The extraordinary case of a Taiwanese woman resurrected with a different spirit even drew a Hong Kong TV crew to interview her decades ago

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/06/08
By: Sophia Yang,Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A 97-year-old Taiwanese granny passed away on May 23, 2018,

but her death has made headlines for several weeks in the country for her extraordinary legend that took place 60 years ago.

The granny’s story of resurrection was documented by local news agencies over the past six decades, and was adapted into a movie “Living Soul in Dead Body” starred the country’s most famous actors in 1981. A Hong Kong TV station even dispatched a crew to interview this woman. The woman, who goes by the name of the spirit that possessed her body, Chu Hsiu-hua (朱秀華), chose to live a low-key but peaceful life afterward by moving to a quiet place to avoid constant visits by unknown and curious strangers.

Chu reportedly lived a low-key life of helping the disadvantaged and those seeking spiritual comfort, and telling people not to do any evil, or divine justice will come to them after death. She also refused to take the reward money from those seeking help, or turned the money to the nearby temples as donations.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 09, 2018 
By: Shih Hsiao-kuang and Jake Chung  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer

The forced removal of protesters at a demonstration against amendments to the Labor

Standards Act (勞動基準法) last year might have infringed upon their constitutional rights, the Control Yuan said yesterday as it issued corrective notices to the Taipei City Government and the Ministry of the Interior.

The encirclement of protesters and lawyers representing their interests, as well as their subsequent forced relocation to suburbs of Taipei on Dec. 23 last year, was inappropriate, reports by the Control Yuan’s Committee of Domestic Affairs and Ethnic Minorities said.

The committee passed a resolution to issue corrective notices to both branches on the grounds that their conduct was against Article 8 of the Constitution and both agencies should seek to rectify their mistakes, it said.    [FULL  STORY]

Offices of the new American Instituteto open next week will further strain to relations after spats over trade and South China Sea

South China Morning Post 
Date: 08 June, 2018
By: Sarah Zheng

The ceremony for the unveiling of a US$240 million office compound for the American Institute in Taiwan, the de facto US embassy on the island in the absence of formal diplomatic ties, could light another match in already tense relations between the world powers.

The scale of any fallout may partly depend on the rank of the US officials who attend the opening.

Washington is expected to walk a fine line with its guest list for the dedication ceremony on June 12, the same day as the high-stakes summit between US President Donald Trump and the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore to discuss scrapping Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons programme.

Sources with ties to the US and Chinese government told the South China Morning Post earlier this month that no cabinet level official from the Trump administration would attend the event to avoid further antagonising Beijing.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-06-08

The 2018 Ho Hai-Yan Gongliao Rock Festival is set to kick off on July 27. The three-day

event will be held at Fulong Beach in northeastern Taiwan.

This year’s Ho Hai-Yan Gongliao Rock Festival features Taiwanese singers as well as musicians from Europe, the United States, Japan and Malaysia. They include The Chairman, Lion, Malaysian singer Namewee, Japan’s ROOKiez is PUNK’D, and many more.

At a press conference on Thursday, the band EggPlantEgg, which recently won four Golden Melody Awards nominations for best music group, performed for the fans.

Unlike previous events, as many as 159 groups from different age groups will take part in an indie music competition at the festival, including an 11-year-old ukulele player.
[SOURCE]

Fast food shops and department stores, amongst others to stop providing single-use plastic straws to eat-in customers on July 1 next year

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/06/08
By: Scott Morgan,Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) announced

Friday that the first stage of the single-use plastic straw ban will enter into force on July 1, 2019, targeting the public sector, schools, department stores and fast food restaurants.

The first stage of the ban will bar these four groups from providing single-use plastic straws to customers drinking within the premises.

The initial ban is expected to impact around 8,000 stores. The total abolition of single-use plastic straws is hoped to take place by 2025.

Stores who continue to provide the banned tube after July 1, 2019 will first receive a written warning. If the offense continues, they will be fined between NT$1,200 (US$40) and NT$6,000.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/06/08
By: Liao Yu-yang and William Ye

Taipei, June 8 (CNA) High temperatures pushed peak electricity consumption in Taiwan

to an all-time high for June of 36.102 million kilowatts on Friday, according to state-run Taiwan Power Co. (Taipower).

The record high for June occurred at 1:51 p.m., and pushed the operating reserve margin down to 6.03 percent, close to the 6 percent threshold for an orange alert warning, the utility said.

Cheng Yu-tsai (鄭有財), Taipower’s deputy superintendent for central coordination, said Friday’s peak electricity consumption was close to the 36 million kW anticipated by the company because of the high temperatures across the country and less rain than a day earlier.

But while the peak consumption level set a record for June, it was only the fourth highest this year, with the top three levels coming during a scorching hot May.
[FULL  STORY]

COUNTERING TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE: Hua Yih-fen said that some junior-high teachers have complained of textbooks that glorify the ‘political tutelage’ era

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 09, 2018
By: Chen Yu-fu  /  Staff reporter

The Transitional Justice Commission has listed four flaws in new curriculum guidelines

for the 12-year national education system, which are scheduled to be implemented in September next year.

The flaws are: a lack of content on the 228 Incident and ensuing White Terror era in high-school curricula, an absence of content about the Holocaust, romanticizing the party-state system and claiming that the quest for transitional justice is potentially divisive.

To promote transitional justice, it is the commission’s job to review curriculum guidelines, as well as textbooks and test questions, particularly to see if they purposefully neglect to mention transitional justice or the White Terror era, commission member Hua Yih-fen (花亦芬) said yesterday.

The chapter in the guidelines about the Republic of China government’s arrival in Taiwan and subsequent transformation gives accounts of the incidents in a fashion that runs counter to the spirit of transitional justice and is unhelpful in demystifying how the Chinese National Party (KMT) used the “political tutelage” period as a pretext for establishing party-state rule, Hua said.
[FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-06-07

President Tsai Ing-wen watched the Han Kuang exercise on Thursday in central Taichung along with the King of Swaziland. Swaziland, officially the Kingdom of eSwatini, is Taiwan’s only diplomatic ally in Africa.

Over 4,100 military personnel took part in Thursday’s exercise, and over 1,500 pieces of equipment were used. After the exercise, President Tsai said that she is confident of the army’s combat capability.

“In the last few days, I have witnessed the army’s combat capability in person. I am absolutely confident that the military is capable of defending the country and deterring the enemy. The members of our military have worked very hard to overcome many obstacles, and the quality of our troops has seen significant progress. Their goal, which lies at the core of their combat readiness, is defending our country,” said Tsai.

Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Chen Chung-chi also said that showcasing the might of Taiwan’s military will help consolidate ties between Taiwan and its allies.    [SOURCE]

71 countries became more peaceful, while 92 became less peaceful during 2016-2017 

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/06/07
By: Scott Morgan, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – According to the Institute of Economics and Peace’s annual Global Peace Index, Taiwan is ranked the sixth safest country in the Asia Pacific and 34th safest globally.

Taiwan’s total peace score worsened very slightly from the previous year’s index, at a time when the world is the least peaceful it has been in the last 10 years.

China is ranked the 15th most peaceful country in the Asia Pacific and 112thglobally.

Syria, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Iraq and Somalia are ranked the least peaceful countries. Meanwhile Iceland, New Zealand, Austria, Portugal and Denmark are ranked the most peaceful nations.

The Asia Pacific was ranked as the third safest region globally, behind Europe and North America. In general, peace scores in the Asia Pacific appear to be converging, with the most peaceful countries’ scores worsening, and the least peaceful countries’ scores improving.    [FULL  STORY]