Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/04/19
By: Yeh Su-ping and Kuan-lin Liu

Mbabane, April 19 (CNA) Taiwan and Swaziland are like “sworn brothers” who can always count on each other’s support, President Tsai Ing-wen said during her speech at a ceremony Thursday to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the African kingdom’s independence and the 50th birthday of King Mswati III.

In her speech, Tsai called the diplomatic ties between the two countries, which are also a half century old this year, “unwavering.”

She talked about the challenges that Taiwan and Swaziland have seen each other through, saying that both sides have always made the right, long-lasting and best decisions for their respective peoples.

This diplomatic relationship has translated into multiple initiatives in education, medicine, infrastructure development and agriculture undertaken by Taiwan in Swaziland, with Tsai promising the Swazi people that Taiwan will do whatever it can to help improve living standards in the kingdom.    [FULL  STORY]

DIVERSIFICATION: With its basic infrastructure and vast market, Africa offers opportunities for Taiwanese investors seeking to diversify risks, the president said

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 20, 2018
By: Staff writer, with CNA

President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Wednesday vowed that Taiwan would not be absent

in Africa and could make more contributions to Swaziland and elsewhere on the continent.

Tsai made the remarks at a dinner with Taiwanese living in southern Africa, as part of her four-day visit to Swaziland.

Tsai said she and her delegation have witnessed the results of the business, medical and agricultural technology initiatives that Taiwan has undertaken in Swaziland, as well as the nation’s efforts to contribute to creating jobs and economic development in the African country.

She also reiterated her idea of promoting greenhouse cultivation in Swaziland, which she first broached during a meeting with Swazi Queen Mother Ntombi Tfwala earlier that day.
[FULL  STORY]

Taiwanese gay rights activist Chi Chia-wei: a referendum is not the way to go when it comes to human rights

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/04/18
By: Sophia Yang, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taiwan’s Central Election Commission (CEC) passed three referendum proposals made by local anti-gay groups on Tuesday to bring issues of same-sex marriage and gender equality education to public debate.

Taiwanese gay rights activist Chi Chia-wei (祈家威) and the Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnership Rights (TAPCPR) protested at the CEC building after the decision was made Tuesday evening. Chi said that a referendum is not the way to go when it comes to basic human rights.

Other LGBT organizations in Taiwan are also upset with the CEC’s decision. Equallove called on President Tsai Ing-wen to fulfill her promise to support marriage equality while running for office, saying that Taiwan has come so far to embrace diversity, including a landmark ruling by the constitutional court in favor of same-sex marriage last year. “We should safeguard the hard-won progress,” says the group on its FB page.  [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/04/18
By: Joseph Yeh

Taipei, April 18 (CNA) The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) on Wednesday summoned

Indonesia’s top envoy to Taiwan to express concern over Jakarta’s recent inspections of Taiwanese fishing vessels without proper cause.

Winston Chen (陳文儀), director-general of the MOFA’s Department of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, met with representative Robert James Bintaryo on Wednesday morning and called on Indonesian authorities not to inspect and detain Taiwanese fishing vessels without a valid reason.

When approached by a CNA reporter as he was leaving MOFA headquarters following the meeting, Bintaryo said he had no comment on the issue as he was still waiting for instructions from Jakarta.    [FULL  STORY]

LOBBYING: The organization recommended relaxing rules to free firms of work hour limits, which one group leader said was a bid to turn local workers into slaves

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 19, 2018
By: Ann Maxon  /  Staff reporter

Labor rights groups yesterday protested against the American Chamber of Commerce in

Taipei (AmCham) for what they called its pressuring of the government into relaxing labor standards, urging workers to join a march advocating workers’ rights on Labor Day next month.

About 30 members of various labor groups rallied in front of AmCham’s office on Minsheng E Road in Taipei, holding banners and shouting: “Taiwanese are dying from overwork as American bosses swim in cash.”

“We believe AmCham played a major role in lobbying for the current version of the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法), which is expected to increase death from overwork,” Taiwan Higher Education Union researcher Chen Po-chien (陳柏謙) said.

In June last year, AmCham released a white paper calling for more flexibility when planning workers’ schedules, despite Taiwan already having the fifth-longest working hours in the world, he said.    [FULL  STORY]

The Straits Times
April 18, 2018

TAIPEI (WASHINGTON POST) – After studying fashion management in London, 33-year-old Gaga Liu considered her choices: a move back home to her native Taiwan, or a job in the glitzy city of Shanghai on the Chinese mainland.

“Shanghai is a very fashionable city, a big market. Every brand wants to set up a flagship store there,” she said. “Taiwan is a very small market.”

It was no contest. Three months ago, like many of Taiwan’s young people, she moved to mainland China to work as a visual merchandiser for Hermès.

She is one of hundreds of thousands of Taiwanese flooding to their booming neighbour to find work, fuelling fears of a brain drain from their island home.

And it is a brain drain that China appears to be gleefully exploiting.    [FULL  STORY]

Three Spaniards wanted by police after defacing a Kaohsiung MRT train with graffiti

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/04/17
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A Kaohsiung MRT train was defacing with graffiti by three

Spanish men on April 12, who quickly fled to Hong Kong, reported Apple Daily.

On the morning of April 12 at 5:17 a.m. staff at the Kaohsiung Rapid Transit System’s Daliao Machine Factory were shocked to find two MRT carriages had been spray painted with three large graffiti patterns. After calling the police, surveillance footage revealed three blurry figures hopping over a wall and opening a window to sneak in and douse the cars in spray paint.

Police identified the three suspects as three male Spanish nationals all over the age of 30, who were accompanied by one Spanish female. Prior to their trip, they posted on a Tumblr page that they would come to Taiwan and Hong Kong to “create.”
[FULL  STORY]