Page Three

Philippines to step up crackdowns on Taiwanese, Chinese poachers

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/06/22
By: Emerson Lim and S.C. Chang

Manila, June 22 (CNA) The Philippines is acquiring nearly 100 patrol boats to step up crackdowns 201506220025t0002on what fishery officials describe as “poachers from Taiwan and China,” local media quoted the Fisheries Development Authority as saying Monday.

The media quoted Asis Perez, the country’s top fisheries official, as saying his government has ordered over 70 short-range and nearly 30 mid- and long-range patrol vessels, which will be delivered by the end of the year.

The Philippines currently has only 20 patrol boats to patrol its 36,000 kilometers of coastline.

During the past two months, Taiwanese fishing boats have entered the Philippines’ “law enforcement” waters in the northern part of the country at least five times.     [FULL  STORY]

Hsinchu, New Taipei hit by heavy rainfall

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/06/21
By: Chen Wei-ting, Sunrise Huang and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, June 21 (CNA) The Central Weather Bureau issued a heavy rain warning on Sunday while 201506210012t0002some areas in Hsinchu County and New Taipei in northern Taiwan were being battered by heavy rainfall after days of unremitting heat.

The bureau reminded people living in the northern half of Taiwan and mountainous areas in the east to be on alert of sudden heavy rains, lightning and strong gusts of wind.

According to the bureau’s monitoring data, as of 6:10 p.m., a weather monitoring station in Hsinchu County’s Jianshi Township and one on New Taipei’s Sanxia District had both recorded 87 millimeters of rainfall in the previous six hours.

In the capital Taipei, 55 mm of rain fell during the same period, and heavy rainfall was also recorded in mountainous areas of Nantou County in central Taiwan and of Chiayi County and the Tainan and Kaohsiung areas in southern Taiwan.     [FULL  STORY]

Formerly homeless tour guides reveal the Hidden Taipei

Taipei Times
Date: 2015-06-21
By: CNA

Around a dozen tourists recently gathered around a gray-haired man donning a cowboy jacket

A-Chiang, center, with one of the groups he has taken around Wanhua. (File photo/CNA)

A-Chiang, center, with one of the groups he has taken around Wanhua. (File photo/CNA)

outside the ornate Longshan Temple in Taipei, enthralled by his stories of Wanhua district that even locals don’t know.

The man, named Chen Tzu-chiang or A-Chiang for short, represents one of the faces of the new tour organization “Hidden Taipei” that is trying to show people Taiwan’s capital from a unique perspective — through the eyes of the homeless.

A-Chiang, who was once homeless himself, has taken to his new role as a tour guide after receiving training from the organization. “I was the first one to enter the training course and the first to transition into the new job,” the 65-year-old said with pride.

It only seemed natural for him to tell the story of the once bustling Wanhua district in the southwestern part of the city that has lost much of its former glamour since Taipei’s development shifted eastward. Now the district in the city with the most low-income households, senior citizens living alone, people with disabilities, and homeless, Wanhua has been portrayed as an area populated by the “five vagabonds” — referring to hoodlums, the homeless, street prostitutes, street vendors and migrant workers.     [FULL  STORY]

Police ‘reluctant’ to adopt protest approval process

INDECISION:National Alliance for Workers of Closed Factories member Lu Chi called for Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je to preside over meetings on the issue

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 22, 2015
By: Ho Shih-chang and Jake Chung  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer

An inconclusive outcome of a recent meeting between the Taipei Police Department and the city government’s Public Works Department on the issue of road applications for protests was panned by the National Alliance for Workers of Closed Factories, which said the police department was “reluctant” to simplify the application process.

Late last month, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) instructed both agencies to look into simplifying the application process for protests to convene and demonstrate due to the line of applicants often seen to the right side of City Hall ahead of elections or during protests over certain issues.

Standing regulations state that applicants apply at the New Construction Office for rights to use the roads at the designated time before filing an application to demonstrate with the Taipei Police Department, which would then notify both the applicant and the New Construction Office if the application is approved. The entire process can take up to nine days.     [FULL  STORY]

Truck collision and derailment lead to record court ruling

NT$210M:Netizens applauded the Taoyuan District Court decision, saying the judge ‘has guts’ to mete out ‘justice’ for the fatal 2012 incident

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 21, 2015
By: Jason Pan  /  Staff reporter

A truck driver and the transportation company he worked for must pay a record NT$210 million (US$6.76 million) in damages to the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) for their role in a fatal 2012 collision and express train derailment in the then-Taoyuan County, the Taoyuan District Court ruled yesterday.

The collision occurred on the morning of Jan. 17, 2012, when a gravel truck driven by Peng Jung-chuang (彭永莊) ignored warning lights and barriers coming down at a railway crossing near Pusin (埔心) Rail Station in the then-Yangmei City (楊梅) of Taoyuan County, colliding with a northbound Taroko Express No. 278 train, court documents and officials said.

The court found Peng and the company liable for the accident and ordered them to pay NT$210 million, the highest amount ever for such cases, for damages and repairs to the train, railway track and station facilities, along with medical expenses for those injured and ticket compensation for passengers affected by train delays on that day.     [FULL  STORY]

Rule change could yield 500,000 Chinese transit passengers: minister

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/06/20
By: Lee Hsin-Yin

Taipei, June 20 (CNA) As many as 500,000 Chinese nationals could transit through Taiwan’s airports in the first 12 months after a recent relaxation in restrictions on Chinese transit passengers takes effect, according to Transportation Minister Chen Chien-yu (陳建宇).

That number could rise to 800,000 in the second 12 months as more Chinese travelers discover that transiting through Taiwan on their way to third countries can save them time and money, Chen said earlier this week.

“This service could be especially attractive to those traveling between second or third-tier Chinese cities and North American countries or Australia,” Chen said.

Most travelers from cities such as Wuxi and Xiamen in southern China and Shijiazhuang and Taiyuan in northern China heading to third countries currently have to transit via Incheon, Tokyo or Hong Kong, he said.     [FULL  STORY]

Taipei mayor’s proposal for public housing stalls

HOUSEKEEPING:In order to pass the bill, the mayor must win votes from the pan-blue camp, which has a majority on the Taipei City Council, by one vote

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 21, 2015
By: Tsai Ya-hua  /  Staff reporter

Independent Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) proposal to establish a Taipei-owned public housing corporation remains stalled, with the Taipei City Council’s first regular session scheduled to end today, but action yet to be taken on four other high-priority acts.

The proposal has been viewed as a touchstone for evaluating the relationship between the council and City Hall, due to the importance of the project to Ko, who promised to implement large-scale construction of new public housing during his first term.

Following the city government’s request to add two special sessions to allow more time for the passage of proposed legislation, the council has agreed to one special session, moving its recess date to July 1.     [FULL  STORY]

Train accidents kill two people in central and southern Taiwan

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/06/20
By: Chen Wei-ting and Kuo Chung-han

Taipei, June 20 (CNA) Northbound trains hit pedestrians at rail crossings in Taichung and Tainan on

Photo courtesy of the TRA Yongkang Station

Photo courtesy of the TRA Yongkang Station

Saturday, killing two people and delaying 37 trains on Dragon Boat Festival day.

The first accident happened at 8:43 a.m. in the Taichung area between Chenggong Station and Xinwuri Station, causing delays to 27 trains that affected 10,470 passengers, the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) said.

The TRA restored operations to normal at 11:09 a.m.

The second accident occurred at 3:11 p.m. north of Yongkang Station, causing delays to 10 trains that affected some 3,200 passengers, the TRA said.     [FULL  STORY]

Chinese travel documents for Taiwanese needs cross-strait negotiation: Tsai Ing-wen

Want China Times
Date: 2015-06-20
By: CNA

Tsai Ing-wen, chair of Taiwan’s major opposition Democratic Progressive Party, said Friday that the

Taiwan compatriot permits and passports at Taoyuan International Airport in Taoyuan, June 18. (Photo/Chen Chi-chuan)

Taiwan compatriot permits and passports at Taoyuan International Airport in Taoyuan, June 18. (Photo/Chen Chi-chuan)

issue of travel documents issued by China to Taiwanese citizens should be settled through negotiation by both parties across the Taiwan Strait, adding that Beijing’s offer of permit-free treatment to Taiwanese visitors to China will inevitably have political connotations.

Tsai was asked at an event celebrating the Dragon Boat Festival in New Taipei to comment on the announcement by China’s State Council a day earlier stating that from July 1, Taiwanese travelers with a valid Taiwan Compatriot Permit need not apply for an entry permit to China.

Tsai suggested that the government should pay special attention to the policy and if necessary, attempt to negotiate with Beijing, so as to protect Taiwan’s dignity as well as maintain effective law enforcement.

Cabinet report eyes public sector raises

‘PSEUDO-SCIENCE’:President Ma Ying-jeou’s administration increased public sector wages by 3 percent in 2011, with critics saying the move was aimed at buying votes

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 21, 2015
By: Chung Li-hua, Chen Yu-hsuan and Chen Wei-han  /  Staff reporters, with staff writer

Public sector wages and pensions are expected to get a 3 percent raise to bring them in line with average increases in the private sector, which have risen by an average of 3 percent over the past three years, according to a report published by the Executive Yuan.

Legislators and academics described the move as a “vote-buying policy.”

If implemented, the pay raise would benefit about 620,000 military personnel, civil servants and public schoolteachers, as well as the pensions of 260,000 retirees, at an estimated cost of more than NT$21 billion (US$676.1 million), according to the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics.     [FULL  STORY]