Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-10-12

Vice President Chen Chien-jen departed for the Vatican on Thursday to attend the

canonization of Pope Paul VI. The Vatican is Taiwan’s only diplomatic ally nation in Europe.

Chen said relations between Taiwan and the Holy See are stable. He said Taiwan will hold to the universal values of religious freedom, democracy and peace in its continued support for Pope Francis. The vice president also said he will extend an invitation to the pope to visit Taiwan.

Chen will also meet Taiwan’s priests, monks and nuns stationed in the Vatican, as well as Taiwanese businesspeople and expatriates living in Italy.    [FULL  STORY]

There’s a method to the madness of the United Kingdom’s complex hierarchy of pedestrian crossings. Can Taiwan learn from it?

The News Lens
Date: 2018/10/13
By: Songshan Charles

This is Part 1 of a two-part series. Read Part 2 here.

Here are three related news stories, listed in order of occurrence:

• August 2014: Taipei City introduces new road markings for pedestrian crossings
• July 2016: American professor fatally injured by a bus on a crossing in Taiwan
• April 2017: First crossing to have road markings reminding pedestrians to look both ways reduces accident rates in Northern Taiwan

In the first story, Taiwan’s Department of Transportation (DOT) tested new zig-zag road markings for crossings, intended to be more visible to drivers and cause them to reduce their speeds. In the second, American neuroscience professor Bruce Bridgeman was killed after being struck by a bus in a dedicated bus lane on Ren’ai Road in front of the Howard Hotel.

Ren’ai Road has one-way traffic, except for the central divided highway contraflow for buses; the bus which struck Bridgeman was traveling in the contraflow opposite automobile traffic. The third story was likely a response to the accident that killed Bridgeman, testing whether reminding pedestrians to look both ways for oncoming traffic at crossings would improve safety.

Both zig-zag road markings and Look Left/Right signs are borrowed from the United Kingdom’s Highway Code. These traffic measures are common place in both the UK, Hong Kong, and many commonwealth countries, but do they keep pedestrians safe?
[FULL  STORY]

Taipei’s Zhongshan Alliance announces it has ordered a hit on the illegal racer who killed 3 people yesterday

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/10/12
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A day after an unlicensed driver smashed his car into a sidewalk, killing three people and declaring he was a member of the Zhongshan Alliance (中山聯盟), the gang itself is furious at his behavior and has announced it is has put out a death order on him.

After losing control of his car while racing and careening into a sidewalk, where he killed three people in Taipei last night, 21-year-old Hsieh Ya-hsuan (謝亞軒), showed no remorse when taken in for questioning by police, called himself “a bad boy” and “a member of the Zhongshan Alliance [中山聯盟].” However, despite his lengthy criminal record, police this morning denied that Hsieh was a known member of the gang, reported Apple Daily.

Today, in response to his arrogant behavior and his claims of being part of their gang, a person purporting to represent the Zhongshan Alliance posted a message on Facebook saying, “You [Hsieh Ya-hsuan] are done for! The Zhongshan Alliance is looking for you.” After apparently being insulted by having their name associated with the reckless driver, members of the gang want to exact their own brand of vigilante justice.

It is currently not known why Hsieh, a former night club promoter, would claim membership in the Taiwanese triad. Police are not sure if it is a bluff or an attempt to mislead them, in either case they are continuing their investigation into the incident.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/10/12
By: Hao Hsueh-chin and Ko Lin

Taipei, Oct. 12 (CNA) Indian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Kailash Satyarthi on Friday

praised Taiwan for its altruism, commending young Taiwanese for their unselfish concern for others and devotion to volunteering to help those who are less fortunate.

Speaking in a meeting with Taichung Mayor Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍), Satyarthi said he has worked with many young Taiwanese volunteers in the past through his foundation that addresses the special needs of victims of child labor.

His foundation, Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA), or Save the Childhood Movement, is an India-based organization that campaigns for the rights of children. As a result of his work, Satyarthi was selected along with Pakistani teenager Malala Yousafzai as winners of the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize.

Many young Taiwanese he encountered have exhibited enthusiasm and were more than willing to spend a month in India to help him promote children’s rights and education, he told the Taichung mayor.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 13, 2018
By: Staff writer, with CNA, WASHINGTON

The US is moving toward a “more normal foreign military sales relationship” with Taiwan,

US Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs Randall Schriver said on Thursday.

Schriver, who was asked by reporters on the sidelines of the 8th Annual Jamestown China Defense and Security Conference in Washington whether the US would change its arms sales policy on Taiwan from the current “bundling” approach, said the administration of US President Donald Trump views arms sales to Taiwan as foreign military sales and would push for more normal arms sales.

The conference was organized by the Jamestown Foundation and the Global Taiwan Institute.

Last month, the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) announced an arms sales proposal that covers standard spare parts, and the repair and replacement of spare parts in support of Taiwan’s F-16s, C-130s, F-5s, Indigenous Defense Fighters and other aircraft systems.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-10-11

Quite a few couples had something else to celebrate on Taiwan’s National Day on

October 10: they welcomed their newborn babies. But Taiwan is still facing a declining birth rate.

A few babies were born on National Day, giving the new parents something extra to celebrate on October 10. In Taipei, Cathay General Hospital saw the birth of 10 new babies; Taipei City Hospital welcome 5 newborns, and Kangning Hospital saw 2 babies born.

The number of National Day babies is lower than the past and reflects the declining birth rate across Taiwan. Taiwan saw 193,844 newborns in 2017. That’s the lowest number in seven years. This year, the population aged 65 or older surpassed that of 14 and under for the first time. That marked Taiwan’s official transition into an aged society.    [FULL  STORY]

The ROC maintains its claims in the South China Sea based on a historical connection to a country it has been separated from since 1949.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/10/11
By: Bertil Lintner

If there’s anything China and Taiwan can agree on, it’s that the contested scattered islands in the South China Sea are Chinese territory. But while China flexes its muscles to assert authority over the islands, making the maritime region into a geostrategic hotspot, Taiwan has no such ambitions.

When the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled in July 2016 in favor of the Philippines against China’s claims, the Office of Taiwan’s president rejected the verdict in terms similar to Beijing.

The court found that China has no “historical right” based on its so-called nine-dash line map that encompasses nearly 90 percent of the South China Sea, including most of the maritime region’s islands.    [FULL  STORY]

A single mother and her two sons in Taoyuan City committed suicide by burning charcoal in the closed house late Tuesday night, but the older son, who text messaged his classmates to bid farewell forever, survived the ordeal

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/10/11
By: George Liao,Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News)—A single mother and her two sons in Taoyuan City committed suicide by burning charcoal in the closed house late Tuesday night, but the older son, who text messaged his classmates to bid farewell forever, survived the ordeal when police broke into the house, where the mother and the younger son were found not breathing and without a heartbeat, according to a news release posted by Taoyuan Police Department on its website.

Songwu Police Station chief Yao Jin-bao (姚金寶) said that the station received a call after 11 p.m. Tuesday night to inform that a classmate of the caller could be committing charcoal-burning suicide as the caller had just received a farewell text message from the classmate, according to the release.

Yao said the police took the call seriously and sent personnel to Guangfeng Street, Pingzhen District, where the text message was sent, to investigate.

After the exact location of the classmate’s house was confirmed by the caller, police broke in to find smoke permeating the house, the release said. Police searched every room and found the older son, 16, still had vital signs, but unfortunately his 41-year-old mother surnamed Wang and 13-year-old younger son were not breathing and without a heartbeat, according to the document.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwqan
Date: 2018/10/11
By: Pan Chih-yi, Tien Yu-pin and Evelyn Kao 

Taipei, Oct. 11 (CNA) The Taiwan stock market tumbled 660.72 points Thursday, recording its steepest one-day point drop in history, to close below the 10,000-point mark in the wake of Wall Street’s worst losses in eight months.

The benchmark weighted index on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (Taiex) closed down 660.72 points, or 6.31 percent, at 9,806.11 after moving between 9,797.93 and 10,272.04. Turnover totaled NT$205.33 billion (US$6.59 billion) during the session.

In the wake of the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s plunge of 831 points in the U.S. Wednesday, the local market opened down 194.79 points at 10,272.04 and dropped below 10,000 points in 90 seconds.

Amid lingering fears over further fund outflows, the Taiex continued to fall, taking by 668 points at one point, and by the close had lost 660.72 points, its biggest single-day drop in history.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 12, 2018
By: Lee Hsin-fan and Jonathan Chin  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer

Two pro-marriage equality referendums are likely to be held alongside the local elections

next month, after the Central Election Commission yesterday announced that they have passed the second-phase legal threshold.

The commission on Tuesday is to decide whether the proposals will be on the ballot for the nine-in-one elections on Nov. 24.

The proposals, initiated by Social Democratic Party member Miao Po-ya (苗博雅) and advocate Wang Ting-yu (王鼎棫) respectively, have gathered enough signatures to clear the 281,745 threshold for the second phase of the process, the commission said.

The proposals directly oppose three referendums organized by conservative groups and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers that have already cleared the commission’s review process.    [FULL  STORY]