Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/10/13
By: Elaine Hou and Romulo Huang

Taipei, Oct. 13 (CNA) A photo exhibition organized by the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO), the Philippines representative office in Taiwan, opened in Taipei Saturday, displaying the 50 best photos selected in a recent competition.

The exhibition, which is being held at the Red House in Ximending until Oct. 21, is the first of its kind in Taiwan, presenting images of the natural landscape, culture and people of the Philippines, according to MECO.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Philippine representative to Taiwan Angelito Tan Banayo said he hoped the exhibition would help attract more Taiwanese tourists to the Philippines.

Ruwen Verdaguer, an employee of Philippine Airlines who won the second prize overall in the MECO photo competition in May, said it took him almost an entire night to capture the perfect shot of the Basco Lighthouse.    [FULL  STORY]

Chinese emissaries are emerging as world leaders in the field of simulated falling down and whinging.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/10/12
By: James Baron

A series of ridiculous incidents picked out by Taipei-based Swedish journalist Jojje Olsson highlight a disturbing trend that has emerged over the last few weeks. With a couple of Hong Kong security guards becoming the latest to put Neymar to shame with their theatrics, Olsson observed on Facebook that falling to the ground and/or (literally) screaming blue murder seems to have become a new fad among Chinese tourists, journalists and now, even, security personnel.

China’s lame attempts to hoist Western nations with their own petards on human rights issues are nothing new, but a physical dimension has now been added, turning what had hitherto been limited to Ionescoesque subversions of language into a fully blown Theatre of Cruelty.

The recent hat-trick of own goals kicked off with the ludicrous antics of a family of Chinese tourists who were ejected from the lobby of a Stockholm hostel. They showed up at midnight with a booking for the next day, and when they were told they couldn’t crash on the couches until check-in (some 14-odd hours later), they did so anyway.

According to one commentator on the comments thread of Olsson’s blog on the incident, the son apparently went on a little late-night ramble (funny how he later spoke of the family’s terror at being exposed to the dangers of the Stockholm streets at night) and picked up another Chinese tourist at a neighboring hotel. He brought her back to the hostel to join the gang in loafing in the lobby, which appears to have been the straw that broke the camel’s back.    [FULL  STORY]

They will provide assistance in agriculture, health, medicine, among other areas

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/10/12
By: Huang Tzu-ti, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A total of 70 alternative military service conscripts will be dispatched to 18 countries to provide professional assistance starting Oct. 22 as part of Taiwan’s foreign aid program, according to the International Cooperation and Development Fund (ICDF).

The conscripts possess expertise and have received relevant training in 21 areas spanning agriculture, horticulture, aquaculture, animal husbandry, public health, nutrition, industrial design, Spanish, human resources management, medical care, and others.

The 18 destinations are the Marshall Islands, Fiji, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Palau, Kiribati, Nauru, eSwatini, Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Haiti, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, Paraguay, and Ecuador.

The youths had been enlisted in a tense four-week training program starting mid-September to better equip them with the skills required to serve ten months in a foreign environment, noted ICDF. Courses include language skills (English, French, or Spanish), international etiquette, disaster prevention, cooking, and self-defense skills.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/10/12
By: Shih Hsiu-chuan 

Taipei, Oct. 12 (CNA) Ample opportunity exists for Taiwan to cooperate with countries in South Asia in the areas of entrepreneurship, public health and women’s empowerment, a former United States official specializing in the region said in Taipei on Friday.

Speaking at the Yushan Forum, Atul Keshap, vice chancellor of the College of International Security Affairs at National Defense University in the United States, offered a number of suggestions on initiatives Taiwan can take to engage with South Asian countries.

For example, Taiwan can collaborate with Bangladesh to expand into electronics manufacturing, partner with Sri Lanka to develop its information technology sector, or collaborate with India to develop high value/high trust supply chains, Keshap said.

“The U.S. can be a partner in these efforts through the Global Cooperation and Training Framework and there are no doubt many more avenues for mutually beneficial cooperation,” said Keshap, former U.S. ambassador to Sri Lanka from 2015 to 2018.
[FULL  STORY]

ELECTORAL CALCULATIONS: The DPP dropping plans to build a coal-fired power plant that it has vigorously defended shows that ‘everything is about elections,’ the KMT said

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 13, 2018
By: Stacy Hsu  /  Staff reporter

Premier William Lai’s (賴清德) flip-flopping on the planned coal-fired Shenao Power Plant

project shows that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration is not taking its energy policy seriously, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) said yesterday, urging voters to teach the DPP a lesson at the polls on Nov. 24.

“With merely 40 days left before the elections, Lai’s decision to suspend the Shenao project is not only clearly the result of electoral calculations, but is also a slap in his own face,” KMT Culture and Communications Committee deputy director-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said in a statement.

Lai yesterday told a plenary legislative session that as the third liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Taoyuan’s Guantang Industrial Park (觀塘工業區) would generate sufficient energy after its completion, he would back the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ decision to halt the Shenao project.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-10-11

The Ministry of Culture has produced a series of videos called The Soul of the Craftsman.

On Thursday, a profile of craftsmen who restore art at the National Palace Museum was released in their honor

Lai Ching Tsung is a second generation restoration artist. He has patiently restored art at the National Palace Museum since 1974.

He said there is a sense of achievement when you restore a historical work of art. “We treat each work of art like it’s alive, like it’s a part of our lives.”    [FULL  STORY]

comicbook.com
Date: October 11, 2018
By ROBERT WORKMAN

Ever since its release on Nintendo 3DS and Switch a little while back (following its successful run on Wii U), Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker has been working its way back into our hearts with its fun puzzles and adorable characters. But apparently, a rating group in Taiwan felt this might be a wee bit much for younger gamers.

Based on this report from Nintendo Life, Nintendo’s official distributor in Taiwan have slapped the game with a Mature rating sticker. And that’s odd, considering that the game’s official box art shows it as being an acceptable title for ages 6+. You can see the image for yourself below, taken from Weblink’s store page.

Obviously this appears to be an example of misbranding, unless someone took Stormy Daniels’ comments about Donald Trump and comparing something of his to Toad to heart. Even then, the game is innocent as all get out — and yes, Toad wears his hat all the time.

Nintendo Life posted this on Twitter and got all sorts of wild reactions from its audience, as you can see from the tweets below:    [FULL  STORY]

Incident happened during evening rush hour on busy Nanjing East Road

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/10/11
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Three people died after an unlicensed driver smashed his car on to a sidewalk in a busy shopping area during the evening rush hour, media reports said Thursday.

There were conflicting versions of the incident, but media reported that the driver who caused the accident was about 21 years old and held no driver’s license, even though he was at the wheel of a rental car.

While some sources spoke of an accident, others said the man had been racing his Toyota against a white car on the bus lane on Nanjing East Road section 4, across the road from the Taipei Arena and close to Dunhua North Road, at around 5 p.m.

He lost control of his car, which hit the driver of a blue truck and his wife as they were loading recycling material, and a security guard at a nearby building before coming to a standstill between a pillar and the wall of a shop, the Apple Daily reported.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/10/11
By: Shih Hsiu-chuan

Taipei, Oct. 11 (CNA) Kailash Satyarthi, a renowned leader in the global movement to end

exploitation against children is seeking to engage Taiwan in his two major initiatives to “globalize compassion,” a move well received by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).

Satyarthi met with Tsai on Thursday on his second visit to Taiwan to advocate two growing global movements “Laureates and Leaders for Children” and “100 Million for 100 Million,” both initiated in 2016 after he was awarded the Nobel Peace prize in 2014.

At a press conference Thursday afternoon, Satyarthi said he has spoken about the two projects with Tsai at their meeting earlier that day, and “she is very supportive and positive.”

Laureates and Leaders for Children was launched two years ago in India with the aim to “build a strong moral platform” for Nobel laureates and world leaders to fight for the wellbeing of children, said Satyarthi, who shared the peace prize with Pakistani teenager Malala Yousafzai.    [FULL  STORY]