuff Co. and in its verdict in May, the Changhua District Court ordered the company pay NT$91.05 million in compensation to a group of consumers who had bought sub-standard cooking oil produced by the company.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-07-10
By: CNA

A college student was carried away by a rogue wave Thursday while on southeast

Taiwan’s outlying Green island as Typhoon Chan-hom approaches the country.

The man was on the shore with seven friends when a large rogue wave suddenly struck, dragging three of them into the water.

Two students managed to find their way back to the shore, sustaining cuts from the rocks. Coast guard officers are currently still looking for the missing student.

To avoid accidents, several recreation areas have decided to cancel operations during the typhoon period.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/07/09
By: Christie Chen

Taipei, July 9 (CNA) Taiwanese carpentry master Liao Chih-te (廖枝德) died on Wednesday in southern Taiwan at the age of 86 after a period of illness, the Tainan City Cultural Affairs Bureau said Thursday.

Liao, a skilled carpenter of traditional Taiwanese architecture, died of cardiopulmonary failure caused by lung infection, the Tainan Municipal Administration of Cultural Heritage said in a statement.

Liao had just been named a “living national treasure,” or a national-level preserver of timber framing (or “big woodworking”) techniques in November last year.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/07/09
By: Chou Yi-ling and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, July 9 (CNA) Taiwan’s top China policymaker, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) head Hsia Li-yan (夏立言), is scheduled to visit Washington D.C. and New York from July 11-19 to brief U.S. officials on the government’s policy towards mainland China, MAC spokesperson Wu Mei-hung (吳美紅) said Thursday.

During his visit to Washington, Hsia will meet with U.S. government officials, members of the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate and think tanks’ scholars to expound on Taiwan’s policy towards China and the development of relations across the Taiwan Strait, and to exchange views on issues of mutual concern, according to Wu.

It will be Hsia’s first trip to the United States since he took office as mainland affairs minister in February.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-07-08
By: CNA

Taiwan’s president, Ma Ying-jeou, said Tuesday that the truth behind the Republic of

China’s War of Resistance against Japan has no longer been forgotten as more and more historical documents related to the war have been revealed in recent years.

For much of the past 70 years, the ROC’s efforts in fighting the war and its contribution to the Allied victory in World War II were generally ignored by the international community because of the emergence of the Cold War, Ma said.

But over the past decade, significant historical documents, such as the diaries of the ROC leader Chiang Kai-shek and the diaries of German businessman John Rabe, were revealed, drawing more attention to the ROC’s resistance against Japanese aggression among international scholars, he said.     [FULL  STORY]