Taiwan News
Date: 2018/06/25
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News)—Taipei 101 has rolled out bento vending machines that sell boxed meals that are freshly prepared by well-known restaurants and priced at around NT$100 per box in order to fulfill the need of the building’s tenants and visitors, a CNA report said on Monday.

According to information provided by Taipei 101, the whole building has nearly been fully occupied by tenants, and every day more than 10,000 people come into the building to work, so their demand for fresh foods is really high, the report said. Therefore, the building management set up fresh food vending machines on the ground floor to fulfill the need, according to the report.

Taipei 101 vice president Michael Liu (劉家豪) said that currently there are five vending machines on the floor, four of which are hot meal vending machines and one of which is a cold meal machine, selling boxed meals from 7:30 a.m. in the morning until 6:00 p.m. in the evening, according to the report.

The vending machines vend a variety of breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea according to different times of the day, and all the foods in the machines are freshly prepared by well-known restaurants on the same day they are sold, the report said, adding that the machines only accept electronic payment such as EasyCard and LINE PAY.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/06/25
By: Liao Yu-yang and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, June 25 (CNA) Seventeen large hospitals in Taiwan formally launched an

association Monday to jointly explore the health care market in countries targeted by the government’s New Southbound Policy.

The association, which includes National Taiwan University Hospital, Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taipei Veterans General Hospital and Mackay Memorial Hospital, came into being at a ceremony in Taipei.

The initiative revolves around the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s “one center, one country plan,” according to Shih Chung-liang (石崇良), the head of the ministry’s Department of Medical Affairs.

Under the plan unveiled earlier this month, six Taiwanese medical centers or large hospitals have been chosen to set up partnerships with India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand and help build medical exchanges with them.
[FULL  STORY8]

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 26, 2018
By: Staff writer, with CNA, OKINAWA, Japan

China’s worst enemy is that it does not genuinely embrace democracy and freedom,

and Taiwan, which does, will not be its enemy, former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) said on Sunday in Japan.

Lee made the remarks at a dinner gathering with Taiwanese expatriates in Okinawa, in which he said that Taiwan would someday present itself on world stage with its own name.

In the 21st century, China has become an assertive player on the economic, political, military and technological fronts, but it is seen as a hegemony, not a civilized country upholding the ideas of democracy and freedom, Lee said.

China has become the “most destabilizing factor” in Asia and has caused disturbances that threaten the security of countries in the region, he said.

Its ambitious Belt and Road Initiative — a scheme focused on investing large sums of money in infrastructure development in targeted countries — will turn many of the countries into “economic colonies of China,” he said.    [FULL  STORY]

International Policy Digest
Date: 24 JUN 2018
By: Binoy Kampmark

It is a credit to the venality of Australia’s refugee policy that much time is spent on letting others do what that particular country ought to be doing. For a state so obsessed with the idea of a “rule-based order,” breaking those rules comes naturally – all in the national interest, of course.

Canberra’s policy makers, since the 1990s, have been earning their morally tainted fare evading international law with an insistence bordering on the pathological. The reasons for doing so have been cruel and vapid: target the market of people smuggling by moving it to other regions; harden the Australian electorate against dissolute “queue jumpers” who don’t know their place in the international refugee system; and speak to the idea of saving people who would otherwise drown.

In a tradition reminiscent of secret treaties, clandestine compacts underhand arrangements, Australia has done well for itself. The Turnbull government, spear tipped by the one-dimensional former policeman Peter Dutton of the Home Affairs Department, has shown itself to be obsessed with the clandestine when it comes to dealing with asylum seekers and refugees. Its invidious sea operation, termed Operation Sovereign Borders, continues to deter refugee-carrying boats approaching Australia. Last month, it took the revelations of a Taiwanese official to The Guardian to show that Australia had forged a deal with Taiwan on treating some of the most dire medical conditions afflicting refugees on Nauru.

The memorandum of understanding was made with Taipei in September last year. Since then, some five refugees have been flown to the state – some 5,500 kilometres – to receive treatment. “The government has been clear,” came the cold, unchanging line from a spokeswoman for the Department of Home Affairs, “that people subject to regional processing arrangements will not be settled in Australia.”    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News  
Date: 2018/06/24
By:  Central News Agency

Taipei, June 24 (CNA) Vietnam remains the major source of foreign spouses in Taiwan, with 3,907 Vietnamese becoming naturalized citizens last year alone, according to the Ministry of the Interior (MOI).

The ministry said Vietnamese accounted for 72.8 percent of the total number of people in Taiwan who gained citizenship last year, with most of them being spouses of Taiwan nationals.

Of the 5,366 newly naturalized citizens last year, 3,907 were from Vietnam, 533 from Indonesia, 471 from the Philippines, 122 from Thailand, 56 from Malaysia, 40 from Myanmar, 12 from Cambodia, and six from Singapore, MOI data showed.

The total number represented a 65 percent increase from 2016, but was a 59.4 percent decline from 2008, the ministry said.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/06/24
By: Shih Hsiu-chuan, CNA staff reporter 

Most of the migrant workers who were injured and families of those who were killed in

the two recent fires in Taiwan went home after accepting a settlement offered by the employers, but the family of a Vietnamese victim is seeking justice through a court.

There are relatives of Nguyen Van Trai, 20, who along with five Vietnamese working for Sican, a manufacturer of solar control window film in Pingzhen District, Taoyuan City, died in December in a fire that engulfed their dormitory.

The dormitory was on the upper level of the factory’s warehouse and was made of sheet iron — making it an illegal construction and a potential fire hazard.

“We are hoping that prosecutors would file charges against the employer and the court can order disclosure of several documents in the possession of related authorities,” Chang Yu-yin (張譽尹), the attorney who is assisting the family, told CNA.
[FULL  STORY]

Arabian Gazette
Date: June 23, 20180
By: Shereen Shabnam –

With rich cultural diversity and traditions as varied as its beautiful natural landscape alongside tall towers and a thriving business environment, Taiwan is full of surprises for visitors.

Top Reasons Why Taiwan is the Ultimate Destination for Business Travelers

Taiwan the Adventure Nation [Photos]

My visit began with a tour of the Taipei 101, architecturally created guided with Feng Shui principles as a symbol of the evolution of technology and Asian tradition with traditional design elements, works of art and modern treatments. It comes with Indoor Observation decks plus a premium multi-level shopping mall adjoining the tower with hundreds of stores, restaurants and clubs.    [FULL  STORY]