The drill is largely aimed at demonstrating humanitarian progress, as well as the coast guard’s ability to protect the nation’s fishermen.

Taiwan News
Date: 2016/11/11
By: Wendy Lee , Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Taiwan’s coast guard and navy are planning a drill on Taiping Island in the South China Sea, and it will mean more to the government this time than just to stir things up in the widely disputed area, an article published on Forbes said Thursday.

As this year marks the 70th anniversary of Taiping Island’s recovery by the ROC, Coast Guard Administration (CGA) under the Executive Yuan and the ROC Navy will conduct a joint humanitarian rescue drill in the South China Sea in late November.

President Tsai Ing-wen recently announced the nation’s plan to develop the Taiwan-controlled Taiping Island into a base for providing humanitarian aid and supplies, following a landmark judgement by an international tribunal in The Hague which ruled against China’s sovereignty claims over the South China Sea.

The court denied China’s legal basis to claim historical rights to resources in areas falling within the encompassing “nine-dash line,” and included seeing Taiping not as an island, but as a reef, undermining Taiwan’s claims in the region.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/11/11
By: Chen Chung-hua, Yang Shu-min and Lilian Wu

Taipei, Nov. 11 (CNA) Taiwan’s government will hold 10 public hearings starting Saturday on opening

imports of currently banned Japanese produce from radiation-affected prefectures, a move drawing criticism from the opposition.

The public hearings from Nov. 12 to 14 will be held in the northern, central, southern and eastern parts of Taiwan as forums for citizens, experts and civic groups to exchange views.

Wang Yu-min (王育敏), an opposition Kuomintang legislator, asked why there was such a rush to hold 10 public hearings in just three days and suspected that the government was holding them simply for the sake of holding them.

She demanded that the government reschedule the 10 public hearings so that the public could fully express its misgivings and views.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 12, 2016
By: Alison Hsiao / Staff reporter

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government is trying to spin the fact that it had placed its bet

on the wrong US presidential candidate, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) said yesterday, referring to a statement by President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration that Tsai had met with a key consultant of US president-elect Donald Trump.

Minister of Foreign Affairs David Lee (李大維) on Thursday said that Tsai had met a key consultant from Trump’s team last month, with Presidential Office spokesman Alex Huang (黃重諺) later saying that it was Edwin Feulner, founder of the Washington-based Heritage Foundation think tank, and that the two met on Oct. 13.

KMT Culture and Communications Committee deputy director Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said that as the representative of the Heritage Foundation, Feulner “comes to Asia for a fundraising tour every year.”

“What does it have to do with Trump’s campaign team? Feulner has been to Taiwan more than 20 times,” Hung said.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan Today
Date: November 10, 2016

President Tsai Ing-wen conveyed Nov. 9 her congratulations on behalf of the government and people

of the Republic of China (Taiwan) to Donald J. Trump and Gov. Mike Pence on their election as the 45th president and vice president of the U.S.

The U.S. is the most important democratic country in the world and Taiwan’s staunchest partner in the international community, Tsai said, adding that she looks forward to working with President-elect Trump and his governing team to further strengthen Taiwan-U.S. relations, which will continue to be a cornerstone for peace and stability in the Asia Pacific.

Tsai also thanked the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama for the support it has given Taiwan on many fronts in the recent years, and hopes the U.S. will continue to play an important role on regional security during the transition period to come.

The president reiterated that Taiwan will continue to be a close and reliable partner of the U.S. in the region and around the world, adding that she is confident that the cordial and mutually beneficial relationship between the two countries will be further strengthened in the years ahead.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/11/10
By: Huang Chiao-wen and Romulo Huang

Taipei, Nov. 10 (CNA) Taiwan delegation members will interact naturally with Chinese delegates at the

upcoming ministerial meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum to be held from Nov. 17-18 in Lima, Peru, Minister of Economic Affairs Lee Chih-kung (李世光) said on Thursday.

Minister Lee, who will co-head the Taiwan delegation to the annual APEC meeting with Minister Chen Tain-jy (陳添枝) from the National Development Council, said that no meetings have been arranged with the Chinese delegation on the sideline of the APEC conference.

Responding to reporters questions as to whether Taiwan’s delegates will interact with their Chinese counterparts at the meeting, Lee observed that delegates from different countries often interact at international conferences and said they would do so “naturally” whether at the APEC meeting or other diplomatic occasions.    [FULL  STORY]

Viral cartoons and memes created by Taiwanese netizens in response to Donald Trump’s presidential election victory

Taiwan News
Date: 2016/11/10
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Like much of the rest of the world, Taiwanese netizens are in a state of shock after Donald Trump’s

stunning victory in the U.S. presidential election. Many expressed their astonishment and frustration by creating sarcastic cartoons and memes, the following are but a few examples that have surfaced on social media over the past 24 hours since Trump’s election win.

Satirical blogger and cartoonist Nagee posted on Facebook a mock comparison of Donald Trump’s proposed wall and the Great Wall of China. A cartoon caricature of China’s leader Xi Jinping appears at the top saying, “Our Chinese sons and daughters have the world’s largest and most magnificent Great Wall. While the frame below depicts a monstrously bigger Donald Trump laying bricks on a vastly larger wall painted like the American flag saying, “Not anymore.”

Xi Jinping proudly standing over the Great Wall of China while Donald Trump appears from behind with a much larger American wall

Facebook blogger 波蘿日報 POLONEWS posted a collage of photos of totalitarian leaders of the world assigned to the cardinal directions with Donald Trump added to the image. Captions reading “Jong-un of the North, Putin of the East, Duterte of the South, Trump of the West, and Jinping of the Center” are placed under photos of Kim Jong-un, Vladimir Putin, Rodrigo Duterte, Donald Trump, and Xi Jinping, respectively. The names are meant to emulate the Five Great Masters from famous Wuxia writer Jing Yong’s novels. Xi is compared to 中神通, the most skilled of all the warriors, and Trump is compared to 西毒, the most evil of the lot.    [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: November 11, 2016
By: Joseph Yeh

TAIPEI, Taiwan — The European Chamber of Commerce Taiwan (ECCT, 歐洲在台商務協會), an

advocacy group representing European business interests, on Thursday released a position paper that called on the Taiwan government to further liberalize its regulatory system.

Titled “Gearing Up Taiwan’s Revival,” ECCT’s 2017 position paper brought up 143 issues for the Taiwan government to address.

Eighty-five of them were unresolved issues from previous years, while the remaining 57 were new issues that needed to be tackled, ECCT Chairman Bernd Barkey said.

“Taiwan is a great place for investment and great place to do business. However, we want Taiwan to keep up with global development, especially with neighboring countries moving at a great speed.

“Because we love this country, we want it to become even better.”

Barkey said the ECCT welcomed Taiwan government’s desire to spur the revival of local economies by focusing on five major innovative industries.

However, he said Taiwan’s regulatory system remained “somewhat clogged when many industries are subject to painfully slow bureaucracy in the form of approval processes and procedures, which are slowing down their development.”    [FULL  STORY]