The News Lens
Date: 2017/11/17
By: Cat Thomas

Credit: Cat Thomas
We look at four emerging companies from this year’s MeetTaipei startup festival that are on track to profitability.

With a slogan of Let’s Rock the Island one might expect startup festival MeetTaipei to be a somewhat raucous affair, but a quiet hum was more the measure of it on Friday morning. There were talks aplenty and people pitching on the various stages, plus startups at their stands willing to have a chat about their projects.

Some of these local startups are worth keeping an especially close eye on, but every startup must eventually answer the tricky question: How will your company make money?
[FULL  STORY]

Taiwanese designers showcase their best gowns in Taipei this week

Taiwan News 
Date: 2017/11/17
By: Juvina Lai, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — This year’s Taipei IN Style featured famous brands showcasing

their impressive products.

One such brand named JE Haute Couture showcased their famous wedding gown collections that surely made heads turn.

In an interview with Taiwan News, the Design Director Y.C. Tsai said one of the most wanted gowns that was showcased in a mannequin stood out among others because it was one her designs she was most proud of.

Tsai said the brand showcased their products in Hong Kong in a recent show and gained international attention among buyers from India and Indonesia.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/11/17
By: Chen Chun-hua and Kuan-lin Liu 

Taipei, Nov. 17 (CNA) The Legislative Yuan on Friday approved the Cabinet’s nominees for chairman and five other members of the Central Election Commission (CEC) in a vote that was boycotted by the opposition Kuomintang (KMT).

The Legislature confirmed the nomination of National Central University law professor Chen In-chin (陳英鈐) as the commission’s chairman, effective immediately given that the previous chairman’s term ended earlier this month.

Chen, the director of National Central University’s Institute of Law and Government, received 70 of the 72 votes that were cast on Friday.    [FULL  STORY]

‘HUMAN ERROR’?The KMT accused the Ministry of National Defense of telling lies on behalf of the Presidential Office regarding the expedited loan to Ching Fu Shipbuilding

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 18, 2017
By: Sean Lin  /  Staff reporter

The Ministry of National Defense could not have expedited a NT$2.4 billion (US$79.7

million) payment to Ching Fu Shipbuilding Co had it not received instructions from top management at the Presidential Office, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus said yesterday, urging the Presidential Office to name the official who ordered the ministry to do so.

The ministry on Thursday said in a statement that the payment was made ahead of schedule due to “human error” and yesterday put on hold its plan to publish a list of personnel to be punished over the payment, saying that further investigation was needed.

It is regrettable that the ministry insists that the disbursement of the NT$2.4 billion followed due budgeting procedure and was entirely legal, KMT caucus deputy secretary-general Lee Yen-hsiu (李彥秀) said, citing the ministry’s Thursday statement and accusing it of shirking its responsibility.    [FULL  STORY]

Our writer tackled 150 miles in four days, with just two wheels and almost zero Mandarin.

Bloomberg
Date: November 16, 2017
By: Matt Gross

There comes a moment during every great endurance adventure when, no matter how fit you are, no matter how experienced, a simple, penetrating question arises: Why?

During a 150-mile bike trip up the rugged east coast of Taiwan, there are times when this question becomes my mantra, hummed under my breath like a Zen koan. The four-day journey takes me from rocky beaches to lush mountaintops, from lazy hills to vertical slogs, all in temperatures that, at their predawn lowest, barely dip below 80F.

Taiwan is no one’s first thought when it comes to a cycling trip—more popular are weeklong excursions with stops at five-star resorts in France’s Burgundy wine country or, for real Tour de France fans, ascending Mont Ventoux guided by ex-pro cyclists. And with good reason: Taiwan, about the size of Scotland, is cut off geographically and diplomatically from much of the world, and there’s scant information, at least in English, about where to sleep and what to eat on your adventure.

But over the past 20 years, I’ve visited the island many times, often staying for weeks with my in-laws in the capital of Taipei. (My wife, Jean, grew up there.) Everywhere I’ve been in the country of 23 million people I’ve found not only excellent food and eye-popping scenery but a uniquely friendly population. There’s a chill amiability to interactions, even when I’ve struggled to make myself understood in Mandarin. Life is good, take your time, enjoy the small things—that’s the mood.    [FULL  STORY]

 

Handyman confesses to murdering elderly lady to get stash of cash in her safe to pay NT$300,000 credit card debt

Taiwan News 
Date: 2017/11/16
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A handyman has confessed to the premeditated murder of his

elderly female customer to gain access to money stored in her apartment’s safe in Taipei’s Songshan District, in an attempt to pay off his considerable credit card debt, reported Apple Daily.

The handyman, identified as 33-year-old Huang Yuan-hung (黃元鴻), initially calmly and coolly denied accusations that he had murdered his 73-year-old customer surnamed Chuang (莊).

On Nov. 14, Chuang was originally scheduled to go on a trip with her daughter to China, but when her daughter entered the house, she found her mother lying dead in the kitchen. When police viewed CCTV footage of the apartment lobby, they saw that the handyman was the only person to enter and leave the apartment on Nov. 12, the last day Chuang was seen alive.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/11/16
By: Lee Hsin-Yin

Taipei, Nov. 16 (CNA) World Philosophy Day, established by UNESCO in 2005 to promote critical and independent thought, is being celebrated in Taiwan on Thursday for the first time, attracting hundreds of people interested in brainstorming on important life issues.

A two-day event comprising 16 salons that start in the afternoon and run until midnight, is being held to encourage free and continuous discussions, an area of study that has not gained the attention it deserves until recent years in Taiwan, according to the organizers, a group of intellectuals and scholars.

Claire Lin (林靜君), event coordinator and deputy head of the Philosophical Education Development Organization, told CNA that In recent years the “pursuit of reasoning” has become popular in Taiwanese society and it is timely to re-emphasize the importance of philosophy because it provides “good tools” through which people can reflect on the issues they encounter in their daily lives.    [FULL  STORY]

CHING FU CASE:The Chinese Nationalist Party’s legislative caucus said the Presidential Office had contradicted its own statements about visits by the shipbuilder’s president

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 17, 2017
By: Sean Lin  /  Staff reporter

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday accused the Presidential Office

of issuing contradictory statements about its visitor records and said the Democratoc Progressive Party (DPP) is running a smear campaign against the KMT in connection with a scandal at state-owned banks implicating Ching Fu Shipbuilding Co.

The Presidential Office on Wednesday told a “blatant lie” when it said that there were no records of Ching Fu president Chen Ching-nan (陳慶男) or his son, Ching Fu vice president Chen Wei-chih (陳偉志), visiting office officials, only to contradict itself later that day, the caucus said.

The caucus also cast doubt on back-to-back statements by the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors’ Office issued on Wednesday night, which it said echoed the Presidential Office’s statements.

After the Presidential Office on Wednesday morning said that it could not find any visitor records for Chen Ching-nan or his son, the prosecutors’ office issued a statement saying that Chen Wei-chih “claimed to have visited the Presidential Office to gain the trust of the Kaohsiung Marine Bureau,” which allegedly helped the shipbuilder secure land in Kaohsiung’s Singda Harbor.    [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: November 16, 2017
By: Tien Yu-pin and Evelyn Kao

TAIPEI (CNA) – Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore on Thursday delivered a speech to

about 1,200 employees of Taiwanese electric scooter maker Gogoro in Taipei during a visit to Taiwan arranged by the company.

Gore’s trip has been kept low key and the itinerary remains unclear, according to a Gogoro source. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that no meetings have been arranged between Gore and government officials.

Gore is a prominent environmental activist and co-founder of London-based Generation Investment Management, which has invested in Gogoro, according to the source.

The two companies share a similar business philosophy with a focus on sustainability factors, the source said.    [FULL  STORY]