Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/12/06
By: Lin Chang-shun and Ko Lin

Taipei, Dec. 6 (CNA) Two American suspects have been indicted in the brutal murder earlier this year of a Canadian citizen in New Taipei, the city’s District Prosecutors Office said Thursday.

Oren Shlomo Mayer, 37, and Ewart Odane Bent, 30, are accused of killing Canadian Ramgahan Sanjay Ryan and dismembering the body, which was found on a riverbank under Zhongzheng Bridge in the city’s Yonghe District on Aug. 22.

Mayer fled Taiwan after the murder but was arrested at an apartment in Cainta in the Philippines on Sept. 5, following a tipoff by Taiwanese police, and he was sent back to Taiwan on Sept. 17.

Bent, meanwhile, was arrested by police in Taiwan Aug. 25.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 07, 2018
By: Shelley Shan  /  Staff reporter

Lawmakers yesterday asked the Tourism Bureau to stop funding the construction of artificial tourism facilities and focus on helping local governments attract visitors with unique cultural attractions and specialties.

The nation has many similar artificial tourism facilities, which people often visit only once because of their lack of originality, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) said at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee to review the bureau’s budget for next year.

The nation has 80 villages decorated with colorful murals, 13 skywalks and four glass churches, Lin said.

These places might have drawn huge crowds initially, but public interest quickly fades, he said.    [FULL  STORY]

Your daily bulletin of Taiwan news, courtesy of ICRT.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/12/05
By: International Community Radio Taipei (ICRT)

Premier William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday the Cabinet has mapped out a blueprint for making Taiwan bilingual by 2030 in a bid to enhance the country’s international competitiveness.

According to Lai, the National Development Council (NDC) has be asked to compile a blueprint promoting the use of English and will submit the report during a Cabinet meeting tomorrow.

The government has said the policy is aimed at encouraging the study of English and boosting English proficiency to improve the country’s competitiveness.

Premier William Lai says the Cabinet has a roadmap for making Taiwan into a bilingual country.    [FULL  STORY]

The ads feature the mountain town of Jiufen and tea gardens in Taiwan

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/12/05
By: Huang Tzu-ti, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Two eye-catching advertisements featuring landscapes of Taiwan’s tea gardens and the tourist attraction of Jiufen (九份) have been put up at the Gare de l’Est, or Station of the East, one of the major terminals in Paris, as part of Tourism Bureau’s effort to lure European visitors.

Taiwan has seen a total of 43,257 arrivals from France between January and October this year, a 12.82 percent year-on-year rise, making the country the third-largest European source of inbound tourism, which can translate to considerable commercial potential, according to the Taipei Tourism Office in Frankfurt, Germany.

With the train station serving as a transit hub for a significant number of commuters and visitors traveling to other European countries, the ads will help market Taiwan beyond borders, the Office believes.

The ads, hanging high in the lobby of the station at conspicuous places, read “Discover the unique culture and charming towns of Taiwan,” and “Experience the unforgettable encounters” in French, reported CNA.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/12/05
By: Lee Shu-hua and Flor Wang

Taipei, Dec. 5 (CNA) Former President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said Wednesday that any

unification between Taiwan and China must be peaceful and democratic, and that his recent “three noes” proposal is in line with the terms of the Republic of China (Taiwan) Constitution.

“If Taiwan and China are to be united, it must be through a peaceful and democratic process and on a gradual basis,” Ma said at a seminar hosted by Soochow University, warning that “haste makes waste.”

Asked why he made the “three noes” proposal — which marked a departure from his previous “no unification, no independence and no use of force” stance regarding cross-Taiwan Strait ties when he served as president between 2008 and 2016 — Ma said the proposal was raised because of the changing relationship between the two sides.
[FULL  STORY]

Cary Huang says Taiwan’s referendum last month makes it the undisputed champion of direct democracy in the region, with inevitable implications on its domestic politics and already tense cross-strait relations

South China Morning Post 
Date: 05 December, 2018 
By: Cary Huang

Compared with the mature democracies in the liberal West, Taiwan is still an infant given that it only held its first full multiparty legislative elections in 1992 and the first direct presidential election in 1996. Nevertheless, the self-ruled island has made strides in its democratic development and has now become the undisputed champion of direct democracy in Asia.

In local elections held on November 24, Taiwanese exercised their right to cast their ballot on 10 divisive issues, ranging from same-sex marriage and LGBT rights, to nuclear energy and food safety. It was one of the most extensive referendums held in the world.

The legislature enacted the Referendum Act in 1993, granting citizens the rights to both initiate new laws and repeal existing ones through holding a referendum. While several island-wide and local referendums have been held in the past, none succeeded, as the law contained many hurdles, including high thresholds and strict procedures.

Revisions to the law last year led to the roll-out of one of the most citizen-friendly systems in the world. The new law reduced the required number of signatures in the first stage of proposing a referendum from 0.1 per cent to 0.01 per cent of the electorate, and from 5 per cent to 1.5 per cent in the second stage of collecting supporting signatures. This is a lower threshold than in Switzerland, the world’s haven of direct democracy, where 100,000 signatures, or about 2 per cent of eligible voters, are needed to trigger a citizen-initiated referendum.    [FULL  STORY]

Your daily bulletin of Taiwan news, courtesy of ICRT.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/12/04
By: International Community Radio Taipei (ICRT)

Central Election Commission (CEC) Acting Chairman Chen Chao-jien (陳朝建) said his office will not make any final decision until June of next year as to whether the next presidential and legislative elections will be held separately or on the same day.

The statement comes as lawmakers continue to debate the commission’s operating procedures after the recent local elections saw long lines at polling stations and some voters had to wait up to three hours to cast their ballots.

According to Chen, if the two elections are held separately, the legislative elections could take place in Nov. 2019 and the presidential election could be held in March 2020.

If the two elections are to be held together, election day would be sometime in Jan. 2020.
[FULL  STORY]

A great city must have an art museum: New Taipei City Mayor Chu

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/12/04
By: Teng Pei-ju, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The New Taipei Museum of Arts (NTMOA) held a groundbreaking ceremony on Tuesday in the Yingge District. It is scheduled to open at the end of 2022.

“A great city must have an art museum”, said New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) at the ceremony. He anticipates that the museum, with the Yingge Ceramics Museum in proximity and a new MRT line that will be completed in 2023, will further contribute to the development of cultural activities and tourism in the north of Taiwan.

NTMOA is a combination of innovation and design which integrates harmoniously into the surrounding environment, said Chu.

The 2.5-hectare NTMOA is designed by renowned Taiwanese architect Kris Yao (姚仁喜), who took inspiration from the vast common reeds growing along the waterside of the Dahan River near the museum, and came out with the design of numerous uneven tubes covering the museum building.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/12/04
By: Yeh Su-ping and Ko Lin

Taipei, Dec. 4 (CNA) President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) wrote on her Facebook page

Tuesday that Taiwan has the ability and willingness to help combat climate change, amid an ongoing climate conference being held in Poland.

The 24th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), or COP24, is being held in Katowice, Poland from Dec. 2-14. The UNFCCC is an international treaty aimed at stabilizing the concentration of greenhouse gases and preventing them interfering with the global climate system.

Echoing a campaign by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) spotlighting the nation’s strengths as a global partner in combating climate change and promoting sustainable development, President Tsai said Taiwan has the ability and desire to participate in the UNFCCC.

“To our friends at the international venue, Taiwan attaches great importance to the issue of climate change, and it is willing to work with everyone to combat the challenges,” she said.     [SOURCE]