REFORM REQUIRED:President Tsai said in her inaugural address that the pension system could go bankrupt unless reformed, but a previous try hurt the KMT at the polls

Taipei Times
Date: May 23, 2016
By: Tseng Wei-chen and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writer

A study conducted by the Ministry of Civil Service suggested that 42 percent of the nation’s retired civil servants, or 56,773 people, claim more than NT$60,000 per person per month in pensions and benefits, a sum that is almost three times the nation’s minimum wage.

The study found the average monthly pension for the nation’s 13,4849 retired and claiming public servants, including the 18 percent rate paid on special savings accounts and monthly pension payments, is NT$50,000 per person per month, which is also the median sum.

In her inaugural address on Friday, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) issued a warning about the pension system and the need for urgent reforms to it.

“The pension system will go bankrupt without reform,” she said.
According to the study, 646 retired civil servants receive more than NT$100,000 every month, while 8,292 receive between NT$80,000 and NT$100,000.

An additional 47,835 retirees receive monthly payments of between NT$60,000 and NT$80,000.     [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: May 22, 2016
By: Chen Yu-fu / Staff reporter

President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) inaugural address emphasized regional and cross-strait stability, active participation in international trade deals and deepening relationships with democracies such as the US, Japan and European nations, academics said, adding that Tsai was sending a message to Washington and Tokyo, calling on them to take Taiwan more seriously.

Taiwan Association of University Professors secretary-general Hsu Wen-tang (許文堂) — commenting on Tsai not affirming the so-called “1992 consensus” — said there were indeed talks between then-chairman of the Straits Exchange Foundation Koo Chen-fu (辜振甫) and then-chairman of China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits Wang Daohan (汪道涵), and that is why Tsai said the cross-strait interaction of the time is a “historical fact.”

However, the term “1992 consensus,” coined by former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) for then-president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) use, is fake, and mostly not accepted by Taiwanese, Hsu said.

“Tsai’s phrasing of the cross-strait relationship [in the speech] was intended to not allow China room to make a fuss,” Hsu said.

The “1992 consensus” refers to a tacit understanding between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese government that both sides of the Strait acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-05-20
By: Central News Agency

President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) showed maximum flexibility and good will to China in her inauguration speech Friday, and her stance on cross-strait relations represented Taiwan’s “greatest common denominator,” Presidential Office spokesman Alex Huang (黃重諺) said.

Tsai’s speech also fulfilled the international community’s expectations of stable and peaceful cross-strait relations and upheld the bottom line of Taiwan’s sovereignty and democracy, Huang said.

The president also kept her promise to “build a consistent, predictable and sustainable cross-strait relationship,” he said.

Tsai’s inauguration speech on Friday had been widely anticipated to see how she would address Taiwan’s relations with China, especially after Beijing made moves in recent months intended to pressure her to accept the “1992 consensus.”     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/05/20
By: Chen Wei-ting and Kuo Chung-han

Taipei, May 20 (CNA) Health Minister Lin Tsou-yen (林奏延), leading a 24-person delegation, departed for Geneva to attend the annual World Health Assembly (WHA) meeting as an observer, officials said Friday.

Lin said the main point of attending the meeting is to be professional and pragmatic, and to contribute to and participate in the global health system.

The WHA is the decision-making body of the World Health Organization (WHO) and holds a meeting in Geneva every year, with representatives of the WHO’s 194 member states, including the People’s Republic of China, participating.

As in the previous years, the Taiwan has been invited to attend the WHA meeting as an observer under the name of “Chinese Taipei.”

But this year, in an unprecedented move, WHO Director-General Margaret Chan “recalled” United Nations Resolution No. 2758 and the “one-China principle as reflected therein” in the invitation to Taiwan.     [FULL  STORY]

NO HEADWAY:US policy toward Taiwan remains stuck because it cannot let go of the fiction of ‘one China,’ security studies expert Gary Schmitt said

Taipei Times
Date: May 21, 2016
By: William Lowther / Staff reporter in WASHINGTON

“Taiwan is not a problem. It’s a friend,” the Washington Post said on Thursday on its op-ed page.

American Enterprise Institute security studies expert Gary Schmitt wrote the article, which said that the US should improve military, economic and diplomatic ties with Taiwan.

“Given Taiwan’s democracy, it is also the right thing to do,” Schmitt wrote.

“I have already heard that some members of Congress support it,” a Washington-based Taiwan-watcher said.

“I don’t expect it will have any immediate impact, but it has put Taiwan on a lot of radar screens,” he said about the article.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-05-19
By: Central News Agency

Taipei, May 19 (CNA) From May 20, Taiwan will have a new government, but before the change of power takes place, something has happened that challenges the country’s warm interactions with its mighty neighbor — China — over the past eight years.

Under the uncertainty in cross-Taiwan Strait relations due to the upcoming change of power, Taiwan’s exports of farm products to China have shown signs of a slowdown, which is particularly obvious in the sectors that produce soft-shell turtle eggs and groupers, the United Daily News reported Thursday.

The price of soft-shell turtle eggs, regarded as more nutritious than chicken eggs in Chinese society, has plummeted from NT$7 (US$0.2) each to NT$0.3 in the China-destined export market since early this year, the local newspaper cited Chang Nan-chien, chairman of the Taiwan Soft-Shell Turtle Keepers’ Association, as reporting.

Taiwan exports 150 million soft-shell turtle eggs to China each year, Chang was cited as saying. “Early this year, the export price was still at NT$7 each, but fell unexpectedly to NT$2.8 within two weeks in March,” he complained.     [FULL  STORY]