Taipei Times
Date: Feb 27, 2018
By: Wu Hsin-tien and Huang Yi-ching  /  Staff reporters

The nation’s agriculture sector faces a chronic shortage of workers, the Council of Agriculture (COA) said.

Of the total shortage of nearly 280,000, approximately 267,000 workers are needed for temporary jobs on farms and 15,000 are needed for routine work, data compiled by the council showed.

Taichung and Miaoli, Changhua, Yunlin and Nantou counties are troubled by a more serious shortage, with about 147,000 workers needed on farms, 54.9 percent of the total shortage, COA Deputy Director-General Lee Tui-chih (李退之) said.

Tainan and Kaohsiung, and Chiayi and Pingtung counties lack about 94,000 farm workers, while the north and the east lack about 13,000 workers, he said.    [FULL  STORY]

Asia Times
Date: February26, 2018 
By: Stephen Bryen

The time has come for the United States to rebuild and rethink its approach to Taiwan’s defense and security. China is becoming too provocative and aggressive, not only in the South China Sea, but also in the Taiwan straits, where it is starting to encroach on well-established red lines. It has also been carrying out military flights around the Taiwanese periphery, then heading as far as Japan, sending a message to both countries. It is not a message of peace and cooperation.

Over the years – and no matter under what administration – support for Taiwan in the United States has been, at best, mediocre. The supply of mostly obsolete defense hardware, the long delays in providing equipment, the stilted and mostly non-functional military-to-military relationship and America’s reluctance to respond to Chinese provocations: these factors have left Taiwan largely on its own.

I was in Taiwan during the 1996 Taiwan Straits Crisis, when Chinese missiles and landing ships were conducting an exercise that directly threatened Taiwan. I remember just how long it took before Bill Clinton finally sent US aircraft carriers to the area, forcing China to stand down. It was frightening, and a very close call. Taiwan had very little chance without US support – even then, when its air force and navy were stronger than now. (I was part of a three-man unofficial delegation that included former CIA head James Woolsey and Admiral Bud Edney. Later I would serve for five years as a Commissioner on the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission.)    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-02-25

1) One of the top stories from this past week was a Cabinet reshuffle announced on Friday.

Presidential Office Secretary-General Joseph Wu will replace David Lee to become foreign minister. National Security Council (NSC) Secretary-General Yen Teh-fa will take over as defense minister.

Taiwan’s new top China policymaker will be National Taiwan University Professor Chen Ming-tung, who will head the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC). An expert on cross-strait policy and exchanges, Chen is no stranger at the MAC. He has previously served as the council’s minister, from April, 2007 to May, 2008.    [FULL  STORY]

Formosa News
Date: 2018/02/25

Betel nut, also known as areca, has been grown in Taiwan for thousands of years. A mild stimulant, it’s actually a berry, used in rituals by indigenous Taiwanese peoples. In the 80s and 90s, chewing betel nut became a habit of builders as Taiwan’s concrete jungles sprang up, leading to soaring prices and plantations proliferating across the island.
But chewing betel nut also leads to oral cancer, and the plantations have a detrimental effect on soil quality. For a decade, the government has been trying to CURB betel nut farming. How much headway has it made? Let’s find out in our Sunday special report.

The farm worker extends his reaping hook, grasps the betel nut, and pulls down a bunch with one sharp tug.

Chao Chung-chuan has been growing betel nut for over 30 years, and is the largest areca supplier in Taiwan, with an areca palm plantation extending over 100 hectares. For him, betel nut is green gold.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 26, 2018
By: Chen Wei-han  /  Staff reporter

The Cabinet is to prioritize economic bills, an anticipated revision to the Mining Act (礦業法) and military pension reform during the new legislative session beginning tomorrow, placing more than 100 bills at the top of the agenda.

The bills also include revisions to the Company Act (公司法), the Urban Renewal Act (都市更新條例) and tax reduction proposals, among others, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said yesterday.

There are also government budgets, appointments and restructuring bills to be considered, and the exact list of the priority bills would not be finalized until the coordination meeting between the Executive Yuan and DPP Caucus, which is to be held today, Ker said.

Military pension reform and economic proposals — such as revisions of the urban renewal and company acts, which would streamline building reconstruction process and improve compliance with measures against money laundering and flexibility in company management — might be urgent, but while “people like to ask which bills are of the highest importance, personnel appointments and budgets are also very important,” Ker said.     [FULL  STORY]