POPULAR POLICY:A Democratic Progressive Party source said that the survey also showed that Tsai Ing-wen’s approval rating had increased on the back of the refroms

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 27, 2017
By: Sean Lin / Staff reporter

A majority of the public hopes that pension reform can be completed by the end of this

year, with policies put forward by the Pension Reform Committee garnering widespread support from public and private-sector workers younger than 40, the results of a survey released yesterday by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) found.

Overall, 70.4 percent of respondents said that they want pension reform to be accomplished before next year, while 25.9 percent stated the opposite view.

However, when broken down into private-sector workers and public-sector workers, only 44.2 percent of public-sector workers were in favor of the reform, while 55.8 percent were against it, while 72.5 percent of private-sector workers supported reform, as opposed to 25.1 percent against.

Public-sector workers were more supportive of forming a “sustainable pension system that the government can afford that ensures all present and future retirees would receive their pensions,” with 88 percent of them responding positively to the idea, compared with the 86.8 percent registered by private-sector workers, the results showed.    [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: January 27, 2017
By: Stephanie Chao

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Scandal-hit Taipei City Councilor Tung Chung-yan (童仲彥) said

Thursday that he was withdrawing from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) after his “personal and family problems marred the image of his beloved party.”

Tung, who has become embroiled in allegations over domestic violence and infidelity, announced over the social media website Facebook that he was withdrawing from the DPP.

Tung admitted Wednesday that he had “physically tangled” with his wife Lee Hsiu-yuan after she accused him of domestic violence in a magazine interview.

DPP officials have requested that a task force be formed to look into the allegations and that all reports relating to the case be submitted to the party’s Central Standing Committee.

The news of Tung’s withdrawal was met with shock from other DPP councilors, according to a United Daily News report. Many expressed shock and regret, and some suggested that Tung had taken the initiative to leave the party rather than acted on the command of party central, which they said had yet to contact the embattled councilor.

Taipei City Council caucus whip Wang Hsiao-wei (王孝維), who said he learned of Tung’s decision through the media, said that press speculation was damaging not only to Tung and Tung’s family, but also to the DPP.    [FULL  STORY]

Students at a Taipei university think it is time Taiwan stops honoring an authoritarian dictator.

The News Lens
Date: 2017/01/25
By: David Prentice

Founded in Nanjing, China, in 1927, National Chengchi University has long been associated with the

Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang, KMT). The university was established in part to train KMT officials in the art of diplomacy, and international relations. The university relocated to its current location in Muzha, Taipei, in 1954 to meet the needs of Taiwan’s newly formed civil service and the growing demands of higher education in post-war Taiwan. The school’s history and affiliation to the KMT make it synonymous with Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) – Taiwan’s former President who was president of the institution from its establishment in 1927 until 1947. More than 40 years after his death, his legacy in the institution lives on, but for how long?

Two statues of the former dictator rise high over students at two prominent locations in the university’s beautiful, sprawling campus. At the back entrance, near the student dormitories lies an imposing and towering statue of the Generalissimo in his army robes atop his favorite horse. The university’s main library – named the Chiang Kai Shek Library in Chinese – is also home to another statue of the former leader, this time in a seated position, adopting a more scholarly approach seemingly watching over students as they drift past into the library with barely a glance in his direction.

A recent movement by campus protesters, along with the defacing of the statues on an almost annual basis has led campus administrators and management to reconsider the very presence of the statues on campus. A committee consisting of 120 students (10%), administrative staff (5%), and faculty members (85%) has been formed to have the final say on the fate of the statues and is expected to vote in favor of removing them from campus.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/01/25
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News)–The Taiwan High Court on Wednesday spared the life of a defendant who burned

a friend to death to assume his identity in a bid to avoid jail time in connection with a previous separate sexual attack case, ruling that there are no compelling reasons to sentence him to death.

In 2010, Sun Kuo-huang was sentenced to eight years and six months for offenses against sexual autonomy eleven years ago, but he decided to avoid the jail time by making a murder look like self-immolation, according to a document released by the high court’s Kaohsiung branch on Wednesday. Therefore, Sun went online to search information related to self-immolation, the court document said.

Investigations found that Sun had bought a strong hang rope and gasoline before renting a car and calling his friend surnamed Chang, a doctoral student he just knew on the Internet, asking to meet him. Sun took Chang to a motel, attacked him until he fainted, and then bound his hands before taking him to a mountainous area in Kaohsiung, according to the document. Sun splashed the gasoline, set the car ablaze, which killed Chang, and ran away, the document said.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/01/25
By: Wang Yang-yu, Liu Shih-yi and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, Jan. 25 (CNA) The Taipei District Court on Wednesday sentenced three

suspects in the theft of more than NT$80 million (US$2.56 million) from First Bank ATMs in July 2016 to five years in prison each and fined them NT$600,000.

Prosecutors said they respected the court’s decision and will decide whether to file an appeal, after the sentence fell far short of the jail time they had sought.

The three suspects did not immediately comment on the verdict but had previously said they would appeal it if found guilty.

Peregudovs Andrejs from Latvia, the alleged mastermind behind the bank heist, Romanian Colibaba Mihail and Moldovan Niklae Penkov were indicted in September 2016 on charges of stealing more than NT$83.27 million from First Bank ATMs around July 10 last year.    [FULL  STORY]

MUTUAL INTERESTS:Burkina Faso and Swaziland said that relations with Taiwan are not based on money and they would continue to lobby for UN membership for Taiwan

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 26, 2017
By: Bloomberg

The nation’s last two African allies have no plans to switch allegiances and break ties

with Taipei, despite Beijing’s efforts to woo them, officials said.

Burkina Faso will not cut relations with Taiwan, despite people and companies with links to China offering funding in return for recognition of the “one China” principle, Burkinabe Minister of Foreign Affairs Alpha Barry said.

Swaziland has also said its relationship with Taiwan is based on mutual interests, not money.

“We get outrageous proposals telling us: ‘If you sign with Beijing, we’ll offer you US$50 billion or even more,’” Barry said in an interview in the capital, Ouagadougou, this month. “Taiwan is our friend and our partner. We’re happy and we see no reason to reconsider the relationship.”   [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: January 26, 2017
By: James Lo

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) on Wednesday said the party would investigate domestic

violence allegations against Taipei City Councilor Tung Chung-yan (童仲彥).

The ruling party’s spokesman Ruan Jhao-syong (阮昭雄) said it would form a task force to look into the allegations Tung repeatedly beat his wife, Li Hsiu-huan (李秀環) .

Tung and his second wife Li were involved in a public extramarital scandal last week, which began after Li was photographed in the arms of another man by paparazzi.

Following allegation of Li’s infidelity, Tung came forward to explain the tabloid photographs, and painted himself as the victim of his estranged spouse’s unfaithfulness.

However, Tung was later purported to be in an extramarital affair himself when a local tabloid published photos of the city councilor allegedly on a date with his New Taipei City office director Chiu Hui-mei (邱惠美).    [FULL  STORY]

Is Taiwan ready to change its toilet habits?

The News Lens
Date: 2017/01/24
By: Keith Menconi

Many newcomers to Taiwan are puzzled to find the nation’s bathrooms stocked with one extra piece of equipment: a small trash bin that can be found next to nearly every toilet throughout the country. This puzzlement oftentimes turns into shock when these newcomers are told what that trash can is for. They will soon learn, either from their new landlord or a hastily scrawled sign posted on the wall of a public restroom, that they are under no circumstances to dump their toilet paper into the toilet, but are instead to dispose of it in this very trash bin.

If they take the time to ask, they will quickly be informed that Taiwan’s plumbing just cannot take the added strain of toilet paper flushed down the toilet. Their life will now include the extra chore of cleaning out this bin at regular intervals, bundling up the now befouled toilet paper, and marching off this little parcel to the garbage truck to toss it in along with all the other un-recyclables. It is a system that ensures residents will be intimately involved in the disposal of their own waste, or, when out and about and in need of a public restroom, will have many encounters with the waste recently left behind by others.   [FULL  STORY]

A wanted man jumped into a muddy field on Monday night to turn himself into a “mud man” in an attempt to avoid detection

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/01/24
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

A wanted man jumped into a muddy field on Monday night to turn himself into a “mud man” in an attempt

to escape, but was still apprehended by three police officers.

Jiaosi Precinct said on Tuesday that three police officers were patrolling on Qilidan Rd. in Jiaosi Township, Yilan County when they saw a suspicious-looking man riding a motorcycle erratically. They then decided to question him.

Seeing the officers head in his direction, the man immediately ditched his motorcycle and jumped into a muddy fallow field in an attempt to escape, the precinct said. He turned himself into a mud man as his whole body, including his face, was covered with mud, which helped him conceal his location in the darkness, the precinct added.

However, the officers plunged into the field to catch him despite the cold weather. When they spotted him, the man shouted and thrashed violently, however, the officers were finally able to capture him, turning themselves into “mud men” in the process.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/01/24
By: Tsai Yi-chu, Huang Li-yun, Chen Chia-lun and S.C. Chang

Taipei, Jan. 24 (CNA) If there was to be a trade war between the United States and China, it would be a

disaster for the world, with Taiwan and South Korea among the hardest-hit, a Taiwanese business leader said on Tuesday.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement that the U.S. will withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact alarmed many Taiwanese business, academic and government leaders. CMC Magnetics Corp. Chairman Bob Wong (翁明顯) was among the first to sound the alarm.

“It is not yet known whether there will be a trade war between China and the U.S. If there is, then it will be a disaster with the hardest-hit being Taiwan and South Korea,” Wong told the media on the sideline of a company event.

If the U.S. opts for trade protectionism, it will have a huge impact on Taiwan, he said. Trade-reliant Taiwan would do better to maintain good relations with all countries and “I would advise against a self-centered outlook,” he added.    [FULL  STORY]