Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/09/07
By: Miao Tzung-han and Y.F. Low

Taipei, Sept. 7 (CNA) The Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) said Thursday that it will

send officials to accompany the wife of Taiwanese human rights advocate Lee Ming-che (李明哲) to China’s Hunan Province, where he is to stand trial for allegedly subverting state power.

The SEF will provide Lee Ching-yu (李凈瑜) with all necessary assistance and protect her safety, the semi-official organization said in a text message to the media.

The SEF has also requested Taiwanese businessmen in the Hunan cities of Changsha and Yueyang to help with related arrangements, it said.

The foundation is authorized by the government to handle Taiwan’s relations with China in the absence of official ties.    [FULL  STORY]

A LAUGH AND A TEAR:The former premier said his Cabinet had fulfilled its promises and told the audience that he would apply for an elderly citizen card in a play on retirement

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 08, 2017
By: Chen Wei-han  /  Staff reporter

Former premier Lin Chuan (林全) yesterday bid farewell to the Executive Yuan as he

led the Cabinet to resign en masse.

He thanked members of the Cabinet for putting on a good performance over the past 15 months, as he chaired his final Cabinet meeting before the officials posed for a group photograph and attended a farewell party at the Executive Yuan.

“Governing is like a relay race. No matter how good our team is, or how good our cooperation and performance, we have to pass the baton when the time comes,” Lin said. He said the three priorities of his outgoing Cabinet were to ensure a smooth government transition, lay a foundation for President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) policies and establish consistency in policymaking within the bounds of Tsai’s governing philosophy.    [FULL  STORY]

Business groups simply do not want to show any respect when it comes to raising their workers’ wages, and it’s time to start protecting workers in Taiwan.

The News Lens
Date: 2017/09/06
By: Justin Hugo

Taiwan’s wages are low and the recent proposal to increase Taiwan’s minimum wage

to NT$22,000 (US$730) would do little to improve the livelihood of Taiwan’s workers.

Last month, the Basic Wage Deliberation Committee met and proposed to increase Taiwan’s minimum wage from NT$21,009 (US$697) this year to NT$22,000 (US$730) next year – the committee meets in the third quarter of every year, where representatives from the government, businesses and labor groups discuss whether to increase the minimum wage. The committee is convened by the Ministry of Labor (MOL).

Theoretically, this tripartite arrangement should be applauded for wanting to bring the different groups together to try to achieve a consensus. But in practice, business groups have boycotted the meetings halfway through. It happened last year. It happened again this year. These business groups simply do not want to show any respect when it comes to raising their workers’ wages.    [FULL  STORY]

A Taiwanese man put an engagement ring on the finger of his girlfriend at her funeral on Wednesday

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/09/06
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News)—A Taiwanese man put an engagement ring on the finger of his

girlfriend at her funeral on Wednesday, touching the hearts of those who attended the ceremony.

At Changhua City Funeral & Cemeteries Service, a funeral hall was decorated like a wedding venue with pink, white and purple balloons and a board with a few lines, one of which read “We are engaged.” Outside the hall was a photo of a woman surnamed Chen and a man surnamed Tsai.

The lines written by Tsai state that he wants to thank his girlfriend for accompanying him for five years and wherever she is, she will always be in his heart. During the funeral, Tsai who was in western dress, looking like a bridegroom, put an engagement ring on his girlfriend’s finger.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/09/06
By: Lee Hsin-Yin

Taipei, Sept. 6 (CNA) Taiwanese tourists remain interested in visiting Northeast Asia

despite escalating tensions in the region following the latest nuclear test by North Korea on Sept. 3, local travel agents said Wednesday.

“No negative impact has been reported at all on travel to Japan and South Korea,” said Sindy Lin (林怡君), an analyst for Northeast Asian tourism at the Travel Quality Assurance Association.

Taiwanese tourists seem to be used to threats from North Korea and tend to ignore them when making travel decisions, Lin said.

In fact, thanks to more flight options, travel to Japan is set to rise in the coming few months compared with the same period last year, she said.    [FULL  STORY]

TOP OF THE AGENDA:The FSC chairman-designate said his first task in his new job would be to familiarize himself with the tasks of all the agencies under the commission

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 07, 2017
By: Sean Lin / Staff reporter

Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) chairman-designate Wellington Koo (顧立雄)

yesterday addressed doubts over his abilities to prevail in his new post, while vowing to implement a “differentiated management style” and to seek to achieve a balance between encouraging innovation in the financial sector and regulating it.

Koo yesterday fielded reporters’ queries at the offices of the Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee in Taipei, which he has headed since September last year.

Asked how he would balance regulating the financial sector and encouraging innovation, Koo said he would consult his new colleagues over the implementation of a “differentiated management style” at financial institutions within the legal parameters of the financial innovations and experiments bill, which is being reviewed by the legislature.

Any person appointed FSC chairman in the digital age must consider how to balance innovation and regulation, but also contemplate whether to segregate industry and the financial sector, and prevent firms from being controlled by a handful of families, Koo said.    [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: September 6, 2017
By: The China Post with Business Today

“My son, do you really need to go on doing this? Why don’t you come back and be a

doctor?” That’s William Lai’s mother Lai Tung Hau put to the future Tainan Mayor and premier in 2004. In July that year, William Lai, who was the chief secretary of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislative Yuan Caucus, was beaten by a group of gangsters after Lai chided them for riding on the wrong side of the road.

Lai’s mother took care of Lai at the hospital and tried to convince him to leave politics and return to his former profession as a physician. But William Lai said instead: “As long as the society needs me and supports me with voters, I will just have to go on.”

Lai had twice been considered for a Cabinet position. In 2000, Chen Shui-bian was elected president and he planned to have Lai take over as Vice Minister of the Department of Health (now Ministry of Health and Welfare) and to be promoted to minister later; In 2007, Chang Chun-hsiung reprised as the premier and invited Lai to be as secretary-general, but Lai was dedicated to his lawmaker election campaign.
[FULL  STORY]

Intensity of 4 in Hualien City and Ji’an

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/09/05
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – An earthquake measuring 4.2 hit the region of Hualien on

Taiwan’s east coast Tuesday evening, with the shallow position of its epicenter making it clearly felt around the area, reports said.
The tremor hit at 6:08 p.m. and was located on land in Xiulin Township just 10.7 kilometers northwest from the Hualien County Government, according to the Central Weather Bureau.

As it was only 23.1 km under the surface, it was clearly felt in the region, with Hualien City and nearby Ji’an registering a 4 on the Taiwanese intensity scale, which ranges from 1 to 7.

There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries though. Hualien is a predominantly mountainous areas where earthquakes and torrential rain often produce land and rock slides.

Only two minutes later, a 3.5 tremor occurred in the same area at a depth of 18.8 km, the weather bureau said.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/09/05
By: Wu Hsin-yun and William Yen

Taipei, Sept. 5 (CNA) The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said Tuesday that it

will further restrict seven more categories of retailers from providing free plastic bags upon purchase of goods, starting Jan. 1, 2018.

The EPA section chief Lai Ying-ying (賴瑩瑩) said Tuesday the move will include drug and cosmetic stores, stores that sell medical equipment, electronics stores, bookstores, stationery stores, beverage shops, cafes and bakeries.

Asked about the situation in which plastic bags are used for the convenience of making deliveries, Lai said the bags will be charged to the customers if they want them.
The policy to reduce the use of plastic bags was introduced in 2002 and originally included the government sector, private schools, department stores, hypermarkets, supermarkets, convenience stores and fast food restaurants, with the aim of encouraging customers to bring their own shopping bags.    [FULL  STORY]

ELECTIONS:The chairman of the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation said the public has been critical of most of the major policies that Lin Chuan introduced

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 06, 2017
By: Chen Wei-han  /  Staff reporter

The resignation of Premier Lin Chuan (林全) on Monday and the appointment of Tainan

Mayor William Lai (賴清德) to replace him followed steadily declining approval ratings for the government and was clearly aimed at leading the administration through the midterm elections next year.

The approval rating for Lin’s Cabinet was as low as 28.7 percent in a survey by the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation released on Aug. 16, while 59.7 percent of the respondents disapproved of the Cabinet’s performance.

Tsai’s approval rating also fell last month to 29.8 percent, her lowest in the foundation’s polls since she took office in May last year. Lin’s resignation was no surprise after months of speculation as the main function of his Cabinet was widely understood to be to lead the administration through a transitional period and introduce reform policies that were sure to provoke heated opposition.    [FULL  STORY]