Front Page

Taiwan, US to hold joint cybersecurity exercises on regular basis

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 11 December, 2019
By: Shirley Lin

Digital minister Audrey Tang (Photo by Tiffany Wang)

Taiwan and the US are set to begin holding joint cybersecurity exercises on an annual basis. That’s the word from Taiwan’s digital minister, Audrey Tang, on Wednesday.

Taiwan and the US jointly held the Cyber Offensive and Defensive Exercises last month. The event simulated a North Korean cyber-attack on financial infrastructure.    [FULL  STORY]

Year in Search: What Did Taiwanese Google in 2019?

What did Taiwanese Google the most in 2019?

The News Lens
Date: 2019/12/11
By: TNL Staff

Photo Credit: CNA

Google Taiwan unveiled its 2019 Year in Search rankings today. Which keyword topped the chart this year?

The winner goes to The World Between Us (我們與惡的距離) — a popular Taiwanese television show that explores many of Taiwan's social issues. Not only did the show trigger a huge wave of online discussions this year, but it also became the most-searched keyword.

Tina Lin, the executor director of Google Taiwan, said Taiwan's 2019 searches involved a lot of films and TV shows. The World Between Us was the first Taiwanese show to examine the psychological aspect of serial killings. It also provoked many discussions on the struggling journalism industry, mental health, and the death penalty.

The World Between Us

The second most popular keyword was "typhoon," given the multiple typhoons that had swept by Taiwan this summer. It is then followed by Han Kuo-yu and several historical Chinese drama series.
[FULL  STORY]

Travel agencies suspected of smuggling 5,000 Chinese into Taiwan

Scheme centers on providing fake letters of invitation to obtain travel documents

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/12/11
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Fake associations provided letters of invitation to 5,000 Chinese, helping them obtain travel documents for short visits to Taiwan, reports said Wednesday (December 11).

Prosecutors were searching five locations and questioning 10 people Wednesday afternoon in an investigation into the plot which was also likely to have involved up to 20 travel agencies, the Central News Agency reported.

The chief suspect, called Hung (洪), reportedly made more than NT$10 million (US$328,000) from the scheme. Chinese and Taiwanese travel agencies would provide data about customers to the nominal associations, who then wrote fake letters of invitation which allowed the Chinese citizens to be allowed into Taiwan under the category of short visits by professionals.

The travel agencies paid NT$2,000 per person to the associations, according to the CNA report. Of the 5,000 Chinese believed to have used this method to enter Taiwan between January 2017 and last June, a considerable number were believed to have been communist government officials.
[FULL  STORY]

Taiwan ranked third to last in Climate Change Performance Index

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/12/11
By: Chang Hsiung-feng and Chiang Yi-ching

image taken from climate-change-performance-index.org

Taipei, Dec. 11 (CNA) Taiwan ranked third to last in the latest Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI), the worst rating the country has ever received in the index, according to results published Tuesday.

The index was jointly presented by Germanwatch, the NewClimate Institute and the Climate Action Network at the United Nations Climate Change Conference.

Taiwan received the worst rating of "very low" in three of the four categories evaluated in the index, namely, greenhouse gas emissions, renewable energy, and energy use.

These categories analyzed data from 2017, and account for 40 percent, 20 percent and 20 percent, respectively, of the final score.    [FULL  STORY]

CIB detains 10 allegedly helping Chinese enter illegally

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 12, 2019
By: Jason Pan  /  Staff reporter

The Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) yesterday conducted raids on five locations in Taipei and

Passersby are reflected in the windows of the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday.
Photo: Huang Chieh, Taipei Times

New Taipei City, detaining 10 alleged members of an operation that took advantage of a legal loophole to enable more than 10,000 “tourists” to enter Taiwan over the past three years, including Chinese government officials and spies.

Prosecutors said that it was the most serious breach of national security in the past several years.

Allegedly running the operation was Hung Ching-lin (洪慶淋), a retired journalist and former office director of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) caucus at the then-Taipei County Council, prosecutors said, adding that the other suspects included Hung’s wife and daughter, as well as the owners and managers of New Taipei City-based travel agencies.

One bureau investigator said that preliminary findings portend severe repercussions for national security, as the door was opened wide for high-level Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials, including some from the United Front Work Department, and intelligence operatives who would otherwise be barred from visiting.    [FULL  STORY]

Data gathered by FORMOSAT-7 now downloadable

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 10 December, 2019
By: Paula Chao

FormoSat-7 launches on June 25th (CNA file photo)

People can now download atmospheric and ionospheric weather data gathered from the FORMOSAT-7 constellation. The trial period began Tuesday. FORMOSAT-7, a joint space program between Taiwan and the United State, was launched in June.

The National Space Organization says all weather service operation centers and research bodies are able to download the information from the Taiwan Analysis Center for COSMIC.
[FULL  STORY]

Travel Back in Time With ‘Dadaocheng Museum’ This Weekend

The annual event “Dadaocheng Museum” will allow Taipei visitors to explores historical buildings that are usually closed off to the public.

The News Lens
Date: 2019/12/10
By: Syrena Lin

Photo Credit: Walk in Taiwan\

Dadaocheng (大稻埕), one of the oldest neighborhoods in Taipei, is now one of the most popular districts among tourists.

With the reduction of Chinese tourists, visitor numbers at landmarks like the National Palace Museum or National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall have also fallen significantly. Instead, backpackers now prefer visiting places like Dadaocheng or Beimen (北門) to traditional sightseeing spots.

Dadaocheng prospered as an international trade center for tea and fabric in the 19th Century with the opening of Tamsui Harbor. That is why we can find Baroque architecture, traditional Hokkien bungalows, and red-brick western-style houses co-existing in this district.

Tourists visit Dadaocheng for its rich local culture including the historical buildings, traditional folklore center, tea houses, fabric stores, herbal medicine stores, and eateries, sometimes discovering more. Contemporary innovation is now thriving in this century-old neighborhood with more and more creative new ventures.    [FULL  STORY]

Congressional defense bill calls for creation of US-Taiwan cybersecurity task force

Senate and House of Representatives release final version of 2020 National Defense Authorization Act

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/12/10
By Huang Tzu-ti, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

(US Navy Facebook photo)

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The U.S. House and Senate on Monday (Dec. 9) reached an agreement on the final version of the fiscal 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which proposes the establishment of a U.S.-Taiwan cybersecurity task force.

According to the bill, a report should be tendered by the defense secretary within 180 days of its promulgation. The report should include a proposal to form a high-level, interdepartmental task force with Taiwan and future plans for bilateral cooperation in addressing online security issues, wrote CNA.

On the Taiwan Relations Act, the legislation requests a review of the extent to which Beijing uses military, economic, information, diplomatic, and other means to affect the safety Taiwan's people, society, and economy as well as the cross-strait military balance.

The act also calls for mutual visits by high-ranking officials and the regular transfer of defense articles and services through arms sales and industrial collaboration. This is to help boost Taiwan's defenses and prop up the island country by increasing its asymmetric capabilities, wrote CNA.
[FULL  STORY]

Miaoli passes leopard cat conservation bill

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/12/10
By: Kuan Rui-ping and Joseph Yeh


Taipei, Dec. 10 (CNA) Miaoli County in northern Taiwan on Tuesday became the first administrative division in the country to pass a law on the conservation of a single species after the county council passed a bill to better protect the endangered leopard cat.

The Miaoli County Leopard Cat Conservation Autonomous Bill stipulates that the county government must consult with leopard cat experts before developing any piece of land larger than 1 hectare or widen any road with a length of more than 1 kilometer.

The bill, which went into immediate effect, also requires the county government to conduct regular surveys on the habitat of the animal, and to encourage more people to take part in conservation efforts, such as patrols, through government subsidies.

The passage of the bill, initiated by county councilors last month, came after two failed attempts by the county government, which had submitted two similar bills over the past two years.
[FULL  STORY]

Human rights committee act passes

SAFEGUARDING RIGHTS: The committee is to be charged with protecting constitutional rights, promoting social justice and bringing the country in line with global standards

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 11, 2019
By: Sean Lin  /  Staff reporter

As the world marked Human Rights Day yesterday, the Legislative Yuan passed the Organic Act of

President Tsai Ing-wen, right, and National Endowment for Democracy president Carl Gershman pose for pictures after Tsai conferred the Order of Brilliant Star with Grand Cordon on Gershman at the 14th Asia Democracy and Human Rights Award ceremony in Taipei yesterday.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times

the National Human Rights Committee (國家人權委員會組織法), paving the way for the establishment of a committee to promote human rights as part of the Control Yuan.

The act was based on the UN’s Principles Relating to the Status of National Institutions, also known as the Paris Principles, and Amnesty International’s Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which stipulate that UN member states must put in place a national mechanism to promote and protect human rights, said the Control Yuan, which took part in drafting the act.

The committee is to be created to guarantee people’s constitutional rights; lay down conditions necessary for protecting and improving human rights; ensure that social justice and equality are realized; bring the nation in line with international human rights standards; and establish the universal value of human rights and related regulations, the act says.

The 10-member committee is to be headed by the Control Yuan president and composed of seven Control Yuan members, with the other two to be selected from candidates nominated by committee members and replaced annually, it says.    [FULL  STORY]