VOA
Date: January 06, 2021
By: John Xie

The number of Chinese incursions into Taiwan’s airspace last year was the highest since 1996, which experts say is worsening the risk for conflict without drawing international headlines.

The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) flew about 380 sorties into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) last year, a defense ministry statement said last week.

The PLA began dispatching warplanes toward the island after Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen was re-elected for a second term in January, but the activity dramatically increased in the second half of the year in 2020 and is now almost a daily occurrence.

According to a VOA compilation of flight data drawn from official statements by Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense, Chinese warplanes have flown 138 of these missions since mid-September. Only four days into 2021, six Chinese warplanes had flown into the island's ADIZ.
[FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 15 September, 2020
By: Natalie Tso

Scene from the award-winning travel video[/caption] A video highlighting the many faces of the southern Taiwan county of Pingtung has won an international creative marketing award. The video is called “Where?” and was honored with a Silver Summit Creative Award in the Travel/Tourism Video category.

Guess where we are? Well, we’re NOT in any of the countries just hashtagged on the screen. We’re in Taiwan – the southern tip of Taiwan to be exact – in the coastal county of Pingtung.  This Pingtung travel video is called “Where?” and it was honored with a Silver Award. It won among 4,100 entries at the US-based Summit Creative Awards. The International Summit Awards are one of the world’s top creative marketing awards and it’s not hard to see why this video won.  It’s cute. It’s fun. It’s full of spirit and beauty, and it displays the myriad colors and destinations of Pingtung in a surprising and delightful way.     [FULL  STORY]

Accused middleman in Sogo department store case also implicated in funeral home bribery scamTaiwan News
Date: 2020/08/01
By: Chris Chang, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Prosecutors on Saturday (Aug. 1) requested the detention of four incumbent and one former lawmaker over allegations of bribery related to a power struggle for the Sogo department stores.

The five politicians were Kuomintang (KMT) legislators Chen Chao-ming (陳超明) and Sufin Siluko (廖國棟), Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmaker Su Chen-ching (蘇震清), independent Chao Cheng-yu (趙正宇) and former New Power Party (NPP) Chairman Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明).

Prosecutors also asked for five other suspects, including businessman Lee Heng-lung (李恆隆), to be detained incommunicado. They argued that if they remained free, they might collude or destroy evidence, the Liberty Times reported.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/10/03
By: Lai Yu-yang and Frances Huang

Taipei, Oct. 3 (CNA) Bubble milk tea, one of the most popular tea drinks in Taiwan as well as in the region and even in the U.S. market, is expected to create about US$1 billion in business opportunities for Taiwanese suppliers and related vendors in 2019, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) said Wednesday.

TAITRA will lead a delegation to Japan of drink suppliers, ingredient makers, packaging material providers and tea-making equipment Thursday to look for business opportunities.

Members of the delegation are also expected to seek franchising partners in Japan.

It will be the first bubble milk tea delegation organized by TAITRA to go to Japan, according to the trade group.    [FULL  STORY]

Newsweek
Date:  8/20/19
By: Matt Keeley

The Taiwan News claimed that Cathay Pacific CEO Rupert Hogg's decision to resign last week came after he refused to name names to the Chinese government when he was asked to provide a list of employees who were involved in the Hong Kong protests.

China's Civil Aviation Administration ordered Cathay to provide a list of employees who were involved in a recent protest. He was also ordered to suspend the employees. According to the Taiwan News, Hogg provided the list—but it included only one name: his own.

His resignation was first announced by CCTV, China's state-run television station, 30 minutes before Cathay Pacific announced Hogg had stepped down.

The company's new CEO, Augustus Tang Kin-wing, quickly distanced himself from any perceived corporate resistance to Beijing or any tolerance for employee-protesters. "We must and will ensure 100 percent compliance" with Chinese government aviation demands, he said. "We have made very clear that we have zero tolerance for illegal activities or breaches of our own policies."
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/08/15
By: Tsai Peng-min and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, Aug. 15 (CNA) Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) announced Thursday through the messaging app Line that Taiwan's minimum monthly wage will be raised to NT$23,800 (US$759), while the minimum hourly wage will go up to NT$158, starting Jan. 1, 2020.

The announcement came after a Ministry of Labor (MOL) committee decided the previous day to increase Taiwan's minimum monthly wage by 3 percent from NT$23,100 to NT$23,800, and the minimum hourly wage by 5 percent from NT$150 to NT$158. The hike still has to be formally approved by the Executive Yuan.

Su said once the hike goes into effect, 1.36 million domestic workers are expected to benefit from the increase of the minimum monthly wage, while raising the minimum hourly wage to NT$158 per hour will boost the pay for 500,000 workers.

Meanwhile, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said that the rise will mark the fourth minimum wage hike since she took office in May 2016. The four hikes will represent an accumulated rise of NT$3,792 in the minimum monthly wage and NT$38 in the minimum hourly pay.    [FULL  STORY]

All medals for 2020 Olympic Games composed of 100 percent recycled materials

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/07/25
By: Zin Kao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced the design of the gold, silver, and bronze medals for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics on Wednesday (July 24), the Liberty Times reports.

One of the most notable features of the medals is that they are made only with recycled materials extracted from electronic waste. Even the ribbons are made of recycled synthetic fibers, emphasizing the importance of sustainable development.

The committee received 421 design proposals, among which Junichi Kawanishi’s (川西純市) work was chosen. The metal materials used in making the medals came from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government recycling centers, mobile phone corporations such as NTT Docomo, and donations from the general public.

The “urban mining” (都市鉱山) project harvested 30.3 kilograms of gold, 4,100 kilograms of silver, and 27,00 kilograms of bronze from more than 50,000 tons of electronic waste, such as mobile phones, tablets, and laptops. A total 5,000 medals, each one 8.5 centimeters in diameter, were made for the games.