Radio Taiwan International
Date: 05 November, 2019
By: Paula Chao

President Tsai Ing-wen says the incentives that China offered to Taiwan recently are aimed at promoting its “one country, two systems” formula. Tsai was speaking Tuesday in the southern Pingtung County.

Tsai’s comments came a day after China introduced 26 incentives to “promote economic and cultural exchanges between the two sides across the Taiwan Strait.” That’s on top of the 31 other incentives it began offering last February.

China said the incentives allow Taiwanese people and Taiwanese businesses to enjoy the same treatment given to its citizens and the business sector.

President Tsai spoke on China’s political motives.

“I think the 31 measures introduced earlier and the 26 incentives unveiled now are part of China’s plan to [include] Taiwan in its ‘one country, two systems’ formula. Clearly, China has decided on the formula and is working hard to promote it. The incentives are to implement the formula in Taiwan," said Tsai.     [FULL  STORY]

The News Lens
Date: 2019/11/05
By: Daniel Davies

Taiwan’s indigenous population has historically voted for KMT, but a dynamic shift might be coming in the 2020 legislative elections.

In next year’s legislative elections both the Kuomintang (KMT) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) are hoping to secure a majority, but after the shock results of 2018 and the growing number of small parties, every seat seems to be contested. The seats held by indigenous legislators, traditionally seen as iron votes for the KMT and pan-blue parties, have also become an open contest and could play a pivotal role in the outcome of the elections.

The reserved seats system differs from the general seats system in two main ways; the selection process and the geographical distribution of constituencies. The use of the single non-transferable voting (SNTV) system means that the required voter threshold for election is considerably lower than for general candidates. Indigenous candidates can typically secure election with 20,000 votes, in contrast with general candidates who require 50,000 upwards. The low threshold for elections meant that elected political positions came from the larger of Taiwan’s 16 recognized indigenous groups.

Historically, all plains indigenous legislators have been from the Amis tribe, the largest indigenous group within Taiwan. The mountain constituency, although more diverse in its leadership, has generally been divided between the larger ethnic groups, with two seats held by politicians from the Atayal tribe or Seediq tribe (previously recognized as part of Atayal), and a third seat held by a candidate from southern Taiwan’s Paiwan tribe. Party support for the KMT has also had an undoubtedly strong resonance within the indigenous constituencies and the highland constituency in particular, which has never elected a candidate affiliated with the pan-green camp.

Kolas Yotaka, the current Executive Yuan spokesperson, is the first Taiwanese indigenous to hold the position. She belongs to the Amis Harawan tribe of Yuli, Hualien.

The 73 constituencies for the general legislative elections are divided first by county and second by township borders. However, the reserved seats for indigenous peoples are divided by historically created borders of highland and lowland constituencies, roughly based on the lines denoting “civilized” people from “barbarian” people as defined in the Japanese colonial period. The result of this division is that instead of being restricted by geographical proximity, the contests are nationwide.    [FULL  STORY]

CCTV News anchor calls for 'Wan Wan' to come home after Beijing announces '26 measures'

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/11/05
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — After announcing China's "26 measures" to entice Taiwanese talent to work in the country, an anchor from China's state-run TV station CCTV called on "Wan Wan [Taiwan]" to return home.

On Monday (Nov. 4), China's Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) and the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) announced 26 additional "measures" to further promote economic and cultural exchanges and cooperation between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait," including 13 for Taiwanese companies and 13 for Taiwanese citizens, whom they purport will be provided "equal treatment with the Chinese populace."

That same day, CCTV anchor Hai Xia (海霞) appeared in a prerecorded video to announce the new incentives and said, "We show our sincerity to our Taiwanese compatriots because we are all Chinese. Taiwan's destiny is connected with its motherland. Wan Wan come home!" These words were rapidly shared on China's heavily censored and carefully orchestrated social media platform Weibo, but Taiwanese netizens were incensed at the condescending, childish word "Wan Wan" used to refer to Taiwan.

Hai further said, "Some people are not being pragmatic about such practical measures. They also say strange things and even spread rumors and slander. If they don't have a Chinese heart, how can they understand our sincerity?" Chinese netizens on Weibo then dutifully spouted words of praise for Hai's statement:

"Wan Wan! Mama is calling you home."    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/11/05
By: Lee Hsin-Yin

Taipei, Nov. 5 (CNA) A government plan to change the format of the Alien Resident Certificate (ARC) number to match that of the Taiwan national ID card will be implemented in October 2020, the National Development Council (NDC) said Tuesday.

The issue of the ARC format has been a troubling one for foreign nationals in Taiwan and has been raised many times by the foreign chambers of commerce, NDC Minister Chen Mei-ling (陳美伶) said at the European Chamber of Commerce Taiwan (ECCT), which was releasing its annual position paper.

On the ARC and Alien Permanent Resident Certificate (APRC), the number, which comprises two letters and eight digits, will be changed to one letter and nine digits, same as on the Taiwan ID card, Chen said.

In response, ECCT Chief Executive Officer Freddie Hoeglund said the chamber welcomed the change, as it would give foreign nationals greater access to online services, which often do not accept the current format.    [FULL  STORY]

DIVERSITY: One lawmaker said that teaching local and foreign languages at school would help to preserve Taiwan’s uniqueness and promote a well-rounded worldview

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 06, 2019
By: Yang Chun-hui, Chen Yun and Jake Chung  /  Staff reporters, with staff writer

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday

sparred over comments by Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu’s (韓國瑜) wife, Lee Chia-fen (李佳芬), that studying mother tongues in school is a waste of resources.

Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese) “is what I speak at home. Why then is it still studied at school?” Lee said on Sunday, adding that the Ministry of Education’s efforts to promote the language are a waste of time and resources.

Her comments echoed remarks last year by Han, the KMT’s presidential candidate, that it was a “waste of time” to include native-language classes in the 12-year national education program.

The DPP yesterday criticized Lee and Han, saying that they were discriminating against mother tongues.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan mInternatinal
Date: 04 November, 2019
By: Leslie Liao

A delegation of inventors from Taiwan managed to grab six golds at the 71st International Trade Fair for Ideas, Inventions & New Products in Germany. In total, Taiwan’s 20 submissions garnered 17 medals… Six gold, seven silver, four bronze.    [FULL  STORY]

Phone Arena
Date: Nov 04, 2019
By: Alan Friedman

If there has been one constant throughout the nearly four months that Huawei has been banned from its U.S. supply chain, it has been TSMC. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, known as TSMC, is the company that turns those chip designs from Qualcomm, Apple, and others into the actual chips that are used inside phones, tablets, computers and other devices. And yes, TSMC manufactures the chips that are designed by Huawei's HiSilicon unit. In fact, after Apple, Huawei is TSMC's second-largest customer.

Bloomberg reports today that the Taiwan government has denied a story published by the Financial Times stating that the Trump administration has been putting pressure on it to get TSMC to stop manufacturing chips for Huawei. Kolas Yotaka, a spokeswoman for the Taiwan Cabinet, told Bloomberg that "Our government has not received any request from the U.S. government to stop TSMC from supplying Huawei." TSMC said that it is unaware of any attempt by the U.S. to stop it from manufacturing chips for the Chinese manufacturer. However, TSMC Chairman Mark Liu did say that with Apple expected to release 5G enabled iPhone models next year, his company will show tremendous growth in 2020.

Huawei should have no problems sourcing chips for future phones

Huawei also caught a break when U.K. chip designer ARM Holdings announced late last month that it was reversing its position on Huawei. Originally, the company that licenses the chip architecture used on most mobile chipsets said that because it uses some U.S. original technology in its designs, it would cut ties with the Chinese manufacturer. However, ARM Holdings recently concluded that "ARM’s v8 and v9 are UK-origin technologies." As a result of ARM's newfound realization and TSMC's desire to keep doing business with its second-largest customer, Huawei doesn't have to worry about sourcing chips for future devices. That is, if the Financial Times report is not true as the Taiwan government claims.    [FULL  STORY]

American English teacher resigns from TutorABC English over their draconian 'one China' policy for Taiwan employees

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/11/04
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — An email from the English teaching website TutorABC surfaced on Saturday (Nov. 2) sent in response to the resignation of an instructor who refused to conform to new draconian, "one China" regulations for staff in Taiwan, giving a strong indication of the firm's new Chinese masters.

An American English teacher based in Taiwan told Taiwan News that when she was first hired by TutorABC she received an email about China's new policies effective Nov. 1. She was informed that although tutors that work for them must live outside of China, they must follow the laws of the communist country.

She was also told that it is company policy to check exit-entry travel stamps in the tutors' passports to comply with the Chinese government. She said she contacted the person that recruited her and told her that she lives in Taiwan and did not think it was necessary to comply with the new regulations, since she does in fact not live in Taiwan.

The instructor was also shown a training video which outlined several other strict new rules, such as the fact that teachers are not allowed to ask where the students are from. Disturbed by both the requirement allowing the Chinese government to access her travel documents and the restrictions on student interaction, she informed the company that should would resign immediately.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/11/04
By: Emerson Lim

Taipei, Nov. 4 (CNA) The first-ever international cyber exercises co-hosted by the United States and Taiwan that opened Monday hope to combat the growing number of global cyberattacks, especially those from North Korea and China.

Speaking at Monday's opening ceremony, American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Acting Director Raymond Greene said the exercises are aimed at strengthening domestic cyber defenses and related skills and promoting closer international cooperation on cybersecurity.

"Ultimately, the success of this week will be measured by whether all of you remain in close contact with each other after the exercises are over," said Greene of the exercises, known formally as the U.S.-Taiwan Cyber Offensive and Defensive Exercises (CODE).

One form of future cooperation, Greene said, may be to bring Taiwan into the Department of Homeland Security's Automated Indicator Sharing system, which shares cyber threat indicators at machine speed.    [FULL  STORY]

UNIFICATION PROPAGANDA: The MAC said the offer is contradicted by China’s efforts to suppress Taiwan, while Ting Yun-kung said it was aimed at influencing the elections

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 05, 2019
By: Su Yung-yao and William Hetherington  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer and agencies

China yesterday announced more measures to open its markets to Taiwanese firms and treat

Taiwanese the same as Chinese, but Presidential Office spokesman Ting Yun-kung (丁允恭) said they are just a ploy to divide Taiwanese and try to influence the Jan. 11 elections.

The new measures will allow Taiwanese companies to invest or participate in projects ranging from 5G to civil aviation to theme parks, and allow them to issue bonds to raise capital.

China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) said the government would also make it easier for Taiwanese to live and work China as well as give them the right to seek consular help from Chinese embassies and consulates.

The 26 measures, which represent the “thorough implementation of [Chinese President] Xi Jinping’s (習近平) promise to provide Taiwanese compatriots with equal treatment,” came into effect immediately, the TAO said.    [FULL  STORY]