Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/12/11
By: Liu Chien-pang and Evelyn Kao 

Taipei, Dec. 11 (CNA) Opposition Kuomintang (KMT) Taipei mayoral candidate Ting Shou-chung (丁守中) filed a lawsuit Tuesday to have the the Nov. 24 Taipei mayoral race annulled as a recount was set to be completed later that day.

Ting lost to the independent incumbent Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) by 3,254 votes in the first count on election night and requested a recount four days later, claiming irregularities and major flaws in the voting process.

For instance, it was widely reported that votes were being counted and the results released before the polls closed in Shilin District, which allowed voters to check the results online while they were waiting to cast their ballots, Ting said.

The Taipei District Court deployed 50 teams for the recount, each comprising a judge, a court clerk, two polling clerks and lawyers representing Ko and Ting.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy is bearing fruit, but could benefit from concrete proposals that map with partner countries’ own development agendas.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/12/11
By: Hsin-Huang Michael Hsiao, Jeremy Huai-Che Chiang and Alan Hao Yang, TAEF, East Asia Forum

Since Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文)’s inauguration in 2016, Taiwan has looked to strengthen its ties with neighboring states in Asia under an approach known as the New Southbound Policy. The policy seeks to enhance Taiwan’s cooperation with Southeast Asia, South Asia, Australia and New Zealand, while decreasing Taiwan’s economic dependence on any single market.

Taiwan has long promoted the regionalization and internationalization of its existence. In previous decades, Taiwan has relied heavily on the United States’ security assurance to play the Taipei–Beijing–Washington “strategic triangle.” But with the world heading towards a multipolar future, the Tsai administration is adapting Taiwan’s foreign policy approach and broadening its overseas relationships.

The new policy has had some initial successes. Taiwan’s high levels of trade and investment with China are yet to drop. But bilateral trade with Southeast and South Asian countries grew around 15 percent from 2016–17, while Taiwan’s investment in these countries rose by 54 percent.

While China is on track to be the world’s largest economy in 2050, India and Indonesia will rank second and fourth, respectively. Southeast and South Asia are rising players in world politics. And while China’s assertive influence in the region is inducing some, it is also irritating many others and creating new opportunities for Taiwan.
[FULL  STORY]

Taiwanese terror suspect lands at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/12/11
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwanese terror suspect An Tso “Edward” Sun (孫安佐) landed at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport 7:58 p.m. tonight (Dec. 11) after being jailed for 261 days for threatening to launch a mass shooting at his private school in Pennsylvania.

At around 8:30 p.m., Sun was seen being escorted by Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) officers wearing a black hat, black-rimmed glasses, a black down coat, brown shirt, khaki pants, blue tennis shoes, and was not in handcuffs. A total of eight CIB officers were escorting Sun, including two from its international unit.

Sun’s entertainer father Sun Peng (孫鵬) was seen closely trailing behind, while his celebrity mother Di Ying (狄鶯) later appeared, and he did not respond to questions from reporters as he walked through the airport.

The Taiwan Shilin District Prosecutor’s Office coordinated with the international division of the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) to send officers to escort Sun directly to the office upon arrival in Taiwan. Prosecutors wish to question Sun on suspicion that he violated Taiwan’s Controlling Guns, Ammunition and Knives Act (槍砲彈藥管制條例).
[FULL  STORY]

CATCHING FIRE: The famed baker faced outrage and accusations from Taiwanese and Chinese netizens questioning his politics on independence

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 12, 2018
By: Stacy Hsu  /  Staff reporter

President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday urged China to remove political prerequisites

from cross-strait exchanges after renowned Taiwanese baker Wu Pao-chun (吳寶春) faced calls for a boycott when he identified himself as a “baker born in Taiwan, China,” apparently for fear of being branded an independence supporter.

Tsai said she does not blame Wu, but the “serious matter” underscores China’s political distortion of economic and trade activities.

“The situation exists not only in our everyday lives, but also around the world. It is a matter of shared concern with the international community, but Taiwan is standing on the front lines and should be particularly alert to it,” Tsai told reporters at the Presidential Office in Taipei.

Taiwanese have time and again given standard statements due to perceived coercion, Tsai said.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwanese bread guru Wu Pao Chun, who is currently trying to open bread stores in China, said he was born in “Taiwan, China”

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/12/10
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taiwanese bread guru Wu Pao Chun, whose first bread store

China is currently holding a soft opening, said he was born in “Taiwan, China” and “I am proud of being a Chinese” after Chinese netizens labeled him as leaning towards Taiwan independence based on his past remarks, according to a Central News Agency (CNA) report on Monday.

Wu once said during an interview in 2016 that over the years many investors from around the world had invited him to open bread stores overseas, including investors from China, but he remain unmoved by the Chinese offers, according to CNA. He explained,“China has a market with 1.3 billion people, but the whole world has more than 7 billion people, so I won’t just look at China,” CNA reported

Chinese netizens thought Wu was unwilling to invest in China solely based on his past remarks and attacked him as leaning towards “Taiwan independence,”the report said. Many Chinese netizens therefore began to malignantly change online comments on Wu’s bread stores and even removed his stores from a popular Chinese consumer product website, the CNA reported.

Under the circumstances, Wu released a statement on Monday afternoon, saying, “As a baker born in Taiwan, China; Taiwan is the land that raised me. And I’m proud of being a Chinese. ‘The people across the strait is the family’is the principle that I’ve always insisted to uphold,” according to the report.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/12/10
By: Pan Chi-yu and Flor Wang

Taipei, Dec. 10 (CNA) Taiwan has been admitted into the Cross Border Privacy Rules

(CBPR) system under the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, the National Development Council (NDC) said Monday.

The NDC made the announcement after receiving notification from the APEC secretariat, pointing out that it is expected to help Taiwanese companies explore more business opportunities overseas.

Taiwan’s entry into the CBPR system will help enhance the country’s image in cross-border personal data protection and help local businesses forge cooperation opportunities with foreign companies, the NDC said.

The aim of the CBPR system, led by the United States, represents a push by APEC members to facilitate the transmission and flow of privacy-respecting data among APEC member states, the NDC said.    [FULL  STORY]

‘CLOSE ATTENTION’: The Presidential Office said the administration of President Tsai Ing-wen is not using any equipment that might be a threat to national security

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 11, 2018
By: Shelley Shan  /  Staff reporter

Any equipment made by Huawei Technologies Co (華為) or ZTE Corp (中興) is to be

quickly eliminated after a review of past government procurement cases, Minister Without Portfolio Wu Tze-cheng (吳澤成), who chairs the Public Construction Commission, said yesterday.

Wu made the statement at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which was reviewing the commission’s budget for fiscal 2019.

Taiwan in 2013 banned the use of core telecoms equipment manufactured by Chinese companies, the National Communications Commission (NCC) said on Saturday, after US magazine The National Interest reported on the risks that such equipment could pose to Taiwan’s security.

The magazine cited Kitsch Liao (廖彥棻), a Taiwan-based cybersecurity specialist, as saying that Huawei has built backdoors into its hardware that serve as a dual threat to communications, enabling both espionage and sabotage.    [FULL  STORY]

CRIMINAL RECORD: The man was last month charged with theft and obstruction of justice after allegedly running down police with a motorcycle

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 10, 2018
By: Jason Pan  /  Staff reporter

A 22-year-old man surnamed Lee (李) caused a fatal highway accident yesterday morning that left three people dead and six injured, Miaoli County police said, adding that Lee was found not to have a driver’s license.

The incident sparked angry reactions, after local media reported that Lee had recently learned to drive and had not yet obtained a license, but already had traffic violations.

The casualties were a baby girl and two teenage friends who were on an outing with Lee.

The crash occurred at about 4am on the Sun Yat-sen Freeway (Freeway No. 1) as Lee drove a white sedan with five passengers back home after a late-night outing in Taichung.
[FULL  STORY]

The Chinese tabloid Global Times hosted a conference in Beijing, Saturday, Dec. 8 which featured bellicose statements concerning Taiwan and the US

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/12/09
By: Duncan Deaeth, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – At a conference held in Beijing on Saturday, Chinese

government and military officials discussed issues in the South China Sea and the current state of relations between the U.S. and China.

Chinese media reports that the situation in the South China Sea is expected grow more intense over the coming year, with one senior military official also declaring that China should be prepared to attack United States naval vessels, should the U.S. violate Chinese “territorial waters.”

Dai Xu (戴旭), who is President of the Institute of Marine Safety and Cooperation, as well as a PLAAF Air Force Colonel Commandant, was quoted by the tabloid Global Times saying the following.
[FULL  STORY]