‘REMARKABLE’: Singapore likely obtained Washington’s approval before sending the aid, but it is still an audacious move considering Beijing’s influence in the region

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 11, 2018
By: Aaron Tu  /  Staff reporter

Despite the long history of military exchanges between Taiwan and Singapore, that the

city-state sent relief supplies on a military cargo plane following a magnitude 6 earthquake in Hualien on Tuesday last week is still considered rare, Taiwan Thinktank researcher Tung Li-wen (董立文) said yesterday.

Singapore on Friday dispatched a Lockheed C-130 cargo plane laden with relief and medical supplies, tents and flashlights.

The Singaporean Ministry of Defense published photographs of its disaster relief mission in Hualien on its Web site.

Singapore has been trying to mend its ties with China after it in 2016 voiced support for a ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, Netherlands, that Beijing’s claims to most of the South China Sea had no legal basis.    [FULL  STORY]

ABC News
Date: Feb 9, 2018
By: The Associated Press

Hualien, Taiwan — Rescuers from Japan join the searching operation at an apartment

building collapsed after a strong earthquake in Hualien County, eastern Taiwan, Friday, Feb. 9, 2018. A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck late Tuesday night caused several buildings to cave in and tilt dangerously. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)more +

Hopes of finding additional survivors from this week’s earthquake in Taiwan were fading Friday after two more bodies were found in a partially collapsed hotel and no signs detected of a missing family of five.    [FULL  STORY]

Reuters 
Date: February 9, 2018
By: Reuters Staff

BEIJING (Reuters) – A U.S. bill that encourages reciprocal visits by U.S. and Taiwanese

government officials threatens stability in the Taiwan Strait and the United States must withdraw it, China’s Foreign Ministry said on Friday.

Beijing considers democratic Taiwan to be a wayward province and integral part of “one China”, ineligible for state-to-state relations, and has never renounced the use of force to bring the island under its control.

The United States has no formal ties with Taiwan but is bound by law to help it defend itself and is the island’s main source of arms. China regularly says Taiwan is the most sensitive issue in its ties with Washington.
[FULL  STORY]

 

Taiwan News  
Date: 2018/02/09
By:  Central News Agency

Taipei, Feb. 9 (CNA) Hualien policeman Cheng Po-jen was on duty Tuesday night when

a magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck the eastern Taiwan city, causing four buildings to partially collapse including the one in which Cheng lived.

But less than an hour after the earthquake, the policeman who lost his home plunged right back to work and joined in the search for people thought to be in the damaged structures who were unaccounted for.

“When I found out that my Yun Men Tsui Ti building had collapsed, I froze for a few minutes. I was dumbfounded,” Cheng told CNA Friday.

But Cheng said he quickly told himself that his building was gone and there was nothing he could do about it, so he might as well channel his energy into helping others.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/02/09
By: Yeh Su-ping and Ko Lin

Taipei, Feb. 9 (CNA) Saving lives knows no boundaries, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英

文) tweeted on Friday, expressing sympathy for the five Chinese nationals believed to be trapped in a 12-story building that partially collapsed in an earthquake in Hualien late Tuesday.

“We will not give up any hope,” Tsai said, calling for the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait to pray for their safety.

“We hereby extend our deepest sympathies to the families affected by the disaster,” she said on Twitter.

A family of five, the Chinese visitors were staying at the Beauty Inn in the Yun Men Tsui Ti building, one of the structures that tipped over in the magnitude 6.0 earthquake late Tuesday.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-02-08

The wife of a Taiwanese NGO worker jailed in China gave a speech at a human rights

symposium in Brussels on Wednesday night. The woman, Lee Ching-yu, spoke about her husband Lee Ming-che, who was sentenced last year to five years in prison for “subverting state power.” He had traveled to China to share Taiwan’s experience of democratic transformation.

At the symposium in Brussels, Lee Ching-yu thanked international NGO groups for their support. She also asked for help finding out about her husband’s health condition. That’s because previous reports from Beijing had left blank the space reserved for information about the prisoner’s health.

Lee Ching-yu says she has written more than 20 letters to Chinese authorities but has not received a reply. China has also barred her from entering the country to visit her husband.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan’s social welfare system stands out – it just doesn’t feel like it because low wages make the benefits look insufficient.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/02/08
By: Justin Hugo

This is the fourth in a 5 part series. You can start with part 1 here.

Social protections and saving graces

As touched on in part 3, Taiwan’s saving grace lies in its social welfare system.

Taiwan ranks eighth in a global list of unemployment benefit replacement rates, which

compare unemployment benefits received when not working to wages earned when last employed in a given year (in this case the year 2000). The list was compiled based on underlying data for this IMF working paper and does not take into account the eligibility of recipients for unemployment benefit, the duration they are able to receive it, or the conditions attached to its distribution.

Taiwan can be said to offer adequate protection, which at 60 percent of the previous salary is just below the Netherlands’ 70 percent, Sweden’s 68.5 percent and Norway’s 62.4 percent. In general, the Nordics and the Netherlands have high replacement rates, and they also start at a high wage base.     [FULL  STORY]

Your basic emergency kit should include these essentials…

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/02/08
By: Sophia Yang, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – After a deadly magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck in Hualien,

Taiwan’s Central Emergency Operation Center advised people to prepare an earthquake kit in response to its frequent aftershocks which can still be felt across the island as of Thursday.

The Central Emergency Operation Center reminds people to prepare the earthquake kit, or earthquake bag, which can be purchased from the hypermarket outlets and online shopping sites. The emergency kit should include these essentials: water, food, First Aid kit, dust mask, tissue papers, personal ID, deposit books, small amount of cash or coins, flashlight with extra batteries, whistle, portable radio, Schweizer Messer or pocket knife, blanket or sleeping bag, extra house keys and a jacket.

If you have babies or toddlers, the kit should also include baby formula, canned baby foods, nursing bottles and diapers.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/02/08
By: Wang Yang-yu and Christie Chen

Taipei, Feb. 8 (CNA) The death toll from a magnitude 6.0 earthquake that hit Hualien in eastern Taiwan late Tuesday rose to 10 Thursday evening with the recovery of a body believed to be that of a female migrant worker.

The body was pulled from the rubble of a partially collapsed building where a Filipino caregiver identified by the name Melody was reportedly trapped.

A rescue team from Keelung City said they received a report at 5 p.m. Thursday that Melody was trapped inside a closet on the seventh floor of the 12-story Yun Men Tsui Ti (雲門翠堤) commercial and residential building.

After searching through the debris, rescuers said, they recovered the body of a woman believed to be Melody.    [FULL  STORY]