Page Two

President vows to improve military equipment during inspection tour

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/09/12
By: Lu Hsin-hui, Bien Cehn-feng and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, Sept. 12 (CNA) President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday promised to improve the personal

President Tsai Ing-wen (left).

President Tsai Ing-wen (left).

equipment and living environment of the nation’s troops during a visit to a military base in Hsinchu.

Tsai traveled to Taoyuan and Hsinchu to visit troops that will remain on duty there throughout the Mid-Autumn Festival, which falls on Sept. 15 this year. Offices and schools will be closed for an extended four-day weekend.

Speaking during an inspection tour of the Army’s 542 Armor Brigade in Hsinchu, Tsai told the troops there that she has directed the Ministry of National Defense to complete its upgrade of military clothing and individual equipment within three years and quicken the pace of refurbishing old military barracks.

As part of the tour, Ma Shu-jung (馬樹榮), the head of the research and development division at the the Armament Bureau’s 205th manufacturing factory displayed a variety of military kits and personal equipment it has developed.     [FULL  STORY]

Tourist industry set to take ‘Golden Week’ hit: report

The China Post
Date: September 12, 2016
By: The China Post news staff

TAIPEI, Taiwan — The travel industry is bracing itself for what is expected to be the slowest Golden Week in recent years, as the National Immigration Agency (NIA, 移民署) reported a sharp drop in applications from mainland Chinese tour groups.

Mainland China’s “Golden Week” is a week-long national holiday starting Oct. 1, during which millions of mainlanders set off on vacation.

Due to a glut of applications, mainland travel agencies last year were forced on to waitlists one month before the holiday.

But NIA officials said slack demand from tour groups this year had meant applicants were able to receive same-day approval, adding “no one is queuing up.”     [FULL  STORY]

Barbecue with beer—a formula to gain weight: dietitian

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-09-11
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

The Mid-Autumn Festival, which is around the corner, is a season for eating barbecue meat and 6773418drinking beer, but a dietitian warns that drinking a can of beer is like eating a bowl of rice as beer is “liquid bread” that is high in calories.
Fang Ching-yi, Taipei Municipal Wanfang Hospital dietitian, said that recent research indicated that an adult female should not drink more than one can of 330cc beer and an adult male should not drink over two. Drinking more than that could increase health risks, she added.

After alcohol goes into the human body, it is broken down and converted by the liver, so alcohol can cause damage to the liver; and drinking too much beer will burden the kidneys, the dietitian said.

In addition, there is the issue of calories, Fang said. Taking a can of 330cc beer with 10 percent alcohol content as an example, as one gram of alcohol contains seven calories, the alcohol in the beer alone contains 210 calories, which is an equivalent of a bowl of rice, she said. If there are sugar and juice additives in the beer, the caloric content is even higher, she added.     [FULL  STORY]

Giant Formosan cypress in Xitou topples, injuring 3

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/09/11
By: Hsiao Po-yang and Kuo Chung-han

Taipei, Sept. 11 (CNA) A 46-meter tall Formosan cypress in Xitou Nature Education Area crashed to

(Photo courtesy of National Taiwan University Experimental Forest Administration)

(Photo courtesy of National Taiwan University Experimental Forest Administration)

the ground Sunday, injuring three people, Nantou County firefighters said.

The three people were all taken to Chu Shang Show Chwan Hospital in the neighboring Zhushan Township, where one of them was diagnosed with a spinal injury, fractured ribs, and a ruptured kidney and spleen, firefighters said.

The 49-year-old woman, surnamed Chen, was later transferred to Changhua Christian Hospital, the rescue workers said.

The other two — a 68-year-old woman and a 55-year-old man – sustained only minor injuries, the firefighters said.

The man, surnamed Chou, said he was visiting Xitou for the first time with a tour group that was admiring the giant cypress tree.     [FULL  STORY]

RTI ‘assisting’ unification with China: legislator

BUDGET SHORTFALL:Ratio Taiwan International spokesperson Rachel Luo said that a lack of funding has left the radio station relying on rental of its facilities for income

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 12, 2016
By: Peng Wan-hsin and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writer

Radio Taiwan International’s (RTI) renting of airtime to China’s Guangdong Television for its Zhibo Quanqiu (直播全球, World Broadcast) program amounts to assisting efforts to unify Taiwan and China, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tuan Yi-kang (段宜康) said yesterday.

Tuan said the use of the radio station’s facilities by Chinese media demonstrated a pro-China stance, as Radio Taiwan International (RTI) is supposed to be a mouthpiece for the government and generally broadcasts information about government policy.

Aside from renting out space at the station to Chinese media at a low cost, the station has also invited Chinese National Party (KMT) supporter and radio host Tang Hsiang-lung (唐湘龍) on numerous occasions to provide commentary, all of which Tuan said adds up to a significant problem for the government.     [FULL  STORY]

Rail union to take Mid-Autumn action

The China Post
Date: September 12, 2016
By: The China Post news staff

Fifty workers from the state-owned Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA, 台鐵) will take action Thursday and Friday against straining overtime work, said the Taiwan Railway Union (TRU, 台灣產業工會).

TRU Director-General Wang Chieh (王傑) issued a statement announcing that 50 union representatives will collectively take their Mid-Autumn holiday off “according to the law,” from Thursday through Friday.

Wang said that overtime pay and compensation for nighttime shift work must be reasonable and meet employee expectations.

“We also hope other train service personnel and ticket collectors will put on masks when they work during Mid-Autumn Festival to show their support, symbolizing participating in silent protest,” said Wang.     [FULL  STORY]

Ex-Mega Financial chairman released on bail

The China Post
Date: September 11, 2016
By: CNA

TAIPEI–Mckinney Tsai, former chairman of Mega Financial Holding Co., the Taiwanese financial institution hit by a money-laundering investigation, was released by prosecutors on NT$3 million (US$94,937) bail late Friday after being summoned for questioning for his role in the scandal.

While prosecutors declined to disclose the details about the questioning of Tsai in their probe into the bank’s operations, local media reported on Saturday that the banker had been aware of violations by a New York branch of Mega Financial’s Mega International Commercial Bank of U.S. anti-money laundering law during his tenure, but had failed to take action to deal with the problem.

Tsai was barred from leaving the country after his release.

Wang Chi-pang, former chief secretary of Mega Financial, who used to be an aide to Tsai, was released on NT$2 million bail and barred from leaving Taiwan after being questioned by prosecutors.

Tsai and Wang have been named defendants in the money laundering case, according to     [FULL  STORY]

A popular fishing port without a pier

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-09-10
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

It’s around 3 p.m. on a beach in Sanhe village in Taimali Township, Taitung County, two PVC pipe 6773404rafts full of fish are making beach landing, and nearby crowds of people holding cash are waiting to grab the bouncing fish from the rafts before others do.

Although called a fishing port, there are no piers or fishing boats at “Sanhe Fishing Port,” but instead, there are a fish market, two rafts resting on the beach, and an assembled car with a capstan. There are no people in sight at the “fishing port” at regular times, but crowds of people are a common scene here at 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. every day.

This inconspicuous fishing port is known for generating the most prolific set-net fish harvest in the country. No auctions are needed for the freshly caught fish because they will be sold out right after they are pulled ashore. Only sharp-eyed and quick-moving buyers are able to land their hands on the fish they want. It’s quite an interesting scene to watch people scrambling to grab fish.

There are two harvests and sales at the port a day, one in the morning and the other in the afternoon. Fewer people come to the morning sales.     [FULL  STORY]

MAC to continue to help families of tourbus fire victims

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/09/10
By: Chen Chia-lun and Christie Chen and Lee Hsin-Yin

Taipei, Sept. 10 (CNA) The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said Saturday that it will continue offering 201609100030t0001assistances to families of Chinese victims of a tourbus fire in July and hopes that the incident would not affect the cross-Taiwan Strait tourism exchanges.

The MAC made the declaration after Taoyuan prosecutors determined that the fatal tour bus fire that killed all 26 people on board, including 24 Chinese tourists, was caused by the driver.

The incident is an isolated case and should not become a stumbling block for cross-strait tourism exchanges, it noted.

The government has been working to fix tourism safety issues in the wake of the incident, including stricter safety inspection on tour buses and promotion of less-tight trip itinerary to prevent driver fatigue, the MAC said.     [FULL  STORY]

US should reconsider its ‘one China’ policy: NPP

BUREAUCRACY:The party turned to a Taiwanese-American lobby group to avoid adding a ‘burden’ to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which has many pan-blue officials

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 11, 2016
By: Abraham Gerber / Staff reporter

Changes in Taiwan and on the international stage warrant reconsideration of the US’ “one China” policy, New Power Party (NPP) Executive Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) said on Friday, as party officials wrapped up a visit to Washington.

“The ‘one China’ policy was born under the backdrop of the Cold War, when Taiwan was still a one-party authoritarian state that had not realized a true democracy. Now that we are in the 21st century and Taiwanese use truly democratic means to select their leaders, and given developments in Southeast Asia and the South China Sea, we feel there is sufficient ground for the United States to re-examine the ‘one China’ policy,” Huang said at a news conference at the Capitol Hill Hotel in Washington, as NPP officials wrapped up a whirlwind tour of Europe and the US before the start of the fall legislative session.

The “one China” policy refers to the US’ policy on Taiwan as stated in the Shanghai Communique, in which the US “acknowledges” and “does not challenge” the position of “all Chinese on either side of the Taiwan Strait” that there is “one China, and Taiwan is a part of China.”

“We are not so naive as to expect changes in a day, or a short period of time, but at the very least, discussion can begin,” Huang said, citing increasing the level of official exchanges as one area where changes could be considered.     [FULL  STORY]