Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-01-10

The education ministry plans to upgrade internet connections and integrate the resources of all digital educational platforms for schools in Taiwan. That was the word from Education Minister Pan Wen-chung on Wednesday.

Pan said that the ministry has put together a budget of over NT$10 billion (US$338 million) for the next three years. The aim, he said, is to upgrade the internet connections of all elementary and high schools to gigabit broadband within the next two years. Pan said the upgrade also includes having 100% wireless internet coverage on all school campuses.    [FULL  STORY]

As protests against Taiwan’s labor laws rage outside government buildings in Taipei, KMT legislator Jason Hsu talks about a future in which technology can help solve Taiwan’s public policy problems.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/01/10
By: David Green

When autonomous cars hit the road, what do we do with the displaced labor? How do we think about truck drivers? It’s not even about hours – they will have no hours to even check.

As Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan continues to debate proposed amendments to the Labor

Standards Act (LSA), The News Lens spoke with Kuomintang (KMT) Legislator Jason Hsu (許毓仁) after the Jan. 9 morning session. Having offered a speech recalling President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) election campaign promises to protect labor rights, and amid ongoing protests outside Taipei’s government buildings, Hsu expanded on the issues underpinning the labor law debate, including how in future technology can play a greater role in solving Taiwan’s public policy conundrums.

The News Lens: What’s your sense as to whether there will be any concessions from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) on the labor law given ongoing pressure from the protests?    [FULL  STORY]

IDF jets will be equipped with 4 instead of 2 missiles each

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/01/10
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The Taiwan-manufactured Sky Sword II missiles will see

their usage and adaptation expanded so they can help Taiwan’s Air Force tackle the threat from China’s Sukhoi Su-35 jets, reports said Wednesday.

The Taiwanese weapon was developed in the 1990s as a medium-range air-to-air missile at the National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST, 中科院).

According to a report in the Liberty Times, the sea-to-air version of the Sky Sword II (天劍二) will be distributed to the Taiwan Navy’s Lafayette frigates from 2020 to 2028. In addition, Indigenous Defense Fighter (經國號) jets will see their number of missiles double from two to four per plane, a move targeted at China’s Chengdu J-20 stealth aircraft and Sukhoi Su-35 jets.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/01/10
By: Shih Hsiu-chuan

Taipei, Jan. 10 (CNA) The Legislative Yuan on Wednesday passed a controversial

amendment to existing labor laws to make work rules more flexible in response to demands made repeatedly by employers over the past year.

In a last ditch effort to thwart the amendment, labor groups and trade unions had staged a protest outside the Legislature since Monday, but the barricades erected around the complex and tight security measures prevented them from disrupting legislative proceedings.

Under the new amendment to Taiwan’s Labor Standards Act, employees can be asked to work 12 days in a row and work shift with only eight hours of rest in between, but enterprises must get approval for that from related government agencies and from their employees.    [FULL  STORY]

DESPITE THE TURMOIL: The controversy surrounding the amendments shows that Taiwan is a society willing to accommodate a plurality of opinions, the president said

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 11, 2018
By: Sean Lin and Jake Chung  /  Staff reporter and staff writer

Controversial amendments to the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法) yesterday cleared

the legislature, with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) apologizing for the inconvenience caused by her administration’s two revisions of the act within a year.

Under the amended act, overtime pay is to remain at least 1.33 times a worker’s normal hourly wage for the first two hours and at least 1.66 times from the third hour onward on weekdays.

The rates are to remain at 2.33 and 2.66 times a worker’s normal rates if they are asked to work on their weekly “flexible” day off.

However, workers would no longer be paid overtime in blocks of four hours, but by the actual number of hours they work.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-01-09

President Tsai Ing-wen says she sees opportunities and also challenges in the Asia-

Pacific region. Tsai was speaking Tuesday while meeting a visiting delegation from Harvard University’s Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies.

The president said she was unwilling to see cross-strait ties deteriorate on her watch, nor would she go down the old path of mutual mistrust. But she said maintaining regional peace and stability was not only Taiwan’s responsibility but should be the goal of all countries in the region.

Tsai said the recent increase of Chinese military drills in the Pacific raises the risk of miscalculation. She also said Beijing’s recent unilateral announcement of new flight paths close to the center of the Taiwan Strait represents a threat to aviation safety and regional stability.    [FULL  STORY]

The News Lens
Date: 2018/01/09
By: Ting-Yu Chao

This is the latest in months of protests over the anticipated passage of revisions to a law

originally intended to protect workers’ rights.

“Do they only have the employers’ interests at heart?” – Taipei City Confederation of Trade Unions Director Cheng Ya-hui
Labor rights organizations and union members gathered outside the Legislative Yuan from Monday, Jan. 8, as lawmakers commenced cross-party negotiations over the contested revisions to the Labor Standards Act (LSA). The protests continued through today and are set to run “indefinitely” in line with continuing negotiations over the laws that are set to run until at least Wednesday.

Protesters have one plea: for the ruling and majority Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to hold back passing draft amendments that include controversial changes that will allow companies to compel employees to work up to 12 days in a row, as well as reduce their minimum rest time between shifts from 11 hours to eight. Activists contend this would worsen already unfavorable working conditions. The current rule requires one mandatory day off in any seven-day period.    [FULL  STORY]

Two sixth graders in Taiwan’s northeastern county of Yilan wandered about after school on Monday and spent a cold night under a bridge after they got into trouble at school 

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/01/09
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News)—Two sixth graders in Taiwan’s northeastern county of Yilan

wandered about after school on Monday and spent a cold night under a bridge after they got into trouble at school and were afraid of possible consequences stemming from the trouble, while dozens of villages were searching for them.

The two schoolboys were reportedly piqued by their teacher’s punishment, so they stealthily threw cleaning tools from their classroom on the third floor of a school building and damaged the rain shelter on the first floor. The teacher reportedly brought up the students’ responsibility to pay for the damage to the rain shelter they had caused and notified their parents of what happened. The two boys decided to stay outside after school as they were afraid of being scolded if they went home.

The boys’ parents panicked after finding their children missing and hurriedly posted messages about the missing children and their photos on Facebook, imploring the public to help find their boys, according to media reports. The post was immediately shared by many people, and local vigilantes voluntarily joined in the search effort.

Local vigilante deputy captain Chang Cheng-ding (張正定) told reporters Tuesday that dozens of people were mobilized through the social networks. They were divided into several groups and searched everywhere, including every temple, convenience store, or factory in the village where they could be staying for the night. However, no trace of them could be found as of 11 p.m. on Monday night.

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/01/09
By: Rita Cheng, Yeh Su-ping and Kuan-lin Liu

Washington, Jan. 8 (CNA) The United States is concerned about China’s unilateral activation of four aviation routes near the median line of the Taiwan Strait and opposes one-sided actions to alter the status quo across the strait, a senior U.S. policy advisor said Monday.

In a telephone interview with CNA, Brian Hook, senior policy advisor to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, expressed concerns the U.S. has regarding China’s announcement made on Jan. 4.

“We are concerned about reports that Beijing has modified the use of civil aviation flight routes in the Taiwan Strait without consulting with Taiwan authorities,” Hook said.

China’s Civil Aviation Administration announced last Thursday it was opening four new commercial routes in the Taiwan Strait: a northbound path on the M503 route and three east-west extension routes called W121, W122 and W123.    [FULL  STORY]

RELUCTANT RESPONSE: Several ICAO members have spoken up and overseas offices are asking other nations to refrain from using the controversial route, a source said

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 10, 2018
By: Stacy Hsu  /  Staff reporter

The government has made its stance on China’s unilateral activation of northbound

flights on aviation route M503 known to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) personally and via several diplomatic allies, but has yet to receive a response, a government source with knowledge of the matter said.

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the issue, said Beijing was required by ICAO regulations to coordinate with affected parties before launching new routes, but it failed to do so before unilaterally activating northbound flights on M503 and three new extension routes — W121, W122 and W123 — along China’s southeast coast on Thursday last week.

Under Item 4.2.6 of the ICAO’s Air Traffic Services Planning Manual, changes to any route should be made only after it has been coordinated with all parties concerned.

“The ICAO has been made aware of the matter… However, the organization is reluctant to intervene, but we still have to let our stance be known,” the source said, adding that as Taiwan is not a member of the UN agency on civil aviation matters, “our voice can hardly be heard.”    [FULL  STORY]