A further 50 companies consider following suit

Taiwan News 
Date: 2019/04/13
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A total of 30 Taiwanese companies were planning to return to their home country and invest more than a combined total of NT$120 billion (US$3.89 billion), the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) announced Friday.

The moves were a result of the government’s policy to encourage Taiwanese corporations who had invested overseas to consider expansion in Taiwan, especially as a trade war raged between China and the United States.

As part of the policy, Taiwan is giving the companies special benefits, such as easier use of foreign labor and bank loans, the Central News Agency reported.

The plans by the 30 companies announced so far this year might lead to the creation of an estimated 10,500 jobs, according to government estimates.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/04/13
By: Yu Hsiang and Frances Huang

Taipei, April 13 (CNA) The Transitional Justice Commission (TJC) said Saturday that it

expects that efforts to declassify secret files concerning several major political cases will help the commission’s investigation and come up with facts in a bid to push for transitional justice.

The major political cases eyed by the TJC include the murders of members of former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairman Lin Yi-hsiung’s (林義雄) family, according to the commission.

On Friday, Presidential Office Secretary-General Chen Chu (陳菊) said on her Facebook page that President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has instructed her and National Security Council (NSC) Secretary-General David Lee (李大維) to call a meeting for a possible declassification of political files related to the cases, at a time when Taiwan society is eager to know the facts.

According to the TJC, the National Archives Administration has made several attempts since 2000 to collect files concerning these cases but to no avail, and their existence was only discovered following the passage of the Act on Promoting Transitional Justice in 2017.    [FULL  STORY]

‘NOT FOR PLEASURE’: The Puyuma performer said that Aborigines in Taiwan are not alone in seeing their language slowly die out and his mission was to help preserve it

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 14, 2019
By: Yang Yuan-ting and Jake Chung  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer

Aboriginal communities sing not for pleasure, but to preserve their culture and history,

Puyuma singer Sangpuy Katatepan Mavaliyw said on Friday.

“The stereotype of Aborigines is that we love to sing. However, we do not sing for the pleasure of singing. Instead, we sing because song is the medium through which Aboriginal culture and history are passed down from generation to generation,” Sangpuy said ahead of a performance at the National Theater in Taipei.

Sangpuy gained fame domestically and abroad with his album Yaangad, which means “life” in the Puyuma language.

He bases his songs on actual events, Sangpuy said.

“I am inspired by everyday life. I feel that if I create something that even I like and am moved by, it would move others,” he said.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International 
Date: 12 April, 2019
By: John Van Trieste

Premier Su Tseng-chang says a proposed change to the Referendum Act is meant to prevent voter fraud.

The proposal would affect the signature-gathering process required to get a referendum on the ballot. Voters would have to provide photocopies of the front and back of their national ID cards when signing a referendum petition in order to prove their identity.

This proposal is already on its way to becoming law. It is part of a larger bill to amend the Referendum Act that has already received Cabinet approval.

Critics say the bill will stifle willingness to sign on to referendum petitions, limiting their chances of success and damaging democracy.    [FULL  STORY]

Believing herself a victim of home invasion, she implored her Facebook contacts to call the police, which they did

Taiwan News  
Date: 2019/04/12
By:  Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – In Taipei, a 48 year old woman, surnamed Hseih (謝), awoke from bed early Friday morning around 1:00 a.m. shocked to hear a strange noise in her home. She immediately took to social media to alert her friends and family that she may be in danger.

“There’s a thief in my home! What should I do?” she frantically posted to Facebook. Not wanting to alert the intruder to her position, she decided against making a phone call to the police which might be overheard.

Instead she asked her friends to contact the police on her behalf while she hid from any potential danger in her bedroom.

Her friends answered her call providing the the first of three reports to local police at approximately 1:40 a.m. Hseih kept her worried online audience informed of how the situation was developing while she nervously awaited police from Taipei City’s Songshan branch to arrive.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/04/12
By: Elaine Hou, Tai Ya-chen, Hu Yu-li and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, April 12 (CNA) The British ministries in charge of foreign policy and health care have voiced support for Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations, including the World Health Assembly (WHA).

The decision-making body of the World Health Organization (WHO) will hold its 71st session from May 20 to 28 in Geneva, and Taiwan wants to attend as an observer.

It has yet to receive an invitation, however, because of Chinese obstruction and will likely be excluded from the event for the third consecutive year.

In London, House of Commons member Martin Vickers asked the country’s Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Matt Hancock and Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt about Taiwan’s bid in written inquires on March 28 and April 2, respectively.    [FULL  STORY]

NUCLEAR-FREE STRATEGY: The changes stipulate that local governments should gauge the possibility of developing renewable energy sources in their areas

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 13, 2019
By: Sean Lin  /  Staff reporter

The Legislative Yuan yesterday passed amendments to the Renewable Energy

Development Act (再生能源發展條例), which set a goal for the nation’s renewable energy sources to reach a total of capacity of 27 gigawatts by 2025.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs is to review renewable energy development goals for next year and 2021, set development plans and publish the proportion that each source of renewable energy should contribute, according to the amended act.

To realize the goal by 2025, local governments should evaluate the potential for developing renewable energy sources in their jurisdiction, and may establish power generation facilities with an installed capacity of up to 2,000 kilowatts, the act says.

Power generation facilities with an installed capacity of greater than 2,000 kilowatts should be established by the ministry, it says.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International 
Date: 11 April, 2019
By: John Van Trieste

Both businesses and travelers are calling for Taiwan to extend a trial visa waiver program for Filipino nationals.

The trial run began in November 2017 as part of larger efforts to build closer ties with Southeast Asia and encourage Southeast Asian tourism to Taiwan. It was extended for another year in June of last year.

The program is set to expire in just a few months, and there is not yet any word on whether it will be extended for a second time.

Taiwan’s representative office in the Philippines has been receiving several hundred letters each month urging Taiwan to keep the visa waiver policy in place.
[FULL  STORY]

Experts: Security issues being used as pretext to gain support in coming vote

China Daily
Date:: 2019-04-11
By Zhang Zhihao | China Daily

A spokesman for the Chinese mainland slammed the United States and Taiwan separatists on Wednesday for trying to undermine China’s territorial integrity with their recent military interactions and pro-secession rhetoric.

Ma Xiaoguang, spokesman for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, said at a news conference on Wednesday that China resolutely opposes any official interaction or military dialogue between the US and Taiwan.

“The US should handle the Taiwan question carefully and properly, so as not to damage Sino-US ties, or peace and security in the Taiwan Straits,” he said.

Experts said such actions are detrimental to peace and security across the Taiwan Straits, as separatists are desperate to win votes in the election next year by hyping security issues and attempting to draw international support for their goal.
[FULL  STORY]