Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/12/04
By: Lu Hsin-hui and Joseph Yeh

Bangkok, Dec. 4 (CNA) Taiwan has been rated as the only Asian country with open civic space, in a global report that rates and tracks respect for fundamental freedoms in 196 countries worldwide, according to the results released Wednesday in Bangkok.

The annual "People Power Under Attack" report, compiled by the South Africa-based non-governmental organization CIVICUS, ranked the 196 countries in five categories – open, narrowed, obstructed, repressed and closed — based on their level of basic freedoms, such as freedom of the press and of speech.

Taiwan was among the 43 countries worldwide, and the only one in Asia, ranked in the open category.

Of the 25 Asian countries listed in the report, four were rated as closed, namely China, North Korea, Vietnam and Laos, while eight were categorized as repressed, and 10 as obstructed. Civic space in South Korea and Japan was rated as narrowed.    [FULL  STORY]

IN UNISON: The Taiwanese operator said that its Taiwan and China Web sites would be updated concurrently, meaning Taiwanese would see CCP-sanctioned adverts

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 05, 2019
By: Chung Li-hua, Aaron Tu and William Hetherington  /  Staff reporters, with staff writer

Long Lien Blockchain Media Technology Ltd (龍聯區塊鏈傳媒科技), which has come under scrutiny

for recruiting former national security and intelligence officials, yesterday said that it is to become the first Taiwanese media company to operate in China.

The firm’s online content platform, Master Chain (大師鏈), which founder Chuang Li-ping (莊立平) in October last year said would use blockchain technology and present “opinions from all sides,” has received approval from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to start operations in Beijing in February, it told a news conference in Taipei.

The company would update its Taiwan and China Web sites concurrently, meaning that Taiwanese visitors would see CCP-sanctioned advertisements, it added.

Long Lien denied that it would receive funding from the CCP or help it disseminate propaganda, saying that advertisements would be nonpolitical and that it would only market goods like travel packages and food products.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 03 December, 2019
By: Paula Chao

resident Tsai Ing-wen says bilateral visits by Taiwanese and Japanese are likely to surpass 7 million this year. Tsai was speaking Tuesday while meeting with Ohashi Mitsuo, the head of the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association.

Mitsuo is in Taiwan to attend the fourth maritime affairs talks between the two sides.

Tsai said Taiwan and Japan have had close exchanges.

"We would like to thank Japanese high schools for choosing Taiwan as a top priority for their overseas education [programs]. Of the 150,000 [students] participating in the annual program, about 53,000 visited Taiwan. We highly value and will continue to promote youth exchanges. The number of bilateral visits is close to 6.8 million [now]. Based on the current pace, the [figure] will likely surpass the 7 million mark this year, which will be a record high.    [FULL  STORY]

Daily Mail
Date:  3 December 2019
By: AFP

The men are accused of threatening national security by sharing information and recruiting others in exchange for gifts

Taiwanese prosecutors on Tuesday charged a former lieutenant colonel and his father with spying for China in the latest allegations of espionage on the island.

The men are accused of threatening national security by sharing information and recruiting others in exchange for gifts, the Tainan district prosecutor's office said.

The younger man, identified by local media as Cheng Chih-wen, helped recruit Taiwanese soldiers "to develop networks to seriously affect national security and damage military discipline", prosecutors said in a statement.

His father Cheng Chao-ming, who heads a small political party, introduced his son to Chinese agents in Japan in 2009 while he was still in service, prosecutors said.    [FULL  STORY]

RADIO INTERVIEW: Choosing the Kaohsiung mayor as its presidential candidate was like asking someone who has never flown a plane to pilot an aircraft, the PFP leader said

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 04, 2019
By: Shelley Shan  /  Staff reporter

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) picked an inappropriate and inexperienced presidential

candidate, which could cost the party the Jan. 11 race, People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) said yesterday.

“[Kaohsiung Mayor] Han [Kuo-yu (韓國瑜)] has neither the qualities nor the administrative experience to win the election,” Soong told political commentator Lan Hsuan (蘭萱) on her morning radio talk show.

Selecting Han as the KMT’s candidate was like “asking someone who cannot drive to drive on the freeways” or “asking someone who has never flown an airplane to operate an aircraft,” said Soong, who is also running for president.

The public should not trust their lives or the nation’s future to Han, he said.    [FULL  STORY]

China has stolen away 3,000 Taiwanese chip engineers, but Taiwan is winning back companies thanks to trade war

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/12/03
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — China has lured away 3,000 chip engineers from Taiwan as part of its "Made in China 2025" plan to complete a "red supply chain" with all foreign competitors eliminated, but the U.S.-China trade war has put a monkey wrench in the country's grandiose plans.

The "Made in China 2025" initiative, a major source of friction between the U.S. and China, is a plan unveiled in 2015 to enable the communist country to overtake its Western rivals in multiple technological fields. This plan includes building a "red supply chain" with Chinese technology companies given favorable government treatment to enable them to squeeze out foreign competitors, including Taiwanese firms, entirely from the production process.

A major stepping stone in creating this red supply chain is luring away top Taiwanese chip engineers to apply their expertise in Chinese firms. Taiwan's Business Weekly reports that over 3,000 Taiwanese semiconductor engineers have been poached by China in recent years.

Based on data from the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research, this amounts to approximately 10 percent of all of Taiwan's engineers engaged in semiconductor research and development. Although the practice of enticing Taiwanese engineers is not new, the quantity of high-level engineers poached by China has accelerated significantly since 2015.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/12/03
By: Hao Hsueh-chin, Tsai Peng-min and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, Dec. 3 (CNA) The Taichung City government has imposed a fine of NT$3 million (US$98,300) on a power plant in the city for using more coal this year than allowed, Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) said Tuesday.

The coal-fired Taichung Power Plant, one of the largest of its kind in the world, had consumed 11.08 million tonnes of coal as of Nov. 27, exceeding the annual limit of 11.04 million tonnes set by the city government, Lu said.

The plant, which is operated by the state-run Taiwan Power Co. (Taipower), must "make some improvements" within 10 days or face further consequences, including the revocation of one or two of its permits to run its 10 coal-fired generators, the mayor said.

In response, Taipower spokesman Hsu Tsao-hua (徐造華) said in a statement that he was at a loss to understand how the plant could make improvements since it had already exceeded the city government's limit for annual coal consumption.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 02 December, 2019
By: Natalie Tso

There’s been a 20% increase in the number of Hong Kong citizens becoming residents of Taiwan this year. That’s the word from Deputy Minister of the Interior Chen Tsung-yen, who was speaking at the legislature on Monday.

Chen said that 4,633 Hong Kong citizens applied to become residents of Taiwan between January and October. Of those, 4,352 have been approved. Another 1,231 applied to become permanent residents, of whom 1,189 were approved. Many are students who have decided to reside in Taiwan here after graduation.

Kuomintang lawmaker Jason Hsu asked Chen if the conditions for residency in Taiwan were too easy. Currently, Hong Kong and Macau citizens can gain residency if they submit an investment plan worth at least NT$6 million (about US$200,000), and it is approved by the Taiwan government.
[FULL  STORY]

Is Taiwan For Sale?

The News Lens
Date: 2019/12/02
By: LWT

Taiwan holds a unique position in the realm of international law. Domestically, Taiwan possesses all the qualities of a “normal country,” including citizenship, territorial jurisdiction, government, and “sovereignty.” Taiwan is sovereign by the international law definition — it’s an ultimate authority independent of other authorities in the world; however, Taiwan does not have a common recognition internationally.

According to Oppenheim’s International Law: A Treatise, recognition is a requirement for a country to become a member of the international family, and having the qualifications alone are not enough. By this definition, Taiwan is not a “normal” country like the majority of the existing nations.

But compared to other “non-normal” countries, Taiwan is incredibly close to being a regular country and with far more capabilities.

After the Soviet Union collapsed, four countries — South Ossetia, Abkhazia, Transnistria, and Artsakh — claimed independence and recognized one another’s sovereignty. These countries, however, barely have any diplomatic partners (Taiwan has at least maintained 15 allies to date). The passports issued by these four countries are also not recognized in most of the world, and their citizens mostly have dual-citizenship that granted them a valid passport from another country. Taiwan, in comparison, offers a passport that has visa-free access to over 150 countries.
[FULL  STORY]