One potential customer asked if they could raise an ostrich in their backyard.

The News Lens
Date: 2017/12/28
By: Yulin

Facebook launched the “Facebook Live” function last year, which allows individuals and

businesses to livestream video from their profile. In Taiwan, this new offering has taken an odd turn, with the service being used to sell animals from ostriches to terrapins.

Of the 1,000 most-viewed live streams in Taiwan, 538 were auctions from private accounts, and another 172 were live auctions from businesses; of the total, 70 percent were selling products of some kind. Online trading via live auctions is difficult to regulate – the law hasn’t caught up to technology, and many sales exist in a legal grey area.

Of these broadcasts, 7.5 percent involved selling animals. Facebook’s terms of use expressly forbid the sale of animals, but this restriction obviously isn’t effective without local law enforcement actively backing it up. Many animals not traditionally sold as pets have appeared at Taiwan’s auction, including foxes, goats, pigs, turtles, ducks, meerkats and ostriches. One page even claimed to have sold more than 500 turtles and 3,000 tortoises.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-12-27

A defense ministry spokesperson said Wednesday that he hopes greater transparency will

help shore up public support for the defense of Taiwan.

Chen Chung-chi was speaking at the legislature on Wednesday following the publication of the government’s latest national defense report. For the first time, the report offered greater details of how Taiwan obtains defensive arms from the United States and the military interactions between the two countries.

Chen said he hoped the greater openness would show the public the firmness of ties with the United States and also Taiwan’s autonomy in military affairs. He said, “Aside from the matter of arms procurement, we have autonomy in our national defense and wish at the same time to increase our defensive strength. Most importantly, it is only with a solid, collective will to fight an enemy… that we can uphold a firm national defense.”    [SOURCE]

Laws surrounding migrant workers have changed, but there is still much to be done before Taiwan’s migrant laborers can live with dignity.

The News Lens
Date: 2017/12/27
By: Morley James Weston

A decade ago, the Rev. Peter Nguyen Van Hung was advocating the rights of Vietnamese

women who were brought to Taiwan as brides. In the past decade, though, he has shifted his scope to protecting migrant laborers in Taiwan, both household help and workers on farms and factories.

Hung left Vietnam for Australia and became a Catholic priest before finally settling in Taiwan, where he has been instrumental in setting up organizations to protect migrant workers and raise awareness of their plight. He currently coordinates the Vietnamese Migrant Workers and Brides Office in Taoyuan.

A spry man in his late 50s, unafraid to pause for a full minute to collect his thoughts, Hung has a lot to say about the situation of Vietnamese living in Taiwan and what can be done to lift them out of a cycle of exploitation.

Courtesy of Peter Nguyen Van HungHung campaigned with the Migrant Empowerment Network in Taiwan (MENT) to change Article 52 of the Employment Service Act.
More than a decade ago, he was instrumental in downgrading Taiwan’s status in the U.S. State department’s Trafficking in Person’s Report rankings in 2004, and has been recognized by the U.S. as a hero in combating slavery. He says he still receives threats and harassment for his work, which was a big blow to Taiwan’s image as a regional beacon of human rights. Taiwan was restored to a tier one country in 2010 after the passage of the Human Trafficking Prevention Act. But, says Hung, there is still much to be done to end slavery in Taiwan.

Deity figures were stolen from Chishan Longhu Temple in Tainan

Taiwan News 
Date: 2017/12/27
By: Duncan DeAeth, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Temples throughout Taiwan may be looking to upgrade security

systems to protect the deities housed within them after recent events in Tainan.

This week there was an incident that occurred at Chishan Longhu Temple near Chishan Rock Lake, where two deity figures were stolen from the temple by guests purporting to be faithful worshipers.

The thieves successfully stole the figures from the temple and subsequently took them to a post office with the intent to mail them to China, according to the report at TaiwanHot.net.

People managing the temple quickly recognized the missing deity figures and alerted the local police. The post office was also alerted, and able to locate and arrest the suspects before the figures were mailed. The idols were fortunately returned to the temple.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/12/27
By: Chang Ming-hsuan and Kuan-lin Liu

Taipei, Dec. 27 (CNA) A law that took effect Dec. 1 allows babies born to foreign nationals

legally residing in Taiwan to automatically receive national health insurance coverage instead of waiting for six months as was previously necessary.

According to Lu Li-yu (盧麗玉) from the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the existing National Health Insurance Act requires foreigners with a residence permit to live in Taiwan for a minimum of six months before registering for national health insurance. The same no longer applies to their children if they give birth in Taiwan because of the new rule.

The rationale behind the rule is to protect the health of newborns, who are less likely to have pre-existing conditions, Lu explained.

It is estimated that the new rule will benefit 700-800 newborns each year, regardless of the occupation of their legally resident foreign parents.    [FULL  STORY]

How one nation transformed a health care system. Can America do big things anymore?

The New York Times
Date: Dec. 26, 2017
By: Aaron E. Carroll and Austin Frakt

Taiwan is proof that a country can make a swift and huge change to its health care system,

even in the modern day.

The United States, in part because of political stalemate, in part because it has been hemmed in by its history, has been unable to be as bold.

Singapore, which we wrote about in October, tinkers with its health care system all the time. Taiwan, in contrast, revamped its top to bottom.

Less than 25 years ago, Taiwan had a patchwork system that included insurance provided for those who worked privately or for the government, or for trade associations involving farmers or fishermen. Out-of-pocket payments were high, and physicians practiced independently. In March 1995, all that changed.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-12-26

The transportation minister, Ho Chen Dan, said Tuesday the Chinese ride-sharing app Didi

Chuxing must abide by local rules in Taiwan.

Didi Chuxing plans to make inroads into Taiwan and has been recruiting taxi drivers on Facebook. The Chinese firm insists that it is not responsible for any disputes between passengers and drivers because it is only a social network platform for them.

Didi Chuxing acquired Uber’s business in China last year. But the EU has already ruled that Uber should be regulated as a taxi company, not as a computer services business as it has claimed.

Ho Chen talked about the government’s stance.    [FULL  STORY]

The massacre and subsequent White Terror period constituted severe violations of human rights in Taiwan

Taiwan News 
Date: 2017/12/26
By: Sophia Yang, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The Legislature passed an amendment to the laws that was

favorable to the victims of the February 28 Incident, or the 228 Massacre.

The amendment will entitle family members or descendants of the victims of the political incident to claim compensation. The measure will also extend the deadline for claiming compensation by four years.

The nationwide anti-government uprising took place on February 28, 1947, and triggered a long period of suppression of political dissidents against the then Kuomintang government, a period that has come to known as the White Terror. According to government statistics, the total number of victims amounts to between 18,000 and 28,000, while only 2,300 of them have received compensation as of mid-December of 2017.

The deadline has been extended several times since the compensation program began in 1995, as more incident victims have been identified, and as obstacles have presented themselves for applicants seeking compensation, since providing evidence from over a half century ago is particularly difficult.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/12/26
By: Elaine Hou and Ko Lin 

Taipei, Dec. 26 (CNA) The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) announced Tuesday that it will recall several hundred of the next-generation biometric passports already issued because they contain an image of Washington’s Dulles International Airport rather than Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport.

A total of 200,000 of the new e-passports have already been printed, of which 285 have been issued to the public since Monday, according to MOFA.

The embarrassment came to light earlier in the day when a local report pointed out the error, saying that netizens recognized the image of the U.S. airport printed in one of inner pages of the passport.    [FULL  STORY]