Taiwan presidential election polls from Sept. 16 to Nov. 12, 2019

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/11/15
By: Ko Lai, Taiwan News, Editor

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — 2020 Taiwan presidential election is 60 days away. Taiwan News presents the latest polls issued by various media outlets and organizations on a weekly basis, combining information from many different opinion polls to best present the current polling trend.
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Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/11/15
By: Pan Chih-yi and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, Nov. 15 (CNA) Nearly 700 people who worked for flat panel supplier Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd. (CPT) before it declared bankruptcy in September protested outside CPT's parent company Friday, demanding back pay owed to them.

The protesters, led by Su Kuo-che (蘇國哲), head of the CPT Trade Union, and Taoyuan County Central Union president Lee Chao-chang (李朝掌), appealed to conglomerate Tatung Co. for payment of back wages, severance pay and retirement pensions owed them by Taoyuan-based CPT.

Tatung was CPT's largest shareholder with about a 40 percent stake.

Outside of Tatung headquarters, the protesters ran into security guards while trying to enter the building to talk to company executives, after two Tatung executives showed up to receive a written petition but left without making any comment.    [FULL  STORY]

ALL ABOARD: Taiwan’s high-speed rail inaugurated a new theme train and is planning to have 30 percent of its materials and parts manufactured in Taiwan by 2022

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 15, 2019
By: Shelley Shan  /  Staff reporter, in Kaohsiung

The Taiwan High-Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) yesterday officially launched a new theme train from

Taipei, with the train’s exterior featuring two popular cartoon characters created by Japanese illustrator Kanahei.

The company said that the train, featuring Piske (P助) and Usagi (粉紅兔兔), is to operate until September next year, adding that all high-speed rail passengers would have a chance to ride the new train in the next 10 months.

The company and Kanehei also released 14 co-branded items related to the new train, including pull-back trains, belt bags, stuffed animals, ticket holders and key chains.

Piske and Usagi are also appear on the uniforms of train conductors, on-board service personnel and station crew, THSRC Spokesperson Johnson Sun (孫鴻文) said yesterday.   [FULL  STORY]

‘REAL NEEDS’: The KMT’s presidential candidate said that he would reduce renewable energy, but added that it would be increased as the technology matures and prices fall

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 14, 2019
By: Ann Maxon  /  Staff reporter

Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) yesterday said that if elected president, he would review

President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) policy to phase out the use of nuclear power by 2025, to ensure that people are free from fears of pollution and power shortages.

“If elected president, I would immediately review the erroneous policy of a ‘nuclear-free homeland by 2025’ and, based on a referendum on keeping nuclear power passed last year, propose a more reasonable and pragmatic goal and approach for the nation’s energy plan,” the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential candidate told a news conference in Taipei.

He added that he “would make the fears over power shortages and having to wear a mask — which people have experienced over the past three-and-a-half years — completely disappear.”

While most people might not understand energy policies due to their complexity, all they need is affordable electricity prices, clean air and reliable power, Han said.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 13 November, 2019
By: John Van Trieste

A climber helps remove garbage from a mountainside in Hualien County.[/caption] Taiwan’s wild places are masterpieces of nature. But garbage tossed by passing humans is threatening even the most remote of these places. Officials have decided to take action, organizing a team of alpinists for a cleanup in Taiwan’s eastern mountains.

As Taiwan has become more environmentally conscious in recent years, garbage-strewn beaches have received a lot of attention. But Taiwan’s garbage problem extends deep into its mountainous interior.

Litter in the mountains is more than just unsightly: officials warn that flammable garbage could help wildfires spread during the dry season.

In mountainous Hualien County on Taiwan’s east coast, officials have decided to fight back against this tide of trash. The Forestry Bureau got together a team of 50 climbers and put them to work on a cleanup project. The goal was to clear the slopes near a mountain highway.   [FULL  STORY]

Warship movements kept under PLA surveillance

Global Times
Date: 2019/11/13
By: Yang Sheng and Xu Keyue

The People's Liberation Army (PLA) Eastern Theater Command said the US guided-missile cruiser's transit through the Taiwan Straits was kept under surveillance and Chinese experts said that China should strengthen its military capability as the US increases its military provocations targeting China's sovereignty over Taiwan, which could increase potential risks of a military conflict.

All movements of US vessel and aircraft are kept under surveillance by the Chinese military, Senior Colonel Zhang Chunhui, spokesperson of PLA Eastern Theater Command said on Wednesday while responding to the transit of US guided-missile cruiser USS Chancellorsville through the Taiwan Straits.

"We urged the US side to abide by the one-China principle and Three Joint Communiqués, and cautiously handle matters related to Taiwan, and avoid damaging the China-US relationship and the peace and stability of the Taiwan Straits," said Zhang.

The Chinese military will remain on high alert at all times, and will resolutely safeguard China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, Zhang noted on Wednesday.    [FULL  STORY]

Professor Tony Shih is awaiting trial in Beijing for alleged involvement in activities endangering China's national security

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/11/13
By: Sophia Yang, Associated Press

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — At a routine press conference, China's Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) confirmed the detention of a renowned and outspoken China-friendly academic, Tony Shih (施正屏), citing his involvement in criminal activities endangering China's national security as the reason.

LTN broke the news earlier this month that Shih, 56, a retired associate professor at National Taiwan Normal University, had been missing since August of 2018. Shih had been engaging in cross-strait academic exchanges and reportedly took a job at China Healthcare Enterprise Group Ltd. as the chief economist.

Shih wrote commentary articles for the Taipei-based Want Want China Times between 2016 and June of 2018 before vanishing in China.

At Wednesday's routine press conference, TAO spokesman Ma Xiaoguang (馬曉光) said Shih along with Tsai Chin-shu (蔡金樹), the chairman of the South Taiwan Cross-Strait Relations Association, are both in detention awaiting trials for their engagement in activities that endanger national security.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/11/13
By: Stanley Cheung and Joseph Yeh

Hong Kong, Nov. 13 (CNA) The Taiwan government is assisting 126 Taiwanese students at a Hong Kong university to return home amid violent clashes between protesters and police on the school campus, as tensions continue to escalate in the special administrative region, an official said Wednesday.

The Taiwanese student association at Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) made a request to the Taiwan government to help the 126 students return home, Kao Ming-tsun (高銘村), acting head of Taiwan's representative office in Hong Kong, told CNA.

At 6 p.m. Wednesday, 78 Taiwanese students left the university on buses provided by his office, Kao said, adding that another 48 students had already left the campus on their own.

The 126 students were scheduled to fly back to Taiwan on a China Airlines flight departing Hong Kong at around 10 p.m., Kao said.    [FULL  STORY]