Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/12/06
By Sunrise Huang, Wu Hsin-yun and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, Dec. 6 (CNA) New Taipei Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) on Thursday called for a coordinated effort to locate a final site for the disposal of nuclear waste from the first nuclear power plant in the city, noting that decommissioning cannot take place before an environmental impact assessment is conducted.

Chu said the central and local government as well as the ruling and opposition political parties need to work out a solution for the disposal of nuclear waste from the Jinshan Nuclear Power Plant in the city. Decommissioning was scheduled to start on Wednesday, but could not because of administrative problems.

Chu made the remarks after saying on Wednesday that nuclear waste should never be stored in a heavily populated city.    [FULL  STORY]

INSURANCE ISSUE: Taiwan Occupational Safety and Health Link’s Huang Yi-ling said that payments are difficult to secure for those who have malignant mesothelioma

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 07, 2018
By: Ann Maxon  /  Staff reporter

The families of people who die from work-related diseases after retirement might be

ineligible to receive labor insurance due to provisions of the Labor Insurance Act (勞工保險條例), Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Li-fen (李麗芬) said yesterday, adding that she would propose amendments to address the issue.

Such cases are especially common among people with malignant mesothelioma — a cancer of the thin tissue that covers the lung, chest wall and abdomen, which is linked to exposure to asbestos — because its symptoms typically do not show until decades after exposure and those affected might have canceled their labor insurance plan due to retirement, Lee told a news conference at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei.

According to the act, people who develop work-related diseases while they were insured are ineligible for compensation payouts for death if the application is made more than a year after their labor insurance plan ends, she said.    [FULL  STORY]

NOT SO FAST: The Northern Taiwan Society chairman said the president being the party’s candidate in 2020 is not a foregone conclusion, but that many expect Lai to run

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 06, 2018
By: Peng Wan-hsin, with Jake Chung  /  Staff writer, with CNA

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday denied that so-called factions are

distancing themselves from President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), the party’s former chairperson, or trying to force her out of power.

Deputy Legislative Speaker Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) made the remarks during an exclusive interview with Clara Chou (周玉蔻) on her morning show, Coco Breakfast (蔻蔻早餐).

Tsai Chi-chang denied that earlier comments he made were the former New Tide faction’s — of which he is a member — attempt to distance themselves from the president and to force her out of power.

He on Monday said that Premier William Lai (賴清德) and Presidential Office Secretary-General Chen Chu (陳菊) — both members of the faction — would step down at an appropriate time.    [FULL  STORY]

It’s a dangerous, despicable strategy. It’s also incorrect.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/12/05
By: Roy Ngerng

On Nov. 24, Taiwanese voters decided on three referendum questions directly pertaining to the issue of same-sex marriage. They were:

• Question 10: Do you agree that Civil Code regulations (constitution) should restrict marriage to being between a man and a woman?
• Question 12: Do you agree to types of unions, other than those stated in the marriage regulations in the Civil Code, to protect the rights of same-sex couples who live together permanently?
• Question 14: Do you agree that the Civil Code marriage regulations should be used to guarantee the rights of same-sex couples to get married?

Questions 10 and 12 were provided by anti-marriage equality groups. Question 14 was proposed by pro-equality advocates.

Yesterday, I argued that the opposition Kuomintang (KMT), the more conservative-leaning of Taiwan’s two major parties, was able to manipulate these referendum questions to help voters deliver a harsh rebuke of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) at the polls.

However, the anti-marriage equality campaign was built on a foundation of lies.

In the first place, there was criticism that their referendum questions were intended to mislead. On question 12, the question was phrased as coming out with a separate law aimed at “protecting” same-sex relationships. Ahead of the vote, there was persistent chatter that anti-LGBT campaigners were going around misleading others by telling people that they should vote “yes” for question 12 because it would serve to “protect” the rights of same-sex couples, even if it would deny them equal protections.
[FULL  STORY]

A total of 172 courses in various institution across the island will be suspended next year

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/12/05
By: Ryan Drillsma, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — According to statistics provided by the Ministry of Education (MoE), a total of 172 courses across colleges and universities throughout Taiwan will be suspended in 2019 due to low recruitment levels.

Schools say that the majority of these courses cannot be filled because of the country’s declining birth rates, according to CNA, as well as new trends in industry development. Most of those being canceled are Master’s programs and vocational courses.

The MoE says of the courses being suspended, 96 are regular university courses and 76 are technical training programs.

Local media has cast much attention upon National Chiao Tung University, which is canceling its Electrical and Information Engineering Bachelor’s program. The school issued a press release recently, however, to say the course is to be integrated into a much larger field of study in response to the need of students to receive cross-disciplinary education.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/12/05
By: Jospeh Yeh

Taipei, Dec. 5 (CNA) An army serviceman suffered multiple injuries at a military base in

Kaohsiung on Wednesday, when he was knocked down by a tank, the Army said.

The 23-year-old corporal was carrying out maintenance work on the front of the armored vehicle when it rolled forward and struck him, knocking him unconscious, according to a statement issued by the 8th Army Corps, under which he serves.

The corporal was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he later regained consciousness and was being treated for injuries to his abdomen and back, the Army said.
[FULL  STORY]

G-20 ‘truce’ seen as temporary as U.S. hard-liners lead talks

Nikkei Asian Review
Date: December 05, 2018
By: Chris Horton, contributing writer and Lauly Li and Cheng Ting-Fang,Nikkei staff writetrs

TAIPEI — Taiwan’s largest companies have spent the past two decades building factories ever deeper into China, particularly in the Yangtze River and Pearl River deltas. Besides having a major impact on global supply chains, this push has left the economy of Taiwan deeply entwined with that of its large neighbor — and, increasingly, antagonist — across the strait.

Yet there are growing signs that many of Taiwan’s companies may soon begin to unwind that 20-year process by withdrawing from China, due in no small part to the U.S.-China trade dispute.

Perhaps more than any other economy, Taiwan has found itself trapped in the middle of the trade war between the world’s two superpowers. China and the U.S. are Taiwan’s top two individual trading partners, and the Taiwanese economy is heavily reliant on global trade.

Products that are made by Taiwanese companies at plants in the mainland are effectively considered to be “Made in China” — putting them in the crosshairs for U.S. tariffs that could rise to 25% early next year. Already, there are widespread concerns in Taiwan that the trade war is hurting Chinese demand for its exports.

At the recent G-20 summit in Buenos Aires, U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping apparently agreed to a cease fire that delays a Jan. 1 deadline for imposing 25% tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods by 90 days. Despite the upbeat rhetoric, though, few are expecting China and the U.S. to reach a deal that would avert the tariffs.    [FULL  STORY]

Most Taiwanese support some form of legal protection for same-sex couples.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/12/04
By: Roy Ngerng

After the Nov. 24 series of referendums, the international media reported that Taiwan’s push for same-sex marriage referendum had been defeated. Although this is disappointing, there was another piece of news that was not picked up as widely: a majority of Taiwanese voted in favor of providing legal protections to same-sex relationships, albeit not as “marriage.”

You see, in the referendum held two Saturdays ago, there were actually three referendum questions on same-sex marriage. They were:

• Question 10: Do you agree that Civil Code regulations (constitution) should restrict marriage to being between a man and a woman?
• Question 12: Do you agree to types of unions, other than those stated in the marriage regulations in the Civil Code, to protect the rights of same-sex couples who live together permanently?
• Question 14: Do you agree that the Civil Code marriage regulations should be used to guarantee the rights of same-sex couples to get married?

Questions 10 and 12 came from anti-marriage equality groups, while question 14 was proposed by pro-equality advocates.

The anti-equality groups had collected more than 677,972 signatures for their questions to be put on the ballot for the referendum, though only 565,676 (83 percent) were considered valid.

For the pro-equality groups, they managed to collect 330,000 signatures within the first 37 days after they started obtaining signatures, which they said was a record in itself in Taiwan, done in twice the speed as the anti-equality groups. Eventually, they collected474,777 signatures, of which 432,329 (91 percent) were considered valid. Their proposal was also approved at a later stage, which they said tipped the level-playing field in favor of the anti-equality groups, as they were allowed to begin campaigning earlier.    [FULL  STORY]

The one-day postponement is designed to avoid interfering with examinations on Saturday January 26

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/12/04
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – In a rare move, two legislative by-elections originally scheduled for Saturday January 26 will be postponed to the following day to avoid interference with examinations, the Central Election Commission (CEC) announced Tuesday.

On November 24, some lawmakers won the mayoral and county magistrate elections, while others had resigned ahead of the election to show their commitment to the campaign.

Opposition Kuomintang (KMT) legislator Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) won the Taichung mayoral elections, while ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmaker Yao Wen-chih (姚文智) had resigned from the Legislative Yuan, even though he eventually went on to lose his bid for mayor of Taipei City.

The CEC had initially picked January 26 as the date for the two by-elections, but later, objections arose as it was noted that the same day, some students would have to take entrance examinations. Since both examinations and voting usually take place at schools, the government felt the elections should be moved, the Apple Daily reported.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/12/04
By: Wu Rui-chi and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, Dec. 4 (CNA) Taipei Customs officers seized 3,043 kilograms of meat products brought into the country by passengers arriving from foreign countries between August and November as African swine fever (ASF) continues to spread in China, according to data released Tuesday by Taipei Customs.

In response to the continued smuggling of meat products into the country, the Legislature passed on Nov. 30 an amendment to the Statute for Prevention and Control of Infectious Animal Disease, increasing fines for smuggling meat products into Taiwan from NT$3,000-NT$15,000 (US$98-US$489) to NT$10,000-NT$1 million, Taipei Customs said in a statement.

The amendment shows the government’s determination to stamp out this behavior and prevent the importation of the fatal ASF virus, which is spreading in China, according to the statement.

Since August when ASF was first reported in Shenyang, China, it has spread to about 20 Chinese provinces, according to Chinese media reports.    [FULL  STORY]