The China Post
Date: September 28, 2017

When a man surnamed Wong asked for secrecy after he purchased seven homes and

14 parking spaces in two days in Kaohsiung, the realty developer assumed he to be a superrich client who wanted to stay low-key.

Yet the buyer of over NT$50 million worth of properties turned out to be demanding non-disclosure for another reason.

After making the purchases on Jan. 17 and Jan. 18, 2015, Wong contacted the developer and required to cancel the deals and returned the NT$6.1 million he paid as deposits. Wong said he suffered from bipolar disorder that would sometimes lead to compulsive buying and the home shopping spree took place during an episode. Wong, who apparently asked for secrecy in order to keep his purchases from his wife, went to the court after the developer refused to return the deposit.

The court found the deals valid after its investigation showed that Wong had no medical records of bipolar disorder and made no attempts to receive treatment prior to the purchases. The court, however, found the NT$6.1-million penalties excessive and ruled that the developer should return NT$2.6 million to Wong. The case can be appealed.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-09-27

The wife of Taiwanese democracy advocate Lee Ming-che has called on Beijing to

allow visitation rights for his family.

Lee is being held in China on charges of “subverting state power”. During his recent trial, he did not object to the charges. He had been accused of promoting multi-party rule in group messaging chats.

Lee’s wife, Lee Ching-yu, said Wednesday that she is determined to visit her husband. Mrs. Lee said after attending her husband’s trial, she applied for a permit to return to China again, but there has been no response. She said the letters and books she wants to send to her husband have not been given to him.

Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council Minister Katharine Chang says the government is also demanding that China allow Lee’s wife visitation rights.    [FULL  STORY]

Premier William Lai has officially approved visa-free entry to Taiwan for Filippinos

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/09/28
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Minister Without Portfolio Chang Ching-sen (張景森) replied

to a CNAreporter that Taiwan Premier William Lai (賴清德) has already approved the implementation of visa-free entry for visitors from the Philippines, with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) to provide more details shortly.

A meeting was held by MOFA in mid September to confirm the details of the implementation of visa-free policy for the Philippines, which were then sent to the Executive Yuan for approval. Visa-free entry for Filipinos will go into effect in October.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/09/27
By: Emerson Lim and Kuan-lin Liu

Manila, Sept. 27 (CNA) The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in the Philippines on

Wednesday denied claims by Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte that Taiwan was one of the sources of illegal drugs entering his country.

In a CNA interview, Taiwan’s representative to the Philippines Gary Lin (林松煥) said what is known at the moment is that illegal drugs in the Philippines are not coming from Taiwan.

Taiwan does not ship drugs to the Philippines, Lin said, adding that his office, however, was looking into the situation, after Duterte claimed Tuesday that illegal drugs were entering his country via Taiwan.

Lin pointed out that Duterte himself had said the drugs were being produced in international waters and in the first administrative region of the Philippines, referring to Ilocos in northwestern Luzon.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 28, 2017
By: Staff writer, with CNA

The Taiwan-based Bamboo Union and Hong Kong-based 14K triad are behind the

proliferation of drugs in the Philippines, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said yesterday, after barrels of drugs fitted with satellite positioning equipment and covered with Chinese writing washed up in the Philippines on Wednesday last week.

He first made the allegation that the drugs were from Taiwan while speaking at a police academy alumni event on Thursday last week.

Duterte, speaking on Tuesday at an event marking the 120th anniversary of the establishment of the Philippine Department of Justice, named the Bamboo Union and 14K as running the drug trade in the country.    [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: September 27, 2017

Jacob Soll, author of “The Reckoning”, is a globe-trotting professor, yet Taiwan

caught him by surprise.

Taiwan “wasn’t what I expected. I’m very impressed,” Soll told The China Post during his recent visit to promote the Taiwan version of his book. “It reminds me of Holland, it is not the big country but it is very balanced, careful, highly educated, not very extreme, not showing off but also living very well.”

“I’ve been very impressed by this country. For me this is a huge discovery. It’s like a secret that no one talks about Taiwan,” he said.

The professor, who lived above a restaurant when he studied in France and had spent many nights learning to cook from the chefs, saved his best words for Taiwanese food, which he described as world-class yet unpretentious.
[FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-09-26

The foreign ministry says that 15 of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies spoke on Taiwan’s

behalf at this year’s UN General Assembly.

This year’s meeting took place from September 19-25. Taiwan has diplomatic relations with 20 nations. The foreign ministry said the government asked all but the Vatican for words of support during the assembly.

Foreign ministry spokesperson Eleanor Wang said Tuesday that Taiwan’s allies made three demands. They called on the UN to stop excluding Taiwan from UN-affiliated organizations and to drop discriminatory policies against Taiwanese nationals trying to visit the UN or attend UN meetings. They also called on the UN to include Taiwan in meetings related to its sustainable development goals.

Wang said the foreign ministry is still waiting to see whether the four allies who did not mention Taiwan in their remarks will express their support in other ways.
[SOURCE]

Ann Bai and Cicada perform on soundtrack of “The Last Painting”

Taipei Times  
Date: 2017/09/26
By Matthew Strong,Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taiwanese singer Ann Bai (白安) and the group Cicada

received a special mention at the Film Fest Gent festival in Belgium for their soundtrack for the movie “The Last Painting” (自畫像), reports said Tuesday.

The movie festival in the university town of Ghent is usually focused on music, with awards for soundtracks and composers.

While the Taiwanese movie is not taking part in any competition and will be shown in the “Global Cinema” section, its presence on the official website with a mention of the composers nevertheless pays a tribute to their creativity, the Chinese-language Apple Daily reported.

The title song of the movie, “The Sky Before The Sunset” (太陽落下以前的天空), was written by rock band Fire EX. (滅火器) lead singer Sam Yang (楊大正).
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/09/26
By: Chang Jung-hsiang, Huang Guo-fang, Wen Kuei-hsiang and William Yen
Chen Ming-wen (陳明文)

Taipei, Sept. 26 (CNA) Legislator Chen Ming-wen (陳明文), who has been convicted of leaking classified information when he was serving as Chiayi magistrate 2001-2009, was sentenced Tuesday by the Taiwan High Court’s Tainan Branch to a six-month prison term, which can be commuted to a fine.

Chen, a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator, was found guilty of leaking the floor price of a bid for underground sewage works in Minhsiung Township to Lai Wen-cheng (賴文正), director of Wei Meng (偉盟) Co., which won the bid, in 2007.

Chen said in an interview at the Legislative Yuan that he could not accept the ruling and that he will discuss the verdict with his lawyers after receiving it.
[FULL  STORY]

EXPORT QUALITYThe government is backing local film and music producers to sell their products overseas to help promote Taiwanese culture on the global stage

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 27, 2017
By: Sean Lin  /  Staff reporter

Premier William Lai (賴清德) yesterday promised to realize marriage equality in

accordance with the Council of Grand Justices Constitutional Interpretation No. 748, a goal absent from the 72 priority bills the Executive Yuan put forward last week.

“The Executive Yuan has followed the Council of Grand Justices’ ruling to seek the broadest consensus in an effort to put forward a concrete and workable marriage equality bill,” Lai said in his first administrative report to the legislature.

The drive to legalize same-sex marriage was listed under the government’s goal to build a “just society,” one of its five major administrative goals.    [FULL  STORY]