Page Three

Urban Nomad continues to push the envelope at Taipei’s Tiger Mountain

A grand time for artists and audience alike

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/04/16
By: Te’Qin Windham, Taiwan News, Staff Reporter

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) –This past weekend, Urban Nomad Opening Freakout exceeded expectations in a celebration of indie music and art.

Urban Nomad Opening Freakout was not going to be stopped by the cold and rainy weather over the weekend of April 14-15. More than 1,200 people converged on Tiger Mountain between Saturday and Sunday, despite the lack of sunshine.

Samantha Panda (American aerialist/acrobat/contortionist) captivated the audience with her aerial performance. Other types of performances also awed the people, such as fire dances, a sword performance, and other aerialists.

“People really seem to enjoy it. It’s a cool vibe here. Everyone is into artsy stuff. When you’re at an arts festival, there’s a lot more appreciation [for our shows].”
[FULL  STORY]

3-in-1 transportation pass in Greater Taipei launched

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/04/16
By: Liang Pei-chi and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, April 16 (CNA) A new pass for unlimited rides on public transportation systems in

CNA file photo

Taipei and New Taipei over a 30-day period went into use Monday after advance sales of the special ticket fell short of expectations.

The 3-in-1 “All Pass Tickets” cost NT$1,280 (US$43.56) and allow commuters unlimited rides on mass rapid transit trains and city buses and free 30-minute YouBike rides in the Greater Taipei area for a month.

The pass first went on sale on March 12, and 123,433 were sold during the advance sale period through April 15, just over half of the Taipei Department of Transportation’s goal of an average 236,000 passes sold a month.

Department official Wang Yin-chu (王湮筑) said it was still too early to determine if the pass will prove popular or not because commuters may have not yet figured out if the pass is a good deal for them.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan could become hyper-aged within eight years

SILVER TIDE: Matsu, administered as Lienchiang County, is an outlier in the data as the only subdivision with more elderly men than women and the smallest share of seniors

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 17, 2018
By: Cheng Hung-ta and Jake Chung  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer

Taiwan has officially become an “aged society,” as more than 14 percent of its population is older than 65, while estimates show that the nation could become a “hyper-aged society” within eight years, the Ministry of the Interior said.

Chiayi, Yunlin and Nantou counties are the three “oldest” counties and cities, while Lienchiang County, Hsinchu City and Taoyuan are the three “youngest” counties and cities, the ministry said.

From 1993 to March this year — within a span of 25 years — Taiwan changed from an aging society into an aged society, it said, adding that within that time frame, the number of elderly people — those aged 65 or older — grew from 1.49 million people, or 7.10 percent of the nation’s population, to 3.31 million people, or 14.05 percent.

The National Development Council estimates that within eight years, the elderly population will exceed 20 percent of the total population, the ministry said, adding that Taiwan would join the ranks of other hyper-aged societies such as Japan, South Korea, Singapore and certain European countries.    [FULL  STORY]

NGO’s urge geothermal development at Shenao coal-fired plant, Taiwan

Think Geoenergy 
Date: 15 Apr 2018 
By: Alexander Richter

Taiwanese NGOs urge the government of Taiwan to stop planning coal-fired facilities at

Train tracks near Shenao, Taiwan (source: flickr/ billy1125, creative commons)

the Shenao power plant. With its closeness to the volcanic Keelung Islet, there is potential for geothermal development.

As reported by Taipei Times in Taiwan, the Taiwanese government is being urged to “stop planning coal-fired facilities at the Shenao Power Plant and instead consider a geothermal energy plant, environmentalist Kao Cheng-yan told an annual meeting of Taiwanese non-governmental organizations (NGOs) this weekend.

This year’s meeting, the 15th of its kind, was titled “Sustainable Taiwan, Civil Actions” and co-organized by the Life Conservationist Association, the Taiwan Environmental Protection Union and other environmental NGOs.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan Amid Terrible Trade Winds

The New York Times
Date: April 15, 2018
By: Heng

Credit Heng

Taiwan and its economy are in an increasingly tricky position as President Trump applies pressure toward Beijing over trade.    [SOURCE]

 

 

Three fraud suspects from Taiwan detained in Vietnam

Taiwan News  
Date: 2018/04/15
By:  Central News Agency

Hanoi, April 15 (CNA) Eight fraud suspects, including three from Taiwan, were detained in Vietnam on Saturday for their involvement in online telecommunications scams, Vietnamese media reported Sunday.

The identity of the three Taiwanese suspects have yet to be made public, according to Vietnamese media.

The reports said members of the fraud ring have swindled 10 billion dong (US$440,000) from Vietnamese people since February by posing as Vietnamese government officials.

Vietnamese police have stepped up their investigation of the case, suspecting that the group arrested may be a part of a bigger cross-border fraud ring active in Vietnam.

Taiwan fishing vessel detained in Indonesian waters

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/04/15
By: Jay Chou, Kuo Chih-hsuan and William Yen

Jakarta, April 15 (CNA) A Taiwan registered fishing vessel was stopped and detained by

Image courtesy of the public

Indonesian authorities on suspicion of incorrect documents while traveling through the Strait of Malacca in the Southeast Asian country’s territorial waters Sunday.

The Da Wei No. 13, based in Donggang, Pingtung County, was detained and investigated by Indonesian authorities, the country’s customs officials said.

Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, immediately upon receiving information of the case, has informed the country’s representative office in Indonesia to look into the matter and to make sure the ship’s crew members are safe and properly treated, the ministry’s spokesman Andrew Lee (李憲章) said.

Earlier, a staff member of a fishermen organization’s radio station based in Pingtung claimed that the vessel was intercepted by the Indonesian military.    [FULL  STORY]

Flight diversions on M503 did not see incursions: CAA

SAFETY: Both carriers should submit reports on the incident, the Civil Aeronautics Administration said, adding that a communication mechanism is needed

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 16, 2018
By: Shelley Shan  /  Staff reporter

Two passenger jets on Thursday last week diverted from the Chinese air routes that they were following to avoid bad weather systems, the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) said yesterday, adding that they did not enter Kinmen air space.

Flights KA805, operated by Cathay Dragon, and SQ825, operated by Singapore Airlines, were forced to divert from their planned routes and fly to the terminal approach control zone near Kinmen, the administration said.

Before the diversions, KA805 was operating on China’s southbound M503 route, while SQ825 was operating on China’s A470 route. Both air routes are used by flights connecting China’s Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta.

The agency said it would ask both carriers to submit comprehensive reports on the incident.    [FULL  STORY]

WILL CHINA INVADE TAIWAN? XI JINPING’S PLANS FOR ISLAND NATION MAY NOT INCLUDE FULL-SCALE WAR

Newsweek
Date: 4/13/18 AT
By: Christina Zhao 

Over the past year, China has ramped up military drills around Taiwan, sparking fears of an imminent hostile takeover.

In 2017, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) carried out 16 drills near the self-governed island. Beijing said the exercises were routine but reiterated that it will not tolerate any attempt by the island to declare independence.

Chinese President Xi Jinping echoed the same sentiment at the National People’s Congress (NPC) last month, where he warned Taiwan that all attempts to split China would be “doomed to fail” and will invite “the punishment of history.” Xi’s speech came shortly after President Donald Trump signed the Taiwan Travel Act, which allows for and encourages high-level official visits between Taipei and the U.S., aimed at deepening ties between the two lands.

Despite China’s clear designs on the island it lost when Mao Zedong’s nationalist enemies fled there when he declared the founding of Communist China in 1949, it’s unlikely that Beijing would want to achieve reunification by means of a full-scale war. And even if it did, the mainland isn’t guaranteed to win it.    [FULL  STORY]

Asia’s Bastion of Free Speech? Move Aside, Hong Kong, It’s Taiwan Now.

The New York Times
Date: April 14, 2018
By: Chris Horton and Austin Ramzy

A view of Taipei, the capital of Taiwan, which has emerged as one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies, drawing the political dissidents and rights groups that once naturally gravitated to Hong Kong. CreditLam Yik Fei for The New York Times

TAIPEI, Taiwan — For decades under British rule and after its handover to China, Hong Kong was a bastion of free speech in the Chinese-speaking world. International media and rights groups established their headquarters there, and it served as a haven for political fugitives, from Tiananmen student leaders to Edward Snowden.

In recent years, however, as Beijing has tightened its grip on the former colony, Hong Kong has been increasingly supplanted by Taiwan, a self-governing island that has emerged as one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies. Taiwan now draws the sorts of dissidents, rights groups and events that once naturally gravitated to Hong Kong.

A human rights film festival that was held in Hong Kong last year will take place this year in Taiwan. A Hong Kong book publisher who was abducted by mainland Chinese agents two years ago and later released will reopen his bookstore in Taiwan.

Last year, Reporters Without Borders announced that it would open its first Asian bureau in Taipei, the Taiwanese capital, after considering but rejecting Hong Kong.
[FULL  STORY]