Five individuals face up to 20 years of prison time in connection with the disappearance of 152 supposed tourists to Taiwan

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/05/07
By: Jules Quartly, Taiwan News, Contributing Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Five Vietnamese have been detained by the country’s Ministry of Public Security in a case linked to the trafficking of 152 tourists in Taiwan late last year, it was announced on Monday (May 6).

Criminal investigations have been launched against the four men and one woman. They are being held on the charge of “organizing and/or coercing other persons to flee abroad,” reported VnExpress. They face up to 20 years in prison for the crime.

In January, Taiwan’s National Immigration Agency (NIA) arrested seven people behind the people-smuggling operation that saw 152 Vietnamese on tourism visas disappear soon after landing in Taiwan, in December last year.

At least 56 of the individuals were still at large by mid-February. Later the same month 22 Vietnamese were arrested at a slaughterhouse in Taipei’s Wanhua District for working illegally.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/05/07
By: Wang Yang-yu and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, May 7 (CNA) The Legislative Yuan on Tuesday passed an amendment to the Criminal Code to expand the scope of treason to include collusion with mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and any overseas enemy force or its agent.

Previously, treason was referred in the law as collusion with an “enemy state,” but that has been amended to better protect Taiwan’s national security interests, lawmakers said.

Furthermore, as China is not deemed a foreign country in the Republic of China Constitution, it cannot be categorized as an “enemy state,” and neither can its special administrative regions Hong Kong and Macau, lawmakers said.

People who spy for or collude with China and the two special administrative regions, therefore, could not be charged with offenses against Taiwan’s internal and external security stipulated in the Criminal Code.    [FULL  STORY]

VICTIM BLAMING: Many parents of victims first ask if there was anything their child did to cause a teacher to misunderstand, which can make the kids feel betrayed

Taipei Times
Date: May 08, 2019
By: Rachel Lin and Sherry Hsiao  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer

About 40 elementary, junior-high, senior-high and vocational school teachers are fired

each year for sexually assaulting or harassing students, the Ministry of Education said on Monday.

Last year, there were 83 cases of suspected sexual assault by teachers and 588 cases of sexual harassment, ministry data showed.

The number of cases of teachers sexually assaulting students has risen eightfold from a decade ago, while there has been 16 times the number of sexual harassment cases, the statistics showed.

The power dynamic between teachers and students is unbalanced, K-12 Education Administration Division of Student Affairs and Campus Security head Lin Liang-ching (林良慶) said.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International 
Date: 06 May, 2019
By: Shirley Lin

Foreign Minister Joseph Wu says that Taiwan’s diplomatic relations with the Solomon

Islands remain strong.

Wu was speaking on Monday in light of reports that the Solomon Islands’ new Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare was considering switching diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing.

However, Wu says the prime minister met with Taiwan’s ambassador to the Pacific nation last week and they discussed future cooperation between the two sides. Wu says he is confident that ties between the two countries remain strong.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan English News
Date: May 6, 2019
By: Phillip Charlier

A megamouth shark caught by a fishing boat operating out of Hualien was sold to a restaurant after fishery authorities inspected the specimen and took samples today, May 6.

The 3.5 meter long shark weighed in at 612 kilograms after being brought into port by the Xin-Shenbao 36 fishing vessel shortly after 6:00am this morning. The captain reported the catch to the Hualien Port Security Office, as required by law.

After inspection and sampling, the shark was sold by auction with the winning bidder, a restaurant in Nan’ao, Yilan County, paying NT$61,200, at NT$100 per kilogram.

The shark sold today marks only the 100th megamouth shark seen since the species was discovered in 1976. Forty-five of the specimens have been discovered in Taiwan. Unfortunately the sharks are usually dead when brought up in fishing nets.
[FULL  STORY]

In future, Taiwan nationals who apply for China residence permits but fail to register doing so will be fined

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/05/06
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chen Ming-

tong (陳明通) said on Monday (May 6) that about 100,000 Taiwan nationals have applied for China residence permits, Central News Agency reported on Monday.

Chen made the statement in answer to Kuomintang (KMT) Legislator Lin Li-chan’s (林麗蟬) question about whether the MAC knew how many Taiwan citizens had applied for China residence permits. Chen said that China had at first detailed the numbers of applicants itself, but later stopped doing so.

Chen added that a registration mechanism will be set up to keep track of how many Taiwan nationals apply for China residence permits.

In future, Taiwan nationals who apply for China residence permits but fail to register will be fined NT$10,000 to NT$50,000, he said, adding the exact sum is still being negotiated.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/05/06
By: Terry Gou (郭台銘)

Taipei, May 6 (CNA) Hon Hai Precision Industry Chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘), who has thrown his hat into Taiwan’s 2020 presidential race, called on Beijing publicly Monday to face the truth that the Republic of China (ROC) exists.

Donning a cap displaying ROC (Taiwan) and U.S. flags, the 68-year-old business tycoon whose company assembles iPhones for Apple, asked the Chinese media at a press conference in Taipei not to blur out the flag cap, saying that problem was why he entered the race.

“Mainland China should squarely face the truth that the Republic of China exists,” Gou urged while also suggesting that the two sides across the Taiwan Strait jointly create growth on the basis of cross-strait peace.

Gou issued the appeal as he tried to clarify a controversial comment made during his visit to the United States last week that “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China.”
[FULL  STORY]

EFFECTS ON BUSINESSES: Lawmakers asked the EPA minister whether stores that would be affected by a ban on plastic straws in July have prepared alternatives

Taipei Times
Date: May 07, 2019
By: Lin Chia-nan  /  Staff reporter

The Environmental Protection Administration’s (EPA) proposed timetable to ban single-

use plastic bags, utensils, cups and straws at all venues by 2030 needs more deliberation before being promulgated, EPA Minister Chang Tzi-chin (張子敬) said yesterday.

Chang made the remarks as he was grilled by several lawmakers on the planned ban on single-use straws.

Chang reported the agency’s achievements and plans for limiting the use of disposable plastic products at a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee.

While then-EPA minister Lee Ying-yuan (李應元) in February last year announced a four-stage plan to ban disposable plastic products by 2030, the timetable was not backed by careful evaluation about potential problems and alternatives, Chang said.    [FULL  STORY]