IGNORANCE BLAMED:A netizen said it was no surprise that Taiwan ranks poorly in worldwide ignorance after pictures emerged of students dressed as Nazi soldiers

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 25, 2016
By: Sean Lin / Staff reporter

Students at a private high school in Hsinchu City yesterday sparked outrage after photographs of them

in Nazi costumes at a cosplay event a day earlier went viral on the Internet.

Photos of a class at Hsinchu Kuang Fu High School wearing costumes resembling Nazi uniforms and carrying swastika banners were shared on Professional Technology Temple (PTT), the nation’s largest online academic bulletin board, triggering an outcry from representative offices, government officials and netizens, with some saying the incident yet again showed Taiwan’s ignorance of international affairs.

A photo among those that were previously posted to Facebook showed students dressed as Nazi soldiers standing in formation, while another one showed a student riding in a tank made of cardboard boxes and performing a Nazi salute.

The Israel Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei issued a statement criticizing the event.   [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: December 25, 2016
By: The China Post new staff

TAIPEI, Taiwan — A private Hsinchu high school has come under fire after its students wore Nazi

uniforms and brandished swastika banners in a school-sanctioned parade.

The Presidential Office Saturday apologized for the incident, with education authorities vowing to reduce funding to the school as punishment.

Private Kuang-Fu High School in Hsinchu also issued a statement apologizing for the parade, but said it had not intended to condone Nazi atrocities.

The apologies came after Israel’s representative office to Taiwan condemned the event.

“It is deplorable and shocking that only seven decades after the world witnessed the horrors of the Holocaust, a high school in Taiwan is supporting such an outrageous action,” Israel’s representative office said in a statement.   [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: December 24, 2016
By: Yuan-Ming Chiao

TAIPEI, Taiwan — The government has selected staunch independence advocate Yu Shyi-kun to lead

Taiwan’s delegation at Donald Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20.

The 11-person delegation will also include municipal leaders and legislators from each of Taiwan’s four major political parties, the Presidential Office announced Friday.

Yu, a former premier, recently called for a paradigm shift in Taiwan’s foreign policy, urging a greater emphasis on ties with the U.S., Japan and the European Union, in the wake of President Tsai Ing-wen’s phone call with Trump earlier this month.

The former premier has been an outspoken supporter of Taiwan’s independence, listing it as part of a potential policy platform when mulling a run for the presidency in 2014.   [FULL  STORY]

The News Lens
Date: 2016/12/23

Supporters and opponents of same-sex marriage will rally outside the Legislative Yuan on Dec. 26 as a

committee reviews bills allowing same-sex marriage, CNA reports. Supporters of same-sex marriage hope that the Civil Code will be amended to legalize same-sex marriage, while opponents are calling for a referendum instead.

For more on the legalization of same-sex marriage in Taiwan:

Taiwan Marriage Equality Gathering Draws 200,000-plus Amid Fear Law Change Chances Sliding

Anti-Same-Sex Marriage Groups Call for Referendum as Bills Draw Closer to LegalizationIt’s Make or Break Time for Marriage Equality in Taiwan    [FULL  STORY]

Trump transition team could raise tariffs on Chinese-made goods

Taiwan News
Date: 2016/12/23
By: Sophia Yang, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

(Taiwan, News) — A fierce critic of China was tapped Wednesday for a newly created position to head

the White House National Trade Council. The appointment is believed to signal a tougher U.S. trade policy towards China following Donald Trump’s inauguration next January.

Chinese state media expressed discontent with Trump’s pick.

Harvard-trained economist Peter Navarro was chosen by Trump to lead a new presidential office for US trade and industrial policy. He is also the co-author of the book “Death By China: Confronting the Dragon” and helped adapt the book into a documentary film. Trump has singled out Navarro’s work as influencing his views on trade.

A Taiwan-friendly economist and policy adviser to Trump    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/12/23
By: Lu Hsin-hui and Elaine Hou

Taipei, Dec. 23 (CNA) Former Premier Yu Shyi-kun (游錫堃) will lead a Taiwanese delegation on behalf

of the government to the inauguration ceremony of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump next month, the Presidential Office spokesman said Friday.

Yu, a senior Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) member who served as premier and secretary-general of the Presidential Office under the former DPP administration of President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), will lead the 11-member delegation that includes lawmakers from across the political spectrum to the Jan. 20 inauguration, Alex Huang (黃重諺) said.

The government is sending the delegation to show how much Taiwan values a close relationship with the United States, but also in response to the U.S. delegation that attended the inauguration of President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in May, Huang said. The U.S. delegation was led by former U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk.

The Taiwanese delegation will include Yu’s wife Yang Bao-yu (楊寶玉), Taichung Mayor Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍), Chiayi County Magistrate Chang Hua-kuan (張花冠), National Security Council advisor Tung Chen-yuan (童振源), DPP lawmaker Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃), Kuomintang lawmakers Lu Yu-ling (呂玉玲), Ko Chih-en (柯志恩) and Lin Wei-chou (林為洲), lawmaker Lim Tshiong-tso (林昶佐) of the New Power Party and Chen Yi-chieh (陳怡潔) from the People First Party, according to Huang.    [FULL  STORY]

LEGAL BASKETBALL:Assets committee head Wellington Koo said the ruling was a minor victory and there is still some way to go in a battle akin to a basketball match

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 24, 2016
By: Jason Pan / Staff reporter

The Taipei High Administrative Court yesterday rejected a petition by the Chinese Nationalist Party

(KMT) to suspend a sanction issued last month by the Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee.

The ruling can be appealed.

The committee on Nov. 2 said that Central Investment Co (中央投資) and Hsinyutai Co (欣裕台) are KMT affiliate organizations and therefore among ill-gotten party assets accumulated over the years through political influence and unfair competition.
If the committee’s decision stands, the assets would be transferred to the state.

KMT officials filed for an administrative injunction to block the committee’s decision.

In injunction requests filed separately by the KMT, Central Investment and Hsinyutai, the applicants said the committee’s decision would result in irreparable damage to business operations.    [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: December 24, 2016
By: Sun Hsin Hsuan

TAIPEI, Taiwan — “The best way to prepare for a second term is to get every day’s job done

beautifully,” Taipei City Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said on Friday following his announcement to run for a reelection in 2018.

Responding to a survey indicating that 50 percent of Taipei citizens opposed his reelection, Ko said, “If half of the citizens are opposed, that means there’s still half of them in favor.”

The comment came after Ko announced that he intended to serve eight years as Taipei mayor, during which he would seek to “nourish culture in people’s minds and propagate that across the nation.”

“After eight years, I’d be 63, and that should be about the right time to retire,” he joked on Friday.

Kuomintang (KMT) city councilors released a survey on Friday showing that 42.2 percent of 1,083 respondents were satisfied with Ko’s performance so far, while 49.7 were unsatisfied.   [FULL  STORY]

The News Lens
Date: 2016/12/22
By: J. Michael Cole

The loss of São Tomé and Príncipe, and of The Gambia before that, hardly constitute a knockout of

Taiwan, writes J. Michael Cole.

The African nation of São Tomé and Príncipe on Dec. 20 announced that it was severing diplomatic relations with the Republic of China (Taiwan) and establishing ties with the People’s Republic of China.

Following the news, Taipei announced that it was immediately severing diplomatic ties with the African country and withdrawing all diplomatic and technical personnel.

Taiwan now has 21 official diplomatic allies worldwide, and just two in Africa — Burkina Faso and Swaziland.

Coming on the heels of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s phone conversation with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in early December, it may be tempting to regard the switch in diplomatic recognition—and after years of “diplomatic truce” Beijing’s willingness to “steal” a diplomatic ally of Taiwan—as retribution by China.    [FULL  STORY]