Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/06/20
By: Chiu Po-shen, Wu Jui-chi,
      Lu Kang-chun, Lee Hsin-Yin and Ko Lin

Taipei, June 20 (CNA) A shouting contest broke out outside EVA Airways' corporate headquarters in Taoyuan Thursday, as hundreds of union members and company staff shouted slogans and exchanged insults over a strike called by the union that led to nearly two dozen flight cancellations that day.

The strike started at 4 p.m., after negotiations between the Taoyuan Flight Attendants Union (TFAU) and the airline management collapsed.

Among the issues unresolved, TFAU demanded that the daily allowance for EVA flight attendants be increased.

As the strike began, hundreds of union members gathered outside the Taoyuan building to protest against the company.    [FULL  STORY]

ACCIDENT? The Taipei District Court said a contractor had mistakenly disposed of evidence relating to Ho Chih-hui’s bribing of judges and a prosecutor in 2010

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 21, 2019
By: Jason Pan  /  Staff reporter

The Ministry of Justice and the Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday launched an investigation

to re-examine misconduct and scandals involving fugitive Ho Chih-hui (何智輝), a former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator and Miaoli County commissioner, after a media report saying that evidence relating to his bribing of judges had been destroyed.

Minister of Justice Tsai Ching-hsiang (蔡清祥) said he ordered the office to investigate the circumstances that led to the destruction of evidence in Ho’s case, and how Ho was able to evade police searches and flee to China.

In the first Taiwan High Court ruling in 2006, Ho was found guilty of receiving kickbacks on an industrial park development project in Tongluo Township (銅鑼), Miaoli County, during his tenure as county commissioner from 1993 to 1997.

Ho’s case led to a scandal in the justice system, when investigators found that he had paid more than NT$10 million (US$320,770 at the current exchange rate) in bribes to four judges and a prosecutor, to ensure a “not guilty” verdict in the High Court retrial in May 2010.
[FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan Internatinal
Date: 19 June, 2019
By: Shirley Lin

Hong Kong saw its biggest protests in history this weekend. Two million people demonstrated against a controversial extradition bill that could enable Chinese authorities to detain anyone in Hong Kong and punish them in China.

One famous Hong Kong citizen who suffered such a fate is the former owner of Causeway Bay Books, Lam Wing Kee. He was kidnapped in 2015 by Chinese agents for selling books banned in China.  Lam was allowed back to Hong Kong in June 2016 to pick up a hard drive listing the bookstore’s customers. But he skipped bail and fled to Taiwan after he heard about China’s plans for the extradition bill.

When invited to speak at Taipei’s Buffalo Bookstore on Monday, Lam warned people in Taiwan about China. "You are all in a very dangerous situation, more dangerous than me because I know I’m not going back. I know that I’m wanted, but do you know that you are wanted by China? Probably not and that’s where the danger lies," said Lam.

Last week, Hong Kong police used tear gas and rubber bullets against the demonstrators. The protests have led to a suspension of the bill but there’s no guarantee it will be withdrawn. People in Hong Kong are anxious about their future. Lam thinks they should be. "The extradition bill is like adding a knife. I’m rather pessimistic. From my understanding, what really can Hong Kong people do? Even if you have 3 million or 4 million people coming out in protest, what really can that do?" said Lam.    [FULL  STORY]

Academia Sinica poll finds Taiwanese now care more about sovereignty than economy when dealing with China

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/06/19
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A poll released by Academia Sinica has found that Taiwanese now care much more about sovereignty than the economy, a major reversal from last year, as bullying from Beijing takes its toll.

Since 2013, Academia Sinica has been conducting a survey asking Taiwanese whether they most value Taiwan’s "sovereignty" or "economic benefits" in the context of relations with China. The most recent results from March this year show a dramatic drop in interest in economic benefits to 31.3 percent, and a significant spike in concern about Taiwan's sovereignty to 58.3 percent.

Academia Sinica Institute of Sociology deputy director Chen Chih-jou (陳志柔) said that Taiwan's sense of crisis over its sovereignty is stronger than before, even more so than after the Sunflower Movement, reported Liberty Times. He also said that Taiwanese are slowly losing their illusion about the economy.

The full wording of the question given to participants is, "When it comes to cross-strait exchanges, some people believe that Taiwan's economic benefits are important, while others believe that Taiwan's national sovereignty is important. Which one do you think is more important?"    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/06/19
By: Huang Shih-ya and Frances Huang

Taipei, June 19 (CNA) Temperatures could reach as high as 38 degrees Celsius in Taitung County on Wednesday as it feels the effects of hot, dry and strong downslope winds known as foehn winds, according to the Central Weather Bureau (CWB).

The CWB said it has issued an "orange" high temperature warning for Taitung, which recorded a high of 37.1 degrees on Tuesday.

Based on the CWB temperature warning system, an orange warning is issued if temperatures of over 38 degrees are expected for a single day or if the mercury is forecast to remain above 36 degrees for three or more consecutive days.

After taking into account the influence of a strong high pressure system in the Pacific, the bureau said it has also issued an orange alert for Kaohsiung and Pingtung in southern Taiwan as temperatures there could push above 36 degrees for a third straight day.    [FULL  STORY]

HOTBED: Heat and torrential rain have made it harder to combat the disease this year, so the CDC has called on the public to eradicate mosquito breeding grounds

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 20, 2019
By: Sean Lin  /  Staff reporter

Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) has approved a subsidy of NT$52.1 million (US$1.66 million) for the

Kaohsiung City Government to combat an outbreak of dengue fever.

Vice Premier Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) made the announcement at an ad-hoc meeting in Kaohsiung on how the Executive Yuan and local governments can better streamline efforts to curb the spread of the disease.

Su last week said that the city government earlier this month had asked for NT$10.7 million to contain the outbreak, which the Executive Yuan granted.

However, Han on Monday made a surprise visit to the Legislative Yuan in Taipei to lobby lawmakers for more funds to fight the outbreak.    [FULL  STORY]

CNA
Date: 18 Jun 2019

TAIPEI/HONG KONG: For Hong Kong resident Yung Xiu Kwan, 67, a proposed extradition law that would allow people in the former British colony to be sent to mainland China for trial was the final straw.

Yung is packing her bags and leaving the Chinese-ruled city to set up a new life in proudly democratic Taiwan, fed up with what she sees as Beijing's ever encroaching grip over the city that has led to an erosion of civil liberties.

"Without freedom and democracy, it's like being put in jail, like living in a concentration camp … without freedom, (I) would rather die," said Yung, as she waved a Taiwan flag at a massive protest in Hong Kong on Sunday.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan nternational
Date: 18 June, 2019
By: Paula Chao

The legislature has passed a revision to the Referendum Act. Under the revision passed Monday, referendums will be decoupled from presidential elections in the future.

Starting in 2021, referendums will be held every two years on the fourth Saturday in August.

Taiwan is scheduled to hold a legislative and presidential election on January 11. The Central Election Commission (CEC) says no referendums will be held along with the presidential race next year.

The CEC has already built two online systems needed for referendums: one for petition and signature-gathering, the other for recalls. The information security of both systems has been tested and they will be put in place at the same time.    [FULL  STORY]

Less than 1 month since same-sex marriage legalized, Taiwan sees first divorce

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/06/18
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A couple in southern Taiwan had the dubious distinction of being the first in Taiwan

and Asia to file for a same-sex divorce, a little over three weeks since same-sex marriage was legalized in Taiwan on May 24.

The two males completed their divorce last week, after being married for less than a month in southern Taiwan's Pingtung County, reported UDN. The couple said that they divorced because their families had not consented to the marriage and due to societal pressure.

Out of Pingtung's 33 towns and cities, a total of 19 same-sex couples have wed since same-sex marriage became legal in Taiwan on May 24, including 12 on that day, according to the Pingtung County Government. Nine of the couples were married in Pingtung City, including the couple who has already divorced.

The Pingtung County Department of Civil Affairs said that on the first day that same-sex marriage was legalized, one same-sex couple had made an appointment to register, but later canceled because they were too young and their families opposed it. According to the department, an average of 150 to 160 couple file for divorce per month in Pingtung County.    [FULL  STORY]