Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-11-21

Premier William Lai says that the Ministry of Justice is investigating Taiwan’s largest

private shipbuilder — Ching Fu Shipbuilding. The company is embroiled in a fraud scandal involving a defense ministry contract to build six minesweepers.

Lai spoke on Tuesday about the investigation.

“When it comes to the case of the minesweepers, the Cabinet has already conducted a complete investigation,” said Lai. “As to the question of appropriations, we’re handing over all of our information to the Ministry of Justice to conduct a more in-depth investigation.”

The fraud allegedly occurred when Ching Fu Shipbuilding was trying to obtain a NT$20.5 billion syndicated loan from a group of nine domestic lenders led by First Commercial Bank. Kaohsiung District Prosecutors’ Office, which has been investigating the case since August, suspects the shipbuilder used bogus documents to pave the way for the loan. First Commercial Bank then filed a criminal lawsuit against Ching Fu Shipbuilding in October for breach of contract.    [FULL  STORY]

Police in Jakarta reportedly shot and killed an unidentified Taiwanese man for resisting arrest on drug charges

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/11/21
By: Duncan DeAeth, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) –  In another instance of Indonesia expanded efforts to crackdown

on drug use and drug dealing in the country, a Taiwanese national has reportedly been killed by police officers in Jakarta, Indonesia.

The incident occurred during a drug raid on the evening of Monday, Nov. 20 according to the Jakarta Post.

The identity of the deceased has yet to be released, but Indonesian sources refer to him as LW. Another Taiwanese national and an Indonesian were also arrested in the raid which occurred in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta.

LW reportedly resisted arrest when officers arrived, which led to “firm but measured action” on the part of the officers involved. The Taiwanese man reportedly died from his wounds at a hospital following the incident.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/11/21
By: Jay Chou and William Yen

Taipei, Nov. 21 (CNA) An economic fugitive from Taiwan whose arrest in Jakarta was

announced last month, was put on a plane Tuesday by the local authorities and escorted back by Taiwanese officials, said the head of the Taipei Economic and Trade Office (TETO) in Indonesia.

Chen Hsuan-ming (陳宣銘) escorted by police.

According to a self-help group for Taiwanese fraud victims, Chen Hsuan-ming (陳宣銘) is suspected of being involved in an embezzlement case in which Taiwanese investors allege he fled the country with investment funds worth NT$5.2 billion (US$173.199 million).

Chen, CEO of the Taipei branch of Millennium Penata Futures (MPF) in 2009, allegedly persuaded up to 2,500 people to put their money into an investment account, which he claimed was a risk-free investment with an annual interest rate of 6 percent.
[FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 22, 2017
By: Shelley Shan  /  Staff reporter

The Taipei Association of Travel Agents yesterday urged the government to cancel

regulations requiring tour bus operators to change drivers during seven-day tours for Chinese tourists.

“The government is still amending work-hour regulations in the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法) and changing the job categories in which the flexible work-hour rules apply,” association chairman Benny Wu (吳志建) told a news conference.

“Taiwan is now welcoming more than 10 million international tourists per year, and the tourism industry should be allowed to utilize flexible hours. We ask the Tourism Bureau to revisit the regulations and cancel them” before the amendment to Act is finalized, he said.

The Tourism Bureau on Wednesday last week announced new amendments to tourism regulations to ensure the quality of tours for Chinese tourists, which are scheduled to take effect on Friday next week.    [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: November 21, 2017
By: Shih Hsiu-chuan

TAIPEI (CNA) – Local nongovernmental organizations (NGO) advocating children’s rights

raised various issues on the protection of children with international experts as the weeklong review of Taiwan’s first state report under the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) got under way on Monday.

Jakob Egbert Doek, a guest lecturer from the Children’s Rights and Family Law Department at Leiden University in Holland, led an international group of five reviewing the report the Taiwan government published in November last year, two years after the Legislative Yuan enacted the “Implementation Act of CRC.”

“It’s an extraordinary indication of the commitment to the principles and rights of the convention,” Nigel Cantwell, a member of the group, told CNA when speaking of Taiwan freely subjecting its implementation of the CRC to a UN-type review when its ratification is not recognized by the UN.

Since 2009 Taiwan has ratified six of the UN’s nine core international human rights treaties and enacted separate legislation aimed to bring the nation’s legal framework into line with international norms, according to the Ministry of Justice.    [FULL  STORY]

Vietnamese woman with deep gash in neck falls to her death before Taiwanese boyfriend also leaps in Nantou County

Taiwan News 
Date: 2017/11/20
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — In what appears to be a murder-suicide, the body of a

Vietnamese woman was discovered on a sidewalk with the body of her Taiwanese boyfriend lying on a nearby car this morning (Nov. 20) in front of an apartment in Nantou County’s Caotun Township, reported TVBS.

Police received a report that a man and woman had both fallen from a high-rise apartment at 6 a.m., with the woman landing on the sidewalk and the man impacting on a parked car.  When police arrived on the scene, they discovered that the two had fallen from the 11th floor of an apartment they rented together, with the woman having a 10-cm-long gash in her neck, while the man had a smaller laceration to his neck, about 2 to 3 cm in length.

According to the mother of the man, the woman, surnamed Bui (裴) had arrived to Taiwan on a marriage visa with another Taiwanese man, who she later divorced. She then started dating the 32-year-old Taiwanese man surnamed Hsu (許), and the two had been a couple for about a year before today’s tragic incident.    [FULL  STORY]

An evening of oysters and wine is trumped by charcuterie.

The News Lens
Date: 2017/11/20
By: Adam Hatch

Credit: Origines French Bistro
The good:

• Excellent wine
• Great charcuterie
• Refined yet cozy design

The bad:

• Lacking service
• Oysters left something to be desired

While French fare isn’t new in Taipei, there are few quality bistros and wine bars. Origines in Da’an District hopes to answer the need for both.

The venue, officially titled Origines French Bistro and Wine Bar, on Nov. 10 hosted an “Oysters and Chablis” event featuring, obviously, oysters and wine. While still a new restaurant and not perfect, Origines has great potential and is a solid choice if you’re in search of a quality glass of wine and charcuterie.

Background:

Origines opened in 2015 in Da’an District between Anhe Rd. and Dunhua S. Rd. Chef and owner Cyril Hou was born in France and raised in Germany, and after attending university in Europe, he returned to France to pursue a career in French dining, including interning at Michelin-rated eateries. He and his girlfriend Sylvia Su run the bistro, hoping to exemplify quality French dining and wine in the heart of Taipei.

Atmosphere

Origines is less a fine-dining restaurant than it is an upscale cafe, better for sharing hors d’oeuvres and a bottle of wine than tucking into a seven-course supper. The atmosphere is equal parts refined and unostentatious, especially at an event where most people seemed to know each other and were friends with Mr. Hou and Ms. Su.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/11/20
By: Shih Hsiu-chuan

Taipei, Nov. 20 (CNA) Local nongovernmental organizations (NGO) advocating children’s

rights raised various issues on the protection of children with international experts as the weeklong review of Taiwan’s first state report under the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) got under way on Monday.

Jakob Egbert Doek, a guest lecturer from the Children’s Rights and Family Law Department at Leiden University in Holland, led an international group of five reviewing the report the Taiwan government published in November last year, two years after the Legislative Yuan enacted the “Implementation Act of CRC.”

“It’s an extraordinary indication of the commitment to the principles and rights of the convention,” Nigel Cantwell, a member of the group, told CNA when speaking of Taiwan freely subjecting its implementation of the CRC to a UN-type review when its ratification is not recognized by the UN.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 21, 2017
By: Chen Wei-han  /  Staff reporter

The Cabinet has asked Deputy Minister of Labor Liao Huei-fang (廖蕙芳) to reconsider

her resignation after the former labor rights activist reportedly quit due to conflicts with the Ministry of Labor over a draft amendment to the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法).

Liao on Sunday announced her resignation on Facebook, writing that she had on Nov. 13 tendered her resignation to Minister of Labor Lin Mei-chu (林美珠) and it was being processed.

A former Taiwan Labor Front director-general, Liao’s resignation has been interpreted as the result of irreconcilable differences between her beliefs and the draft labor law amendment, which has been criticized by labor groups for seeking to raise the maximum number of consecutive working days, lower the minimum rest time between shifts and conditionally raise the limit on monthly overtime hours.

Premier William Lai (賴清德) yesterday said that he had asked Lin to retain Liao.
[FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: November 20, 2017
By: C.W. Hsu and Flor Wang

TAIPEI (CNA) – The majority of children in Taiwan are satisfied with their lives, although

the percentage is below the global average, according to the results of a survey released on Monday, International Children’s Rights Day.

The survey, which was conducted May 24 to June 23, found that 82.8 percent of Taiwan’s children rated their subjective life satisfaction higher than 60 on a scale of 100, the Child Welfare League Foundation said in a press statement.

Only 17.2 percent gave a score under 60 that indicated dissatisfaction, the foundation said.

However, the percentage of children in Taiwan who expressed satisfaction with their lives was lower than the world average of 87.5 percent, the foundation said.
[FULL  STORY]