Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/08/13
By: Claudia Liu and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, Aug. 13 (CNA) Two Chinese military surveillance aircraft were seen flying east

of Taiwan on Sunday, the third time in August that Chinese military planes were seen near Taiwan, according to Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense.

Two Y-8 aircraft from the People’s Liberation Army of China first flew near southern Taiwan, through the Bashi Channel, but remained outside of Taiwan’s Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), and continued in a northeastern direction, according to the ministry.

They later flew over the Miyako Strait, accompanied by two Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jets, before returning to their base in China, the ministry said.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Aug 14, 2017
By: Chou Yan-yu / Staff reporter

The Summer Universiade, which is to begin on Saturday, is being touted by the Taipei

City Government as an opportunity to promote Taiwanese firms to the world, but much of the games’ official merchandise has been manufactured in China.

The games’ official merchandise is divided into nine categories, including clothing, accessories, souvenirs, collectibles, stationery, personal products, consumer electronics, gift packages and others. This is divided into 165 subcategories for a total of 520 items.

A number of products at a souvenir shop in Taipei City Hall were labeled “Made in China,” the majority of which depicted the event’s mascot, Bravo, including a NT$80 (US$2.64) coaster, a NT$99 badge, a NT$120 cloth badge, a NT$120 smartphone stand, a NT$149 silicon purse, a NT$150 key chain, a NT$220 embroidered name tag, a NT$250 stirrer, a NT$290 tote bag, a NT$390 fragrant candle, a NT$550 container and two plush Bravo toys priced at NT$550 and NT$680 respectively.    [FULL  STORY]

One temple even translated the fortune-telling sticks into English and Japanese.

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/08/12
By: Teng Pei-ju, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — As part of its goals to make English the second official

language of the city and boost tourism, Tainan City Government introduced the “English-friendly temples” initiative, for which nine local temples will have bilingual guidance in place or provide English services by the end of the year.

The city government said in a press release issued on August 10 that the “English-Friendly Emblems”, a project that pushed for local restaurants and transport services to provide English services or guidance last year, would focus on helping temples to create an English-friendly environment this year.

Nine local temples, including Luermen Tienhogong (鹿耳門天后宮), Anping Matsu Temple (安平開台天后宮), Taiwanfu Chenghuan Temple (台灣府城隍廟), are teaming up with the city’s Civil Affairs Department in creating a bilingual environment for visitors.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/08/12
By: You Kai-hsiang, Lu Hsin-hui and Y.F. Low

Taipei, Aug. 12 (CNA) A draft law on lay participation in Taiwan’s judicial system is expected to be completed at the end of this year, when it will be presented to the public for discussion, a Judicial Yuan official said Saturday.

The bill will be forwarded to the Legislative Yuan for review after it is approved by the Judicial Yuan in the first half of next year, Judicial Yuan Secretary-General Lu Tai-lang (呂太郎) said during a national conference on judicial reform held at the Presidential Office.

A key issue is to learn from other countries’ experiences and design a mechanism that meets Taiwan’s needs, he said, but at present the idea would be to set a “lay judge” or “lay assessor” system, in which lay judges join with professional judges in deciding cases.    [FULL  STORY]

CONSERVATIVEThe Judicial Yuan has a vested interest in opposing a jury system, so public hearings should be held to settle the issue, the NPP’s executive chairman said

Taipei Times
Date: Aug 13, 2017
By: Jason Pan / Staff reporter

National Congress on Judicial Reform preparatory committee members yesterday

presented their recommendations at its final meeting, while some abstained from the meeting in protest, saying that their views on gender equality and children’s rights were ignored.

Women’s rights advocate and lawyer Lai Fang-yu (賴芳玉), Garden of Hope Foundation chief executive Chi Hui-jung (紀惠容), Taiwan Healthcare Reform Foundation chief executive Joanne Liu (劉淑瓊) and social studies professor Lai Yueh-mi (賴月蜜) did not attend the meeting.

While Lai Yueh-mi was reportedly ill, the other four had said they were dissatisfied and felt “let down” when many of their recommendations were watered down or excluded from the subcommittee’s resolutions.    [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: August 12, 2017

TAIPEI, Taiwan — A tally by the Ministry of Finance revealed an obvious glass ceiling

for women in executive roles.

According to statistics compiled by the ministry, around one thousand earned more than NT$1 million per month from a single job in 2015. The majority of these extremely highly-paid individuals were employees of local listed firms but only 16.8 percent of them were women.

The discrepancy showed that men still had an advantage over women in securing executive positions in big companies in Taiwan, finance ministry officials said.

The data also showed that the number of people earning more than NT$100,000 increased from 320,000 in 2011 to 390,000 in 2015, or roughly 7 percent to 8 percent of the working population.    [FULL  STORY]

 

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-08-10

A foreign ministry official on Thursday rejected an overseas media claim that Taiwan

gave US$600 million to Guatemala.

The claim was made by a media outlet in neighboring Belize and reprinted in the Taiwan edition of Apple Daily. Both Guatemala and Belize are diplomatic allies of Taiwan in Central America. The report said the supposed financial aid to Guatemala included a gift of US$250 million. By contrast, the report said Belize had only received US$60 million from Taiwan, one tenth of the amount allegedly given to Guatemala.

Lee Hsien-chang of the foreign ministry dismissed the claim on Thursday, however. He said the ministry does not comment on the individual costs of Taiwan’s overseas assistance projects. But he said the US$600 million figure quoted was an inconceivably large amount and should not be taken seriously.

The foreign ministry this year has a budget in the region of US$800 million, making the Belize media report’s claim unlikely.    [SOURCE]

Taitung jolted by a magnitude 5.0 earthquake at 9:58 a.m. on Friday morning

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/08/11
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A magnitude 5.0 earthquake struck off the coast of Taitung at 9:58 a.m. Friday morning, according to the Central Weather Bureau (CWB).

The epicenter of Friday’s tremor was located 52.6 kilometers northeast of the Taitung County government office, at a depth of 22.4 kilometers, according to the CWB.

An intensity level of 4 was felt in Taitung County, a level of 3 was felt in neighboring Hualien County, and a level of 2 was felt in Kaohsiung City, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, and Tainan City. An intensity level of 1 was felt in Nantou County, Pingtung County, Changhua County, and Taichung City.

No injuries were reported at the time of publication.

Located along the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, Taiwan uses an intensity scale of 1 to 7, which gauges the degree to which a quake is felt in a specific location.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/08/10
By: Huang Li-yun and Y.F. Low

Taipei, Aug. 10 (CNA) The current power shortages are expected to ease slightly from Thursday, thanks to the launch of a new generator at the Talin Power Plant in Kaohsiung, a Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) official said that day.

The generator officially began operations the previous day, adding 200,000 kilowatts to the country’s daily electricity supply, according to Lee Chun-li (李君禮), deputy chief of the MOEA’s Bureau of Energy.

A damaged transmission tower operated by the independent power producer Ho-Ping Power Co. in Hualien County, meanwhile, will be completely repaired Thursday, which will allow the power plant to supply at least 650,000 kW per day starting next Monday, Lee said.    [FULL  STORY]