Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/12/10
By: Chen Chih-chung, Yu Hsia-han, Liu Kuan-ting and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, Dec. 10 (CNA) A pop music concert was held in Taipei Saturday in support of legalizing same-sex marriage, attracting an audience of about 150,000 that gathered to hear performances by stars from home and abroad, according to the organizers.

The show on Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office opened with the popular song Don’t Give Up by indigenous singer-songwriter Suming Rupi’s (舒米恩) in the Amis language.

Addressing the crowd, Suming said he hoped the right to marry would be extended to all people in Taiwan.

Other performers at the concert included Philippine pop chanteuse Sandee Chan (陳珊妮), Hong Kong Canto-pop singer Denise Ho (何韻詩) and Taiwanese Mandopop singer Dai Ailing (戴愛玲).   [FULL  STORY]

WATCHFUL:Taiwanese radar stations locked onto Chinese aircraft flying around the nation, while a plane took their photographs, the Ministry of National Defense said

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 11, 2016
By: Jason Pan / Staff reporter

Chinese military aircraft yesterday flew over the East China Sea to the south of Japan’s Okinawa

Island and circled the international airspace surrounding Taiwan before passing over the Bashi Channel to return to China, officials from the Ministry of National Defense said.

It was the second time in two weeks that Chinese military aircraft have flown around Taiwan and passed over the Miyako Strait between Japan’s Okinawa and Miyako islands.
Yesterday’s flight launched at about 9am from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force’s Eastern Theater Command bases and involved a dozen aircraft, the ministry said in a statement, adding that only four aircraft traveled the entire flight path around Taiwan.

Ministry officials did not provide any details on the type of aircraft that participated in the flight.   [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: December 11, 2016
By: The China Post news staff

TAIPEI, Taiwan — About 250,000 people flocked to a pop music concert featuring local and foreign

stars held in support of same-sex marriage in Taipei Saturday, organizers said.

The concert on Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office was one of the biggest-ever gay rights events in Taiwan.

Organizers put the turnout at 250,000 while police estimated 75,000.

The event, coinciding with Human Rights Day, came amid pressure from some civic groups seeking to stop the government’s bid to legalize same-sex marriage.

The concert opened with the Amis-language song “Don’t Give Up” by indigenous singer-songwriter Suming Rupi.    [FULL  STORY]

The company’s Taiwan business is still growing despite being in regulatory limbo and facing mounting opposition from lawmakers and the taxi industry.

The News Lens
Date: 2016/12/09
By: Matthew Fulco

Brittany Holtsinger swears by Uber. The Taipei-based digital marketing strategist uses the ride-hailing app four to five times a week, opting for a taxi only when Uber’s rush-hour surcharges make its prices less competitive. “Uber is my preferred transportation method,” she says. Citing the ability to rate Uber’s drivers in online reviews, she says the app “offers more accountability than taxis,” noting that “the drivers are motivated to offer better service, and the company doesn’t hesitate to reimburse you for the cost of a ride if something goes wrong.”

Holtsinger is one of the many Taiwan residents embracing Uber and by extension the sharing economy – an umbrella term for an economic model in which individuals borrow or rent assets owned by someone else. Drivers are as enthusiastic about Uber as the passengers, says Likai Gu (顧立楷), Uber Taiwan’s general manager. “People feel like income levels are low in Taiwan,” he says. Driving for Uber, Gu adds, “is a great way to increase income” and make better use of an existing asset – a car.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016/12/09
By: Maggie Huang, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Advertisements supporting same-sex marriage are on the front pages of major newspapers Friday, a day before Saturday when a rally supporting legalizing same-sex marriages is to be held on Ketagalan Boulevard.

The ads were fundraised by a blog called the “Plain Law Movement,” which was organized by legal experts who dedicated to explaining laws and legal terms into plain and simple words for the general public to understand.

The ads explain proposals to legalize same-sex marriage and respond to the hate speeches by the religious anti-LGBT groups after some of them spent millions of money in November to run advertisements on the front pages of the four major newspapers, trying to mislead the public by distorting the content of the draft bills.    [FULL  STORY]

TIT-FOR-TAT FEARS:KMT caucus convener Sufin Siluko said that the DPP might ‘respond to evil with evil’ by making their own demands to initiate legislative recalls

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 10, 2016
By: William Hetherington / Staff writer, with CNA

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday revealed that it was unaware of plans by the

party’s headquarters to demand a recall of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators, saying it learned of the issue from the media.

KMT caucus convener Sufin Siluko (廖國棟) said that demands for a recall of DPP legislators being made by the KMT headquarters were never communicated to the party’s caucus.

Sufin said the KMT caucus only learned about the demands by reading about them in newspaper reports.

The DPP caucus has responded by saying that if the KMT “plays with fire it will get burned.”

DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said the KMT was acting like a group without a leader, comparing their actions to the failed Qing-era Boxer Rebellion, in which an anti-foreign militia believed itself to be invulnerable.    [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: December 10, 2016
By: Stephanie Chao

Two corporate heavyweights have backed out of accepting a request to act as senior policy advisers

to President Tsai Ing-wen.

The withdrawal of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) Chairman Morris Chang and Giant Group Chairman King Liu from a short list of potential presidential advisers was confirmed by the Presidential Office on Friday.

‘Hai Pa Wang’ Effect

Their exits were described by some observers as a continuation of the “Hai Pa Wang (海霸王) effect,” where businesses have sought to distance themselves from the Tsai administration to reduce the risks to their operations in mainland China.

Hai Pa Wang, a seafood restaurant chain, earlier this week took out a newspaper ad pledging support to the “one China” principle, amid rumors that the firm had close ties to Tsai’s family.

Fears that Beijing is stepping up efforts to punish firms close to the Democratic Progressive Party were fanned by a Dec. 2 announcement from Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) in mainland China.    [FULL  STORY]

By the end of the day on December 17, we’ll know if marriage equality is doomed to fail.

The News Lens
Date: 2016/12/08
By: Courtney Donovan Smith (石東文)

This weekend and next could determine whether marriage equality has any hope of passing in the

near future. While the New York Times overly optimistically praises Taiwan as a “same-sex marriage pioneer” and asks if Taiwan will be the first in Asia to pass it into law, locally opponents of the idea are steering it towards defeat. But there is still one hope for proponents: march.

A few weeks ago strong marriage equality advocate Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴), the pioneer who in 2005 introduced the first such bill in the Legislative Yuan, estimated that collectively 56 legislators supported the three marriage equality bills put forth by members of the the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), the main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) and the New Power Party (NPP). That’s one shy of a majority in the 113-member body. While the small NPP caucus is fully behind marriage equality, there is significant opposition within both the DPP and the KMT, both of which have strong conservative wings within their parties. President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), though she’s expressed personal support for ending marriage segregation, is refusing to expend any political capital on the issue and has washed her hands of the issue, saying “I believe that in the near future, all members of the Legislative Yuan will freely express their opinions on the amendments according to their own beliefs, values, judgments and the direction of public opinion. Regardless of the outcome, I will respect the decision of the Legislative Yuan.” (Translated quote from the excellent Taiwan Law Blog). From within her own government the Ministry of Justice is promoting a civil partnership law in opposition to marriage equality.    [FULL  STORY]

Chiu said that the statistics indicate a falling trend regarding overall Chinese visitors to Taiwan.

Taiwan News
Date: 2016/12/08 21:19
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Mainland Affairs Council Deputy Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said on Thursday that in the period from

May 20 to Dec 6, 2016, the numbers of Chinese tour group members and individual tourists entering Taiwan dropped 51.1 percent and 12 percent, respectively, compared to the same period last year.

Chiu said the numbers were based on National Immigration Agency statistics.

According to the statistics, for November alone, the numbers of Chinese tour group members and individual visitors to Taiwan fell 59.1 percent and 39.1 percent, respectively, from a year earlier, he said.

In addition, according to the same statistics, in the period from Jan 1 to Dec 6, 2016, numbers of Chinese tour group members and individual visitors entering Taiwan fell 28.7 percent and 0.04 percent, respectively, from a year earlier, Chiu said.

He added that the statistics indicate a falling trend regarding overall visits of Chinese tourists to Taiwan.    [SOURCE]