The Hakka Affairs Council of Taiwan is hosting a Hakka Expo this week at Taipei’s Nangang Exhibition Center

Taiwan News 
Date: 2017/12/04
By: Duncan DeAeth, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The Hakka Affairs Council of Taiwan is hosting a Hakka Expo and cultural fair this

week at Taipei’s Nangang Exhibition Center.

The event opened on Saturday Dec. 2 with a performance of a special song by the well-known Hakka singer Urban Cat. Javelin thrower and gold medal athlete, Zheng Zhaocun was also at Saturday’s event to officially kick off the 9 day event.

The expo, which is free to enter, is intended to showcase the beauty of Hakka culture, including food, crafts, textiles and agricultural products.

At this year’s expo, the Hakka Affairs Council wants to emphasize a spirit of harmony between the people and the land, which is reflected in many aspects of traditional Hakka culture.

The Expo is divided into a few different areas, each one highlighting an important aspect of Hakka culture and lifestyle. In one area, exhibits showcase the relationship of Hakka people to the land they have cultivated for generations, examining their industrious history of agriculture and famous terraced tea farms.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/12/04
By: Huang Li-yun and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, Dec. 4 (CNA) Police in Taiwan and Singapore have jointly cracked a Taichung-based telecom fraud

ring that had swindled about NT$440 million (US$15 million) from 119 ethnic Chinese in Singapore and Malaysia, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said Sunday.

The fraud ring, led by a 30-year-old Taiwanese man surnamed Chen, targeted mainly Singaporeans, the bureau said at a press conference.

A total of six members were arrested for their suspected involvement in the scheme, in which they made phone calls from a telecom center in Taichung posing as Singaporean police and prosecutors to defraud victims, said CIB officer Wu Dong-wen (吳東文).

During a raid of the call center, police also seized seven mobile phones, tablets and wireless routers.
[FULL  STORY]

The Londn Economic
Date: December 3, 2017
By: Jack Peat

The first non-stop service between the UK and Taiwan arrived in London this week.

Having started its journey at Taipei’s Taoyuan International at 08:55 local time, the Airbus A350-900 undertook a 13 hour journey to arrive at London’s Gatwick airport.

The first flight commemorates the start of the only non-stop service between Taiwan and the UK, and marks China Airlines’ return to the UK after a five year hiatus. The aircraft was greeted by water cannons on arrival to mark the occasion.

Nuan-Hsuan Ho, Chairman of China Airlines said: “We’re delighted to be back in the UK this year, with the inaugural flight marking the ease of travel between the UK and Taiwan.”

“As the only non-stop service between the two countries, we want to highlight to travellers the benefits to travelling to Taipei, for business or leisure purposes. In addition, our extensive route network offers destinations throughout Asia and onward to Australia for British travellers to enjoy.”    [FULL  STORY]

Lee: Taiwan must begin making changes with the aim to become a recognized nation in the global political arena

Taiwan News 
Date: 2017/12/03
By: Duncan DeAeth, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Former President Lee Teng-hui made an appearance at a banquet hosted by the

Taiwan Association of University Professors on Saturday Dec. 2, where he offered his own political wisdom for Taiwan moving forward.

The former president said that facing a new era with new challenges, Taiwan must begin making changes with the aim to become a recognized nation in the global political arena.

To achieve this, he emphasized, constitutional reform is of paramount importance. However the president also added that when a single political party is incapable of enacting such amendments, an attitude of cooperation must be adopted, according to the report from CNA.

Speaking on China-Taiwan relations, Lee said that China has long had its own vision for the future of Taiwan, but that Taiwanese people should ask the question “What vision do we have for our own future?”
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/12/03
By: Wang Chao-yu and Joseph Yeh

Taipei, Dec. 3 (CNA) A section of the Suhua Highway, which links Yilan County and Hualien County in

eastern Taiwan, will be closed until at least Monday morning as a result of multiple rockslides that began early Sunday, according to an announcement by the Directorate General of Highways (DGH).

Continuous rainfall for several days caused rocks to fall near the 114.3-kilometer mark of the highway at about 5 a.m. Sunday. The section between Su’ao (蘇澳) and Dong’ao (東澳) was subsequently closed, according to a DGH press release.

The section was later reopened at 3 p.m. following efforts to clear the road. However, further rockslides were reported again at around 5:30 p.m. prompting the closure of the section again, it noted.

It is scheduled to reopen at 7 a.m. Monday, according to the DGH.     [FULL  STORY]

The Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology’s core mission is to execute an independent national defense policy, promote the industrial implementation of the results of defense technology research, and play a leadership role in system supply chain integration, institute president Gao Chung-hsing said in an interview with ‘Liberty Times’ (sister newspaper of the ‘Taipei Times’) staff reporters Su Yung-yao, Aaron Tu and Lu Yi-hsuan

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 04, 2017 
By: staff reporters Su Yung-yao, Aaron Tu and Lu Yi-hsuan

Liberty Times (LT): President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has advocated an independent national defense

industry since assuming office. What role does the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology play in independent national defense?

Gao Chung-hsing (杲中興): Since the institute transitioned into an independent administrative institution in 2014, its core mission has been to execute an independent national defense policy to research, develop and manufacture reliable and powerful weapons and equipment that are not controlled by others, and cooperate with the government’s policy by promoting the industrialization of the results of the research and development of national defense technology and act as a locomotive that leads the national defense industry and economic growth.

Independent national defense also requires the expansion of dual-use technologies.

Industrial defense technology is like a pyramid. On the top are systems like the active electronically scanned array radar, the Tien Kung [“Sky Bow”] missile and the Hsiung Feng [“Brave Wind” missiles, which have limited civilian applications.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 03, 2017
By: Aaron Tu and Jake Chung  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer

The nation’s fleet of 12 Lockheed P-3C Orion maritime surveillance aircraft provides Taiwan with an

effective deterrent against the growing size and threat of the submarine forces of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN), the military said yesterday.

The P-3C aircraft on Friday formally replaced the aging Grumman S-2 Tracker fleet as the nation’s mainstay force.

The PLAN has nine nuclear-powered submarines, only five of which are actual attack submarines, and 54 diesel-electric submarines, this year’s US Department of Defense report on the Chinese military said.

The report estimated that the PLAN submarine force is likely to increase to between 69 and 78 boats by 2020.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-12-02

Culture Minister Cheng Li-chiun has outlined a government plan to preserve Taiwan’s music history.

Speaking at an academic conference Saturday, Cheng said that the government is taking three steps to keep the story of Taiwanese music alive.

She said the first step is the preservation of historical artifacts including physical recordings and sheet music as well as objects like hand-written drafts of songs and diaries where songs took shape.

Secondly, Cheng said the culture ministry will encourage universities to set up centers dedicated to researching the history of the arts in Taiwan, including Taiwanese music. Cheng said the culture ministry has already discussed this idea with the education ministry.   [FULL  STORY]