The China Post
Date: September 17, 2016
By: CNA

TAIPEI–Taiwan suffered at least NT$685 million (US$21.61 million) in agricultural

losses from Typhoon Meranti, which battered southern Taiwan earlier this week, according to the latest estimate released by the Council of Agriculture (COA) on Friday.

The figure rose from an earlier estimate of almost NT$600 million in losses released by the COA on Thursday.

Though the eye of the storm did not make landfall on Taiwan, passing through the Bashi Channel south of the island, Meranti’s powerful winds and heavy rains pounded southern Taiwan on Wednesday, leaving one person dead and an additional 51 injured.

It also wreaked havoc with the region’s farms. The COA said in its latest update that Kaohsiung’s farmers were hardest hit by the storm, suffering at least NT$464 million in losses, or 68 percent of the national total.     [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: September 16, 2016
By: Sun Hsin Hsuan

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Members of the Taiwan Railway Union (TRU) staged an overnight sit-in at Taipei Main

Station Thursday, in a bid to pressure the government into improving working conditions.

The union, which represents train conductors, station workers and other operational staff, camped out in the station’s central plaza demanding that issues such as employee shortage, unreasonable working schedules, and overwork without pay be addressed.

Around 50 demonstrators wearing masks reading “exhausted” held a press conference on Thursday afternoon before settling down for the night.

Despite the stranding of thousands of passengers around the country following Typhoon Meranti related rail closures, the union insisted the sit in must proceed as planned.

“It is impossible to guarantee safe and smooth journeys for passengers if workers cannot get adequate rest,” TRU Director-General Wang Chieh (王傑) said.

Wang said the TRA and the Transportation and Communications Ministry should propose solid measures for remedying labor shortages, as well as enforce rest days and overtime payments guaranteed by the Labor Standards Act.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/09/14
By Chen Chia-lun and Y.F. Low

Taipei, Sept. 14 (CNA) President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Wednesday reaffirmed her commitment to improve Taiwan’s relations with China and pledged to help Taiwanese businessmen solve problems they face on the mainland.

The government has never wavered in its determination to maintain cross-Taiwan Strait peace and stability and will do its utmost to promote amiable interactions between the two sides in the hope of building a pragmatic, stable and long-lasting relationship, Tsai said at a forum held in Taichung by the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) for China-based Taiwanese businessmen.

She said the development of cross-strait relations is the shared responsibility of both sides and expressed hope that new SEF Chairman Tien Hung-mao (田弘茂) will inject new elements and opportunities into relations and create new milestones in cross-strait ties.

With his experience and professional background and support from the Mainland Affairs Council, Tien can definitely provide the best service for Taiwanese businessmen operating in China, she said.      [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: September 16, 2016
By: Joseph Yeh

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiwan’s Defense Ministry announced that it would soon introduce a “weekend

warrior” program to boost the nation’s combat readiness.

In an announcement made on its official website earlier this month, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said it was now drafting a reservist short-term voluntary service program in order to sharpen reservists’ combat readiness.

The program will be officially launched next year, with reservists making use of holidays or weekends to return to select military bases to sharpen their combat and related skills, it added.

MND said it conducted surveys on reservists during their muster-calls from late May to early July this year to collect feedback about the proposal.

MND encouraged those with questions or suggestions about the program to write letters to the ministry to express their views. It also urged interested candidates to apply after the program’s official launch.

Local media reports said the program design was based on the example of the U.S. National Guard.

The participants of the program can continue to hold regular jobs on weekdays, but are required to report to the camp one weekend per month for training.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan Today
Date: September 14, 2016

The inaugural Kaohsiung International Maritime and Defense Industry Exposition kicks off Sept. 15,

providing a world-class platform for showcasing the leading-edge capabilities of Taiwan’s shipbuilding industry and promoting the development of indigenous warship and submarine manufacturing.

Staged at Kaohsiung Exhibition Center in the southern Taiwan port city, the four-day event brings together representatives from more than 150 companies, government agencies and research institutions based in Taiwan and countries such as Canada, Finland, Italy, Singapore, the U.K. and U.S.

Han Bi-siang, president of expo organizer Taiwan Shipbuilding Industry Association, said the event signals Taiwan’s intention to dedicate greater efforts and resources to developing homegrown naval production capabilities. “The local shipbuilding industry can play a key role in helping fulfill the government’s goal of achieving self-sufficiency in national defense.”

According to Han, who doubles as chairman of Kaohsiung-headquartered Jong Shyn Shipbuilding Co. Ltd.—a leading maker of naval vessels, fishing boats and yachts—the event’s main themes of communications and green energy, marine engineering, naval combat systems and ship machinery are among the hottest issues in the sector today. It is expected participants will pursue related opportunities during scheduled B2B matchmaking sessions, seminars and technology exchange forums, he said.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-09-14
By: Sophia Yang, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

China’s Taiwan Affairs Office warned Taiwan not to allow Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama to visit Taiwan, threatening it would “severely affect” cross-strait relations.

Ma Xiaoguang, spokesman for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, rebuked the Dalai Lama in a regular press briefing on Wednesday, saying that he “carries out separatist activities under the cloak of religion.”

The Dalai Lama fled into exile in India in 1959 after an abortive uprising against Communist rule and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989.

The criticism came after a pro-independence Taiwanese lawmaker’s invitation to visit. The rock star politician Freddy Lim was elected as a legislator in January and traveled to the Indian town of Dharamsala in the Himalayan foothills, along with Democratic Progressive Party legislator Kolas Yotaka and a civic group Human Rights Network for Tibet and Taiwan, to meet the Dalai Lama in early September.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/09/14
By: Tyson Lu, Wang Shwu-fen, Huang Kuo-fang and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, Sept. 14 (CNA) Strong Typhoon Meranti hurtled towards southern Taiwan Wednesday, bringing

heavy rain and strong wind, and knocking out power for more than 500,000 households.

As of 3 p.m. Wednesday, Meranti was 60 kilometers west-northwest of Kaohsiung in southern Taiwan, packing gusts of up to 227 kilometers an hour, the strongest ever recorded by the Hengchun detection station since it was set up in 1896, according to the Central Weather Bureau (CWB).

The radius of Meranti, the strongest typhoon to make landfall on Taiwan in 21 years, covered Hengchun in Pingtung County, areas south of Yunlin and Nantou and areas south of Hualien, bringing strong wind and dumping heavy rain on these areas.

Between 1 a.m. Tuesday and 3 p.m. Wednesday, rainfall totaled 707 millimeters in West Dawu (西大武山) in Pingtung, 436mm in Tienhsiang (天祥) in Hualien, 369mm Shangli (上里) in Taitung and 304mm in Taiping Mountain (太平山) in Yilan, according to the CWB data.     [FULL  STORY]