Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/10/18
By: Pan Tzi-yu and Ko Lin

Taipei, Oct. 18 (CNA) Political activities, including campaigns that seek partisan support or promotion, could soon be banned in national parks across Taiwan, the Construction and Planning Agency announced Thursday.

In a statement, the agency which is under the Ministry of the Interior, said in order to ensure a safe and comfortable environment for visitors, activities promoting any political ideologies could soon be banned in Taiwan’s national parks.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 19, 2018
By: Chen Yu-fu and Jonathan Chin  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer

The Central Election Commission yesterday disqualified 15 city and county councilor

hopefuls for having run afoul of the law or electoral procedures, including China Unification Promotion Party member Lee Cheng-lung (李承龍), who in June was convicted of vandalizing a statue of a Japanese engineer in Tainan last year.

The commission made the announcement in a press statement, adding that it had finished vetting all candidates in the Nov. 24 nine-in-one elections.

All 25 mayoral candidates in the six special municipalities and all 68 running for mayor or commissionership in other localities have qualified, the commission said.

However, three of the 751 city councilor candidates in the special municipalities were stripped of their candidacy, it said.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-10-17

Taiwan has been ranked the world’s 13th most competitive economy in the World

Economic Forum’s 2018 economic competitiveness report.

The report surveyed the strengths and weaknesses of 140 economies around the world. Taiwan ranked fourth among Asia-Pacific economies, after Singapore, Japan, and Hong Kong.

In a Facebook post Tuesday, Premier William Lai hailed Taiwan’s performance in the report. He noted that Taiwan ranked among the top ten economies in 18 of the 98 criteria used to evaluate competitiveness.    [FULL  STORY]

What’s the difference between prostitution and sugaring? After all, both involve sex for money.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/10/17
By: Jules Quartly

Not only was prostitution the world’s first profession, it will probably be the last one, too.

Online sugar babies and daddies, with savvy website owners effectively acting as pimps, would appear to be one of the latest iterations of this ubiquitous business and one that is growing in popularity in Taiwan.

Technically, sugaring could be considered as another import from the United States, where it is popular as a dating service for students, who are said to comprise 42 percent of the babes on SeekingArrangement.

Taiwan-sugar.net is the number one website locally and promises confidentiality, privacy, safety and “quality.” Naturally, the girls are all marketed as beauties and the boys as “noble” and “gentle.” Butterflies, bucolic backgrounds and dappled sunlight, a teen biting her lip or wearing a crown of flowers: these are the kind of images that draw men to the site. It all shies as far away as possible from the nuts and bolts of what is really going on.

One of the babes on the site, a pouting Tang Tang (“Sweety”), is a 19-year-old student from Taipei. She claims to come from a single-parent family (indicating financial need) and has worked since she was young to support herself (subtext, she’s not a hustler). She thanks her sugar daddy for helping her get through college (by paying for sex), where she studied literature and music (she’s classy).    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwanese democracy pioneer Chiang Wei-shui founded Taiwan Cultural Association on Oct. 17, 1921, with the date designated as Taiwan Cultural Day 80 years later

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/10/17
By: Sophia Yang, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – To celebrate Taiwan Culture Day as well as the 97th anniversary of Taiwan Cultural Association (TCA) which paved way to Taiwan’s democracy movement and national awareness campaigns, the EasyCard Corp. on Wednesday unveiled the smart cards featuring portraits of TCA founder Chiang Wei-shui (蔣渭水).

TCA was established by Chiang Wei-shui on October 17, 1921, during the period of Japanese occupation, and took a leading role in early political movements in 20th century Taiwan. The organization was known for pushing forward a movement that demanded the establishment of a Taiwanese parliament in the late-1920s. Chiang himself founded the country’s first modern political party and published the first Taiwanese newspaper.

In 2001, then-President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) designated Oct. 17 as Taiwan Culture Day to commemorate the movement led by Chiang and TCA.

The EasyCard Corp. said each Chiang Wei-shui EasyCard set contains two cards, not for sale, and is available through donation of NT$1,000 or higher to the Chiang Wei-shui Cultural Foundation or a one-time purchase of I-Mei Foods products that exceeds NT$2,000.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/10/17
By: Miao Zong-han and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, Oct. 17 (CNA) The Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) is willing to invite the head

of its counterpart in China to visit Taiwan this year, as 2018 is a milestone for the two organizations, a spokeswoman for the SEF said Wednesday.

Although dialogue between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait has been halted since May 2016, the SEF remains open to exchanges with China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS), said SEF Deputy Secretary-General Kuan An-lu (管安露) at a press briefing.

Therefore, the SEF is hoping that ARATS president Zhang Zhijun will visit Taiwan this year, which is the 20th anniversary of a historic meeting in Shanghai between the first heads of the two semi-official organizations, Kuan said.

She also said that SEF Chairwoman Chang Hsiao-yueh (張小月) would like to visit China, if there is an opportunity.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 18, 2018
By: Lee I-chia  /  Staff reporter

Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) election campaign office yesterday unveiled its mobile

campaign headquarters, which it said would join a fun fair in Beitou District’s (北投) Qixing Park (七星公園) on Saturday.

The announcement prompted criticism from his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) rival, Legislator Pasuya Yao (姚文智), who accused Ko of copying his idea for a mobile campaign office and the Taipei City Government of being unfair for rejecting his proposal to hold a campaign activity in a park.

Less than a month before the nine-in-one elections on Nov. 24, Ko’s campaign office showcased its “mobile campaign headquarters” — a 26-tonne truck painted in light blue, featuring a large letter “K” and Ko’s campaign slogan “keep it possible.”

The truck can unfold into a makeshift stage for events.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-10-16

The vice president has returned from his visit to the Vatican, saying the Holy See has

affirmed Taiwan as an important partner.

Vice President Chen Chien-jen arrived back at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Tuesday following his five-day visit to the Vatican.

The vice president was among those present as Pope Francis announced seven new saints at a ceremony on Sunday, including the late pope Paul VI. Chen said some 100,000 people gathered in St Peter’s Square for the canonization ceremony.    [FULL  STORY]

One Taiwan mountaintop station commands views of the Taiwan Strait, while a major radio facility in Hong Kong is believed to be in use by the PLA

Asia Times
Date: October 16, 2018
By Asia Times Staff

The Taiwanese military said it is now able to keep close tabs on deployments by its mainland counterpart, using high-altitude radar surveillance stations perched on the top of the island’s highest mountains.

For instance, the Hsiaohsuehshan radar station in the Hsuehshan Range in central Taiwan, which has an average elevation of 3,000 meters, now plays a key role in guarding the island’s airspace facing mainland China’s Fujian province.

The peak of the Hsuehshan Range reaches 3,886 meters and straddles two counties of Taichung and Miaoli as the second highest mountain in Taiwan and in East Asia. The peak is also visible in good weather from hills near Taipei.    [FULL  STORY]