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U.S. commentator urges Trump to support Taiwan amid China’s threats

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/01/06
By: Kuan-lin Liu and Leaf Jiang

Washington, Jan. 5 (CNA) A U.S. political commentator has urged President Donald Trump to respond to China’s recent increasing aggression in the Taiwan Strait by sailing a carrier strike group near Taiwan.

In an editorial published in the Washington Examiner, a Washington-based political journalism website and weekly magazine, Tom Rogan suggested that Trump should “push back against escalating Chinese threats to Taiwan,” especially in light of the latest development across the Taiwan Strait in which China unilaterally announced it has opened four new commercial flight routes in the strait this week.

Rogan proposed three courses of action, one of which is to sail “a carrier strike group proximate to Taiwan.” That is the most military-related response that he said would “reassure Taiwan, deter China and also offer the U.S. Navy a valuable exercise in near-China operations.”    [FULL  STORY]

Information security drafts finalized

THE SPECIFICS: The drafts set out the details for an umbrella bill on information security, with the Executive Yuan prioritizing the bill for review in the next session

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 07, 2018
By: Lee Hsin-fang  /  Staff reporter

The Executive Yuan has finalized six drafts under an umbrella bill on information and communications security management, which the Cabinet hopes will be passed in the next session, sources said.

The six drafts include enforcement rules on information management, reporting and response rules on information security breaches, guidelines on the determination of responsibility for information security, evaluation guidelines on the enforcement of information safety plans, guidelines on sharing information regarding security and guidelines on commending and punishing public-sector personnel involved in information security incidents.

A clause in the bill proposing that information security authorities be allowed to search civilians’ homes in the case of a major information security breach was removed after it sparked controversy among lawmakers and the Executive Yuan conceded.
[FULL  STORY]

For Trump, is Taiwan worth a war with China?

Fox News
Date: Jan 5, 2017
By: John Moody | Fox News

Of all the crazy things going on in the world, all-out war between the United States and China seems a remote threat. Yet that is exactly what a Chinese diplomat says will happen, if President Trump sends a U.S. Navy ship to visit our ally, Taiwan.

The communist regime in Beijing regards Taiwan as a mutinous province that will — one way or another — always be part of China. It has repeatedly warned that any Taiwanese attempt to declare sovereignty would be met with military action by its 2.3 million man army to “reunify” the island and mainland.

While the United States has no formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan, it is bound by treaty to come to its aid if the island is under attack.    [FULL STORY]

Tsai: Cultural heritage can become more diverse

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-01-05

President Tsai Ing-wen says Taiwan’s culture and arts have room to become more

President Tsai Ing-wen says Taiwan’s culture and arts have room to become more diverse. (CNA file photo)

diverse. The president was speaking Friday at an awards ceremony celebrating Chinese culture and the arts.

The president said Taiwan boasts a diverse culture and the government supports the development of the arts. She said the culture ministry has enjoyed its largest ever budget over the past year. She also said Premier William Lai has made “cultural Taiwan” one of his main administrative goals. Tsai said that while traditional culture should be celebrated, new expressions reflecting modern Taiwanese society should also be encouraged.    [FULL  STORY]

Lack of tour groups causes hotel in southern Taiwan to close business

The Boutix Resort Hotel is now closed, lack of tour groups from China made business unsustainable

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/01/05
By: Duncan DeAeth, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – On Jan.4 the Boutix resort hotel in Kenting, Taiwan announced

Boutix Resort Hotel (By Central News Agency)

it was closing its doors and terminating the business.

The news comes after a particularly difficult year for the business, and during the regular slow winter season.

CNA reports that last month, the company was unable to deliver employees’ salaries on time because of funding difficulties.

Now at the beginning of a new year and a new financial quarter, the company is throwing in the towel.

While the company reported several contributing factors to the decision to close up shop, the most serious problem has been the decrease in group tours coming from China.
[FULL  STORY]

Former development minister elected as head of Taiwan’s top school

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/01/05
By: Phoenix Hsu and Ko Lin)

Taipei, Jan. 5 (CNA) Kuan Chung-ming (管中閔), former minister of the National

Kuan Chung-ming (管中閔/CNA file photo)

Development Council (NDC), has been elected Friday as the new president of National Taiwan University (NTU), one of Taiwan’s most prestigious institutes of higher education.

The ballot was casted by members of the school’s Presidential Search Committee, which currently consists of 21 members, according to committee spokesman Yuan Hsiao-wei (袁孝維).

Kuan beat four other candidates, including Chou Mei-yin (周美吟), director of the Institute of Atomic and Molecular Sciences, and Chang Ching-ray (張慶瑞), vice president of NTU’s Administrative Affairs who is also a distinguished professor of the school’s Department of Physics.

The other two candidates were Chen Ming-hsien (陳銘憲), distinguished professor of NTU’s Graduate Institute of Networking and Multimedia (GINM), and Chen Jo-shui (陳弱水), professor of the school’s Department of History.    [FULL  STORY]

Spy possibly targeted top secret army unit: reports

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 06, 2018
By: Jason Pan  /  Staff reporter

Prosecutors probing New Party members over alleged espionage activities for China are now focusing on the possible leaking of classified information about the nation’s top military special operations unit, according to a report in the Chinese-language United Daily News.

The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office is looking into allegations that New Party Youth Corps member Lin Ming-cheng (林明正) passed on personal information and contact details of soldiers in the Army Aviation and Special Forces Command’s secretive Airborne Special Service Company (高空特種勤務中隊), also known as the “Liang Shan Special Operations Company” (涼山特勤隊) to former Chinese student Zhou Hongxu (周泓旭), who has been convicted of doing intelligence work for China, the newspaper said yesterday.

The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau’s national security branch summoned a Liang Shan company officer for questioning, the report said, adding that he had admitted to being a friend of Lin.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan’s Gender Wage Gap is Decreasing, but Not Uniformly

The News Lens
Date: 2018/01/04
By: Morley James Weston

On paper, Taiwan’s gender wage gap isn’t half bad; on par with many developed nations

Credit: AP Photo / Wally Santana

and much better than Japan, Korea or China.

A deeper look, however, shows these gains leave many industries behind.

The total gender pay gap in Taiwan was 14 percent in 2016 according to the Ministry of Labor, with the average Taiwanese man earning NT$308 (US$10.40) per hour compared to NT$265 for the average woman.

More detailed statistics from the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) under the Executive Yuan show a 16 percent pay gap. These numbers only represent payrolled employees as part of DGBAS’s accounting operation; self-employed citizens are not counted.    [FULL  STORY]

Massive moon

Taiwan Today
Date: January 04, 2018

The biggest full moon of the year looms large in the sky Jan. 2 in Taoyuan City, northern Taiwan. A similarly impressive lunar spectacle is expected to occur later this month. (CNA)    [SOURCE]

Civil servants of New Taipei wish everyone a wonderful Year of the Dog!

The bi-monthly magazine of the Civil Affairs Bureau features 10 models representing the bureau

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/01/04
By: Duncan DeAeth, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – To welcome the upcoming Year of the Dog, The New Taipei Civil

Image from 保庇新北市 Jan. 2018

Affairs Bureau has published the New Year’s edition of their bi-monthly publication “Looking After New Taipei” (保庇新北市).

For the cover of the magazine, the Civil Affairs Bureau selected ten lovely civil servants to model cheongsam (or qipao), in the spirit of the upcoming holidays.

The director of the Civil Affairs Bureau said that the staff at the bureau are young and energetic, and they hoped to express their beauty and energy to the people of New Taipei City.

The ten stunning ladies, wearing the elegant and classic cheongsam, are pictured in with bright smiles and carrying messages of well-wishes and auspicious blessings for the coming year.    [FULL  STORY]