Taiwan News
Date: 2016/11/17
By: Sophia Yang, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Taiwan has been rejected from participating in several major international conferences under the

pressure from China since the country’s independence-leaning DPP party took the helm of the country last May. On Thursday, even a China-friendly former president was treated unfairly at an international event and complained that the move was “hurting cross-strait relations.”

On Thursday, former president Ma Ying-jeou was upset and angered by a decision by the World Chinese Economic Summit in Malaysia to intentionally omit Ma’s title from the summit handbook, which referred to him simply as “H.E. Ma Ying-jeou.” In protest at China’s move, Ma wore a self-prepared name badge that clearly identified him as “Former President of the Republic of China (Taiwan).”

At the beginning of a scheduled speech at the 8th World Chinese Economic Summit in Melaka, Malaysia, Ma emphasized his identity as a former president of the Republic of China (Taiwan).    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/11/17
By: Sophia Yeh and Elaine Hou

Taipei, Nov. 17 (CNA) President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) supports marriage equality and believes

everyone is equal before love, Presidential Office spokesperson Alex Huang (黃重諺) said Thursday, as opponents of same-sex marriage staged a rally outside the Legislature to protest lawmakers reviewing contentious law amendments to legalize gay marriage.

More than 10,000 people took part in the protest, as the Legislature’s Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee held a meeting to review proposed amendments to the law that would make gay marriage legal in Taiwan.

Supporters of gay marriage also staged their own rally nearby.

On Thursday afternoon, dozens of opponents of same-sex marriage stormed the Legislature building, demanding public hearings on the issue before lawmakers debate related draft amendments.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 18, 2016
By: Jason Pan / Staff reporter

The Taiwan High Court yesterday upheld an earlier ruling that found Democratic Progressive Party

(DPP) Legislator Kao Jyh-peng (高志鵬) and his office assistant, Yao Liang-tian (姚糧鈿), guilty of corruption in the second retrial of a 2006 case stemming from a Taichung land deal.

The court’s Taichung branch sentenced Kao to four years and six months in prison and a NT$500,000 (US$15,690) fine for influence peddling and receiving an illegal political donation of NT$500,000 in contravention of the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例), while Yao was sentenced to a 16-month term.

Both can still appeal.

In the first trial, the lawmaker was found guilty. He appealed his conviction and the decision was overturned and the case sent back for a second trial.

However, in that retrial he was found guilty and sentenced to seven years and six months in prison. Kao then appealed that verdict.    [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: November 18, 2016
By: Sun Hsin Hsuan

TAIPEI, Taiwan — A bill that would make Taiwan the first Asian county to legalize same-sex marriage

was stuck in committee Thursday, as protesters against the bill broke into the Legislative Yuan.

Late Thursday, lawmakers agreed to hold two public hearings on the bill before proceeding with legislative review.

Sit-in at Legislature

Earlier in the day, 10,000 people on Thursday protested outside the Legislative Yuan demanding a referendum and public hearings on the issue.

A small group of demonstrators scaled a wall and staged a sit-in outside the legislative chamber after officers prevented them from entering.

The rally was organized by Alliance of Taiwan Religious Groups for the Protection of Family (護家盟), a hard-line conservative group known for fighting effort to legalize gay marriage.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan Today
Date: November 16, 2016

Participants in the first Taiwan-hosted International Council of Women Executive Committee Meeting

received a warm welcome at a reception organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Nov. 15 in Taipei City.

The 22 academics, government officials and representatives of nongovernmental organizations from 14 countries, who are in country for the Nov. 14-17 ICW meeting staged by the National Council of Women of Taiwan, Republic of China, were feted by MOFA Deputy Minister Francois Chih-chung Wu during an address at the ministry’s HQ.

Through this international meeting, the MOFA seeks to foster friendships and create cooperation channels to better engage in dialogue with female leaders from around the world, Wu said. It is hoped that all the women leaders assist and support Taiwan’s efforts to participate in and contribute more to global initiatives, he added.

Lourdes Xitumul Piox, secretary of the Peace Secretariat of the Presidential Office of Guatemala—an ROC diplomatic ally—responded by praising Taiwan’s significant improvements in advancing women’s education. She also highlighted the important role of Taiwan’s women in such fields as economics and technology, and said the country is a good example for nations in Central America lacking similar developments.    [FULL  STORY]

Labor activist on hunger strike faints during scuffle

Taiwan News
Date: 2016/11/16
B:y Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A fight at a Legislative Yuan hearing about workweek reform Wednesday

ended with Democratic Progressive Party lawmaker Chen Ying collapsing on the floor and a labor activist fainting.

Government plans to abolish seven out of 19 annual holidays for workers in return for a simplified workweek have met with vociferous resistance from labor groups and opposition parties, with protests and hunger strikes marking the ups and downs of the legislative review procedure.

Chen chaired a hearing Wednesday at the Legislature’s Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee where both sides had the opportunity to explain their views on the issue.

As soon as the hearing opened, Chen and labor activists clashed on the topic of whether questions could be asked by the public. The protesters went on to demand the presence of the ruling DPP’s chief whip, Ker Chien-ming. When Chen refused to go and fetch Ker, but called a ten-minute recess instead, the protesters surrounded her, leading to scuffles.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/11/16
By: Ta Ya-chen, Liu Kuan-ting and Lilian Wu

Taipei, Nov. 16 (CNA) Premier Lin Chuan (林全) has asked that one or two more public hearings on

imports of controversial Japanese food products be held and that they be streamed live, Cabinet spokesman Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) said Wednesday.

The meetings are to be held to give people a chance to learn more about the issue, and live streaming will increase exposure of the process, including in places like Yilan County, where no public hearing has been held to date.

Taiwan has banned imports of food products from five prefectures in Japan that were contaminated with radioactive substances following the meltdown of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in March 2011, a catastrophe triggered by a massive earthquake and tsunami.

Taiwan’s government is now considering lifting the ban for food from the five prefectures except for Fukushima, but has run into heavy opposition.    [FULL  STORY]

‘CHILLING EFFECT’:China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said the DPP administration was ‘oppressing’ Taiwanese attending cross-straits events in an effort to cool relations

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 17, 2016
By: Jason Pan / Staff reporter

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers yesterday proposed an amendment that would cancel

pensions for retired civil servants and military personnel who participate in political activities in China, as more details emerged about former military officers attending an event in Beijing last week that featured a policy address by Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平).

The amendment would revoke pensions for retired military officers engaging in political activities in China, as their behavior could imperil national security and seriously erode the morale and loyalty of active-service personnel, DPP legislators Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁), Chuang Ruei-hsiung (莊瑞雄) and Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) said at a news conference.

Seven retired generals, 12 former lieutenant generals and 18 retired major generals attended the event in Beijing commemorating the 150th anniversary of the birth of Republic of China founder Sun Yat-sen (孫逸仙), Chen said, citing information provided by the National Security Bureau.

The updated figure was greater than the list of 32 retired officers provided two days ago, which included retired lieutenant general Wu Sz-huai (吳斯懷), and former generals Wang Wen-hsieh (王文燮) and Hsia Ying-chou (夏瀛洲), he added.    [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: November 17, 2016
By: Alan Fong, The China Post and agencies

At 3 p.m. local time, on Nov. 9, shortly after the victory of U.S. Republican presidential candidate

Donald Trump was all but confirmed, Hon Hai Precision Inc. Chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘) and his closest confidantes gathered in Room 501 of the corporation’s New Taipei City headquarters, according to a Wednesday, Nov. 16 report by Next Magazine. The meeting inside the “War Room,” the highest-level conference in the history of Hon Hai, according to the magazine, was supposed to be about the contract manufacturing giant’s response to the election of Trump. Gou surprised the top-ranking Hon Hai executives by saying, “Regarding running for the presidency in 2020, what do you think about that?” the magazine reported.

The possibility of a Gou candidacy in Taiwan’s 2020 presidential election has become one of the hottest topics in local media. Several political commentators, including former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Shen Fu-hsiung (沈富雄) and former news anchor Lee Yen-chiou (李艷秋), have clamored for a Gou 2020 campaign, likening him to the larger-than-life tycoon that is Trump.

Trump was elected on a wave of anti-establishment sentiment and anxiety in a world still troubled both by slow economic recovery seven years after the Great Recession and by destabilizing factors such as the Islamic State. Such sentiment is even stronger among people with conservative worldviews who are witnessing the sea change in social issues such as same-sex marriage. For them, the world that they once found familiar and comfortable seems to be fading away against their will.    [FULL  STORY]

This is the third of a three-part interview with Taiwan’s ‘genius hacker.’

The News Lens
Date: 2016/11/15
By: Edward White

Audrey Tang (唐鳳) last month started in her new role as Taiwan’s first “digital minister.” Officially, she

is a minister without portfolio in Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) Cabinet with responsibilities for the digital economy and open government.

Tang, 35, “retired” from the business world in 2014 after a successful tech career, which included time working with companies in Silicon Valley. Over the past two years, she has been dedicated to public service and her new position will see the continuation of her work using her advanced programming skills and passion for open democracy. She is also Taiwan’s first transgender politician and the youngest member of the Tsai administration.

In this interview series with The News Lens International, Tang describes the crucial behind-the-scenes role she played in the Sunflower Movement, how Taiwan’s digital community has continued to create new avenues for citizen participation in the years since, and her beliefs about how assistive technology will benefit society in future. She also explains her views on different types of hackers, and why, actually, she is still an anarchist.
▶ See also: “Audrey Tang, Part One”