The China Post
Date: February 10, 2017
By: The China Post new staff

The Ministry of Transportation and Communications on Thursday offered some leniency

to workers who were punished for participating in a strike during the Lunar New Year holiday.

The punishment for striking workers who submitted a request for absence beforehand could be lightened, MOTC Minister Ho Chen Tan said Thursday, reiterating the ministry’s efforts to improve the working conditions of TRA staff.

Ho Chen said that public transportation was like the service industry: “the purpose of its existence is to serve clients.

“And when there are more clients, we must join efforts to satisfy their demands.”
[FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/02/08
By: Associated Press

BEIJING (AP) — China says it is drafting policies to attract Taiwanese to live and work

on the mainland, amid a deepening political standoff between the sides.

The Cabinet’s Taiwan Affairs Office said Wednesday that residents of the self-governing island democracy will be offered incentives in employment, education and government benefits.

Spokesman An Fengshan said the measures aim to boost “economic and social integration between the sides.”

Beijing froze diplomatic contacts with Taiwan in June over Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen’s refusal to endorse the concept of a single Chinese nation. Since then, Beijing has been increasing diplomatic and economic pressure on the island it claims as its own.

The latest measures appear to represent the carrot to that stick, although previous attempts to win over Taiwanese through the pocketbook have had little effect.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/02/08
By: Tony Liao and Christie Chen

Washington, Feb. 7 (CNA) U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration should welcome Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) commitment to maintaining the status quo across the Taiwan Strait, according to a report released Tuesday in Washington, D.C.

The report, titled “U.S. Policy Toward China: Recommendations for a New Administration,” was authored by a bipartisan task force comprising prominent China specialists and jointly issued by the Asia Society’s Center on U.S.-China Relations and the School of Global Policy and Strategy at the University of California, San Diego.

The report said Taiwan has a long history as a “central, volatile, and potentially dangerous element” in U.S.-China relations and urged the Trump administration to make significant changes in policy only after a careful analysis of the potential consequences.    [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: February 9, 2017
By: James Lo

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Former Foreign Minister James Huang (黃志芳) on Wednesday

officially became the new chairman of the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA).

In an event witnessed by various ambassadors and representatives to Taiwan, Huang officially accepted the TAITRA chairmanship seal from the council’s interim chairwoman, incumbent Vice Economic Affairs Minister Wang Mei-hua (王美花).

Huang, who most recently headed the Presidential Office’s New Southbound Policy Office, will succeed Francis Liang (梁國新), who took over as Taiwan’s representative to Singapore last month.

Minister of Economic Affairs Lee Chih-kung (李世光) was also in attendance and presided over the transfer ceremony.    [FULL  STORY]

The man claims he was paralyzed due to the fall

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/02/07
By: Matthew Lubin, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Taiwan High Court ruled in favor of a man who claimed

Carrefour was negligent when he slipped and fell next to a checkout counter in 2008. He was awarded NT$100,000 (US$3,222) for his injuries.

The man originally claimed NT$12 million (US$386,691) in compensation after he slipped on cleaning products that had been spilled by checkout at the Carrefour Ching Kuo store in Taoyuan, according to UDN. He hit his head on the floor and suffered paralysis due to a spinal cord injury. The district court reduced the initial sum to NT$1.2 million (US$38,669) plus medical costs that totaled NT$700,000 (US$22,557).

However, the Taiwan High Court ruled that Carrefour was not responsible for the spinal cord injury and only for hip injuries, lowering the verdict to NT$100,000. The court held that the man suffered from cervicothoracic-related problems prior to the accident and the back of his head did not hit off the floor when he fell. Therefore, the man could not prove that the accident caused his paralysis. The court also noted that it could not prove whether Carrefour ensured the safety of customers in this situation, leading to the compensation ruling.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/02/07
By: Lu Hsin-hui and Lilian Wu

Taipei, Feb. 7 (CNA) Taiwan’s Air Force signed an agreement Tuesday to commission a

domestic military-run institute to build 66 advanced trainer planes, signaling a step forward in the government’s efforts to develop the local defense industry.

Under the terms of the agreement signed by Air Force Commander Shen Yi-ming (沈一嗚) and National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (CSIST) President Chang Guan-chung (張冠群), the first prototype of the trainer aircraft is expected to be completed in 2019 and test flights a year later.

By 2026, the fleet of 66 advanced trainers will be delivered to seamlessly replace the military’s AT-3 trainer aircraft and F-5 fighter jets, which are over 30 years old, the institute said.    [FULL  STORY]