Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/07/13
By: Yu Hsiao-han and William Yen

Taipei, July 13 (CNA) The Ministry of Labor (MOL) announced Friday that it

plans to only accept online applications from employers to recruit, employ and transfer migrant workers starting in 2019 in a bid to go paper-free.

The exact date in 2019 when the move will be put in place has yet to be decided and will be determined in conjunction with relevant laws, the agency said.

Chiu Yueh-yun (邱月雲), the head of the MOL’s Workforce Development Agency Cross-Border Workforce Affairs Center, said in an interview that 89 percent of applications were already being done online as of May 2018.

With the online service already being used in such a high number of cases, it made sense to accept only online applications for permits to recruit, employ and transfer migrant workers starting next year, Chiu said.
[FULL  STORY]

Globe and Mail
Date: July 12, 2018 
By: David Mulroney, contributed to the Globe and Mail

David Mulroney was executive director of the Canadian Trade Office in Taipei from 1998-2001, and Canada’s ambassador to China from 2009-12.

To the extent that Canadians worry about security in East Asia, they look north, to the Korean peninsula, or south, to where China is building a formidable militarized zone on rocks and shoals thousands of kilometres from its coast. But the region’s most dangerous hot spot lies between these two, around Taiwan, an island that China is stepping up long-standing efforts to reclaim, a campaign that could bring it into direct conflict with Taiwan’s sole defender, the United States.

Sensing opportunity in the policy confusion of the Trump era, China’s President Xi Jinping is increasing efforts to eliminate the space available to Taiwan internationally, pressuring other countries, multilateral institutions and global corporations to fall in line. Chinese military exercises off Taiwan have become more frequent and more threatening.

Reverberations from this campaign have recently been felt in Canada.

In May, Chinese social media, which typically echoes Mr. Xi’s nationalistic tone, erupted in response to images of T-shirts bearing the map of China, allegedly sold at a Gap outlet in Canada. The problem: The map didn’t include the island of Taiwan, which China claims as part of its territory. Gap immediately apologized and promised an investigation.   [FULL  STORY]

A small group of NYO-USA will perform flash mob concerts at the Taiwan High-Speed Rail (THSR) Taichung and Nangang stations

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/07/12
By: Alicia Nguyen, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America (NYO-USA) will make its first stop in Taiwan from July 22 to 24 as part of its 2018 Asia Tour.

In a press release by the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), NYO-USA which comprises 106 talented young musicians aged 16-19 will conduct three outreach programs on July 23 organized by AIT with support from both public and private sector organizations.

Some members of NYO-USA will give a performance at the AIT Youth Camp “Real People, Real Friendships – The U.S.-Taiwan Relationship in the 21st Century”. Others will join a workshop with local young musicians from the Taipei Wind Orchestra and Symphonic Band. Finally, special flash mob concerts will be performed at the Taiwan High-Speed Rail (THSR) Taichung and Nangang stations to celebrate THSR’s “First Year of Arts”.

The only concert in Taipei presented by the young American musicians and led by world-acclaimed conductor Michael Tilson Thomas will be held at the National Concert Hall only on July 24.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/07/12
By: Chai Sze-chia and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, July 12 (CNA) Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chen Ming-

tong (陳明通) on Thursday called on China to release Taiwanese democracy advocate Lee Ming-che (李明哲) and other detained Chinese dissidents so that it can advance human rights protection and improve cross-Taiwan Strait relations.

Chen said that protecting human rights and treating human right activists and dissidents well are the necessary ways to bridge the psychological distance between the two sides of the strait.

Chen made the comments after China on Wednesday sentenced Qin Yongmin (秦永敏), a veteran pro-democracy campaigner, to 13 years in prison for “subversion of state power.”

Qin, 64, the founder of a pro-democracy group called China Human Rights Watch, has already spent 23 years behind bars, making him one of the longest jailed political prisoners during the last four decades.
[FULL  STORY]

‘VIVA TAIWAN’: Legislative Speaker Su Jia-chyuan and Central American Parliament President Tony Raful touted the two sides’ commitment to democracy and peace

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 13, 2018
By: Sean Lin  /  Staff reporter

The Legislative Yuan yesterday became a permanent observer of the

Central American Parliament, also known as the PARLACEN, with the signing of a special agreement between the two lawmaking bodies, which vowed to deepen ties between Taiwan and Central American nations and to bolster collaborations on trade, economic development, and promoting human rights and democratic values.

At the signing ceremony at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei, PARLACEN President Tony Raful conferred a medal on Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chang Hung-lu (張宏陸), welcoming Chang as the Legislative Yuan’s representative to PARLACEN.

Raul and Legislative Speaker Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) signed and exchanged the special agreements before each made a speech.

It is an honor for PARLACEN that the Legislative Yuan has become one of its permanent observers, which means that it can now take part in projects initiated by PARLACEN’s member states and that the bond between Central American nations and Taiwan has become even stronger, Raful said.    [FULL  STORY]

Tremor struck just 5.6 km under the surface

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/07/11
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A magnitude-4.3 earthquake rattled Tainan City Wednesday evening, but no immediate damage or casualties were reported.

In February 2016, 117 people died in the city, most of them after an apartment building collapsed in a magnitude-6.4 earthquake.

The epicenter of Wednesday’s tremor hit particularly close to the surface, just 5.6 kilometers deep, the Central Weather Bureau reported.

The quake struck at 8:41 p.m. in the city’s Annan District, 6.5 km northwest from the city government.    [FULL  STORY]