Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/11/15
By: Flor Wang and Wu Po-wei

Taipei, Nov. 15 (CNA) A locally developed weather satellite is expected to be launched by France-based Arianespace in 2021, a source said Friday.

The satellite, named Triton, will be sent into space from the Guiana Space Centre at Kourou in French Guiana, a source familiar with the project told CNA.

After its launch along with satellites of other countries, Triton will be responsible for collecting weather data, in particular conditions regarding wind speed and marine surface wind fields, the source said.

In June, the Formosat-7 satellite cluster, also locally developed, was launched from the John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida by U.S.-based SpaceX to collect more accurate worldwide meteorological data.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipwei Times
Date: Nov 16, 2019
By: Staff Writer, with CNA

The National Communications Commission (NCC) has halted the sale of three smartphone models

produced by China’s Huawei Technologies Co, saying a software upgrade had renamed Taiwan as “Taiwan, China.”

The temporary ban, which affects five telecom companies that sell the P30, P30 Pro and Nova 5T phones, might become permanent if the issue is not resolved, the NCC said on Thursday.

Following an upgrade of the software on the three models, the time zone and contact apps now list Taiwan as “Taiwan, China,” the commission said.

The designation has sparked controversy among consumers in Taiwan, as China continues its efforts to convince global businesses and foreign governments to refer to Taiwan as “Taiwan, China,” the NCC said.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 14 November, 2019
By: Jake Chen

KMT presidential candidate Han Kuo-yu has unveiled the logo for his campaign.

The logo is designed to look like the English word “UP”, with the letter “U” in blue and “P” in red. The opening of the letter “U” is shaped to reflect the contour of Taiwan. The space between the two letters is shaped like an upward pointing arrow.

Han said during the unveiling ceremony on Thursday that the design of the logo contains many Taiwanese elements. These include the use of red, white, and blue, the colors of the national flag. He said the Taiwan-shaped design of the letter U means there is a Taiwan in every person, and the upward-pointing arrow represents one of his main goals, which is to boost Taiwan’s economy.
[SOURCE]

A brief overview of how Taiwan and Indonesia have maintained a friendly relationship over the past three decades.

The News Lens
Date: 2019/11/14
By Muhammad Zulfikar Rakhmat, Dimas Permadi, and Ramadha Valentine

Although Indonesia does not officially recognize Taiwan as an independent country, the relationship between Indonesia and Taiwan has been a mutually beneficial one. Taiwan’s "New Southbound Policy" policy has also strengthened cooperation with Indonesia in various fields.

Economic partnership

Economic ties between the two have increased significantly since 1971, and Indonesia occupied the 14th position of Taiwan's largest trading partner last year. Taiwan exports products to Indonesia such as iron and steel, chemicals, textile raw materials, among others, while importing resources like coal, wood, rubber, natural gas from Indonesia.

The collaboration was strengthened by a contract between Indonesia’s State Enterprises (BUMN) Ministry and CPC Corporation Taiwan-based oil and gas company.

To facilitate trade cooperation, Indonesia has established an official trade office in Taipei in 1970, known as the Indonesian Economic and Trade Office (KDEI). Taiwan reciprocated the effort and established its trade office named Taipei Economic and Trade Office (TETO) in Jakarta in 1971. In 2015, the Taiwan-owned trading office was also established in Surabaya, an Indonesian port city.
[FULL  STORY]

NCC to revoke certifications if smartphone makers such as Huawei do not properly list Taiwan

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/11/14
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer\

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — In response to reports of Huawei smartphones suddenly changing Taiwan's listing to "Taiwan, China," the National Communication Commission (NCC) on Wednesday (Nov. 13) said that it is asking all mobile device manufacturers to list Taiwan properly and will remove their certification if they fail to do so in the future.

After undergoing a security update, Taiwanese netizens on the discussion forum for tech site Mobile 01 have recently discovered the caller ID on Huawei P30, P30 Pro, and Nova 5T smartphones have begun displaying Taiwan as "Taiwan, China." Other users found that the country listing for their caller ID was unmolested, but the nation for their warrantee area had been changed to "Taiwan, China."

In response, NCC acting spokesman Hsiao Chi-hung (蕭祈宏), said that the changes to the country listing on the devices "are not in line with the facts and damage national dignity," reported TechNews. Hsiao said that in order to safeguard national dignity and based on its authority over mobile phones, the NCC has informed Huawei that it must change the listing for the country back to "Taiwan."

Hsiao said the NCC is calling on all smartphone and tablet manufacturers to properly and consistently label Taiwan in their devices. He added that moving forward, the NCC will require mobile device makers to sign an affidavit when they apply for certification of their products pledging that they will correctly label Taiwan in their operating systems and built-in applications, according to the report.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/11/14
By: Emerson Lim

Taipei, Nov. 14 (CNA) American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Acting Director Raymond Greene offered suggestions for helping to kick Taiwan's innovation culture into a higher gear at a startup community interaction event that began Thursday.

Taiwan should forge closer ties between the startup community, academia and research institutions, and pursue international exchange opportunities, Greene said at the opening ceremony of Meet Taipei 2019.

"Virtually all innovation clusters in the United States emerged out of anchor universities," he said, citing Silicon Valley and the Research Triangle in North Carolina, among others.

Much of Taiwan's technology industry, he said, was established by people who studied in the United States, especially in the semiconductor industry, such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company founder Morris Chang (張忠謀) and Etron's Nicky Lu (盧超群).    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 13 November, 2019
By: Natalie Tso

The Nanmen Interim Market officially opened on Wednesday. Nanmen Market has a 38-year history, and is loved by Taipei residents because of its wide variety of Chinese food, ingredients, and specialties.

Over 250 vendors have moved to the interim market to make room for the building of a new twelve-story Nanmen Market, and to allow for metro line construction. The vendors are scheduled to move into the newly reopened market in October 2022.

The interim market is holding prize drawings and offering gift bags to shoppers to promote its new location.    [SOURCE]

The Act is unlikely to achieve its stated goal of expanding Taiwan’s diplomatic space.

The Diplomat
Date: November 13, 2019
By: Jansen Tham

The U.S. Senate unanimously passed the Taiwan Allies International Protection and Enhancement Initiative (TAIPEI) Act in late October 2019. If the TAIPEI Act passes in the House of Representatives, it will be passed to President Donald Trump to sign the bill into law.

The Act represents American lawmakers’ carrots-and-sticks approach to counter Chinese coercion against Taiwan, which today has just 15 diplomatic allies. Seven countries have broken off relations with Taipei in favor of Beijing since President Tsai Ing-wen took office in 2016. The TAIPEI Act involves the United States enhancing “economic, security, and diplomatic engagement” with countries that have “strengthened, enhanced or upgraded relations with Taiwan,” while also punitively reducing U.S. engagement with countries whose actions “undermine Taiwan.”

Other provisions in the Act include calling on the U.S. administration to advocate for Taiwan’s membership in “international organizations in which statehood is not a requirement” and for Taiwan to be granted observer status in international bodies where formal recognition is a prerequisite. It further proposes signing a U.S.-Taiwan free trade agreement.

Given the bipartisan support for Taiwan in Congress and the broad anti-China sentiment in Washington, the bill will almost certainly be passed into law. This follows closely on the heels of the Taiwan Travel Act – another piece of legislation that displays Washington’s support for Taipei – passed in March this year.    [FULL  STORY]

Central Election Commission to investigate eligibility

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/11/13
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The Taiwan Action Party Alliance (TAPA, 一邊一國行動黨) is considering

naming former President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) as a candidate on its at-large list for January’s legislative elections, reports said Wednesday (November 13).

A party spokeswoman said Chen had been the only president ever to have publicly described Taiwan and China as two different countries on either side of the Taiwan Strait, the Liberty Times reported.

Chen was sentenced to 20 years in prison for corruption, but was released on medical parole.     [FULL  STORY]