Taipei Times
Date: Dec 12, 2016
By: Shih Hsiao-kuang, Huang Shu-li and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporters, with staff writer

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) is said to have reached a

decision with party cadres to mobilize at least 5,000 people to stage protests outside three planned public hearings by the Executive Yuan on lifting a ban on food imports from five Japanese prefectures, sources close to the KMT said.

The decision, reached during a high-level party meeting on Friday, is to see KMT demonstrations surrounding the three public hearings in New Taipei City, Kaohsiung and Taipei, scheduled to take place on Dec. 25, Jan. 2 and Jan. 8 respectively, said the sources, who declined to be named.

Another aim of the protests is to promote Hung’s planned recall campaign to unseat Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators who support easing the import ban on food products from Japan’s Fukushima, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma and Chiba prefectures, which was imposed shortly after a meltdown at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in March 2011.    [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: December 12, 2016
By: Yuan-Ming Chiao

TAIPEI, Taiwan — TAIPEI, Taiwan — Chen Lien-hua (陳蓮花) appears composed as she gestures

toward a glass panel painting she created, which is bursting with lilac lines that curve their way across the composition. The sweeping brushstrokes spill from a heart at the base of the panel, reaching across the composition like hands, bold and resolute.

Chen, 92, known affectionately as “Lien-hua Ama,” (“Ama” means grandmother in Taiwanese), was on hand for a personalized tour through the AMA Museum (阿嬤家- 和平與女性人權館). The museum was established by the Taipei Women’s Rescue Foundation (TWRF, 婦女救援基金會) and dedicated to commemorating survivors of sex slavery under Japanese military occupation during World War II. Guided by attentive staff members, Chen stared intently at each of the photos of women who were part of the struggle for recognition, many of whom had already passed away.

Like that glass panel painting by Lien-hua Ama, the new site goes beyond the stories of abuse that these women faced, delving into the collective action that they have taken toward healing. The museum draws public attention to an issue that has left an indelible mark on these women’s lives. And now the women’s memories have found a permanent home.    [FULL  STORY]

Will President Tsai and the DPP listen?

The News Lens
Date: 2016/12/10
By: TNL Staff

Hundreds of thousands of Taiwanese took to the streets in Taipei this afternoon, calling on the government to enact marriage equality legislation.

Today’s public gathering, held in front of the Presidential Office Building, is seen as a critical point in the same-sex marriage campaign, which threatens to be derailed by loud opposition from religious groups and a lack of political will by government legislators and President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).

As of about 4 p.m, there was more more than 200,000 people in attendance, event organizers told The News Lens International.

Last Saturday, an estimated 50,000 people, mostly dressed in white, gathered near the government buildings in the capital to show their opposition to the proposed marriage equality laws.    [FULL  STORY]

Lesbian Chinese student finds she is able to live as an openly gay person without fear of recrimination, unlike China

Taiwan News
Date: 2016/12/10
By: Central News Agency

A Chinese student in Taipei said Saturday that she has been able to come forward openly as a gay

person and a supporter of same-sex marriage since she came to Taiwan, because it is a “land of enlightenment” in terms of civil liberties.

Speaking to CNA at a rally in support of same-sex marriage, the woman who asked to be called Su He (蘇河) said she has been living her dream since she came to Taiwan as a student five years ago.

Su, who was at the rally with her Taiwanese partner, said she has been studying mass communication, observing press freedom, and living as an openly gay person in Taiwan without fear of recrimination, which would have been unlikely in China.

She said that before she came to Taiwan, she and all the other LGBT people she knew in her community in China had been “hiding in their own corners,” unwilling to come out to fight for their rights.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/12/10
By: Lu Hsin-hui, Yu Hsiao-han, Chen Chih-chung and S.C. Chang

Taipei, Dec. 10 (CNA) President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has again expressed her support for legalizing

same-sex marriage and has called for more discussion and less confrontation on the issue, the Presidential Office said Saturday.

“Gays also have a right to marriage,” Tsai said, according to her spokesman Alex Huang (黃重諺), as some 200,000 people flocked to a concert in downtown Taipei in support of legislation to legalize same-sex marriage.

Huang said the president is also urging all sectors of the society to talk more to one another and to be more tolerant of each other.

“The president hopes there will be less confrontation and less castigation in our society and that there will be more comprehensive legal protection of gay rights,” Huang said.   [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: December 11, 2016
By: CNA

CNA — Visitors browse at the 2016 IT Month exhibition at the Taipei World Trade Center, Saturday, Dec. 10. On its penultimate day, the annual tech showcase was packed to capacity, with an estimated 140,000 visitors recorded.    [SOURCE]

Taiwan Today
Date: December 9, 2016

President Tsai Ing-wen said Dec. 8 that Taiwan attaches equal importance to relations with the U.S.

and mainland China as both are critical to peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region.

She made the remark while receiving a U.S. delegation led by Rosemary A. DiCarlo, president of the National Committee on American Foreign Policy, at the Office of the President in Taipei City.

Tsai stressed that her administration’s diplomatic efforts are intended to safeguard not only Taiwan’s national interests, but also regional peace, stability and prosperity. As a member of the international community, Taiwan is willing to forge friendly ties with other nations and actively participate in international cooperation, she added.

In terms of Taiwan-U.S. relations, the president said the two sides share common values and interests and enjoy close political, economic, social, cultural and security ties. She also thanked the U.S. government for its staunch support of Taiwan over the years and its long-term security commitment to the nation based on the Taiwan Relations Act and Six Assurances.    [FULL  STORY]

The festival next year will be open to the public from January 20 to February 4.

Taiwan News
Date: 2016/12/09
By: Maggie Huang, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

The winter in Northern Taiwan is always cold and wet, many citizens tend to make travel plans to the

south during the Chinese New Year holiday to embrace the nice weather.

The sunflowers maze in Shanlin District, Kaohsiung City where plants and flowers are grown by farmers as part of planned crop rotations always draws visitors as far as north as Taipei to the South, and attracted some 100,000 visitors this year.

The festival next year will be open to the public on January 20 with two weeks of exhibiting period to February 4. There are five floral exhibition districts next year, with the biggest area of sunflower maze spanning seven hectares.

The total area of the exhibition will span 32 hectares, including seven hectares of sunflower maze which is almost two times the size of this year.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/12/09
By: Chen Chun-hua and Frances Huang

Taipei, Dec. 8 (CNA) Taiwan’s parliament on Friday passed an amendment to the Nationality Act which eases restrictions governing the naturalization of foreign spouses married to Taiwanese people.

According to the revised law, foreign spouses will not be confined to Article 3 of the act, which had previously stipulated that foreign nationals who apply for naturalization to become a citizen of the ROC should provide proof that they have enough assets or professional skills to support themselves.

In other words, the new Nationality Act will not require foreign spouses to provide evidence to show their financial strength.

Lin Li-chan (林麗蟬), a Kuomintang lawmaker, hailed the revision, saying that the new law is very meaningful to many female immigrants who have married Taiwanese men.    [FULL  STORY]