ATTACK: The Labor Standards Act amendments contradicted the DPP’s campaign promise of balancing the interests of workers and employers, Tuan Yi-kang said

Taipei Times
Date:Nov 28, 2018
By: Lin Liang-sheng and Jonathan Chin  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Tuan Yi-kang (段宜康) yesterday

criticized Premier William Lai (賴清德) and President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) after the DPP’s devastating losses in the nine-in-one local elections on Saturday.

Lai was at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei to give an Executive Yuan report on the Puyuma Express derailment on Oct. 21 when Tuan delivered a speech about the administration’s policy failures.

Tuan, wearing a 2016 election campaign jacket, said the DPP had not fulfilled the responsibilities that voters handed to it two years ago, highlighting the negative effects of economic issues and the party’s failure to back referendums that are aligned with its ideals as sources of public discontent.

“I have done all the party asked of me before the vote. I am only partially surprised by the results,” Tuan said. “There had been signs pointing to the party losing the elections; only the large margin of the losses was surprising.”    [FULL  STORY]

Flush from referendum success, a pro-nuclear group is suggesting a further plebiscite on restarting construction of the fourth nuclear power plant if the government doesn’t adjust its energy policy of its own accord.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/11/26
By: Cat Thomas

The government has downplayed the success of the referendum advocating for an end to its commitment to make Taiwan nuclear-free by 2025, but may face a further referendum on whether to restart work on the fourth nuclear power plant at Lungmen in New Taipei.

Referendum 16, which asked: “Do you agree to repeal Article 95 paragraph 1 of The Electricity Act: “The nuclear-energy-based power-generating facilities shall wholly stop running by 2025?” passed on Saturday with a participation rate of approximately 55 percent of 19.7 million eligible voters, according to Central Election Commission data.

Yet the response of the government suggests that despite the success of this referendum, energy policy will likely remain unchanged.

Spokesperson for the Executive Yuan Kolas Yotaka confirmed on Sunday that the paragraph of the Electricity Act committing to phasing out nuclear power will be removed within three days, as required under the referendum law, but that the government will persist with its goal of making Taiwan a nuclear-free homeland by 2025.     [FULL  STORY]

The forum will focus on the circular economy

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/11/26
By: Jessica Oy, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Since Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) re-election was confirmed through Taiwan’s local elections on Nov. 24. The date for the Taipei-Shanghai Forum has finally been set on Thursday Dec. 20, according to Yi-ting Liu (劉奕霆), a spokesman for the Taipei City Government.

The Central News Agency (CNA) today quoted Liu as saying that the theme of the Taipei-Shanghai Forum will focus on “circular economy”. Further, the organizer plans to invite Shanghai Mayor Ying Yong (應勇) to attend the meeting. Details will be announced as soon as possible, according to Liu.

In an earlier report today, CNA quoted an insider who said that the forum could be held in the middle or late December.

The source said that according to the municipal government’s schedule, the heads of the government will resign on December 18, and the re-elected mayor Ko will take office on the 25th, while on the 31st of December, New Year’s celebrations have already been scheduled.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/11/26
By: Shih Hsiu-chuan

Taipei, Nov. 26 (CNA) Taiwan could have become the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage last year, but the way the politicians have dealt with the issue have allowed anti-gay rights groups to gain momentum and throw the issue into disarray, analysts said.

“This was really a missed opportunity for gay marriage with equal rights,” Michael Danielsen, chairman of Taiwan Corner, a Denmark-based non-governmental organization that focuses on Taiwan, told CNA in a recent email interview.

“It was clear that the issue could have been solved in the Legislative Yuan in late 2017.”

He was responding to the results of Saturday’s referendums that saw passage of three proposals seen as opposing gay rights by big margins.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 27, 2018
By: Lin Liang-sheng, Chiu Yan-ling and William Hetherington  /  Staff reporters, with staff writer

The results of Saturday’s nine-in-one elections represented a failure of the

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), not a victory for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), KMT Legislator Ko Chih-en (柯志恩) said on Sunday.

The KMT must not misread the situation and must continue to reform itself to win back votes from the DPP, Ko said.

The KMT won mayoral races in 15 counties and cities, up from six, while the DPP won only six, down from 13.

Key KMT candidates, including Kaohsiung mayor-elect Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) and New Taipei City mayor-elect Hou You-yi (侯友宜), are different from typical KMT politicians, Ko said, adding that the two relied on their unique personalities.
[FULL  STORY]

CNN News
Date: November 25, 2018
By Baohui Zhang

Hong Kong (CNN)The major defeat for Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in Saturday’s local elections has profound consequences for regional stability and great power politics.

It makes victory by the Kuomintang (KMT), the former ruling party that preaches friendly relations with Beijing, highly likely in the 2020 presidential election.

This prospect will have major implications for both cross-strait and Sino-US relations.

Before Saturday’s election, the DPP controlled 13 out Taiwan’s 22 cities and counties. Now, it is left with only six. More importantly, the DPP lost in both Kaohsiung and Taichung, the second and third largest cities of Taiwan.
[FULL  STORY]

Your daily bulletin of Taiwan news, courtesy of ICRT.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/11/26
By: International Community Radio Taipei (ICRT)

Central Election Commission (CEC) Chairman Chen In-chin (陳英鈐) has resigned

amid continuing criticism over the handling of Saturday’s election and vote counting.

Cabinet spokeswoman Kolas Yotaka says Chen’s resignation has been accepted by Premier William Lai (賴清德).

Saturday’s vote saw candidates running for 11,047 local offices, and was held in conjunction with 10 referendums.

It has been described as the biggest ever vote in Taiwan, and voters encountered long lines and in some instances waits of two or three hours to cast their ballots.
[FULL  STORY]

A Taipower spokesman made the remarks after Taiwanese public voted against the government’s policy of phasing-out nuclear power by 2025

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/11/25
By:  Central News Agency

TAIPEI (CNA) — State-owned Taiwan Power Co. (Taipower) said Sunday it respects the recent referendum results related to energy, but will still follow the policies of the government.

Taipower spokesman Hsu Tsao-hua (徐造華) made the remarks after Taiwanese voted against the government’s policy of phasing-out nuclear power by 2025 in one of the 10 referendums alongside Saturday’s local government elections.

The No. 16 Referendum asked “Do you agree with abolishing the first paragraph of Article 95 of the Electricity Act, which means abolishing the provision that ‘all nuclear-energy-based power-generating facilities shall cease to operate by 2025’?”

A total of 5,895,560 votes were cast in favor of repealing the nuclear phase-out, and 4,014,215 against the initiative, according to the Central Election Commission.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/11/25
By: Rita Cheng Joseph Yeh

Taipei, Nov. 25 (CNA) United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Saturday

praised Taiwan for it’s local government elections, calling them an example of democracy in action for the Indo-Pacific region.

“The United States congratulates #Taiwan on another successful round of free and fair elections. Your hard-earned constitutional democracy is an example for the entire Indo-Pacific,” Pompeo said on Twitter.

In response, Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) retweeted Pompeo’s tweet, expressing gratitude for the U.S. praise of the country.

“We thank @SecPompeo for the praise & recognition. As a beacon of freedom & democracy, #Taiwan is willing & able to share its experiences & work with like-minded countries such as the #US in advancing peace, stability & prosperity in the #IndoPacific,” MOFA said on Twitter.    [FULL  STORY]

SYSTEMIC ISSUES: Lee Chun-yi said that the party should not only consult political appointees and academics, but let lawmakers be more involved in policymaking

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 26, 2018
By: Sean Lin  /  Staff reporter

It is time for senior Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) politicians to pass the torch

to an aspiring generation, DPP Legislator Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) said yesterday amid mounting criticism within the party after its losses in the nine-in-one elections on Saturday.

The DPP lost seven of the 13 cities and counties it held — the special municipalities of Taichung and Kaohsiung, as well as Chiayi City, and Yilan, Yunlin, Changhua and Penghu counties — to the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).

Of the 22 races, the DPP won only six: the special municipalities of Taoyuan and Tainan, as well as Keelung and Hsinchu City, and Chiayi and Pingtung counties.

At a post-election news conference on Saturday night at which President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) stepped down as party chairperson, she apologized for having let the DPP’s supporters down and said that the party would engage in “serious self-introspection” and undertake internal reforms.    [FULL  STORY]