A hike from Daxi (大溪), Yilan County to Taoyuan Valley deepens my belief that one should look no further than Taiwan for beautiful places to visit.

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/09/17
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News)—A hike from Daxi (大溪), Yilan County to Taoyuan Valley deepens my belief that one should look no further than Taiwan for beautiful places to visit.

There are two enchanting vast natural grasslands in northern Taiwan, with one being Qintiangang Grassland in Yangmingshan National Park, and the other being Taoyuan Valley, which is located on top of a range along Taiwan’s northeastern coast and much bigger than the former.

There are several ways to get to Taoyuan Valley, including through the entrance off the Caoling Historic Trail, the entrance near the Dali Visitor Center about 800 meters from Dali Railway Station, and the entrance at Daxi Riverside Park, about 800 meters from Daxi Railway Station.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/09/17
By: Lu Hsin-hui and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, Sept. 17 (CNA) President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) approval rating has rebounded substantially from a record low one month ago to nearly 50 percent after she appointed Lai Ching-te (賴清德) as premier on Sept. 5, according to a recent survey.

The Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation, which conducted its latest monthly tracking poll on Sept. 11 and 12, said the significant rise in Tsai’s approval rating can be attributed to her choice of the highly popular Lai as the head of the government’s executive branch.

In the latest survey, 46.4 percent of respondents said they approve of the way Tsai is leading the country, including personnel management and policy making, up 16.6 percentage points from a month earlier.    [FULL  STORY]

A council member in New Taipei City is demanding that stateless children can receive compulsory education

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/09/16
By: Sophia Yang, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A local media report disclosing the outrageous number of

stateless children born in Taiwan as well as their dire conditions is drawing attention nationwide. The country’s Ministry of Interior dismissed the report and said that the actual number of stateless children is 543, instead of the 20,000 as stated by a Mirror Media story, as of the end of August.

The ministry said that the stateless children in the country can be attributed to the situations as follows: the whereabouts of a child’s father is unknown while the child’s mother is a foreigner but has left the country or has been deported to her home country. In this case, the stateless child still has a chance to acquire a nationality with the assistance of the local government’s social welfare department by seeking adoptive parents and naturalization afterwards.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/09/16
By: Huang Li-yun and Kuan-lin Liu

Taipei, Sept. 16 (CNA) Taiwan signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with

Poland on Thursday to improve the monitoring of good laboratory practices (GLP), according to a statement from the Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection (BSMI).

The Taiwan Accreditation Foundation (TAF), entrusted by the BSMI to promote collaborations with foreign nations, signed the MOU with Poland’s Bureau for Chemical Substances to begin exchanges on technology and talent development related to GLP controls.

According to the BSMI, the move will take Taiwan’s GLP compliance monitoring system to a new level and marks a new chapter in the country’s collaboration with Poland and other European countries in the field.    [FULL  STORY]

‘NOT A LOT’:The chairman of the Taiwan National Security Institute said possible steps were meant to show support to allies, but that Taiwan had little trade with the country

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 17, 2017
By: Staff writer, with CNA

President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration is holding internal meetings to

determine how Taiwan could cooperate with the UN resolution to impose sanctions on North Korea, the Presidential Office said yesterday.

Presidential Office Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said on the sidelines of an international forum hosted by the Taiwan National Security Institute (TNSI) that the government was discussing in detail how to deal with North Korea following its latest missile test on Friday.

Wu said Taiwan was discussing measures in response to the newest sanctions against North Korea imposed by the UN Security Council through Resolution 2375.

The sanctions imposed on Monday include a ban on the supply, sale and transfer of all condensates (the liquid phase produced by the condensation of gas) and natural gas liquids to North Korea, as well as a ban on its exports of textiles.
[FULL  STORY]

Country pledges more during goodwill mission.

FeedStuffs.com
Date: Sep 15, 2017

Members of the 2017 Agriculture Trade Goodwill Mission pledged Sept. 13 to purchase 5 million metric tons (197 million bu.) of U.S. corn and 500,000 tons of U.S. dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS) between 2018 and 2019, echoing a rebound in U.S. corn sales to this long-term trading partner.

The corn delegation of the Taiwan Agricultural Goodwill Mission visited the farm of Chip Councell, past chairman of the U.S. Grains Council (USGC), on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.

“The council has worked in Taiwan for more than four decades as part of a long-term effort to secure market share and food security through trade,” said Clover Chang, USGC director in Taiwan. “The council works to help improve efficiency in Taiwan’s domestic meat, milk and egg production, instill confidence in U.S. feed grains and co-products and ensure no disruption in the trade between the two countries.”
[FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-09-15

The economics ministry will seek to promote industrial data-sharing between Taiwan

and other nations. That was the word from the economics minister, Shen Jong-chin, on Friday.

Shen was speaking at the opening of the 2017 International Data Economy Summit held in Taipei. He said data-sharing on an industrial level is highly important in the digital economy. He cited a 2015 EU report and said that the market for data-sharing is projected to be worth US$385 billion. He said the economics ministry will help promote data-sharing among Taiwan’s local industries.

Shen said, “The Industrial Development Bureau began pushing for the open sharing of data among local industries since the end of 2013. By providing guidance and assistance, and by organizing competitions [for local industries], we were able to encourage 50 companies and 143 creative teams to develop 234 new apps on data-sharing. These apps have so far been used 7.68 million times, and helped attract new investment and generate revenue totaling over US$22 million.”
[FULL  STORY]