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Beijing shake-up to result in increased restrictions

SALAMI TACTICS: A high-level official said China wants to ‘deepen its friendship with Taiwan’ a day after state media threatened war over a Taiwan-friendly US bill

Taipei Times
Date: Mar 04, 2018
By:  Sean Lin  /  Staff reporter, with Reuters, BEIJING

Beijing is expected to further constrict Taiwan’s international space by intervening in the

National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Yu Zhengsheng delivers a report during the opening session of the conference in Beijing yesterday.  Photo: AFP

nation’s relations with key players in the international community, following a government restructuring that is expected to be approved by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) at its annual meeting tomorrow.

Using “salami tactics” — a divide-and-conquer process of using threats and alliances to overcome opposition — China is expected to focus more on influencing Taiwan’s relations with key international players, such as the US, while continuing to conduct military drills near Taiwan, court its diplomatic allies and ramp up military and economic pressure on the nation, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported yesterday.

While it is unclear how the restructuring would affect China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) and other agencies responsible for Beijing’s Taiwan policy, former Chinese ambassador to the UN Liu Jieyi (劉結一) is expected to play a role, the newspaper said.

Liu is TAO deputy chairman.    [FULL  STORY]

Tsai to preside over lighting ceremony for Taiwan Lantern Festival

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-03-02

President Tsai Ing-wen is set to preside over the lighting ceremony for this year’s Taiwan

A parade held in Chiayi County Friday afternoon in the run-up to this year’s Taiwan Lantern Festival. (Photo by CNA)

Lantern Festival in Chiayi County.

The festival marks the end of the Lunar New Year holiday and falls on the 15th day of the first lunar month. This year the Lantern Festival corresponds to March 2nd on the Gregorian calendar.

At a press conference on Friday, the head of the Tourism Bureau, Chou Yong-hui, said that this year’s festival is the biggest edition of the Taiwan Lantern Festival in recent years. This year’s lantern exhibit area spans 50 hectares. The festival also features culture, agriculture, and displays of lanterns on land, on water, and in the sky.    [FULL  STORY]

Crashing Dreams: The Problem with Sky Lanterns

If you’re going to go set fire to lanterns and litter the countryside, at least use a lantern that has a sustainable design.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/03/02
By: Nate Maynard

Photo Credit: Reuters/達志影像

Each year, in New Taipei’s Pingxi district, thousands of people celebrate the end of the new year festivities by writing their wishes, hopes, and dreams on little lanterns before sending them up into the heavens. The problem? Your new year dreams become an environmental nightmare when the half-burnt wreckage crashes back to earth.

Praised by the Discovery Channel, tourism blogs, and various branches of Taiwan government the Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival is an unsustainable event launching up to 600,000 pieces of garbage into the surrounding mountains. While beautiful in the moment, the resulting waste has angered locals.

The same people who chastise others for littering, failing to sort their garbage, or using disposable chopsticks have no problem launching up a mixture of metal, treated bamboo, and fuel as long as it finally comes to rest out of sight and mind. No reliable information seems to exist on actual impacts, it’s clear that the lanterns can entangle wildlife and they pose a fire risk when the paper does not fully burn.

The paper covering does not readily biodegrade and the metal wirings do not either. Many countries, including Germany, Brazil, Spain and Argentina, have either outright bans on sky lanterns or limit their sales. In Taiwan it’s restricted to certain areas, but perhaps even those special zones require re-thinking.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan Lantern Festival starts today

Taiwan Lantern Festival will be held in Chiayi this year and kicks off Friday, March 2

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/03/02
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — To coincide with the traditional Lantern Festival, the annual

(Image from Taiwan Lantern Festival website)

Taiwan Lantern Festival will officially kick off today (March 2) in central Taiwan’s Chiayi County.

Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) will officially turn on the lights tonight to mark the opening of the 2018 Taiwan Lantern Festival, which will run until March 11. In addition to dance performances and lantern displays, the opening ceremonies will also include a spectacular aerial display by five F-16 fighter jets showcased by Taiwan’s air force for the special occasion.

The main lantern of this year’s festival has been named “Nature-born Loyalty”and it features a smiling indigenous child and a Taiwanese dog standing on Alishan as they overlook a “sea of clouds.” The hand-held lantern of the festival has been named “Dali Dog,” has an ingenious design and represents the hope for good fortune and happiness in the Year of the Dog.    [FULL  STORY]

U.S. scholars urge Taiwan to consider implications of U.S. travel act

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/03/02
By: Rita Cheng and Kuan-lin Liu

Washington, March 1 (CNA) U.S. scholars warned Taiwan Thursday to think about the implications of the U.S. Taiwan Travel Act, especially what it will mean for relations across the Taiwan Strait, and assess whether the country can stand up to the pressure that will come from China as a result.

The Taiwan Travel Act, which was passed by the U.S. Senate the day before, was a topic during a panel discussion hosted by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) titled “Japanese Views on China and Taiwan: Implications for the U.S.-Japan Alliance.”

Moderator Michael Green, who serves as the CSIS senior vice president for the Asia and Japan chair, called into question the usefulness of the act, which will allow high-level officials from the U.S. and Taiwan to travel to each other’s countries.    [FULL  STORY]

Task force to study PRC incentives

BRAIN DRAIN? New Power Party Legislator Hsu Yung-ming said Beijing’s efforts to attract Taiwanese could create a situation whereby Taiwan could not retain workers

Taipei Times
Date: Mar 03, 2018
By: Peng Wan-hsin, Sean Lin and Jake Chung  /  Staff reporters, with staff writer and CNA

Premier William Lai (賴清德) yesterday said that the Executive Yuan has set up a task

Premier William Lai answers a question during a question-and-answer session at the legislature in Taipei yesterday.  Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times

force to study a series of incentives for Taiwanese put forth by Beijing and their effects on Taiwan.

China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) on Wednesday announced 31 incentives to China-based Taiwanese in an attempt to attract Taiwanese enterprises, associations and artists.

TAO spokesman An Fengshan (安峰山) yesterday said the economic benefits and subsidies for Taiwanese individuals and businesses would allow them to compete on an equal footing with their Chinese counterparts.

The task force is to be overseen by Vice Premier Shih Jun-ji (施俊吉), Lai said during a question-and-answer session at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei.    [FULL  STORY]

Premier: Price fixers to face strict punishment

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-03-01

Taiwan’s Cabinet is moving quickly to deal with price fixing and hoarding. That’s in light of

Cabinet spokesperson Hsu Kuo-yung explains price fixing will be met with strict punishment. (CNA file photo)

a rush on toilet paper earlier this week, due to concerns about a rise in prices.

Premier William Lai told a Cabinet meeting on Thursday that the central bank has long worked to keep annual Consumer Price Index (CPI) growth to less than 2%. Last year, the CPI increased by 0.62%, while growth this year is projected at 1.21%.

Premier Lai said that there are no concerns when it comes to the supply and pricing of toilet paper. He said that the volatility seen earlier this week will not spread to other commercial goods because toilet paper is a final product and not a raw material.    [FULL  STORY]

EyeCTV’s Parody Pokes Fun at the ROC and PRC Alike

The parody YouTube channel offers an important platform to highlight the humorous side of cross-Strait relations.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/03/01
By: Morley J Weston

With all the grim news coming out of Chinese politics lately, it can be easy to forget that the cross-Strait situation is a little bit ridiculous. Fortunately, the parody TV station EYECTV – a sort of Republic of China (R.O.C.) The Onion – has spent years reminding Taiwan that geopolitical claims on both sides are inherently goofy.

The anchor – nicknamed Retina (陳子見) – reads news from a notional pan-Blue perspective, referring to China, Mongolia and Hong Kong as integral parts of the Republic of China, which is ruled from Taipei by Chinese president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).

According to co-founder and occasional host, 28-year-old Ocular Nerve (何姍蓉), “We got the inspiration for this channel when we were in China in 2015; we saw CCTV [China Central Television, China’s state-run broadcaster] playing and thought it was pretty funny. We wanted to mimic it.” The channel’s Chinese name is a play on words with CCTV.
[FULL  STORY]

Magnitude 5.9 earthquake rattles northeastern Taiwan

Magnitude 5.9 quake jars northeastern Taiwan’s Yilan County

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/03/01
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

CWB map of tonight’s earthquake.

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A magnitude 5.9 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County in northeastern Taiwan at 9:42 p.m. this evening (March 1), according to the Central Weather Bureau (CWB).

The epicenter of the quake was located 217.3 kilometers east of Yilan County Hall at a depth of 70 kilometers, according to CWB data.    [FULL  STORY]

Beijing’s promise to give benefits to Taiwanese being watched: MAC

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/03/01
By: Chai Sze-chia and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, March 1 (CNA) The government will keep close watch on whether Beijing will fulfill

Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正)

a recently unveiled plan to offer a slew of economic incentives to Taiwanese living in China, the deputy head of the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said Thursday.

The Beijing-based Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) announced a day earlier a set of 31 incentives to China-based Taiwanese nationals in an attempt to attract Taiwanese enterprises, associations and artists to develop there.

In response, Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正), deputy head and spokesman of the MAC, Taiwan’s top agency in charge of China policy, said at a regular press conference that the 31 measures proposed by Beijing are not legally binding and that the MAC will watch to see how China’s central and local governments will implement the measures.

The Chinese administration has not yet enacted enforcement rules of the measures and the initiatives could be eventually reduced to mere lip service paid by China for psychological warfare purposes, according to Chiu.    [FULL  STORY]