Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/12/19
By: Lu Hsin-hui and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, Dec. 19 (CNA) Taiwan will scramble jets armed with missiles if necessary in response to China’s increased military activity near Taiwan, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said Tuesday.

MND spokesman Chen Chung-ji (陳中吉) made the remarks in the wake of Chinese fighter jets being observed crossing the “first island chain” into the Western Pacific on a regular basis.

The “first island chain” refers to the major archipelagos off the East Asian continental mainland, including the Japanese archipelago, the Ryukyu islands, Taiwan and the northern Philippines.

In the latest Chinese military exercise, a Chinese Shaanxi Y-8 transport plane was spotted Monday flying over the Bashi Channel — the waterway that separates Taiwan from the Philippines — then passing over the Miyako Strait that lies between two Japanese islands, before returning to its base in China.    [FULL  STORY]

INTERMEDIARY: The leader of the party’s youth wing is suspected of introducing Taiwanese government officials to a Chinese student trying to set up a spy ring

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 20, 2017
By: Jason Pan  /  Staff reporter

Prominent news personality Wang Ping-chung (王炳忠) and three other New Party youth

wing leaders were detained for questioning yesterday, as part of a probe into suspected leaks of classified information in connection with an espionage investigation against Chinese student Zhou Hongxu (周泓旭).

In coordinated actions yesterday morning, Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau (MJIB) officials, backed up by police officers, served summonses and conducted searches at Wang’s home in Taipei and at the residences of other New Party youth wing executives Ho Han-ting (侯漢廷), Lin Ming-cheng (林明正) and Chen Ssu-chun (陳斯俊).

The officials had search warrants, summons notifications and arrest warrants for Wang and his New Party colleagues, and the operation was carried out in accordance with legal procedures, they said.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-12-18

Taiwan’s already low birthrate fell even further this year. Between January and November,

there were only 177,000 births nationwide. That’s a drop of more than 10,000 from the same period last year.

A United Daily News report says that means that the total number of births this year will probably be less than 200,000.

Experts are saying that if the government does not come up with more incentives, the birthrate will continue to drop. Twenty years from now, they say, Taiwan may have less than 150,000 births per year.

Health Minister Chen Shih-chung says the government is concerned about the nation’s low birthrate. The ministry is currently drafting policies to offer assistance with preschool childcare and education. This could include things like subsidies, public preschools, and other possibilities.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan’s National Park Act imitated US system of conservation, but without the capacity to make it work.

The News Lens
Date: 2017/12/18
By: Bin-Min Sung

The concept of national parks was established by the United States in the 19th century.

Today, national parks around the world are under the guidance of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Yet, I argue that the IUCN is not able to offer much support outside of the US-context.

Taiwan passed its National Park Act in 1972, specifically inheriting the US’ system of conservation. However, Taiwan passed this Act with little experience of conservation and a low-level of environmental awareness of issues among society. At the same time, the IUCN had only just formed and was far from able to guide the affairs of global national parks.

Taiwan’s environmental law is also related to that in the United States. In the US, every time a new national park is established, the National Park Act of that park is passed. For example, the US Congress passed the Yellowstone Act in 1872, which signaled the birth of the first National Park. In Taiwan, every national park must be set up on the basis of Taiwan’s environmental law, the National Park Act of 1972 (amended in 2010). It took ten years after this law was established for Taiwan to develop its own national parks.
[FULL  STORY]

China sent warplanes into the airspace of three neighboring countries on Monday, Dec. 18

Taiwan News  
Date: 2017/12/18
By:  Associated Press

BEIJING (AP) — China sent several warplanes on a long-range drill to the Sea of Japan on

Monday and also conducted drills around rival Taiwan, moves that prompted South Korea to scramble fighter jets and could raise concerns about Beijing’s growing military presence in the region.

Chinese air force spokesman Shen Jinke said the air force dispatched bombers, fighters and reconnaissance planes through the Tsushima Strait to the Sea of Japan to “test its ocean combat ability.”

“This is a regular annual training arrangement of China’s air force that accords with the relevant international laws and practices and it isn’t aimed at any particular state, region and target,” Shen said in a statement.

This was the first time the Chinese air force has flown through the strait that lies between South Korea and Japan, Shen said.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/12/18
By: Joseph Yeh, CNA staff reporter 

In the past two months, 15 immigrants from Southeast Asia have died in two fires that

ravaged buildings in northern Taiwan.

The first incident occurred Nov. 22 at an apartment building in New Taipei City’s Zhonghe District, killing nine people, some of whom were living in an illegally constructed fifth-floor apartment that had no fire safety features.

On Dec. 14, six of 12 Vietnamese migrant workers housed in a factory dormitory in Taoyuan died in a fire that destroyed a factory warehouse, which was also the site of an illegally designated dorm.

The deaths of the 15 immigrants have highlighted the issue of low-income housing safety and standards in Taiwan and turned the spotlight in particular on accommodation for migrant workers.

PROCEDURAL BILL: Legislator Hsu Yung-ming said the DPP had described the referendum amendments as a procedural bill, so they could not possibly limit content

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 19, 2017
By: Chen Wei-han  /  Staff reporter

The New Power Party (NPP) yesterday put forward six referendum topics regarding

sovereignty and labor rights, including sensitive proposals dealing with the nation’s territory and official name, and said it would conduct an online poll to decide which two of the six topics the party should advocate to propose for a referendum.

Four of the topics fall within the category of sovereignty: whether the president should convene a “citizens’ constitutional convention” to draft a new constitution, which would need to be approved by referendum; whether Taiwan should seek to compete in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics under the name “Taiwan”; whether the government should define the country’s territory as “Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu and other islets”; and whether the English name “Republic of China” should be removed from Taiwanese passports.

In the labor rights category, the party proposed two questions: whether the Legislative Yuan should pass a “national holiday act” to ensure a minimum of 19 national holidays each year for public and private employees and whether it should pass a “minimum wage act” that guarantees the minimum income needed to sustain the basic living needs of employees and their families.    [FULL  STORY]

A fringe group believes that Taiwan is still legally under Japanese rule.

The News Lens
Date: 2017/12/17
By: Eryk Smith

It’s becoming ever more common in the Pingtung/Kaohsiung area to catch a glimpse of a

vehicle with a strange red license plate beginning with “USMG TCG,” standing for “U.S. Military Government / Taiwan Civil Government.”

You can spot such cars all across Taiwan, but supporters in the south seem to have more passion for the ideas of the so-called Taiwan Civil Government (TCG / 台灣民政府) movement.

Had it been established in 1984 instead of 2008, it’s founder Dr. Roger Lin and his followers would have been hauled off to Green Island. After all, what they espouse is technically treason.

Forgive yourself in advance for any confusion, as understanding their argument requires some serious mental gymnastics.    [FULL  STORY]

New and second generation immigrants celebrated the day with cultural dance performances

Taiwan News 
Date: 2017/12/17
By: Juvina Lai, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Ahead of International Migrants Day on Dec. 18, the Ministry of

the Interior (內政部) today organized an event at the 228 Peace Memorial Park to celebrate Migrants Day. The event was attended by Hua Jing-qun (花敬群), Deputy Director of the Ministry of Interior, Yang Jia-jun (楊家駿), Director of  Immigration, Lan Shi-cong (藍世聰), Director of Taipei Civil Affairs Bureau and Lin Li-chen (林麗蟬), a member of the Legislative Yuan.

Hua took to the stage to welcome all migrants from different backgrounds and urged them to consider Taiwan as their new home. He also presented a customized Yo-Yo card (Taipei’s version of an Easy card like the Octopus Card in Hong Kong) which has ‘家’ (jia), a Chinese character for ‘Home’ on it.

‘This card I hold here is special because it has home in it. Our home, Taiwan. We look forward to welcoming each and everyone of you into your new home. New immigrants are no more a symbol for the underprivileged but a source of new found power in Taiwan. Taiwan is now your family, your home,” said Hua.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/12/17
By: Wang Cheng-chung and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, Dec. 17 (CNA) Poor air quality is driving away an increasing number of foreign

professionals from Taiwan, at the same time as the country is working to attract more foreign talent, opposition Kuomintang (KMT) legislator Chiang Chi-chen (江啟臣) warned on Friday.

Speaking at a press conference attended by several foreign national residents of Taiwan ,Chiang said that many of his foreign friends who have lived here for a long time have complained to him that air pollution in Taiwan has worsened over the past decade.

Indeed, the situation is so bad that some have chosen to leave Taiwan because of the threat posed by air pollution to themselves and their families, Chiang said.

Shuan Bettinson, a foreign engineer, said he has lived in Taiwan for 13 years and has many good friends in the foreign resident community.    [FULL  STORY]