RADIOACTIVE RISK: The rumor that the nation would face a power shortage without nuclear power plants is not true, President Tsai Ing-wen said at the Taipei march

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 28, 2019
By: Lin Chia-nan  /  Staff reporter

Thousands of people in Taipei and Kaohsiung yesterday marched against nuclear

power, urging the government to put more effort into phasing out nuclear power plants by 2025 and promoting renewable energy sources.

The marches were organized by the National Nuclear Abolition Action Platform with the theme “Farewell to Nuclear Power for a Beautiful Future.”

Demonstrators in Taipei started their march on Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office Building, while those in Kaohsiung started from Aozihdi Forest Park (凹仔底森林公園).

Proponents of nuclear power have been gaining support after a referendum last year seeking to abolish the government’s “nuclear-power free homeland by 2025” policy garnered more than 5.8 million votes in favor to 4 million against.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International 
Date: 26 April, 2019
By: Paula Chao

Longshan Temple, a historic monument in downtown Taipei, says it will bar candle-lighting starting May. The move aims to protect the environment and ensure public safety. That’s following the devastating fire at Notre Dame in Paris.

The bundles of red candles, large and small, sold at Longshan Temple, will soon become a part of history. Starting May, the temple that is dedicated to Bodhisattva will no longer allow worshippers to light candles on its premises.

A notice posted by the temple reads “Candles will no longer be sold to worshippers nor will candle holders be offered. This is due to the growing public awareness of environmental protection and safety concerns following the fire that ruined Notre Dame in Paris.” The temple also urged the public not to bring their own candles.

One worshipper found the move quite disappointing because he has always lit candles to pray for peace. Another believer supports the ban, saying that burning one stick of incense is good enough and the environment has improved.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan lost one sub-Saharan African ally in 2018, but it’s gripping tightly onto another.

The News Lens
Date: 2019/04/26
By: Megan Conville

The continual diplomatic isolation of Taiwan has seen the island reduced to one Sub-Saharan African ally: eSwatini, formally known as Swaziland. The most recent loss of an ally came with a shift from Burkina Faso on the state’s diplomatic recognition of Taiwan. Burkina Faso turned down economic inducements from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as recently as January of 2017 but, ultimately, moved to become an ally of the PRC in May 2018. A comparison of the potential sources of Burkina Faso’s negative relationship and eSwatini’s positive relationship with Taiwan can lend insight into the future success or failure of Taiwan’s diplomatic relations.

This article questions the role of evaluating what contributes to a small state extending official diplomatic relations. It is undeniable that diplomatic recognition can assist with a state’s role in social and economic interaction on a global scale. Taiwan has a unique diplomatic standing, as it has been party to yo-yo diplomacy for over fifty years – states will officially recognize and de-recognize Taiwan, and even sometimes re-recognize it. Taiwan then has an additional unique quality to its diplomatic recognition, as a shift in official diplomatic relations often correlates to a state choosing to recognize the PRC in an official capacity.

The question stands: What factors contribute to official diplomatic recognition? The argument that choosing to recognize the PRC or Taiwan due to similar political and ideological structures appears to be largely outdated since the Cold War ended. Though politics plays a marginal role, the overarching contributor to diplomatic recognition seems to be based on economics. This conclusion offers itself to the current framework in which to analyze the relationship between economic assistance and diplomatic recognition.    [FULL  STORY]

Taxi drivers want Cabinet to take speedy action

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/04/26
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) wrote a letter to the government to complain about its planned regulations covering ride-hailing company Uber Technologies, but taxi drivers struck back against the corporation, the United Daily News reported Friday (April 26).

The new rules would require Uber to charge hourly and daily fares instead of a rate based on the distance, while hailing a Uber car on the street would also be banned, according to government proposals initially expected to come into force Friday.

The regulations have pitted supporters of the service, including rental companies and commuters, against taxi drivers, who accuse Uber of unfair competition.

AIT’s letter, sent Thursday, criticized the requirement that after each ride, the Uber driver should return to his official site of business and the duration of one hour per ride, the United Daily News reported. Drivers and consumers would be less likely to use the app, while the rules amounted to a ban on Uber, the letter reportedly said.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/04/26
By: Liu Kuan-ting and Y.F. Low 

Taipei, April 26 (CNA) The Legislative Yuan on Friday passed an amendment to the Labor Pension Act to include all foreigners with permanent residency in Taiwan in the country’s retirement pension system.

Under the system, employers are obliged to contribute funds equivalent to a minimum of 6 percent of monthly salary to employee pension accounts every month.

Meanwhile, employees have the option of depositing a maximum of 6 percent of their salaries in the accounts, with the deposits exempt from income tax.  [FULL  STORY]

EXPEDITED PLANS: Lam Wing-kei said that he already wanted to move to Taiwan before Hong Kong’s government announced plans to allow extraditions to China

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 27, 2019
By: AFP, TAIPEI

A Hong Kong bookseller, who had disappeared into Chinese custody for half a year,

yesterday said that he has fled to Taiwan after the financial hub announced plans to approve extraditions to China.

Lam Wing-kei (林榮基), the former manager of Hong Kong-based Causeway Bay Books (銅鑼灣圖書), was one of five publishers selling gossip-filled tomes on China’s leaders who vanished in late 2015, resurfacing in Chinese custody and making televised confessions.

He was allowed back to Hong Kong in June 2016 on condition that he pick up a hard drive listing the bookstore’s customers and return to China.

Instead, he skipped bail and went public with explosive testimony detailing how he was blindfolded by police after crossing the border into Shenzhen, China, and spent months being interrogated.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International 
Date: 25 April, 2019
By: Paula Chao

President Tsai Ing-wen says Taiwan’s national security agencies must work actively to map out a plan for counteracting misinformation. Tsai was speaking Thursday during a meeting with a delegation from the Center for a New American Security (CNAS).

The Washington-based think tank holds sway over the US government’s defense policy. It is also working to train a younger generation in defending national security.

During the meeting, Tsai spoke about Taiwan’s fake news problem.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan has earned plaudits for domesticated human rights reforms, but NGOs accuse successive administrations of failing to keep promises to do more.

The News Lens
Date: 2019/04/25
By: Chen Yu-chiao

Owing to political tensions with the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Taiwan dropped out of the United Nations in 1971 and became the very few states that does not have a UN membership. It means Taiwan is excluded from UN human rights bodies carrying human rights monitoring mechanisms, which means Taiwan must go its own way to meet international human rights standards.

This starts with endowing UN human rights treaties with domestic legal status.

What is the Taiwan model?
The Legislative Yuan passed the Two International Covenants Enforcement Act (International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights) in 2009 which has set up the stage for review by international experts for both 2013 and 2017. Three other UN human rights treaties were also endowed domestic legal status in the following years within the provisions including a state report and an international review which should be given every four or five years.

The Taiwan model at least has three features. First, the procedure of international review is formulated and implemented by government and local NGOs; second, the review is similar to the UN’s Universal Periodic Review as a whole but adjusts to local needs; third, it takes place in Taipei which encourages government and civil representatives to engage, according to an introductory article written by Kuo Min-li (郭銘禮) and Chen Yu-jie (陳玉潔) in Taiwan Human Rights Journal.    [FULL  STORY]

105-year-old grandpa sells mantou at Taipei bus stop to raise funds for his sick son

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/04/25
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Photos surfaced earlier this month on Taiwanese social media of a 105-year-old “grandpa” selling “mantou,” or steamed buns, to raise money for the care of his sick son.

On April 13, photos appeared of an elderly man selling mantou at a bus stop in Taipei on the Facebook page 食現Ünlimited journeŸ. In the original post, the manager of the page wrote that “Although Grandpa’s mantou is not beautifully packaged, it is really big and solid! If you have a good heart and happen to pass by, please help out.”

The Facebook blogger wrote that the man sells mantou near the Jingmei Bus Station every day in Taipei’s Wenshan District, before switching to a spot near Exit 1 of the Wanlong MRT Station in the evening. The blogger wrote that they bought his entire stock of mantou to enable him to go home early and also purchased dinner for him.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/04/25
By: Wang Hung-kuo and Chi Jo-yao

Taipei, April 25 (CNA) New Taipei City will prohibit smoking in public areas in front of

several convenience store and coffee shop chains with effect from September, the city’s Department of Health (DOH) said Thursday.

The seating areas in front of 7-Eleven, FamilyMart, OK Mart, Simple Mart and Hi-Life stores will be designated as non-smoking areas, as will the public spaces in front of Starbucks, 85 Cafe and Louisa Coffee shops in New Taipei, the health department said.

Those businesses were informed on March 1 of the impending regulation, which gave them six months’ notice of its implementation, the department said.

When the new regulation takes effect on Sept. 1, violators will risk a fine of NT$2,000 (US$64.6) to NT$10,000, the department said.    [FULL  STORY]