Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-01-02

Starting this year, Taiwan’s armed forces will complete the transition to an all-volunteer

military. This means young men will no longer be conscripted for a mandatory year of military service.

Defense ministry spokesperson Chen Chung-ji said Tuesday however that males born after 1994 will still be required to undergo training for four months.

The ministry has strengthened its recruitment drive to attract more young people to pursue a career in the armed forces. This includes better personal combat equipment, refurbished barracks, and incentives such as stipends.

Chen also said the military has been working with colleges and universities to help soldiers acquire certificates and degrees while on active duty. He also spoke out on the military’s university-based officer training program known as the ROTC, or the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps.    [FULL  STORY]

The cross-Strait relationship will no longer be a bipolar game, but a multi-polar setting.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/01/02
By: Chun-Yi Lee

2017 has been a quiet year for cross-Strait relations between China and Taiwan. The

constant silence between Beijing and Taipei since the election of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)’s presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in 2016 remained throughout the whole year.

The number of mainland visitors to Taiwan and amount of mainland direct investment in Taiwan reduced in 2017, with official dialogue between semi-governmental institutes like Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) in Taiwan and Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) in China hitting almost zero in 2017.

However, can we say both sides completely ignored each other because there is no obvious interaction between them? The answer is no. On the side of China, Taiwan is a perpetually unsolvable issue; for the Taiwanese government, the “China Factor” has been overwhelming throughout different presidencies, be it under Kuomintang (KMT) or DPP governments.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan’s highest court ruled Tuesday in favor of a Taiwanese woman who sued her son for financial support on the grounds that she had signed an agreement with her son about financial support 20 years ago

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/01/02
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Taipei (Taiwan News)—Taiwan’s highest court ruled Tuesday in favor of a Taiwanese

woman who sued her son for financial support on the grounds that she had signed an agreement with her son about financial support 20 years ago.

The Supreme Court verdict stated that the woman surnamed Lou (羅) insisted that she had incurred a debt of more than NT$20 million to single-handedly raise her two young sons and pay for their education since she divorced her husband. As the woman was concerned that her sons might not fulfill their obligation to take care of her, she signed an agreement with them regarding how the support should be paid, according to the court document.

According to the agreement Lou entered into with her two sons, after the sons become dentists, they should pay their mother 60 percent of their net profit made from their dental practice by month until the total payments reach NT$50.12 million. Lou said that her second son surnamed (朱) has his own dental clinic, and his monthly income averages more than NT$2.5 million, so she asked him to pay her NT$25 million for accrued support as stipulated in the agreement, according to the court ruling.      [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/01/02
By: Fan Cheng-hsiang, Lee Ming-tsung, Yu Hsiao-han and Kuan-lin Liu

Taipei, Jan. 2 (CNA) The Presidential Office has denied local media claims that there is going to be a Cabinet shuffle that could see four incumbent ministers replaced before the Chinese New Year holiday.

In a statement issued Tuesday, the Presidential Office dismissed an Apple Daily report claiming that Foreign Minister David Lee (李大維), Interior Minister Yeh Jiunn-rong (葉俊榮), Finance Minister Sheu Yu-jer (許虞哲) and Education Minister Pan Wen-chung (潘文忠) will be targeted in the upcoming Cabinet shake-up.

The Apple Daily attributed its report to a high-level official of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party.    [FULL  STORY]

‘STAR FIRE T’:The party spokesman and others were allegedly paid to engage with key figures, and were to report to the TAO once the relationships progressed

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 03, 2018
By: Huang Chien and Hsieh Chun-lin  /  Staff reporters

An investigation into New Party spokesman Wang Ping-chung (王炳忠) has found that

China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) allegedly promised to pay Wang NT$15 million to NT$16 million (US$506,278 to US$540,030) annually for running the pro-unification propaganda Web site Fire News (燎原新聞網), the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday.

Wang cofounded Fire News, which Chinese student Zhou Hongxu (周泓旭) helped promote as a consultant, and allegedly used it as a platform to recruit members for an organization he was setting up for the Chinese government, the report said.

In a document titled Fire News 2015 Year-end Working Report, Zhou wrote that the Web site had received US$200,000 in funding from the TAO, of which Wang’s father “lost US$20,000.”    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-01-01

The mayor of Taipei, Ko Wen-je, has said comprehensive measures are needed to tackle

the problem of air pollution rather than cutting the popular annual Taipei 101 fireworks.

An environmental group recently called on the Taipei city government to stop holding its annual New Year fireworks in order to reduce traffic volume and waste emission. The annual fireworks display at the landmark Taipei 101 skyscraper brings tens of thousands of people onto the streets. It is also seen as a way to boost Taiwan’s international image with pictures of the event seen around the world each year.

Ko said air pollution is an everyday issue, since people must breathe every second of every day. He pointed out that Taipei’s New Year’s fireworks lasted just five minutes but there are 365 days in a year. Therefore, he said, long-term, comprehensive measures are needed to tackle air pollution rather than purely symbolic moves.    [FULL  STORY]

A unique piece of Taipei is preserved forever through the lens before being buried forever.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/01/01
By: William Yang

For someone who has spent an extensive amount of time in the United States,

gentrification is a social phenomenon that I have been reading so much about in the past few years. However in Taiwan, this isn’t a topic that attracts much discussion simply because of the small amount of real-life examples that people can draw from. However, a historic community deep in the heart of Taipei’s affluent area around Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall is being forced out of their homes due to gentrification, or to put it in a more politically correct way, urban renewal.

Shaoxing Community, located between Xinyi Road and Renei Road, has been fighting for its survival since 2011, when National Taiwan University suddenly filed a lawsuit against the residents, accusing them of illegally settling on the school’s property. A series of public demonstrations was then organized by residents and National Taiwan University students to try to stop the school from forcing them out of their homes. Even though they were able to settle the case and reach an agreement with the university after four years of negotiation, they still can’t stop the force of urban renewal from taking over their homes. What they see now will soon become a modern yet unfamiliar scene to them in a few years.
[FULL  STORY]

The incident occurred at Hsinchu Station at about 10:00 a.m. the morning of Jan. 1

Taiwan News  
Date: 2018/01/01
By: Wang Shu-fen and Elizabeth Hsu,Central News Agency

TAIPEI (CNA) — A passenger who was waiting on the platform at Hsinchu Station on

Monday fell onto the tracks and was killed by a northbound express train, Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) said.

The passenger, who has not yet been identified, was struck by a Tze-chiang Limited Express train that was traveling from Pingtung County in the south to Keelung in the north of the country, the TRA said.

After the accident at 9:59 a.m., the platform at Hsinchu Station was closed for about 90 minutes and all 390 passengers aboard the Tze-chiang express were transferred to another train, the TRA said.

A total of four trains and 2,390 passengers were affected, the TRA added.  [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/01/01
By: Huang Li-yun and Elizabeth Hsu 

Taipei, Jan. 1 (CNA) Two buses collided in downtown Taipei Monday, injuring 11 passengers, according to the Taipei City Fire Department.

Seven women and three men suffered minor injuries, but one woman in her 70s was unable to walk after the accident, said Chen Po-han (陳柏翰), a section chief at the department.

The injured were taken to three nearby hospitals, Chen added.

According to the initial investigation, a Line 906 bus operated by Sindian Bus apparently ran into the back of a Line 905 bus run by Zhinan Bus at the Ren’ai roundabout when the 905 bus driver came to an abrupt stop.
[FULL  STORY]

NEW PRACTICE: When singing the national anthem, the president did not skip the part that says ‘the fundamentals of my party,’ as she had done on previous occasions

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 02, 2018
By: Su Yung-yao, Yang Chun-hui and Sherry Hsiao  /  Staff Reporters, with Staff Writer and CNA

President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended the New Year’s Day flag-raising

ceremony in front of the Presidential Office Building.

After the ceremony, Tsai posted a message on Facebook wishing Taiwanese a happy New Year.

At about 6:20am, Tsai and Vice President Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁), accompanied by Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), stepped out of the building to attend the ceremony, which started 10 minutes later.

It was the second time that Tsai attended the ceremony in her capacity as president since taking office in May 2016.

While the Republic of China (ROC) flag was being hoisted, Tsai sang the national anthem without skipping the part that says “the fundamentals of my party,” as she had done on previous occasions.    [FULL  STORY]