Radio Taiwan International
Date: 17 December, 2019
By: Jake Chen

Local NGOs have called on the government to implement a leave policy that allows employees to return home and take care of senior family members when they are in need. 

A woman breaks into tears as she talks about the challenges she’s been facing while taking care of her ailing mother. She is one of several who spoke at a recent press conference held by local labor rights groups. The groups are calling on the government to implement a new leave policy to allow workers to take time off to take care of their parents when necessary.     [FULL  STORY]

The move has interesting implications for domestic politics in both the Czech Republic and Taiwan, as well as for China-Czech relations.

The Diplomat
Date: December 17, 2019
By: Gregory Coutaz   

rague Mayor Zdenek Hrib announced on December 2, 2019, that the Czech capital would sign a sister city agreement with Taipei in January 2020, during a planned visit by Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je. The announcement came just two months after Hrib canceled a similar sister city agreement with Beijing.

Since his election in November 2018, Zdenek Hrib, a doctor who did a medical training internship in Taiwan, has raised the ire of China on several occasions, including by meeting with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, resisting Chinese demands to expel Taiwan’s representative from a meeting of foreign diplomats, and expressing his support for Taiwan’s participation in such international organizations as the World Health Organization. In response to Mayor Hrib’s actions, which were perceived by Beijing as openly challenging the Czech Republic’s “one-China” policy, Chinese authorities swiftly punished institutions that have ties to Prague, canceling a planned tour of China by the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, backtracking on their promise to send pandas to the city’s zoo, and threatening to limit the number of Chinese tourists allowed to visit the European country.

The pro-Taiwan stance adopted by Zdenek Hrib stands apart from the country’s current pro-Chinese president, Milos Zeman. Since Zeman became president in 2013, the bilateral relationship between the Czech Republic and China has experienced a dramatic upswing. Calling Chinese President Xi Jinping his “best friend” and pledging to turn his country into “China’s gateway to Europe,” Milos Zeman has spared no effort to win the favor of Beijing.

However, this proximity between the Czech president and his Chinese counterpart, combined with the growing influence of China in the Czech economy (the Asian giant is about to become the second-largest trading partner for the Czech Republic) is increasingly viewed with suspicion by the local population. A recent survey by Pew Research found that just 27 percent of Czechs harbored a positive opinion of China – the second-lowest rate in Europe.

Zdenek Hrib, a clear opponent to Zeman, has taken advantage of his office to criticize the Czech political and business elite for their coziness with China. A member of the anti-establishment Pirate Party, the Prague mayor seeks to reassert the humanitarian foreign policy famously promoted by Vaclav Havel. The former Czech president was not only one of the great figures of anti-communist resistance, but also a strong supporter and admirer of the Dalai Lama.    [FULL  STORY]

Nick McKenzie wanted to demand money from Taiwan intelligence: Alex Tsai

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/12/17
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer\

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Kuomintang (KMT) official Alex Tsai (蔡正元) on Tuesday (December 17)

accused a top Australian journalist of having wanted money from Taiwanese intelligence in connection with spy allegations against China.

He was commenting on the case of William Wang Liqiang (王立強), a Chinese defector in Australia who claimed his country’s communist regime had funding KMT candidates in Taiwanese elections. Beijing later tried to discredit Wang by alleging he had been convicted of fraud.

Tsai, an outspoken former KMT legislator now serving as the opposition party’s deputy secretary general, alleged award-winning investigative journalist Nick McKenzie had lied in his reports and even asked Taiwanese intelligence offices for money, the United Daily News reported.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/12/17
By: Wu Hsin-yun and Matthew Mazzetta

Taipei, Dec. 17 (CNA) Three members of Taiwan's top academic institute, Academia Sinica, have been

elected to The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), the research institute said Tuesday.

In a press release, Academia Sinica said the Taiwanese scholars are among 36 new inductees announced Dec. 10 by the UNESCO-backed program, which is devoted to advancing science in developing countries.

According to TWAS figures, the new inductees will bring the organization's total membership to 1,278, including 60 from Taiwan.

Among the new inductees is Academia Sinica President James C. Liao (廖俊智), an authority in the related fields of metabolic engineering and synthetic biology, both of which involve the application of engineering principles to biology.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 17 December, 2019
By: Natalie Tso

Taichung's new performing art center, the National Taichung Theater, is hosting an international arts festival centered on the theme of technology and the arts. The festival began in December and lasts through May 2020. 

There will be 11 exhibits feature dance, music, theater and multi-media. Artists from Finland, Denmark, Holland, Canada and other countries will display their works in this global festival showing off new developments in technology and the performing arts.     [FULL  STORY]

Breitbart
Date: 16 Dec 20190
By: Kristina Wong

Officials from the democratic republic Taiwan are concerned that China is meddling in their upcoming presidential election in January, seeking to back a candidate from an opposing political party that is China-friendly.

They say that although incumbent President Tsai Ing-wen is leading in the polls, they are concerned about what China may do leading up to and on the day of Taiwan’s January 11 election to elect the challenger from the Kuomintang (KMT) party, Han Kuo-yu, the mayor of Kaohsiung.

The concerns have been shared by officials and documented in numerous media reports. A recent NPR report described suspected Chinese state-backed efforts to influence Taiwan’s media, such as buying Taiwanese media companies and creating Facebook pages in Taiwan to become “content mills” for Chinese Communist Party propaganda that have at times been mistakenly picked up by Taiwanese media outlets.

Taiwanese officials suspect that China interfered in their 2018 municipal elections. During those elections, Han enjoyed a surge of popularity after a suspected Chinese-led campaign in the media to win as mayor of Kaohsiung.    [FULL  STORY]

Man says job gave him more than expected: a reunion with his beloved family member

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/12/16
By:  Taiwan News, Staff Writer\

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A Taiwanese food delivery driver burst into tears when he came across a long-lost friend during a routine delivery last week.

This man took to Facebook on Saturday (Dec. 14) to share this emotional moment with the foodpanda community, saying he ran across a dog that looks exactly like his dachshund, which went missing five years ago, while delivering a meal to an apartment the previous day,
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/12/16
By: Wu Reui-chi and Joseph Yeh

Taipei, Dec. 16 (CNA) The new control tower that opened at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Monday will help boost the airport's flight handling capacity while also serving as a new landmark, Transportation Minister Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said Monday.

Calling the tower a "new national landmark," Lin said the control tower's unveiling represents an important milestone as the airport moves toward becoming a "smart airport" in the future.

Built at a cost of NT$1.27 billion (US$41.6 million) over three years, it is equipped with state-of-the-art technology that integrates 15 different systems, making it easier for air traffic controllers to monitor flight data, Lin said at the inauguration ceremony.

The new tower, he said, will help meet increasing passenger demand as the airport currently handles over 700 flights per day, compared with around 100 when the old control tower was built 40 years ago.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 17, 2019
By: Wu Liang-yi and Dennis Xie  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer

People should drink 240ml of milk two times a day to get enough protein and calcium, the Health

Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday, adding that most Taiwanese do not have enough calcium in their diet.

The HPA cited guidelines it introduced in October that recommend what people who frequently eat out should order at Taiwanese or Western-style breakfast shops to ensure a balanced and nutritious first meal of the day.

People can order one cup of fresh milk tea without sugar, or one glass bottle of long-life milk, and consume another 240ml later in the day, it said.

Soybean milk is not a substitute, as its nutritional value is different, the HPA said.

People should add a fist-sized serving of fruit to their breakfast — although that would likely have to be sourced elsewhere, as breakfast stores typically do not sell fruit — and avoid eating the same fruit too often to get a variety of fiber, vitamin C and phytochemicals, which are antioxidants, the agency said.
[FULL  STORY]