Taiwan News
Date: 2016-05-01
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Taiwan’s Ministry of Justice (MOJ) said Sunday a second delegation to China would be formed within a week to handle the 32 Taiwanese fraud suspects deported to China by Malaysia on Saturday (April 30).

Fifty-two Taiwanese scam ring members are suspected of committing telecommunications fraud in Malaysia, and 20 of them were deported back to Taiwan on April 15. However, the Chinese authorities had requested Malaysia to deport the remaining 32 Taiwanese nationals along with 65 Chinese suspects to China. A charter plane with the 97 suspects on board arrived in Guangzhou in South China on Saturday night.

Minister of Justice-designate Chiu Tai-san said Sunday he supports a joint crime-busting mechanism with China.

Taiwan Premier Simon Chang Saturday expressed regret over the latest incident, saying the same thing still happened after the Taiwanese government put so much effort into settling the issue with China in a previous case of similar nature.

Executive Yuan spokesperson Sun Lih-chyun said China had invited Taiwan to send a delegation to handle the latest incident together with the previous Kenya case.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/05/01
By: Huang Chiao-wen and Kay Liu

Taipei, May 1 (CNA) Drivers are expected to have to pay NT$25 (US$0.77) more to fill a 50-liter

tank after state-owned oil refiner CPC Corp. hikes fuel prices from Monday, the third weekly rise in a row.

Gasoline prices will rise by NT$0.5 per liter to NT$22.6 for 92 octane unleaded, NT$24.1 for 95 unleaded, and NT$26.1 for 98 unleaded, while the premium diesel price will reach NT$20.1 per liter after an increase of NT$0.6, according to an announcement made Sunday by CPC.

The prices, adjusted weekly based on a weighted oil price formula that comprises 70 percent Dubai crude and 30 percent Brent crude, have been set due to higher crude prices and a weaker Taiwan dollar, said CPC, which supplies 70 percent of the gas stations in Taiwan.

On Saturday, CPC’s main rival, Formosa Petrochemical Corp., a private refiner, announced increases in fuel prices from 1 a.m. Monday by the same margin.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-04-30
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – President-elect Tsai Ing-wen on Saturday warned her prospective government members against wasting the team’s credit by making careless remarks.

She made the statement in an address to a “consensus camp” in Taipei City’s Yangmingshan area of her Premier-designate Lin Chuan with about 40 of the ministers and Cabinet members who will be sworn in on May 20.

Remarks by at least three of the members had to be countered by the prospective Cabinet leadership after they caused public unease.

“In the democratic era, eight years of accumulated effort can be undone by eight seconds of careless talk,” Tsai reportedly told her team, referring to the eight years she and her Democratic Progressive Party spent in opposition before winning last January’s elections.

She added that government ministers should follow the same “Three No’s” that she had always adhered to herself. First of all, politicians needed to be careful about what they said and use action to persuade their opponents rather than confrontational talk. Secondly, officials needed to listen to their subordinates, and thirdly, government members could not afford to lose touch with society, and interpret criticism from social groups as a force for change.     [FULL  STORY]

The News Lens
Date: 2016/04/29
By: Yang Olivia

On April 28, the Executive Yuan passed the draft amendment of “The Tobacco and Alcohol Administration Act.” Once the Legislative Yuan passes the amendment, consumers will be able to purchase alcohol from online stores.

The current act regulates that alcohol can not be sold from vending machines, through mail, online stores or other channels that can’t identify the buyer’s age or identity.

Minister of Finance Chang Sheng-ford states the new bill has rigorous restrictions on retailers, deliverers and people who pick up the purchases. Retailers need to go through examination of local authorities and pay a registration fee. Trading locations are restricted to convenience stores and products cannot be home delivered. The deliverer also holds responsibility of verifying whether or not the person who picks up the purchase is over 18 years old by checking the person’s ID card. In addition, purchases can only be placed through credit cards, which teenagers tend not to own.
Penalties have also been made more severe. Chang San-cheng says violators can be fined up to NT$ 250,000 (approximately US$7,700). Registrations of retailers that break the law can be suspended and can’t be reapplied within a year. Deliverers that breach the law are also not allowed to deliver purchases for a year.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/04/30
By: Hao Hsueh-ching and Lilian Wu

Taipei, April 30 (CNA) Taxi fares in Taichung, central Taiwan will see a slight increase starting May 15, the Taichung city government announced Saturday.

Taximeters will be replaced starting from Sept. 1, it added.

In view of the fact that the majority of people ride for only short distances, the starting fee will remain unchanged at NT$85 (US$2.63), in line with the starting price of taxis in Tainan and Kaohsiung, but will be lower than the NT$95 charged in Taoyuan.

The remainder of the journey will be charged at NT$5 per 200 meters, while waiting time will be charged at NT$5 for every two minutes.

After the new rate system is put in place, taking an average ride of five kilometers as an example, the charge will be NT$170, up 9.7 percent from the current NT$155.     [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: May 01, 2016
By: Staff Writer, with CNA

Taiwan has no “preset stance” on imports of US pork containing ractopamine, president-elect

Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday, according to Cabinet spokesman-designate Tung Chen-yuan (童振源).

Tsai made the remarks at the opening of a two-day “consensus-building camp” for the members of the incoming Cabinet in Taipei.
The Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Tsai is to be sworn into office on May 20.

Her administration will achieve its goals through communication and negotiation, and during that process, it will consider the development of the domestic pig farming industry, food safety and international standards, Tsai was quoted as saying.

Taiwan will have to finish all preparations first and “whether to open to US pork imports will depend on the results of future negotiations. We do not have a preset stance right now,” Tsai said.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/04/29
By: Tang Pei-chun, Sophia Yeh and Y.F. Low

Taipei, April 29 (CNA) President-elect Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) pledged Friday to safeguard the rights of Taiwanese fishermen, in the wake of the detention of a local fishing boat by Japan on the high seas in the Pacific, near the Japan-controlled atoll of Okinotori.

The incident was one of the issues included in a briefing given by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) to Tsai on Friday, according to Foreign Minister David Lin (林永樂).

Lin said that during the briefing, he explained to Tsai about the course of the incident and the steps taken by the government, such as lodging a strong protest with Japan.

In response, Tsai said Taiwan should continue to negotiate with Japan to try to find a resolution to the dispute, according to Lin.

When asked by reporters how she is going to protect the rights of fishermen in the future, Tsai held up her right fist and said: “Going all-out to safeguard.”     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan Today
Date: April 29, 2016

The opening of more and more design hotels in Taipei City’s Ximending is putting a new face

on the former commercial center Wanhua District while raising Taiwan’s profile as a must-visit destination for tourists from across Asia.

These eye-catching and stylish accommodation facilities have increased from 60 to 104 over the past four years on the back of rising numbers of visitors from Hong Kong, Macau, South Korea, Thailand and mainland China. This influx of arrivals is spurring economic activity and investment in western Taipei, which declined in popularity over the past 20 years as the eastern part of the city attracted trendy restaurants and retailers.

Kang Dong-hwan, 22, a student from Pukyong National University in the South Korean port city of Busan, said he chose to stay in Ximindeng on the strength of its cultural attractions like The Red House, a 108-year-old Western-style red-brick octagonal structure doubling as a cultural and creative industry market bazaar; cinemas; coffee shops; food stalls; tea houses; and convenient central location.

“All the accommodation and travel websites give Ximending top ratings,” he said. “A lot of my friends also recommended the area as one of the best places to get a real taste of Taipei and Taiwan hospitality.”

WOW Hostel Ximen is one of the many accommodation facilities regularly frequented by overseas tourists. Once a commercial space, the hostel’s fashionable design is complemented by an evening soundtrack of live music from a club on the next floor down nowhere older singers belt out popular Taiwan tunes from the 1930s and 1940s.     [FULL  STORY]