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Over 100 illegal Chinese offices in Taiwan found: NSB

Want China Times
Date: 2015-05-15
By: CNA

Taiwan’s National Security Bureau (NSB) has discovered more than 100 offices that were illegally established by Chinese companies or individuals in Taiwan, some 20 of which could cause national security concerns, an NSB official said Thursday during a legislative session.

Asked about the bureau’s role in a plan to establish representative offices on each side of the Taiwan Strait, Lai Yun-cheng, the deputy chief of the NSB’s third department, which is in charge of the nation’s homeland security and intelligence work, said that the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) is responsible for mapping out the plan, while the bureau is keeping tabs on any illegal or abnormal activities.     [FULL  STORY]

AIIB bid to be addressed at cross-strait talks: MAC

Taipei Times
Date: May 16, 2015
By: Shih Hsiu-chuan  /  Staff reporter

The latest round of cross-strait talks is to be held on May 23 in Kinmen, with the issue of Taiwan’s intention to join the Chinese-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) to be discussed, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) spokesperson Wu Mei-hung (吳美紅) said yesterday.

Wu said that both sides have agreed to add the issue of Taiwan’s participation in the nascent multilateral lender to the agenda of the meeting, which was originally scheduled for early February, between council Minister Andrew Hsia (夏立言) and Chinese Taiwan Affairs Office Minister Zhang Zhijun (張志軍).     [FULL  STORY]

Amended labor law only ‘first step’: labor group

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/05/15
By: Zoe Wei and Lilian Wu

Taipei, May 15 (CNA) After the Legislature cleared an amendment to the Labor

Photo from Facebook

Photo from Facebook

Standards Act Friday to reduce the work week to 40 hours starting next year, a major labor group said that this is only the beginning and there is still a lot to be done if Taiwan is to shed its image as an island of overwork.

It is estimated that 3.4 million workers will benefit under the amended law.

“This is only the first step for Taiwanese workers to shed their super-long working hours and overwork,” the Taiwan Labor Front said.

It stressed that Taiwan still has to work toward reducing the amount of overtime, honoring holidays, and eliminating the “responsibility” system under which workers are required to complete allocated tasks no matter how long it takes, as well as a ban on the 12-hour rotational system, to cut its average 2,124 work hours per year — the third-highest in the world.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwanese architect to be awarded for environment-friendly lantern

Want China Times
Date: 2015-05-15
By: CNA

Taiwanese architect Joshua Jih Pan, who led the design of Delta Electronics’s

The Ring of Celestial Bliss. (Photo courtesy of Delta Electronics)

The Ring of Celestial Bliss. (Photo courtesy of Delta Electronics)

Architizer A+Award-winning lantern “Ring of Celestial Bliss,” is scheduled to attend the awards ceremony in New York City Thursday.

Pan’s architectural and planning firm, JJ Pan and Partners, designed the environmentally friendly lantern for the 2013 Taiwan Lantern Festival that took place in Hsinchu.

The 70-meter-wide circular lantern consisted of a recyclable steel structure and bamboo poles. It showcased moving images produced by LED lighting and projection technology.

In April, the giant lantern won both the jury award and the popular choice award in the category of Commercial Pop-ups & Temporary category at the international architecture awards.     [FULL  STORY]

Ko picks student awards over Syntrend ceremony

CONSPICUOUS ABSENCE:Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je said that Syntrend had to be ‘socially responsible’ and that it should provide for businesses impacted by the complex

Taipei Times
Date: May 16, 2015
By: Abraham Gerber  /  Staff reporter

Controversy over the Syntrend build-operate-transfer (BOT) project remains unresolved, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said yesterday in response to the complex’s opening ceremony.

“We wish them well on their opening, but accounts have yet to be cleared,” said Ko, who was noticeably absent from the opening ceremony, instead attending a ceremony to give out awards to exemplary elementary-school students.

The previous Taipei City Government had billed the 12-story building on city-owned land in Taipei’s Zhongzheng District (中正) as a conduit toward the transformation of the surrounding electronics district into a “shopping paradise” which could rival Tokyo’s Akihabara District.     [FULL  STORY]

Bureau forming travel-quality inspection team

QUALITY?Although the number of Chinese tourists has risen dramatically, the benefits are increasingly kept ‘in-house’ by Chinese firms and crowding has taken a toll

Taipei Times
Date: May 15, 2015
By: Shelley Shan  /  Staff reporter

The Tourism Bureau yesterday said the government is to establish a travel-quality inspection team in July, following a series of violations by Chinese travel agencies and tour guides.

Tourism Bureau Director-

General David Hsieh (謝謂君) made the announcement at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, where he briefed lawmakers on the bureau’s plan to develop tourism in Taiwan.

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lo Shu-lei (羅淑蕾) said that not all businesses in Taiwan reap the benefits of an increase in Chinese tourists, adding that the nation now has several Chinese-funded travel agencies that work with Chinese travel agencies to bring tourists here.     [FULL  STORY]

Pianist Azusa Fujita receives permanent residency card in Taipei

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/05/14
By: Liu Chien-pang and Kuo Chung-han

Taipei, May 14 (CNA) Longtime Taiwan-based Japanese pianist Azusa Fujita (藤

Azusa Fujit, left.

Azusa Fujit, left.

田梓) has been awarded a Plum Blossom Card, the Republic of China’s permanent residency card for non-nationals, the National Immigration Agency (NIA) said Thursday.

Ho Jung-chun (何榮村), deputy director-general of the NIA, said the card is mostly given to Christian missionaries who have lived in the country for decades, but recently more esteemed people in other professions have also been granted the card.

Experts with special skills and investment immigrants are included among those who may be granted the card.

Fujita, founder of the Frederic Chopin Foundation Taipei, said Thursday she looked forward to her new status as a permanent resident of Taiwan, which she said showed her efforts and contribution were recognized by Taiwanese people.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwanese cadet wills her way to success at US Naval Academy

Want China Times
Date: 2015-05-14
By: CNA

Despite the relapse of an old injury, Hu Chia-lin from Taiwan’s naval academy

Hu Chia-lin. (Photo/CNA)

Hu Chia-lin. (Photo/CNA)

was able to complete a series of grueling tests, called sea trials, at the US Naval Academy on Tuesday thanks to her steely will and the encouragement of other cadets.

The completion of the 14-hour sea trials represents the rite of passage for first year cadets and tests their mental strength and toughness.

Hu, the only female from Taiwan’s armed forces to study at a US military academy on a government scholarship last year, began the tests at 3 am.

She said she was a bit frustrated by the relapse of an injury to her right knee in the middle of the drills, but she insisted on finishing after undergoing the necessary examinations.     [FULL  STORY]

Former freeway toll collectors arrested for illegal protest

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/05/13
By: Liu Chien-pang and Lee Hsin-Yin

Taipei, May 13 (CNA) A total of 39 former freeway toll collectors were arrested 201505130028t0001Wednesday after they broke into a government office and carried out acts of vandalism in protest over what they described as unfair treatment they have received.

About 40 out of the 70 protesters, who were laid off following the implementation of an electronic toll system in 2014, forced their way into the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration under the Executive Yuan.

They managed to lock the office from the inside and sprayed the walls and signs of the administration with graffiti until the police finally gained entry and arrested 30 women and nine men.     [FULL  STORY]

Novel Hall still ‘cultural landscape’

Taipei Times
Date: May 14, 2015
By: Abraham Gerber  /  Staff reporter

Controversy over the future of Taipei’s Novel Hall (新舞台) continued yesterday as the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs announced plans to reaffirm its designation as “cultural landscape.”

Located in Taipei’s Xinyi (信義) business district, Novel Hall was formerly a major performance venue, before being shuttered as part of CTBC Holding Co’s (中國信託金融控股) efforts to sell the high-rise complex to which it is attached. CTBC previously funded the hall’s construction and operations.

CTBC Holding’s decision to close the site sparked an outcry from the artistic community, leading the city government to designate the site as “cultural landscape,” attaching a “subsidiary condition” requiring it to be used for artistic and cultural events.     [FULL  STORY]