Deputy Minister of the Interior’s remarks criticized for failing to maintain administrative neutrality

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/12/15
By: Huang Tzu-ti, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A top Taiwanese official apologized on Saturday (Dec. 14) for suggesting

that “it’s a waste to vote for small parties,” as the country gears up for the 2020 presidential and legislative elections.

Deputy Minister of the Interior Chen Tsung-yen (陳宗彥) made what he described as a slip of the tongue when he addressed an audience of female new immigrants at a voting simulation event on Saturday, at President Tsai Ing-wen's (蔡英文) campaign headquarters in Taoyuan. Saying it would amount to a wasted vote supporting small parties, he also asked participants to cast their ballots for the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Tsai, who’s seeking re-election.

“If you happened to add your stamp for the wrong person, you might as well make it a null vote by adding more stamps on the ballot,” CNA quoted Chen as saying. The remarks quickly drew fire from the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) camp, with presidential candidate Han Kuo-yu's (韓國瑜) Taoyuan headquarters manager Liang Wei-chao (梁為超) blasting the deed as publicly soliciting votes and violating the principle of administrative neutrality for public office holders.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/12/15
By: Liao Yu-yang, Yang Su-min and Chiang Yi-ching

Kaohsiung, Dec. 15 (CNA) Environmentalists in Taiwan's southern port city of Kaohsiung on Sunday protested for cleaner air in the wake of air pollution caused by coal-fired power generators and factory emissions.

The "Kaohsiung Combating Climate Change and Anti-Air Pollution Rally" was organized by the environmental group South Taiwan Air Clear.

Prior to the rally, the group had laid out five demands, including decommissioning the nearly 40-year-old Taiwan Power Company (Taipower) run Hsinta Power Plant in 2020 and forbidding China Steel from refining petcoke at the company's Kaohsiung plant.

The group is also calling for state-run businesses, such as Taipower, China Steel and the CPC Corporation, Taiwan, to decrease their use of coal by 30 percent, as these businesses generate more than half of the pollution created by stationary sources in Kaohsiung, the group said.
[FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 16, 2019
By: Lu Yi-hsuan  /  Staff reporter, with CNA

Sweden on Thursday held its first bilateral talks on climate change with Taiwan at the 25th Conference

of the Parties (COP25) in Madrid.

The meeting between Mattias Frumerie, head of Sweden’s delegation to COP25, and Environmental Protection Administration Minister Chang Tzi-chin (張子敬), was held on the sidelines of the conference.

Taiwan’s representative office in Sweden characterized the exchange as a show of support for Taiwan’s bid to join the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Although Taiwan remains excluded from UNFCCC meetings, as it is not a member of the UN and because Beijing has been trying to suppress its role in the international community, preventing it from participating in UN activities, Taipei sent a delegation to the COP25 meeting to share the nation’s experience in combating climate change.    [FULL  STORY]

The Japan Times
Date: Dec. 14, 2019

A meeting of Japanese and Chinese politicians was canceled last month after Beijing demanded that more come from Tokyo than those who visited Taiwan in October, diplomatic sources said Saturday.

China requested that over 40 Japanese lawmakers take part in the meeting of their ruling parties in Gansu province, more than double the 19 who attended Taiwan’s National Day ceremony.

Beijing criticized the visit to Taiwan and said, “The number of Japanese lawmakers visiting China should be more than double that for Taiwan,” the sources said.

The request came as Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party appeared set to win again in the 2020 presidential election in January, according to local polls.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan English News
December 14, 2019 
By: Phillip Charlier

At around 1:00pm Thursday, December 12, a suspicious bag, containing around four liters of liquid in two bottles, a quantity of white powder, wires, and a possible detonator or timer, was spotted against a wall of the Kuomintang (KMT/Chinese Nationalist Party) headquarters in Houbi District, Tainan City.

After a preliminary inspection, it was suspected that the device contained triacetone triacetate (TATP), an explosive compound previously used in terrorist attacks in London, Brussels, and Paris, and which terrorists have nicknamed ‘Mother of Satan’.

A suspected explosive device covered by a bomb-suppression blanket in Tainan City, Thursday, December 12.

After a police disposal unit was dispatched to deal with the device, an investigation began that led police to a suspect named Wu, who was seen on security monitor footage, planting the suspicious device at around 5:00am that morning.    [FULL  STORY]

Five stars symbolized quality of service in Kenting: local official

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/12/14
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer\

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The mayor of Hengchun angered Taiwanese by handing out business cards in the United States showing the five-star flag of communist China, reports said Saturday (December 14).

Lu Yu-tung (盧玉棟), the mayor of the Pingtung County township which includes the popular beach resort of Kenting, had the cards printed in 2014, when his city still received many Chinese tourists, the Central News Agency reported.

An overseas Taiwanese in the U.S. saw the card with a map of Hengchun and a red background with five gold stars in the top left corner, and angrily reported the fact to the Taiwan Statebuilding Party, which alerted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.    [FULL  STORY\]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/12/14
By: Chen Chao-fu, Wang Shu-fen, Hsiao Po-yang and Emerson Lim

Kaohsiung, Dec. 14 (CNA) In a government statement that doubled as a campaign policy presentation President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) announced a development roadmap for southern Taiwan on Saturday, less than a month before Taiwan's 2020 Presidential election, in which she is hoping to be re-elected.

The government will close the developmental gap between northern and southern Taiwan through four strategies, Tsai said at a press conference attended by former Premier Lai Ching-te (賴清德), her running mate in the upcoming election.

Firstly, the government will step up industrial clustering to attract more domestic and foreign investments, Tsai said, citing semiconductor, defense and shipping industries as major growth engines.

Secondly, she said, the government will connect southern Taiwan, especially Kaohsiung, to other parts of Taiwan and the world through the underground railway project, mass rapid transit system extension project and the upgrade of Kaohsiung International Airport.    [FULL  STORY]

‘STRENGTHENING PARTNERSHIP’: Japanese lawmaker Jikido Aeba said that Tokyo should commit to supporting Taiwan should the nation face a threat to its security

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 15, 2019
By Peng Wan-hsin  /  Staff reporter

Japan should enforce a law parallel to the US’ Taiwan Relations Act (TRA) to consolidate its

partnership with Taiwan, Jikido Aeba, a Japanese lawmaker and academic, told a seminar in Taipei yesterday.

He is also concerned about Taiwan’s security in the face of mounting Chinese pressure, Aeba told a seminar titled Strengthening Strategic Partnership between Japan and Taiwan, which was organized by the Formosa Republican Association and the Japanese Conservative Union (JCU) at National Taiwan University.

Taiwan’s future is at stake in its presidential and legislative elections on Jan. 11, while it is expected to face more pressure from China after the elections, said Aeba, who is chairman of the JCU.

While many Japanese hope support for Taiwan can be bolstered, the past 70 years has seen mostly economic collaboration, he said.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 13 December, 2019
By: John Van Trieste

The head of Far Eastern Air Transport says the airline will restart operations.[/caption] Some 500 travelers have been left stranded abroad after the apparent collapse of Taiwanese airline Far Eastern Air Transport. However, on Friday, the airline’s boss appeared in public to announce that reports of the airline’s closure were the result of a misunderstanding. He said the airline has new investors and could return to the skies within hours.

What happened at Far Eastern Air Transport? An airline that had just begun Christmas travel promotions suddenly announced Thursday that it would stop operations the next day due to financial woes. 500 passengers found themselves stranded abroad, and other airlines scheduled last-minute extra flights to help stranded domestic travelers.

There was talk of more than 1000 airline staff losing their jobs overnight.

Officials said the company had broken the law for not giving adequate notice before shutting down. They threatened fines. And they threatened legal consequences for airline boss Chang Kang-wei.
[FULL  STORY]