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Taiwan Democracy Watch calls Tsai inactive on detainee

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-04-14

An advocacy group has called on President Tsai Ing-wen to address the legislature regarding a Taiwanese NGO worker detained in China.

Taiwan Democracy Watch on Friday claimed the government had done nothing in the ongoing case of Lee Ming-che. Lee is a staff member at Wenshan Community College in Taipei and a former staffer for the Democratic Progressive Party. He was detained in mid-March after crossing into mainland China from Macao. His whereabouts and condition are unknown and Chinese authorities have ignored repeated requests for information through both official and semi-official channels.

Chinese authorities have only said that Lee has been detained for “endangering national security,” though the exact nature of the charges has not been disclosed. It is suspected that Lee may have fallen foul of a new law governing the activities of overseas NGOs in China.    [FULL  STORY]

Events and activities in Taiwan for April 14 to April 20

Highlights for the week throughout Taiwan

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/04/14
By: Rana Yeh, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) –The following is a list of notable events and activities taking

Taiwanese pop singer Yoga Lin’s World tour of “The Great Yoga 2017” (Photo courtesy of HIM Music)

place in Taiwan from April 14 to April 20:

Sports

The 2017 Santaizi ATP Challenger (華國三太子國際男子網球挑戰賽) held by Chinese Taipei Tennis Association (CTTA) takes place at the NTU Sports Center in Taipei between 17 and 23 April. The game will be the fourth edition of the tournament, which will be part of the 2017 ATP Challenger Tour. Top tennis players Marcos Baghdatis, the runner-up at the 2006 Australian Open, and Vasek Pospisil, the men’s doubles winner at the 2014 Wimbledon Championships, will both attend the event.

For more information, visit the SportsV website.

Cultural events

The 2017 Songkran Festival (2017 新北市潑水節) kicks off on Sunday at Huasin Street (華新街) in New Taipei City’s Jhonghe District (中和區). Due to water rationing measures this year, the New Taipei City Government will use the water fog machine to control the usage of water. Visitors can also enjoy plenty of Southeast Asian cuisine, song and dance performances. Admission to the event is free. For more information, visit the official Songkran Festival website.

Temperatures expected to rise to 30 degrees Celsius this weekend

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/04/14
By Wang Shu-fen and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, April 14 (CNA) The weather will be dry and warm on Saturday, with daytime temperature expected to rise to 27 to 30 degrees Celsius in the northern half of Taiwan, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) predicted Friday.

The CWB forecast temperatures in the southern areas of Taiwan will reach 30-32 degrees C.

Elsewhere in Taiwan, high temperatures will range between 28-29 degrees in the east, and 29-30 degrees in the central areas on Saturday.    [FULL  STORY]

Tsai urged to report on Lee Ming-che

BLIND EYE:Taiwan Democracy Watch demanded that government agencies explain how they have been protecting Taiwanese and called on MOFA to provide assistance

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 15, 2017
By: Peng Wan-hsin, Su Fang-ho and William Hetherington / Staff reporters, with staff writer

Taiwan Democracy Watch yesterday called on President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to present a report on China’s detention of human rights advocate Lee Ming-che (李明哲) to the Legislative Yuan.

The group issued a statement listing six demands, including that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) should offer assistance to Lee, who has been held for 27 days as of yesterday.

It also demanded that the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) and the Ministry of Education investigate whether Lee Chun-min (李俊敏) — a Taiwanese who said he could help Lee Ming-che’s wife, Lee Ching-yu (李凈瑜), gather information about his arrest — violated the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (兩岸人民關係條例).   [FULL  STORY]

20 years of service for the ROC’s F-16s

The China Post
Date: April 15, 2017
By: The China Post news staff

TAIPEI, Taiwan — The R.O.C. Air Force Friday marked the 20th anniversary of the

An F-16 flies across the skies over an Air Force base in Chiayi on Friday, April 14, to mark the 20th anniversary of the U.S.-made jet fighter’s service in Taiwan. The first F-16s ordered by Taiwan arrived April 14, 1997. (CNA)

delivery of F-16 fighter jets from the United States.
A host of activities were held at the Air Force’s base in Chiayi to mark the occasion, including a flying demonstration by an F-16 jet.

Previous F-16 pilots, supporting ground crew and their families also were invited to the Air Force base to observe the anniversary, according to the Central News Agency.

Taiwan ordered 150 F16 A/B jet fighters from the United States in 1992, and the first two planes were delivered to the Chiayi base on April 14, 1997. The F-16s have since been the backbone of the Air Force’s combat power.

Air Force Cmdr. Shen Yi-ming (沈一鳴), speaking at the opening ceremony for the anniversary, said the Air Force must continue building its defensive forces to protect the country.    [FULL  STORY]

CDC confirms man contracted Zika in Angola

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-04-13

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has confirmed Taiwan’s first case of Zika virus for 2017. The patient is a man in his twenties from northern Taiwan who travelled to Angola in mid-March for business.

The CDC said the man returned to Taiwan on April 10 and went to the doctor with symptoms including fever and a rash. The infection was confirmed on Thursday.

The CDC said there are no signs that the patient passed on the virus to other people in his residence or workplace.

There have been 14 cases of Zika infection confirmed in Taiwan since last year. All were contracted overseas.

The symptoms of Zika are usually mild but the virus poses a particular threat to pregnant women as it has been linked to birth defects.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwanese man reported missing in Mont Blanc mountains

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/04/13
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News)–French media reported on Thursday a 25-year-old Taiwanese

French media reported a 25-year-old Taiwanese man has gone missing for about a week in the Mont Blanc area. (photo from Le Dauphine website: www.ledau

man has gone missing for about a week in the Mont Blanc mountainous area and that a French mountain rescue team is searching for his whereabouts.

According to French local media Le Dauphine, the Taiwanese mountain climber was reported missing in the Mont Blanc mountains and Chamonix area’s PGHM rescue team has responded to the report and is searching for him.

According to the media report, the man was last seen at the Refuge des Cosmiques, a frequently used hut situated at 3,613 meters above sea level in the Mont Blanc massif.

Manager of the hut recognized the missing Taiwanese visitor in a photo of him and said he stayed in the hut overnight, the report said.    [FULL  STORY]

President talks up Taiwan-U.K. free trade deal

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/04/13
By: Lu Hsin-hui and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, April 13 (CNA) President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said on Thursday while meeting a

President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文, right). Photo courtesy of the Presidential Office

visiting delegation of British parliamentarians that the government’s stance on promoting free trade agreements (FTA) with other countries remains unchanged and expressed hope Taiwan and the United Kingdom might sign such an agreement.

Tsai also told the delegation led by Lord Steel of Aikwood, co-chair of the British-Taiwanese All-Party Parliamentary Group of the U.K. Parliament, that as a major player in various industry supply chains around the world, Taiwan has plenty of opportunities to cooperate with the U.K. in either conventional or innovative industries.

In recent years, based on their shared values, Taiwan-U.K. bilateral exchanges have grown stronger as shown by a series of visits to Taiwan by British officials last year. They included Lord Mayor of the City of London Jeffrey Mountevans, U.K. Minister of State in the Department for International Trade Greg Hands, the British prime minister’s trade envoy to Taiwan, Lord Faulkner and U.K. Special Representative for Climate Change Sir David King, according to Tsai.    [FULL  STORY]

Labor policy too lenient: SDP

EXCEPTIONS:The Social Democratic Party yesterday protested to the Ministry of Labor over concerns that ‘flexible work time’ would imperil the promised five-day workweek

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 14, 2017
By: Abraham Gerber / Staff reporter

New legal interpretations by the Ministry of Labor threaten to compromise full implementation of the “one mandatory day off and one flexible rest day” system instituted by the amended Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法), the Social Democratic Party (SDP) said yesterday in a protest outside the ministry in Taipei.

“Workers have already seen seven national holidays cut to give way to the ‘one mandatory rest day and one flexible rest day’ system, but the Ministry of Labor is still making adjustments that threaten to change the goal of these reforms,” SDP spokesman Chen Yu-hsin (陳又新) said, alleging that the ministry’s new application of the “flexible work time” regulation would turn reforms into empty promises.

Billed as guaranteeing workers a five-day workweek, the reforms have bolstered overtime regulations by implementing a new weekly “flexible rest day” on top of the existing “mandatory day off.”

The ministry has granted exceptions to some industries, such as trucking, allowing them to use “flexible work hours” to move “rest days” and “days off” across periods of up to eight weeks.    [FULL  STORY]

BREAKDOWN: The anatomy of the PX Mart boss’s apology

The China Post
Date: April 14, 2017
By: Christine Chou and Alan Fong

What a week for PR blunders. In the footsteps of Pepsi and United Airlines, one Taiwan company wandered into its own PR nightmare this week. Supermarket chain PX Mart’s CEO Hsu Chung-jen (徐重仁) is being raked over the coals for “insensitive” comments made Tuesday.

TAIPEI, Taiwan — What a week for PR blunders. In the footsteps of Pepsi and United Airlines, one Taiwan company wandered into its own PR nightmare this week. Supermarket chain PX Mart’s CEO Hsu Chung-jen (徐重仁) is being raked over the coals for “insensitive” comments made Tuesday.

Successful PR campaigns, especially as social media campaign targeting younger customers, have helped shape PX Mart into one of the most recognizable brands in the country. But Hsu’s remarks — that young people are spending too much money and should instead try to be more frugal, like the young people of his time — triggered enormous online outrage, with some netizens going so far as to call for a boycott.
[FULL  STORY]