Taipei Times
Date: Dec 25, 2016
By: Staff writer, with CNA

President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Friday visited the Air Force Combatant Command to review the air

force’s training and exercise operations, the Presidential Office said in a statement yesterday.

It was Tsai’s first publicized visit to an air force facility since Chinese military aircraft were detected near Taiwan’s airspace twice in the past few weeks.

Besides listening to a report by commander Hsiung Hou-chi (熊厚基), Tsai also inspected the command’s air traffic control center and spoke with F-16 pilots on a mission, according to the statement.

Tsai praised the command, headquartered in Taipei’s Dazhi District (大直), for its excellent performance in ensuring air superiority in the Taiwan Strait and reaffirmed that “monitoring and protecting the security of the nation’s air space” was the air force’s top priority, the statement said.    [FULL  STORY]

The News Lens
Date: 2016/12/23

An anti-LGBT website that calls for the deposition of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) politician and

Taichung City Mayor Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) has been linked to a pro-KMT group. An investigation by Queer Watch found that the site was registered under Ying-Ling Chao (趙瑩玲), the spokesperson for the anti-LGBT group Alliance of Crying for Hope, which had links to the Lotus International Chinese Freemasons, a secret group dating back to the Qing Dynasty that aspired to overthrow the monarchy. The group continued on into the present day and is now an underground mafia group.   [SOURCE]

Only Indians and Chinese less knowledgeable about own country: Ipsos MORI

Taiwan News
Date: 2016/12/23
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taiwan is the third most ignorant country in the world behind India and China

based on people’s knowledge about their own nation, according to the 2016 Index of Ignorance conducted by Ipsos MORI.

The organization interviewed 27,250 people aged 16 to 64 in 40 countries between September and November, British newspaper The Independent reported. In Taiwan, about 500 were questioned for the survey, titled “Perils of Perception.”

The survey did not seem to show any correlation between the quality of the replies and the level of wealth or education, the report said.

The list of the five most ignorant countries included India, China, Taiwan, South Africa and the United States, while the least ignorant countries of the 40 turned out to be the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, South Korea, the Czech Republic and Malaysia.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/12/23

Taipei, Dec. 23 (CNA) The military is committed to its locally- developed submarine program and once

progress is made, it expects other countries to express interest in making submarine deals with Taiwan, Defense Minister Feng Shih-kuan (馮世寬) said Friday.

Feng admitted that investing in the research and development of a local submarine involves considerable risk, but added that it might also attract interest from other countries to sell Taiwan arms.

At that time, the Ministry of National Defense will decide whether to continue with the program to build submarines or purchase them from overseas, Feng was quoted as saying by Chen Ching-tsai (陳慶財), a member of the Control Yuan, the government watchdog body.

Led by Control Yuan President Chang Po-ya (張博雅), Chen and other Control Yuan members visited the Executive Yuan on an inspection tour earlier Friday.    [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: December 24, 2016
By: Joseph Yeh

TAIPEI, Taiwan — The driver of a tank which plunged into a stream killing four soldiers on board has

been charged with negligent homicide.

Pingtung District Prosecutors Office indicted Private First Class Yang Yen-lin (楊炎霖) on charges of negligent homicide after prosecutors determined that human error was responsible for the accident during an Aug. 16 military drill in Pingtung County. The charge carries a maximum five-year prison sentence.

Prosecutors said Yang’s improper handling of CM-11 main battle tank led to the accident during the Lien Yung Drill (聯勇操演) at the Joint Operations Training Base Command (三軍聯訓中心).

Yang had previously claimed mechanical error was to blame, saying that the tank’s braking system was faulty.    [FULL  STORY]

 

The India-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Forum, founded Dec. 16 in New Delhi, will play a key role in

promoting mutually beneficial collaboration and exchanges between the two sides, according to the Republic of China (Taiwan) Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Headed by Harish Chandra Meena, a member of the Lok Sabha (lower house) of the Parliament of India, the forum comprises 12 parliamentarians from the ruling National Democratic Alliance and 10 lawmakers from sevem opposition parties in the South Asian nation.

In a recent letter to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Center in India, Meena said he was impressed with Taiwan’s vibrant democracy, economic development and social diversity during his visit to the country with five colleagues in August, according to the ministry.

While in Taipei City, the delegation met with members of the Taiwan-India Parliamentary Friendship Association, which was created in April by ruling Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Kuan Bi-ling.   [FULL  STORY

Debate breaks loose on whether Taiwan needs official allies

Taiwan News
Date: 2016/12/22
By: Taiwan News, Staff Writer

On December 21, 1471, Portuguese sailors arrived at a small island off the west coast of Central Africa

which they named after the patron saint of the day, Saint Thomas, or in Portuguese, Sao Tome.

Almost precisely 545 years later to the day, there was little to celebrate for Taiwan. The country that included Sao Tome and another nearby island, Principe, broke away from Taipei, deciding to open up relations with the People’s Republic of China instead.

Until December 21, most Taiwanese were probably completely unaware of the tiny country’s existence, as were most other people around the world.

That all changed because the president of Sao Tome and Principe reportedly wanted an extra US$200 million from Taiwan, and the administration of President Tsai Ing-wen refused.   [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/12/22
By: Christie Chen, Tai Ya-chen and Chiu Chun-chin

Taipei, Dec. 22 (CNA) Premier Lin Chuan (林全) on Thursday instructed officials to reexamine safety at construction sites across Taiwan, after five workers died when scaffolding supporting them collapsed in Taoyuan City a day earlier.

At an Executive Yuan meeting on Thursday, the premier asked labor and public construction officials to review and improve construction site safety, saying that any illegal behavior should be investigated, Executive Yuan Spokesman Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) quoted Lin as saying at a press conference after the meeting.

The workers, four male and one female, were carrying out grouting work on a construction site at Taoyuan Municipal Daxi Senior High School on Wednesday afternoon when the scaffolding collapsed. They fell to the ground from the fourth and fifth floor and were buried under scaffolding.   [FULL  STORY]