Taiwan Today
Date: October 12, 2016

State-run utility Taiwan Power Co. established Oct. 7 its first construction unit specializing in

offshore wind turbines, marking a significant step in its efforts to boost green energy production.

“It would be a great loss to the country if we failed to take advantage of the wind resources in the Taiwan Strait, which are among the best in the world,” Taipower Chairman Chu Wen-chen said at the opening ceremony for the Offshore Wind Power Construction Office, based at Taichung Power Plant in central Taiwan.

With a budget of around NT$19.5 billion (US$616.8 million), the first stage of Taipower’s offshore turbine project will be located in the waters west of central Taiwan’s Changhua County. Scheduled to commence operations in June 2020, the first phase will have a power generation capacity of 110 megawatts, or 360 million kilowatt-hours a year, equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of more than 100,000 households, Chu said.

By 2025, Taipower’s offshore wind farms are expected to reach a total capacity of 1 gigawatt, roughly equal to the output of two of the fossil fuel-fired generators at Taichung Power Plant, according to the company.     [FULL  STORY]

The News Lens
Date: 2016/10/11
By: Philip Liu

The Tsai Ing-wen government has included this sector among its five priority industries.

To meet the growing global demand for smart automated manufacturing equipment in line with what has been dubbed “Industry 4.0,” Taiwan’s machinery companies are scrambling to turn out smart models by incorporating advanced information technology into their products. The outlook for the industry appears so promising that President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has included smart machinery as one of the five innovative industrial categories – the others are green energy, biotech, defense technology, and the Internet of Things (IoT) – earmarked for priority development by the new administration.

Taiwan is considered to have a good prospects for developing the smart machinery sector because of its existing strong foundation in the machine-tool industry, situated mainly in central Taiwan in and around the city of Taichung. According to Taiwan’s Topology Research Institute, Taiwan last year ranked as the world’s seventh largest producer of machine tools and fifth largest exporter. In addition, Taiwan has made strides in technologies important to smart machinery, such as cloud computing, big data, IoT, and smart robots.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-10-11
By: Maggie Huang, Taiwan News

The Taipei zoo said Patrick, a 19-year-old male Koala, died on the evening of Monday October 10 because of multiple organ failure.

Patrick was one of the first koalas sent to the zoo. He was born at Australia’s Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary and was sent to the Taipei Zoo in July 1999 when he was two years old.

The zoo staff found Patrick staying at the same place on the habitat shelf and reluctant to move last Saturday, with loss of appetite and a lack of energy. The Koala died two days later on Monday, according to the zoo.

The average lifespan for a koala is about 10 years in the wild.   [SOURCE]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/10/11
By: Kuo Chu-chen and Lilian Wu

Taipei, Oct. 11 (CNA) The first reactor at the Third Nuclear Power Plant in southern Taiwan

started a 41-day major overhaul on Tuesday and will not be operational again until Nov. 20.

The overhaul will include a fuel change and work to maintain the reactor and other facilities.

During the suspension and restart of reactor operations, white water vapor will be released from the plant, an official statement indicated, pointing out this is a normal procedure and no cause for public concern.

The third nuclear power plant has two reactors which after 18 months of continual operation need to be overhauled, including a fuel change, related checks and maintenance work.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan Today
Date: October 7, 2016

Nine countries, including six in the Middle East, have been added to Taiwan’s e-visa program with

immediate effect, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced Oct. 7.

Passport holders from Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates as well as Montenegro and Dominica can now apply online for visas to Taiwan. The Philippines has also been added to the program on a 12-month trial basis.

“This initiative is primarily aimed at attracting high-end Muslim tourists,” the MOFA said. “Going forward, the ministry will consider adding further nations to the program based on the results of regular implementation reviews.”

The Tourism Bureau under the Ministry of Transportation and Communications welcomes the policy change, since simplified visa procedures can help significantly bolster foreign visitor numbers, according to Eric K.Y. Lin, director of the bureau’s International Affairs Division.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-10-10 04
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

New Taipei City Government on Sunday sent a qualified stonemason to assess the damage spray-painted graffiti had inflicted to the Tiger Inscription, a well-known national historical site from Qing Dynasty, and to figure out how to restore the cultural and historical treasure.

Northeast and Yilan Coast National Scenic Area Administration said it received reports from mountain climbers on Oct. 5 that the historical Tiger Inscription rock near the top of the Caoling Historic Trail was spray painted with malice content. Upon receiving the reports, the scenic area administration said it immediately referred the case to local police and the city’s Cultural Affairs Department (CAD).

The red spray-painted graffiti, which has some defamatory words about former President Ma Ying-jeou, has damaged the grade-three historical site, the CAD said.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/10/10
By: Charles Kang and Evelyn Kao

New Delhi, Oct. 10 (CNA) Taiwan-based National Kaohsiung University of Applied Sciences (KUAS)

and Manav Rachna International University (MRIU), a private university in India, signed an agreement Monday on promoting academia-industry cooperation projects.

The agreement was inked by Chung Jui-fang (鍾瑞芳), the deputy head of KUAS’s Office of International Affairs, and M.K. Soni, the executive director of MRIU’s Engineering & Technology department, at a ceremony witnessed by Taiwan’s representative to India, Tien Chung-kwang (田中光).

Under the agreement, the two universities will collaborate to nurture talent and help students from the two schools undertake internships at companies in the two countries, according to Tien.

Tien said that as part of Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy, the government will also provide scholarships for more Indian students to study in Taiwan, and it hopes to double the overall number of Indian nationals studying in the country.    [FULL  STORY]