Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-09-07

President Tsai Ing-wen says the government will map out a pension scheme for farmers.

The president was speaking at a national agriculture meeting on Friday.

The president explained why there is a need for a plan.

“I would like to ask people who attend the national agriculture meeting to discuss the issue. In the past, the government offered farmers subsidies to replace pensions since they did not exist in agricultural insurance. But the [subsidies] are still not enough to cover their needs in old age. I hope you can make suggestions to map out a plan for farmers so that they can have more protection after retirement,” said Tsai.    [FULL  STORY]

Your daily bulletin of Taiwan news, courtesy of ICRT.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/09/07
By: International Community Radio Taipei (ICRT)

The government is thanking U.S. senators for introducing legislation requesting

Washington help Taipei to keep its existing 17 diplomatic allies.

The Taiwan Allies International Protection and Enhancement Initiative, or TAIPEI Act, was introduced by Republican Senators Cory Gardner and Marco Rubio and Democrats Ed Markey and Bob Menendez.

It seeks to authorize the State Department to downgrade U.S. relations with any government that shifts away from Taiwan, and to suspend or alter U.S. assistance to that government.

The bill also requires the U.S. to engage with governments to support Taiwan’s diplomatic recognition or strengthen unofficial ties with the island.    [FULL  STORY]

Canada should defend its basic principles by helping Taiwan against China: Glavin

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/09/07
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – If Canada is serious about championing democratic values, it should defend Taiwan’s threatened democracy against bullying by China, author Terry Glavin wrote in the Ottawa Citizen Wednesday.

Canada should re-evaluate its approach to Beijing due to Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s aggressive stance against Taiwan, Glavin writes in the opinion piece titled “Lessons on human rights for Canada from Taiwan.”

The author slams the Canadian government as being “uniquely supine among the G7 countries,” an attitude which needs revision, and not just because of the Chinese threat against Taiwan.

Canada’s foreign minister cannot be taken seriously as she calls on “liberal democracies to unite against the dire threats of rising authoritarian unilateralism while at the same time doing nothing about Beijing’s accelerated military and economic encirclement of Taiwan,” Glavin writes.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: 2018/09/07
By: Lo Tien-pin and Jonathan Chin  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer

Taipei, Sept. 7 (CNA) President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said Friday that the government is

determined to build Taichung City into a smart machinery manufacturing hub in the world.

Speaking at a ceremony to inaugurate a smart machinery development center in Taichung, Tsai said the production value of Taiwan’s smart machinery industry topped NT$1.1 trillion (US$35.75 billion) in 2017, making the island the fourth largest machinery exporter in the world.

Tsai said Taichung has become an anchor of Taiwan’s machinery production, and through the establishment of a smart machinery development center in the city, it is expected to continue to be an irreplaceable part of the global supply chain in machinery.

“We have a goal to build Taichung as a global smart machinery hub,” Tsai said. “We will integrate resources from the government, the industry and the academic circle to reach the goal.”    [FULL  STORY]

BALANCE: Most of the additional funds are earmarked to boost the number and types of missiles the aircraft can carry, to maintain parity with Chinese warplanes

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 08, 2018
By: Lo Tien-pin and Jonathan Chin  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer

The Ministry of National Defense is to increase the budget to upgrade the air force’s F-16

warplane fleet from NT$129.6 billion to NT$140.2 billion (US$4.21 million to US$4.56 million), a high-ranking defense official said yesterday.

Most of the budget increase aims to boost the number and types of air-to-air missiles the aircraft can carry, said the official, who declined to be named.

Better missiles are necessary to maintain parity between the upgraded F-16s and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force’s tactical fighters, the official said.

Details of the missile portion of the budget would be disclosed to lawmakers on the Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee when the Legislative Yuan reviews the national defense budget for fiscal 2019, the official said.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-09-06

The 2018 Taichung World Flora Exposition is set to launch in November. On Wednesday evening, Waipu Park, one of the expo’s three locations, showcased its spectacular lighting setup for the first time.

The 2018 Taichung World Flora Exposition is set to launch in November. On Wednesday evening, Waipu Park, one of the expo’s three locations, showcased its spectacular lighting setup for the first time.

Taichung Waipu Park lights up on Wednesday night shortly after nightfall. The facilities in the location have been decorated with different colorful lights bulbs that form interesting patterns that highlight the building’s contours and structure.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan has a ways to go before it comes close to reaching the government’s lofty biomedicine targets.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/09/06
By: Matthew Fulco
Taiwan’s biomedicine industry has many of the ingredients for success. The island has strong scientific talent, rich clinical-trial experience, abundant capital, a treasure trove of medical data (from the National Health Insurance system), information-technology expertise, and strong intellectual property rights protection bolstered by the recent passage of legislation to tighten patent safeguards for pharmaceuticals.

The Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) administration has signaled strong support for biomedicine by including it as one of the sectors in its 5+2 Industrial Innovation Plan, which aims to reduce Taiwan’s dependence on contract manufacturing and move the island up the global value chain. “The government wants to take advantage of Taiwan’s existing industrial foundation to help the country upgrade itself at a faster pace and become more competitive,” Tsai was quoted as saying by the Central News Agency in an October 2017 report.

Under 5+2, the government has set an ambitious target for biomedicine: by 2025 reach a production value exceeding NT$1 trillion (US$32.6 billion), develop and market 20 new drugs, introduce 80 new medical devices to the market, and cultivate a minimum of 10 “flagship health-service brands,” according to the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA).

“The government’s goal is to transform Taiwan into an Asian biomedical hub,” says David Silver, president of Taipei-based Biotech East, a life science business and marketing consulting firm. To reach the government’s target, the biomedicine industry would need to grow three-fold in the next seven years. In 2016, its production value was NT$315 billion (US$10.3 billion), up from NT$298.6 billion a year earlier, according to MOEA data.
[FULL  STORY]

Filipina prostitute helps Taiwanese and Philippine police nab Israeli-American wanted for grisly New Taipei murder

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/09/06
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Now that Philippine and Taiwanese authorities have announced the capture of the Israeli-American suspect in the murder of a Canadian English teacher, details have emerged about how police were finally able to apprehend him, including reports that a Filipina prostitute was key in pinpointing his location.

After the dismembered remains of 43-year-old Canadian English teacher Sanjay Ryan Ramgahan had been discovered on Aug. 22 and police started to close in on the trail of the killers, 37-year-old Israeli-American tattoo artist Oren Shlomo Mayer boarded Cebu Airlines Flight 5J-311 to Manila at about 2 a.m. on Aug. 24.

Taiwan and the Philippines have an extradition agreement and after receiving a request from Taiwan’s Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) to capture Mayer, the Philippine National Police (PNP) put together a taskforce to begin a manhunt. CIB International Criminal Affairs Division Squadron Chief Yang Kuo-sung (楊國松) told a news conference that a special team was formed on Aug. 25 to investigate the case.

After confirming Mayer’s identity, Yang notified INTERPOL of the fugitive, confirmed that he had indeed landed in Manila and alerted the Philippine police immediately. Early on, they had confirmed Mayer’s presence at the San Agustin Residences Hotel in Manila, which police monitored, until Aug. 27 when he checked out, according to an ETtoday report,    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/09/06
By: Shih Hsiu-chuan

Taipei, Sept. 6 (CNA) The 31 measures Beijing announced in February to attract more

Taiwanese to work, study, live or start businesses in China have “had no obvious effect” in terms of accelerating the exodus of capital and talent, Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said Thursday.

The MAC released a report on the impact of the 31 measures and effectiveness of the 39 countermeasures the government introduced in March in response to the Chinese package.

In terms of outbound investment to China, the Investment Commission under the Ministry of Economic Affairs has approved projects worth US$5.221 billion this year, a decrease of 2.77 percent compared to the same period last year, according to the report.

China’s 31 measures included 12 treating Taiwanese investors the same as their Chinese counterparts, and 19 aimed at loosening regulations to attract more Taiwanese students and professionals to live and work in China.    [FULL  STORY]

ALLY PROTECTION: The act would instruct Washington to downgrade relations, such as suspending aid, with any government that takes detrimental action toward Taiwan

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 07, 2018
By: Staff writer, with CNA

Taiwan yesterday thanked US senators for introducing legislation that aims to help Taipei

keep its 17 remaining allies, after China within three years poached five of the nation’s diplomatic allies.

The bipartisan Taiwan Allies International Protection and Enhancement Initiative (TAIPEI) Act introduced on Monday by Republican senators Cory Gardner and Marco Rubio, and Democratic senators Ed Markey and Bob Menendez is intended to strengthen Taiwan’s standing in the world, a news release issued by Gardner said.

It was created in response to five nations’ severance of diplomatic ties with Taiwan over the past two-and-a-half years due to Chinese pressure, it added.

“The TAIPEI Act requires a US strategy to engage with governments around the world to support Taiwan’s diplomatic recognition or strengthen unofficial ties with Taiwan,” the statement said.    [FULL  STORY]