Page Two

Taiwan post offices to stay open on Saturdays despite labor law

The China Post
Date: February 8, 2017
By: James Lo

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Chunghwa Post (中華郵政) has returned to sender a plan to halve

A man speaks with a Chunghwa Post employee regarding the delivery and collection of his mail. In a surprising turn of events, Chunghwa Post announced that more of its offices would stay open on Saturdays. (CNA)

weekend service.

The postal service previously said it would close half its post offices that opened on Saturdays, citing the impact of the new “one fixed, one flexible” day off labor rule.

However, on a request from the Transportation Ministry for the company to consider public needs, Chunghwa Post Deputy General Manager Wang Shu-ming (王淑敏) said Tuesday that the company would abandon the plan to cut weekend service.

Minus A Half Hour

Currently, post offices that offer weekend service are open from 8:30 a.m. to noon. From Feb. 25, most Taiwan post offices will stay open on Saturday, though they will open a half-hour later at 9 a.m. and close at noon.    [FULL  STORY]

Tsai may propose new cross-strait framework in second half of 2017

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017-02-06

President Tsai Ing-wen may propose a new cross-strait policy in the second half of the year. That was the word from the head of the Taiwan Business Association in China, Kuo Shan-hui.

A lawmaker with the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) Lin Wei-Chou said that people are looking forward to this as society hopes to change the current zero-sum situation in cross-strait relations.

Interaction between Taiwan and China has largely stalled since Tsai took office last May. It’s thought that Beijing is unhappy with Tsai and her Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which takes a more distant approach to the Chinese government.

Tsai has also opted not to recognize the 1992 Consensus, which had been the basis for cross-strait ties during the previous administration. Under that tacit agreement both sides agreed that there was one China, with each side reserving its own interpretation of what that meant.    [FULL  STORY]

Cambodian prime minister announces ban on ‘Taiwanese flag’ to honor One China policy

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/02/06
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen made a public announcement at the weekend to

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen. (By Wikimedia Commons)

ban the “Taiwanese flag” that represents the Republic of China across Cambodia as a gesture to show his strong commitment to the One China policy, while making clear that Taiwanese investment in Cambodia is welcome.

The prime minister told the Cambodian–Chinese Association in a speech on Saturday that the flag should be raised in the country.

“I request to people here: Please don’t raise the Taiwanese flag whenever you are gathering, even at the hotel during Taiwanese national holidays. It is not allowed,” Hun Sen was quoted by the Cambodia Daily as saying.    [FULL  STORY]

CDC denies rumors about treatment of foreign HIV/AIDS patients

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/02/06
By: Chen Wei-ting and Lilian Wu

Taipei, Feb. 6 (CNA) Most foreign nationals with HIV/AIDS do not meet the stringent conditions enforced by Taiwan’s health insurance system to receive treatment, an official at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said on Monday.

CDC Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said that foreign nationals seeking treatment for HIV/AIDS in Taiwan have to meet five conditions, amid rumors being spread online that since Feb. 4, all HIV/AIDS patients are entitled to treatment in Taiwan.

The group spreading the “false news” urged members of the public to call the health minister, legislative speaker or premier to oppose the provision of such coverage.
[FULL  STORY]

DPP might face uphill election battle

UNPOPULAR:Re-election prospects of Chiayi Mayor Twu Shiing-jer are ‘worrying,’ a DPP lawmaker said, adding that the party has placed the mayor on a watch list

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 07, 2017
By: Chen Wei-han / Staff reporter

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) might face a rocky election campaign in next year’s local elections in Yilan and Yunlin counties and Chiayi City, DPP lawmakers said.

The DPP, which is in office in 13 of the nation’s 22 local governments, might see its electoral efforts hampered due to disunity and an underperforming mayor, according to the lawmakers.

DPP Legislator Chen Ou-po (陳歐珀), Yilan’s sole legislator and a likely candidate in the county commissioner election, yesterday said that at least three local officials have announced their intention to seek party nomination for the election.

The competition for party nomination had reportedly been fierce well before outgoing Yilan County Commissioner Lin Tsung-hsien (林聰賢) was appointed as the Council of Agriculture minister.    [FULL  STORY]

Machete-slashed clerk has arm reattached

The China Post
Date: February 7, 2017
By: The China Post news staff

TAIPEI, Taiwan — The arm of a convenience store clerk, which was nearly severed in a

A convenience store in Xinzhuang District, New Taipei, is cordoned off for investigation after a grisly armed robbery that occurred Sunday. (CNA)

grisly robbery in New Taipei, was successfully sutured back on Monday after 13 hours of intensive microsurgical operation, according to Central News Agency (CNA).

The clerk, a 17-year-old surnamed Ding, was severely injured Sunday night when the suspect attacked him with a machete inside in a convenience store in Xinzhuang District.

Ding, who had a major chest wound and an arm that was nearly completed severed, was rushed to the Far Eastern Memorial Hospital in New Taipei’s Banciao District.
[FULL  STORY]

RECIPE: Oyster Noodles

Oyster Noodles is a great dish for anyone seeking something hot and gooey.

The News Lens
Date: 2017/02/05
By: By Lawrence Lin, TaiwaneseCulture.org

Photo Credit: Taiwaneseculture.org

Ingredients for the noodles

  • 20 ounces raw oysters
  • 10 ounces red/whole wheat somen
  • 2 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 14 ounces bamboo shoots
  • 6 cloves of garlic
  • 8 cups of chicken broth
  • 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil

[FULL  RECIPE]

EPA pushes for adoption of beaches for a healthy ocean

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/02/05
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News)–Taiwan’s environmental protection authorities on Sunday called for the public to

(By Central News Agency)

adopt beaches in Taiwan instead of launching hit-and-miss beach cleanup activities now and then, aiming to more effectively prevent beach trash from being washed into the ocean.

Environmental protection group Greenpeace arranged a vertical dance performance in front of the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) on Sunday to mimic swimming marine life and human beings, urging the public to reduce use of plastics and to control the pollution from the beginning.

EPA official Huang Wei-ming said that county and city environmental protection departments in Taiwan always called for the public to participate in one-time beach cleanup events in the past, whereas now the EPA is planning measures to replace occasional cleanup activities with adoption of beaches. It’s hoped that all the beaches in Taiwan, which total about 1,000 kilometers in length, will be adopted by businesses, religious groups, school classes or even groups of friends.    [FULL  STORY]

Walkout a legal action: railway union

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/02/05
By: Wu Hsin-yun, Wang Shu-fen and Kuo Chung-han

Taipei, Feb. 5 (CNA) Taiwan Railway Union (TRU) said Sunday that its members’ taking leave during the six-day Lunar New Year holiday from Jan. 27-Feb. 1 is a legal action and it called for the Ministry of Labor (MOL) to not side with the railway management.

On Feb. 3, Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA), the state-operated railway company, said about 370 of its employees did not show up for work as scheduled, which was considered “absent without official leave” and the absentees will be punished.

The union, which is mostly comprised of train station staff, said its members “took legal leave” based on a motion passed in its congress on Jan. 1 and it had notified the TRA, the MOL and Taipei City Department of Labor on Jan. 11.    [FULL  STORY]

Military aviation bill proposed in place of civil act

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 06, 2017
By: Lo Tien-bin and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writer

The Ministry of National Defense has proposed a military aviation bill to the Executive Yuan.

Since the promulgation of the Civil Aviation Act (民用航空法) on May 30, 1953, the military has relied on it for legal operations regarding its air bases, the ministry said, adding that no tailor-made law exists to govern military aviation.

It was expected that a military aviation act would be enacted by the legislature for military purposes, but governments have failed for 64 years since the promulgation of the act to enact a military version of the law, it said.

The military needs laws to deal with several situations not covered by the act, such as drones that compromise military flight operations and the organization of investigations into military aviation incidents, it added.    [FULL  STORY]