Holiday should start before New Year’s Eve to prevent traffic jams: Premier Su

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/02/16
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The government was considering giving nine days off for Lunar

New Year each year, but not at the expense of employers, Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said Saturday.

He also said that last month’s start of the holiday, on the weekend before New Year’s Eve, had solved serious traffic problems, posing an example for the future.

As tradition dictates that Taiwanese families gather together for a family dinner on New Year’s Eve, if the holiday begins that day massive traffic jams are unavoidable, the Central News Agency quoted Su as telling reporters during a visit to the Taipei International Book Exhibition.

Therefore, the government should consider beginning each Lunar New Year holiday earlier than the day of New Year’s Eve, the premier said.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/02/16
By: Huang Huei-min and Ko Lin

Kinmen, Feb. 16 (CNA) Visits to Dadan, a Taiwan-held island off the coast of China and a major battleground during the Cold War, proved an instant hit following the start of tour bookings earlier this week.

The 0.79-square-kilometer Dadan Island, which is part of the Republic of China’s (Taiwan) outlying Kinmen County, is set to be opened to tourists for the first time from March 1.

The number of visitors will be limited to 150 per day and admission tickets will cost NT$1,500 (US$48.67), including the return ferry trip, electric shuttle bus rides and group tour guide services, while Kinmen residents will be charged a discounted price of NT$750, according to Kinmen County Tourism Department.

However, Chinese nationals, including those living in Hong Kong and Macau, will not be permitted to visit the island.    [FULL  STORY]

SUPPLY CHAIN: Synmosa Biopharma’s Vaks tablets and Synpac-Kingdom’s Disartan 80mg were found to contain a cancer-causing ingredient from the same Chinese factory

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 17, 2019
By: Staff writer, with CNA

Two local pharmaceutical firms have issued recalls for blood pressure medication after

their drugs were found to contain potential carcinogens, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said, following similar recalls worldwide.

Taipei-based Synmosa Biopharma Corp (健喬信元醫藥生技) on Friday informed the agency that during a self-screening it had discovered that the active ingredient valsartan in its Vaks 80mg and Vaks 160mg tablets contained N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA), a substance suspected to increase the likelihood of cancer, the FDA said in a statement

The valsartan came from Tianyu Pharmaceutical Co (天宇), in China’s Zhejiang Province, and had the batch number 10230-160509, the agency said.

The recall, which is to continue until June, affects about 660,000 million tablets produced by Synmosa in three batches, with the numbers B26541, B24691 and B22371, the agency said.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan English News
Date: February 15, 2019
By: Phillip Charlier

A Taiwanese man will marry a British man 51 years his senior in a ceremony to be held in Miaoli County tomorrow, February 16.

Twenty-four-year-old Ethan Zhao (趙守泉), and 75-year-old Andrew (Andy) Goodier met in London three years ago, and have been in love ever since, according to reports in the local Taiwan press.

In May 2017, Taiwan’s Constitutional Court ruled that denying same-sex couples the right to marry was unconstitutional, and ordered the government to amend legislation within two years of the ruling, in order to align the marriage laws with the constitution. However, to this date, same sex marriage has not been legalized in Taiwan.

Not to let distance, age, nor the impasse in the Taiwan legislature impede them, Zhao and Goodier plan to register their marriage in the UK, where same-sex unions have been legal since 2014, and the couple plans to live.    [FULL  STORY]

Innocent soldier was executed for murder of little girl after confession under duress

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/02/15
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Former Defense Minister Chen Chao-min (陳肇敏) and four other

defendants will have to pay a total of NT$59.57 million (US$1.93 million) to the Ministry of National Defense in compensation for the wrongful execution of an innocent murder suspect, according to a ruling by the Supreme Court Friday.

Air Force serviceman Chiang Kuo-ching (江國慶) was executed in 1997 at the age of 21 for the rape and murder of a five-year-old girl at a military base. Later investigations revealed that he had been tortured and forced into a confession, while another man was found guilty.

Chen, who served as the chief of the Air Force Combat Command at the time, was accused of using illegal practices to force a quick ending to the crime investigation.

The Ministry of National Defense was eventually forced to pay NT$103 million (US$3.3 million) in compensation to Chiang’s mother, while the latest court case focused on how much the five defendants, including Chen, had to pay the ministry to compensate for that award.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/02/15
By: Liu Kuan-ting, Wen Kuei-hsiang and Flor Wang

Taipei, Feb. 15 (CNA) Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) head Chen Ming-tong (陳明通)

defended a controversial proposal to limit visits by retired high-ranking Taiwanese military and political figures to China, saying it was necessary to restrict their behavior.

“As Beijing has never renounced the use of force against Taiwan, the participation of some retired Taiwanese generals in mainland China’s national celebrations has triggered resentment among the public,” Chen told reporters before a session of the Legislative Yuan, which reopened earlier Friday for its spring session.

The MAC has proposed that the government prioritize a bill seeking to prohibit high-ranking military retirees and former political officials from participating in political activities in China within 15 years after they have retired.

Offenders could be deprived of their monthly pensions or fined up to NT$5 million (US$162,138).    [FULL  STORY]

PRODIGAL SON: Liang Tsung-ming is suspected of repeatedly stabbing and then beheading his mother and throwing her head outside after an argument

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 16, 2019
By: Chou Min-hung  /  Staff reporter

The Taoyuan District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday asked the court to hand down “the most severe punishment” to a man charged with beheading his mother in Jhongli District (中壢) last year.

Liang Tsung-ming (梁崇銘), a 33-year-old drug addict, stabbed his 67-year-old mother with several knives on Oct. 17 last year after an argument, police said at the time.

They said that Liang cut off his mother’s head and left hand, and threw the head from their 12th-floor apartment into the building’s courtyard and left the hand in their house.

Police said they received calls from neighbors who saw and were frightened by the bloody head, adding that they forcibly entered Liang’s house after he refused to open the door.    [FULL  STORY]

A daily breakdown of Taiwan’s top stories and why they matter.

The News Lens
Date: 2019/02/14
By: TNL Daily News

A group of U.S.-based China academics urged U.S. President Donald Trump in a report published on Tuesday to help Taiwan develop asymmetrical warfare capabilities in the face of potential Chinese aggression.

The report, released by the Asia Society’s Task Force on U.S.-China policy, advised Trump to develop a strategy to assist Taiwan in its response to an expansionist Beijing while also remaining open to dialogue and cooperation with China.

It comes on a busy day for cross-Strait policy talk. The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), which serves as a de facto unofficial U.S. embassy, reaffirmed its refusal to support a referendum on Taiwanese independence in opposition to a proposed plebiscite from the pro-independence Formosa Alliance. In response, a foreign ministry spokesperson said Taiwan would be cautious in handling referendum measures.

Meanwhile, foreign minister Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) reiterated that unification with China is not an option for Taiwan in an interview with Deutsche Welle.    [FULL  STORY]

The group were left with nowhere to stay in Hualien during a cycling trip

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/02/14
By: Ryan Drillsma, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — 12 travelers recently met with unfortunate circumstances were rescued by the kindness of local police in Hualien County (花蓮縣).

The troupe had come from the Philippines and planned a cycling trip around Taiwan. What they did not plan for was being left with nowhere to stay and nothing to eat towards the middle of their vacation.

Arriving in Hualien on the second day of the Lunar New Year, the travelers discovered all hotels and guesthouses in the area were booked-up, CNA reports.

Luckily, local police were able to help resolve their problem.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/02/14
By: Chang Ming-hsuan and Flor Wang

Taipei, Feb. 14 (CNA) The Ministry of Education (MOE) on Thursday instructed universities and colleges across Taiwan to check fire safety measures at their facilities and be ready for an inspection within one week, following a fire at a university in Taipei that seriously injured two students a day earlier.

According to Taipei City Construction Management Office, the fire broke out in an eight-story building at Chinese Cultural University. It was later confirmed that the fifth to the eighth floors were illegally built.

As the illegal structure was built in 1994, in line with existing regulations, it does not have to be razed, office spokesman Hung Te-hao (洪德豪) told reporters.

The office said it has asked the university to apply for a construction permit to legalize the structure and conduct a thorough inspection of fire safety measures in the building.
[FULL  STORY]