HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION: A proposal allowing the commission a direct channel to the Council of Grand Justices would open doors to abuse, an opinion piece said

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 06, 2020
By: Huang Hsin-po and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writer

A request has been issued to withdraw a proposal by the Control Yuan’s National Human Rights Commission regarding members’ powers on grounds that it goes against previous Legislative Yuan decisions and is unconstitutional, sources said on Friday.

The commission was established following passage of the Organic Act of the Control Yuan National Human Rights Commission (監察院國家人權委員會組織法) on Dec. 10 last year.

The Control Yuan in September tendered the bill for review by the legislature’s Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee.

The proposal was that the commission, following a Control Yuan resolution, would be able to apply to the Judicial Yuan for a constitutional interpretation should it find laws that are unconstitutional because they severely infringe on human rights.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 04 December, 2020
By: Shirley Lin

The Legislature has established a Taiwan-Singapore parliamentarian friendship association. The organization, founded Friday, will be led by opposition KMT lawmaker Johnny Chiang, with more than 40 lawmakers from across party lines as members. 

Chiang said that Taiwan and Singapore have close relations. He said both countries are important trading partners for each other. He also said Singapore, like Taiwan, is governed by a cabinet system, with a government dominated by members of the parliament. Chiang said that strengthening parliamentary diplomacy is important to Taiwan-Singapore relations. 
[FULL  STORY]

Taiwan Insight
Date: 4 December 2020 
By: Robert Sutter.

Despite official disclaimers, the election of President Joseph Biden has been greeted with considerable angst in Taiwan. The fear concerns how the new US government will not follow through on various security, diplomatic and economic advances in US-Taiwan relations undertaken by the Trump government. This is despite the strong objections from Beijing, returning to the strict adherence to the One China policy prevalent during the Obama-Biden government of 2009-2017. These fears are justified, but they run up against American domestic politics opposing easing US countermeasures against China and rising American interest in closer cooperation with Taiwan as a critical resource in the acute US-China competition for high technology leadership.

Heading the list of Taiwanese concerns regarding the Biden administration, President-elect Biden’s entourage includes many senior advisers closely tied to the consistent practice of the Obama-Biden years of avoiding steps to support Taiwan that would risk serious upset of the US relationship with China. Notably – even though President Obama and his senior staff in 2014 began publicly voicing strong opposition to Chinese use of military and other coercion to “bully” and intimidate neighbours in the disputed East China Sea and South China Sea – they avoided such statements in the face of ongoing Chinese military intimidation of Taiwan. The administration’s signature rebalance policy saw the US advance relations with Japan, Vietnam, the Philippines, and other countries around Taiwan despite often strong Chinese criticism. Nevertheless, the administration at first failed to even mention Taiwan as part of the rebalance, and later continued mum on what the US was doing with Taiwan, presumably to avoid offending China in ways seen as adverse to US interests.

Consistent with such practice, 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s tough rhetoric vowing to counter various adverse Chinese behaviour did not feature Taiwan. One of her senior campaign advisers, Jake Sullivan, now a senior Biden adviser, told the media in July 2016 that there would be no change in US handling of China-Taiwan relations if Clinton were elected.
[FULL  STORY]

90-year-old Taiwanese man returns from US with COVID-19, Indonesian tests positive after quarantine

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/12/04
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan's Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) on Friday (Dec. 4) announced four new imported cases of the Wuhan coronavirus, including a French man who was bitten by a venomous spider in the U.S. and a 90-year-old Taiwanese man.

During a press conference Friday afternoon, CECC Spokesman Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) announced four imported coronavirus cases, raising the total number of cases in Taiwan to 691. The latest cases recently returned from the U.S. and Indonesia.

Chuang stated that case No. 688 was an Indonesian female migrant worker in her 30s who came to Taiwan for work on Nov. 13. She presented negative results for a negative nucleic acid test taken within three days before her flight.

She has thus far not presented any symptoms of the disease since entering Taiwan. While in quarantine, she took a second coronavirus test, which came back negative.   [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 12/04/2020
By: Wen Kuei-hsiang and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, Dec. 4 (CNA) President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has said the government will promote 50 social housing construction projects next year as part of an effort by the central and local governments to build 120,000 social housing units by 2024.

Speaking at a meeting with winners of the 28th Architectural Golden Stone Award at the Presidential Office on Friday, Tsai said the projects next year will be the largest ever and will create about 15,000 social housing units.

The government's goal is to have a total of 120,000 social housing units built by the central and local governments by 2024, Tsai said.

Addressing the government's social housing policy, the president said the ideas of green energy and the circular economy will be incorporated in the projects to improve people's quality of life.
[FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 03 December, 2020
By: Paula Chao

[Local beer reigns supreme in Taiwan][/caption] Find out what makes Taiwanese beer so distinct in this episode. This week we visit the Taipei Brewery to taste beer made from 100-year-old yeast! And then off to Penghu to try a popular beer cocktail made with cactus juice. 

Vietnam News
Date: December, 03/2020

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam on Thursday condemned China and Taiwan’s recent illegal excursion, including operating tourist cruises and organising live fire drills, into its rightful waters and sovereignty in the South China Sea.

Spokesperson for the foreign ministry Lê Thị Thu Hằng during a press briefing in Hà Nội said that Chinese Taipei’s holding of military live ammunition exercises around the Ba Bình (Taiping) island on November 24 as part of Việt Nam’s Trường Sa (Spratly) archipelago constituted a “grave violation of Vietnamese territory, sovereign rights.”

She added that the act jeopardised peace, security, stability, safety of navigation, and further complicates matters in the South China Sea (known in Việt Nam as the East Sea).

“Việt Nam strongly opposes such action and demands that Taiwan ceases the undertaking of the illegal exercise, and to refrain from similar acts in the future,” Hằng said.    [FULL  STORY]

Ministry of Education introduces animated clip to promote inclusive classrooms

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/12/03
By: Ching-Tse Cheng, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Ministry of Education (MOE) on Thursday (Dec. 3) released an animated video in honor of International Day of Persons with Disabilities to raise awareness about inclusive education in Taiwan.

The 90-second video highlights the importance of appreciating each individual's differences. It also encourages the Taiwanese public to create a friendly environment for people with disabilities and offer them support.

The MOE pointed out that Taiwan has had significant success in integrating students with disabilities into mainstream learning environments since the passing of the Special Education Act in 1984. Nearly 90 percent of students with special needs have been placed into regular classrooms during this period, CNA cited the ministry as saying.

Observed on the third day of December, International Day of Persons with Disabilities aims to promote the full and equal participation of persons with disabilities in societies around the world. It is listed by the United Nations as an international observance and has been celebrated in various countries since its inception in 1992.    [FULL  STORY]