HEADING TO THE ‘MORTUARY’:Former minister of transportation and communications Yeh Kuang-shih said the chairwoman was leading the KMT to its grave

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 12, 2017
By: Alison Hsiao / Staff reporter

Discontent in the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) with KMT Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱)

yesterday boiled to the surface, with former minister of transportation and communications Yeh Kuang-shih (葉匡時) saying that Hung wants to send “the KMT to the mortuary.”

Yeh, who was an adviser to Hung’s presidential campaign in 2015 before Hung’s forced replacement by then-KMT chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), said on Facebook that Hung allowed the KMT’s Huang Fu-hsing military veterans’ branch to sway the party’s chairperson election.

“According to party member numbers published by the KMT, out of 880,000 registered members, only about 220,000 have voting rights in the chairperson election, of which 197,000 are either older than 65 and have been party members for at least 40 years — including 170,000 Huang Fu-hsing members — or are members of low-income households,” Yeh said. “Both groups are exempt from paying party fees to have voting rights.”

“In other words, the KMT chairperson election will be completely decided by Huang Fu-hsing,” he added, asking why there have been “less than 30,000 members willing to pay party fees” during Hung’s tenure as chairwoman.    [FULL  STORY]

The News Lens
Date: 2017/01/10
By: Olivia Yang

The Taiwan Film Institute has released its first new box office report. But is it enough to help Taiwan’s box office transparency issues?

The saga over murky box office numbers in Taiwan continues. On Aug. 12, 2016, a public hearing held between the Ministry of Culture, representatives and other personnel from the film industry concluded with all sides agreeing to maintain Taiwan’s current box office reporting system. However, statistics are to be transferred to the Taiwan Film Institute and will only be made available daily to people in the film industry. Those wishing to view the numbers are required to register with the Taiwan Film Institute and will receive the information before noon each day.

Read more: Box Office Transparency: Still a Problem in Taiwan

After consulting the local film industry and referencing the reporting systems of other countries, the Taiwan Film Institute began providing daily statistics to registered members on Dec. 26, 2016 and released its first box office report (currently only available in Mandarin) for November 2016 to the public on Jan. 5.    [FULL  STORY]

Tsai arrived in Nicaragua on Tuesday in the second leg of her four-nation tour to Central America.

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/01/10
By: Wendy Lee , Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega reaffirmed his country’s support for Taiwan’s international

participation, during a meeting with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen in Managua on Tuesday.

Tsai arrived in Nicaragua on Tuesday in the second leg of her four-nation tour to Central America, during which she will attend the inauguration of President Daniel Ortega, who was re-elected to his third consecutive term by a landslide in November, and is to be sworn in alongside his running mate and wife, Rosario Murillo.

Ortega said to the press after the two state leaders held talks in his official residence, that Nicaragua has long been benefited from the bilateral cooperation between the two nations, and that Taiwan has been helpful in providing support and timely assistance to Nicaragua.

He also pledged that his nation will continue to support Taiwan’s participation in U.N.-affiliated organizations and other international organizations related to humanitarian assistance, public health, education, culture, environmental protection, climate change, and so forth.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/01/10
By: Huang Li-yun and Christie Chen

Taipei, Jan. 10 (CNA) Water supplies in parts of Kaohsiung will be suspended for 16 hours from 10 a.m. Wednesday due to pipeline relocation work near a water supply plant in the city’s Dagang Mountain area, the Taiwan Water Corp. announced Tuesday.

Water supplies will be temporarily cut in Kaohsiung’s Yanchao District, Tianliao District (except for Lupu Village and Guting Village), Gangshan District’s Sanhe Village, and Alian District’s Fengshan Village and Zhongzheng Road Lane 16, the state-owned water company said.

The suspension is expected to affect 8,500 households in these areas, the Taiwan Water Corp. said, urging users to prepare themselves by storing water.    [FULL  STORY]

MUTUAL BENEFITS:The Nicaraguan president thanked Taiwan for its assistance and promised to fight for greater rights for the nation in the international arena

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 11, 2017
By: Staff writer, with CNA

President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday met Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega in Managua, with

the Central American leader reaffirming his nation’s support for Taiwan’s participation in UN-affiliated and other global organizations.

Ortega expressed his gratitude to Tsai and Taiwanese, saying Nicaragua has long benefited from mutual assistance, bilateral cooperation and growing trade between the two nations.

He said that at a recent summit in Nicaragua of Central American Integration System (SICA) leaders, he talked of his nation’s commitment to strengthening ties with Taiwan.

He told Tsai that Managua would continue to support Taiwan’s participation in UN-affiliated and other global organizations related to humanitarian assistance, public health, education, culture, civil aviation safety, environmental protection and climate change.    [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: January 11, 2017
By: James Lo

Transportation Minister Ho Chen Tan (賀陳旦) on Tuesday said that Uber Taiwan had sent a friendly letter

to the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, saying it hoped to initiate a negotiation.

Ho said that the so-called “Uber Policy” imposed by the government had proved successful, as Uber had recently implemented various strategies in an attempt to stay afloat.

The minister said that although Uber promotions such as the “four-hour free ride” event on Jan. 8 might seem aimed at giving back to its supporters, the initiative was in fact a ruse to draw passengers amid dwindling business.

Ho went on to say that Uber Taiwan sent a letter to the ministry two weeks ago, presenting the possibility of cooperating with local taxi companies and saying it was willing to consider different suggestions for its operations.[FULL  STORY]

New Bloom’s Brian Hioe dissects an interesting dialogue with political activists and legislators from Taiwan and Hong Kong.

The News Lens
Date: 2017/01/09
By: Brian Hioe

A visit by Hong Kong legislators to Taiwan over the past weekend for a conference organized by the New Power Party (NPP) has seen protests from pro-China groups in Taiwan, as well as warnings from China against Taiwanese independence activists and Hong Kong independence activists seeking to ally with each other. Visiting Hong Kong legislators include Nathan Law of Demosistō, Eddie Chu, and Edward Yiu, as well as Joshua Wong, also of Demosistō, one of the leading activists of the Umbrella Movement. On the Taiwan side, participants included Sunflower Movement leader Lin Fei-Fan and Wu Cheng of Democracy Tautin, all five of the NPP’s current legislators, and various staff members of both Hong Kong and Taiwanese legislators.

Notably, none of the invited legislators from Hong Kong actually explicitly advocate Hong Kong independence. To begin with, if they did, that would have likely prevented them from running in legislative elections, given the refusal of the Hong Kong government to allow pro-independence political candidates to run, an action no doubt undertaken at Beijing’s behest. Rather, these are politicians which call for greater political autonomy for Hong Kong, but without a necessarily pro-independence stance. Despite misleading reports which claim otherwise, none of the invited legislators are actually “localists” along the lines of Youngspiration’s Baggio Leung and Yau Wai Ching. Although Eddie Chu is sometimes seen as a predecessor of contemporary Hong Kong localism, his more civic-oriented political platform distinguishes him from localists who have risen to recent public attention as Baggio Leung, Yau Wai Ching, and Edward Leung.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/01/09
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Collective of Sex Workers and Supports (COSWAS) said that they asked the city government to give sex

workers legalized working space many times last year, but the city government dragged their feet and responded that the city is not suitable for setting up a sex industry zone, using “the special status of the city” as an excuse.

However, the COSWAS said that it’s a fact that the sex industry exists in every district in the city, urging Mayor Ko Wen-je to legalize sex trade and stop evading the issue.

About 15 group members participated in the Monday protest, demanding the city government to give sex workers job security.

A streetwalker using the pseudonym of “MIKO” said police used a sting operation to nab her for violating the Protection of Children and Youths Welfare and Rights Act, and for which she will have to pay at least NT$90,000 to avoid jail time. Counting NT$1,000 for a sex service, she said she will have to take 90 customers to pay for the fine.    [FULL  STORY]