rthk
Date: 2020-12-14 

Taiwan has been angling to join the 11-country Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, signed in 2018. Image: Shutterstock

While a member of the World Trade Organization, many countries are wary of signing trade deals with Taiwan fearing objections from mainland China, which claims the democratic island as its own territory, and Taiwan has sought greater access to multilateral deals.

Tech-powerhouse Taiwan has been angling to join the 11-country Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), signed in 2018.

In a statement late Sunday, Taiwan's Foreign Ministry said that according to the processes of the CPTPP, new member applicants needed to complete informal talks with existing members first and "reach a consensus" before applying.  [FULL  STORY]

'I didn’t speak the language. I didn’t know the culture. But I was only made to feel welcomed': Ruth Croft

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/12/13
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Ruth Croft (Taiwan Tourism Bureau photo)

The bureau said in a press release that it launched the two-minute video, “Discover a Higher Love,” in celebration of International Mountain Day.

In the video, Croft describes running as something she did since a young age but was never serious about turning it into a career.

“The years of training and competing caught up to me, and I got to a point where I just wanted something completely new, and so I decided to move to Taipei,” Croft said.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 12/13/2020
By: Tai Ya-chen and Evelyn Kao

Photo courtesy of the Taipei Representative Office in the U.K.

Written and directed by newcomer Liao Ming-yi (廖明毅), the movie tells the story of two lovers who suffer from obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). It has been touted as the first feature film in Asia shot entirely on an iPhone.

At the awards ceremony Saturday, Liao said he was gratified that the movie had won a major prize and was deeply moved that a physical ceremony could be held, despite the challenges resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The film recently won the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema's NETPAC Award at the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival in South Korea as well as the Crystal Mulberry Award and Purple Mulberry Award at the Far East Film Festival in Udine, Italy.[FULL  STORY]

‘RIDICULOUS’: The national anthem was adopted by a non-democratic government, TSU leader Lau I-te said, adding that singing it was enough to drive people crazy

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 14, 2020
By: Hsieh Chun-lin and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writer

Taiwan Solidarity Union Chairman Lau I-te, center, is accompanied by Taiwan Society chairman Chang Yeh-shen, left, and Taiwan New Constitution Foundation executive director Lin Yi-cheng, right, as he speaks at a news conference in Taipei yesterday.
Photo: CNA

The current national anthem was based on the words of Republic of China (ROC) founder Sun Yat-sen (孫逸仙) in 1924 for use by the ROC Military Academy (then known as the Whampoa Military Academy), and was later adopted by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) as its party song, TSU Chairman Lau I-te (劉一德) said.

The song was then adopted as the ROC national anthem by an executive order in 1930, he said.

“Singing this anthem is enough to make people crazy. [President] Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has been in office for five years now — it is ridiculous that we are still singing this anthem,” he said.    [FULL STORY]

Regretting the unpleasant incident, the minister said that it is not right to take the law into one's hand no matter what the problem is.

NDTV
Date: December 13, 2020

Workers vandalised the offices of the firm, setting vehicles on fire

"Employees of a Taiwanese company vandalised Wistron office, situated in Narasapur Industrial Area in Kolar district of Karnataka, on Saturday. The incident occurred over the non-payment of salary dues for several months. The company deals with the manufacturing of Apple iPhones in India," read a press statement from the Minister.

"The protest against the management turned violent after some people started vandalising the office, setting vehicles on fire, pelting stones and setting the company's board on fire," the statement read.

Regretting the unpleasant incident, the minister said that it is not right to take the law into one's hand no matter what the problem is.    [FULL  STORY]

Aircraft from China violated Taiwan's ADIZ 11 days out of 12 in December

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/12/12
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Ministry of National Defense archived photo of Chinese warplane.  (CNA photo)

The first intrusion occurred at 10:19 a.m., but it was the second plane, at 1:38 p.m. that attracted even more attention, the Liberty Times reported. The aircraft was flying at a relatively low altitude of 1,700 meters, and its closest point to Taiwan’s main island was 56 nautical miles (103 km) from Hengchun, a town that includes the country’s third nuclear power plant and the popular beach resort of Kenting.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 12/12/2020
By: Tyson Lu and Chung Yu-chen

An entrance view of Datong Theater. CNA photo Dec. 12, 2020

The demolition work began on Dec. 2, roughly 18 months after the building was marked in 2018 for demolition.

According to the county government, it was only recently that all the parties involved were able to reach an agreement on how the building should be taken down.

Established in Taitung City in 1958, the cinema was in its prime in the 1960s and 1970s, but by the 1980s it was the last one in operation in Taitung, as television and videos became more popular.    [FULL  STORY]

RESPONSE: The courts’ decision not to renew the television channel’s broadcast license had nothing to do with press freedom, lawyer Huang Di-ying said

Tai0pei Times
Date: Dec 13, 2020
By: Jason Pan / Staff reporter, with CNA

Want Want China Times Media Group founder Tsai Eng-meng, front row center, and CTi News’ employees cheer at the TV station in Taipei to bid farewell to viewers on Friday, the last day of its TV broadcast.
Photo: CNA

It is not a press freedom issue and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) should not spin it that way, lawyer Huang Di-ying (黃帝穎) said in a statement.

Citing “repeated violations of regulations and the failure of its internal discipline and control mechanisms,” the National Communications Commission (NCC) on Nov. 18 said that it would not renew CTi News’ broadcast license, which expired at 12am yesterday.

CTi has said that the decision was politically motivated, as the channel is known for being critical of the DPP government.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 10 December, 2020
By: John Van Trieste

.Across much of Taiwan, low rainfall means that reservoir levels have fallen to seriously low levels. With little chance of much natural rainfall before the year’s end, officials are turning to artificial means to help ease the water crunch.

Mingde Reservoir in Miaoli County is running dry, with just 16.46% of its capacity filled up. At Nantou County’s Wushe Reservoir and Tainan’s Baihe Reservoir, thing are even worse: water levels there have fallen to below 15% capacity.

It needs to rain, but forecasters say the overall chance of rain nationwide before the end of the year is less than 10%.

Already, farmers are hurting. Irrigation of paddies for the second rice crop of the year has been suspended across much of northern Taiwan, and if at least 320mm of rain doesn’t fall before the end of December, it’s likely that irrigation for the first harvest next year will be scrapped, hurting yields.    [FULL  STORY]