‘QUALITATIVE EDGE’:The nominee for US assistant secretary of defense for Asian and Pacific affairs said he believes Taiwan could ‘hopefully defeat a Chinese invasion’

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 18, 2017
By: Staff writer, with CNA, WASHINGTON

Randall Schriver, who has been nominated for US assistant secretary of defense for

Asian and Pacific affairs, on Thursday said he would make strengthening ties with security partners such as Taiwan a priority if his nomination is confirmed.

“If confirmed, it will be a priority to invest in our security partners in Taiwan and Singapore, and emerging partnerships with countries such as Vietnam,” Schriver said at a nomination hearing held by the US Senate Armed Services Committee in Washington.

“For this administration’s vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific to be realized, we must position ourselves to prevail in the long-term strategic competition we face vis-a-vis the People’s Republic of China,” he told the committee in his opening statement.

The US should continue to look for opportunities to cooperate with China where the two countries’ interests overlap, Schriver said, but he acknowledged that finding such opportunities would be a challenge.    [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: November 17, 2017

BEIJING (AP) — Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela was making his first state

visit to Beijing on Friday after breaking off relations with Taiwan and establishing formal ties with China five months ago.

Varela was to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People after officially opening the new Panamanian Embassy in Beijing on Thursday.

Panama’s break with Taiwan left the self-governing democracy with just 20 diplomatic allies, mainly small developing nations in Central America, the Caribbean, the South Pacific and Africa.

China claims the island as its own territory and has campaigned relentlessly to isolate it globally.

Panama said its decision to switch ties was economically motivated, although it also endorsed Beijing’s “one-China principle” stating that Taiwan is Chinese territory. With China rapidly expanding its economic footprint abroad, Varela has said he hopes the new relationship will prove an economic boon to his Central American nation. [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-11-16

A new Digital Communication Bill cleared the Cabinet on Thursday.

The bill states that online content creators only take responsibility for their content and not for those who store and transmit it. The bill also states that social media platforms will not face legal repercussions if it removes copyrighted content immediately upon notice.

Premier William Lai said that the bill, along with the new revision of the Communication Regulatory Act, aims to help foster an industry that promotes creativity and fair competition.    [SOURCE]

The News Lens
Date: 2017/11/16
By: Jane W. Wang

Taiwan aspires to be the global innovation hub of Asia while driving globally-minded

talent away with low salaries and conservative work cultures. How can current globally-minded talent battle disillusionment?

One week after the passage of the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals, News Director at Ketagalan Media and Founder of Taipei Love Notes William Yang and I met at a cafe to huddle over the cynicism about Taiwan that had infected both of us.

As advocates for Taiwan, we weren’t supposed to feel this way.  [FULL STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/11/16
By: Phoenix Hsu and Ko Lin 

Taipei, Nov. 16 (CNA) A recent survey showed that Taiwan’s secondary school and college students lacked adequate global vision and understanding when it comes to international matters, an organization said Thursday.

The non-profit King Car Cultural and Educational Foundation conducted the survey in September among secondary school and college students nationwide and found that 50.3 percent of those polled do not fully understand China’s One Belt and One Road Initiative, while 46.9 percent are unfamiliar with the South China Sea regional dispute.

Asked about the biggest challenge they faced with regard to citizen diplomacy, 62.5 percent of the students said they lacked proficiency in foreign languages for communication.    [FULL  STORY]

LOOKING SOUTH:James Huang said his meeting with Chen Ching-nan had been about cooperation with Indonesian shipbuilders and developers, not the minesweeper project

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 17, 2017
By: Su Yung-yao, Sean Lin and Jake Chung  /  Staff reporters, with staff writer

Two government officials yesterday said they met Ching Fu Shipbuilding Co (慶富造船)

president Chen Ching-nan (陳慶男) and his son, Chen Wei-chih (陳偉志), last year, but they did not press the navy to expedite a payment of NT$2.4 billion (US$79.58 million) for a minesweeper project.

The visit by Chen Ching-nan and Chen Wei-chih to then-New Southbound Policy Office director James Huang (黃志芳) and Presidential Office Third Bureau Director David Lee (李南陽) at the Presidential Office on Sept. 23 last year was the last of six visits the two made to the office since 2010.

The first five meetings occurred during former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration, including a meeting on Dec. 9, 2015, between Chen Ching-nan and then-Presidential Office deputy secretary-general Hsiung Kuang-hua (熊光華).

The other four visits were made when the office was receiving foreign dignitaries, records showed.
[FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: November 16, 2017
By: Chiang Chin-yeh and Y.F. Low

WASHINGTON (CNA) – A U.S. congressional commission on Wednesday recommended

that the administration of President Donald Trump give more support to Taiwan’s efforts to enhance its defense capabilities by adopting such steps as inviting Taiwan to military exercises and increasing high-level exchanges with Taiwan’s military.

In its 2017 annual report to the U.S. Congress, the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) said Congress should urge the administration to invite Taiwan to participate, at least as an observer, in U.S-led bilateral and multilateral military and security-related exercises, including the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) maritime exercise, Red Flag air-to-air combat training exercises and the Cyber Storm cybersecurity exercise.

USCC also recommended that Congress urge the executive branch to reexamine its practice regarding reciprocal visits by senior U.S. and Taiwan military officers and civilian officials, including Cabinet-level officials and senior National Security Council officials, as part of an effort to enhance U.S.-Taiwan relations.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-11-15

Taiwan is willing to work with Mainland China on cross-strait relations for the benefit of

people on both sides. That was the word from Katharine Chang, the head of the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC).

Chang reiterated President Tsai Ing-wen’s stance on cross-strait ties. She said Taiwan will continue to extend goodwill towards China and that it will neither confront China nor succumb to pressure.
Chang also said she hopes cross-strait communication will resume soon.

Chang said, “[The two sides] should work together based on the same beliefs and towards the same goals. I hope that the two sides can resume communication soon, and that the communication will not be related to politics.”

Beijing cut off official communications with Taipei after President Tsai took office last May due to Tsai’s refusal to acknowledge the so-called 1992 Consensus. The consensus represents a tacit agreement on “one China” between China’s ruling Communist Party and Taiwan’s then-ruling Kuomintang in 1992. The Tsai administration does not accept the consensus as legitimate.    [SOURCE]

Ministry of National Defense announced draft reforms to the military pension system

Taiwan News 
Date: 2017/11/15
By: Juvina Lai,Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Ministry of National Defense announced the draft reforms it

had proposed to replace the existing military pension system on Tuesday. The new reforms would result in phasing out the 18 percent preferential savings rate within the first year and slashing pensions.

The key changes included setting a minimum pension payment for retired military personnel–NT$32,160 (US$1,065)–the same as for the civil workers.

The other key changes proposed by the ministry includes that veterans who served in the military for at least 20 years before retiring will be entitled to a monthly pension equivalent to half of that baseline wage. The proposed calculations are to based on the average monthly salary earned in the last 36 months before retirement.

Those who have served longer than 20 years will receive a higher percentage, specifying that the veterans ranked as generals will receive a yearly hike of 2 percent while those ranked lieutenant-general and lower pension rate will be increased by 2.5 percent every year for every extra year of service beyond 20 years.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/11/15
By: Joseph Yeh

Taipei, Nov. 15 (CNA) India’s top envoy to Taipei said Wednesday that Taiwan’s New

Southbound Policy has a logical strategy that complements India’s regional foreign policy of prioritizing connections with its East Asia neighbors.

Sridharan Madhusudhanan, director general of the India-Taipei Association, said in an exclusive interview with CNA that while Taiwan is seeking to enhance ties with countries in South Asia, India is looking east.

By boosting links with countries in South Asia, including India, Taiwan is hoping to achieve sustained economic growth and to transform its economic model, with a focus on innovation and original branding, he said. “On the Indian side, we have launched the Act East Policy, to increase our connections with the region,” Madhusudhanan said.

The Act East Policy, launched in 2014 under the leadership of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, prioritizes India’s relations with its East Asian neighbors, Madhusudhanan said.    [FULL  STORY]