The Telegraph
Date: 31 MARCH 2018
By: Nicola Smith, taipei 

Just one year after founding his own interior design business in Taiwan’s capital, Taipei, Allen Wu decided it was time to pursue the bright lights of Shanghai in neighbouring China instead.

“The market in Taipei is just really small,” said Mr Wu, 36. “It’s not that I couldn’t survive, it’s just that I’ve got more opportunities in China, I’ve got bigger projects.”

Mr Wu is far from alone. Over 400,000 of Taiwan’s workforce have sought higher salaries and better job prospects on the Chinese mainland despite growing political tensions between Beijing and Taipei since Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen came to power in 2016.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-03-30

The foreign ministry says ongoing talks between China and the Vatican concern the

appointment of bishops and are non-political. That’s the word from ministry spokesman Andrew Lee on Friday.

Lee’s comments came following media reports about a possible agreement to be signed by Beijing and the Holy See on Saturday.

Taiwan and the Vatican maintain formal relations, making the Holy See Taiwan’s only diplomatic ally in Europe. But there have been frequent rumors that the Vatican may plan to switch recognition from Taipei to Beijing.

Lee said the government is closely monitoring the latest developments.   [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News  
Date: 2018/03/31
By:  Central News Agency

Taipei, March 31 (CNA) The assets of a Taiwanese man accused of helping North Korea evade international trading bans have been frozen with immediate effect, the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) said Saturday.

In a statement, the justice ministry said it took the decision to freeze the assets of Taiwanese Tsang Yung-yuan to show the government’s resolve to uphold the sanctions issued by the United Nations Security Council against North Korea.

On Friday, the U.N. Security Council published a statement on its website, saying that Tsang had “coordinated North Korean coal exports with a North Korean broker operating in a third country.”

Tsang was the only individual on the U.N. blacklist, which also included 21 shipping companies and 27 vessels.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/03/31
By: Elaine Hou and Ko Lin

Taipei, March 31 (CNA) Foreign Minister Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) summoned Acting Representative of Russia to Taiwan Vladislav Kuznetsov Saturday, expressing Taiwan government’s condemnation and deep concern over a poisoning attack of former Russian intelligence agent and his daughter earlier this month in Salisbury, England.

Taiwan firmly believes in the value of human rights and rule of law, Minister Wu said in a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), noting that this incident violates international law and British sovereignty.    [FULL  STORY]

NO-BRAINER: Former Control Yuan member Huang Huang-hsiung is an ideal candidate for the chairmanship, as both pan-blue and pan-green could embrace him, officials said

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 01, 2018
By: Stacy Hsu  /  Staff reporter

The Executive Yuan yesterday announced the names of the leaders and some of the

members of the government’s transitional justice promotional committee, saying the list would be sent to the Legislative Yuan for approval once it is complete.

Premier William Lai (賴清德) on Tuesday confirmed that the committee is to be headed by 74-year-old former Control Yuan member Huang Huang-hsiung (黃煌雄), Executive Yuan spokesman Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) told a press conference in Taipei.

“Huang joined dangwai [黨外, “outside the party”] activities in the early days and is a prominent democracy advocate in Taiwan,” Hsu said. “He is widely recognized in political circles as an impartial individual who shows a strong sense of mission toward Taiwan.”

Huang is one of the few people who, despite adhering to pro-Taiwanese independence views, could be embraced by both the pan-green and pan-blue camps, which makes him an ideal candidate for the chairmanship, Hsu said.    [FULL  STORY]

Euronews
Date: 29/03/2018
By: Emma Beswick

When Serina Tsubakihara lost her camera while diving off Japan’s Ishigaki Island in 2015,

she thought she’d never see it again.
Fast forward three years and students from the Yue Ming Elementary School in Yilan, a city in northeast Taiwan, found the waterproof Canon G12 washed up on a beach during a clean-up event, over 240 km from where it was lost.

Along with their teacher, Park Lee, the students put out a call that included images from the lichen-covered device on Facebook, asking for help in identifying the photographer.

Less than 12 hours later Lee and his class had located Tsubakihara.

“Thanks to the amazing internet world, we’ve found the camera’s owner! She is a student who is currently in her third year of English studies at the Department of Foreign Languages in Tokyo’s Sophia University. The world is really coincidental — she actually travelled to Taiwan with friends in March last year,” Lee wrote on Facebook.
[FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-03-29

The wife of Lee Ming-che, a Taiwanese NGO worker jailed in China, returned from her first

visit to her husband in a Chinese prison. Lee Ming-che was sentenced last year to five years in jail in China for “subverting state power”. He had traveled to China to share Taiwan’s experience of democratic transformation.

(00’29”) The jailed activist’s wife – Lee Ching-yu – was speaking at the airport upon arrival in Taiwan. She said she could only see her husband through a glass wall and could not talk to him face to face. They could only talk through a phone. She said her husband looked fine but it is obvious he is deprived of his right to communicate with the outside world.

Lee Ching-yu said her husband explained he does not have time to write letters to her because he is sent to work at a hat-making factory every day from 7am to 5pm. However she said that he still likes to read. She will continue to send him books because she believes that only through reading can he keep a clear conscience. She has so far sent 11 books but only two have actually been handed over to her husband.

Lee Ching-yu said that she requested to visit her husband again on April 27. But she was not given an answer right away. Mrs. Lee said as long as her husband is in prison, she will continue to work for his release.    [SOURCE]

For the new system the company has reportedly increased the budget by NT$29.05 million

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/03/29
By: Juvina Lai, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — According to a Chunghwa Post announcement, the company has

invested heavily in increasing the security for the Automated Teller Machines (ATM) installed around the country. The new system will allow maximum 15 minutes for the ATM user to linger around the system, should the person hang around the machine any longer, the system will ask the person to leave.

For the new system the company has reportedly increased the budget by NT$29.05 million (US$996,125) as compared to the previous fiscal year.

When questioned by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators Lee Kun-tse (李昆澤) and Cheng Pao-ching (鄭寶清) about the reason behind the increase in budget, Ku Jaw-shian (古兆賢), director of the company’s Department of Occupational Safety and Health, explained that after the First Bank ATM heist in 2016, the company had come to the conclusion to increase their security, as reported by the Liberty Times.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/03/29
By: Shih Hsiu-chuan 

Taipei, March 29 (CNA) The ongoing trade dispute between the United States and China will negatively impact some segments of Taiwan’s economy, but could also help open up the Chinese market and provide an opportunity for Taiwan to strengthen its economic resilience, a senior official said Thursday.

The recent spate of protectionist measures directed by the U.S. at China are partly aimed at addressing overproduction that leads to products being dumped on the world market, which also undercuts Taiwanese producers, said Chiou Jiunn-rong (邱俊榮), deputy head of the National Development Council.

“Taiwan is also a victim of such unfair trade practices as dumping,” Chiou said at a press conference after the weekly Cabinet meeting where issues related to the escalation in U.S.-China trade tensions were discussed.    [FULL  STORY]

DEVIL’S PACT? Opponents of the deal said they fear that concessions to Beijing might backfire among the Vatican’s loyal underground supporters in the country

Taipei Times
Date: Mar 30, 2018
By: AFP, VATICAN CITY AND BEIJING

A historic deal between China and the Vatican on the appointment of bishops is not

“imminent,” a Vatican spokesman said yesterday, contradicting a Beijing-approved bishop.

“I can state that there is no imminent signature of an agreement between the Holy See and the People’s Republic of China,” Vatican spokesman Greg Burke said in a statement.

“I would like to stress that the Holy Father Francis remains in constant contact with his collaborators on Chinese issues and is accompanying the steps of the ongoing dialogue,” Burke added.

Earlier in the day, the state-owned Global Times newspaper had quoted Bishop Guo Jincai (郭金才), secretary-general of the Bishops Conference of the Catholic Church in China, as saying that negotiations with the Vatican had reached “the final stages.”    [FULL  STORY]