According to the survey results, Taiwanese people in the age group between 40 and 49 traveled alone most often

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/11/08
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News)—The travel website, Expedia, revealed the results of its 2018 survey on solo travelers on Thursday, which show that 20% of the Taiwanese people surveyed have had the experience of traveling internationally while alone, and among them, 70% expressed an intention to go on a trip by themselves again within one year, according to a Central News Agency (CNA) report on Thursday.   .

For the survey, Expedia interviewed about 1,500 Taiwanese travelers, and found that nearly 20% of them had traveled abroad alone in the past, the report said.

According to the survey results, Taiwanese people in the age group between 40 and 49 traveled alone most often, with 31% of them having such experience, followed by 29% of the age group between 60 and 69, 24% of travelers between 50 and 59 years old, 17% of travelers between the ages of 30 and 39, and 14% registered by young travelers from 18 to 29 years old, the report said.

Expedia pointed out that nearly 50% of the travelers with the experience of traveling alone chose flights with low cost airlines, and more than 80% of them chose low- to medium-cost accommodations, CNA reported.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/11/08
By: Shih Hsiu-chuan 

Taipei, Nov. 8 (CNA) The maximum fine for illegally bringing meat products into Taiwan will be increased from NT$15,000 (US$489) to NT$300,000 to better prevent Taiwan from being affected by African swine fever (ASF) or hoof-and-mouth disease if a proposed amendment passes the Legislature.

The Cabinet on Thursday approved the draft amendment to the Statute for Prevention and Control of Infectious Animal Disease to increase the fine, which an official with the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine (BAPHIQ) said “has little deterrent effect” on smuggling.

In the wake of outbreaks of ASF in China first reported Aug. 3, Taiwan has intensified border inspections of meat products and discovered 148 cases of people illegally bringing in raw or undercooked products between Sept. 1 and Nov. 4, Feng Hai-tung (馮海東), head of the BAPHIQ, said at a press conference.

Of the 148 items confiscated, 93 were from China, where there have been 60 reported ASF cases in 15 provinces, cities or areas, Feng said.    [FULL  STORY]

LGBT ‘PERVERSION’: The KMT said that the article did not represent the party and was written by a volunteer who had used the Web page as a personal platform

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 09, 2018
By: Su Fun-her and Jonathan Chin  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday deleted an article on the Japanese-language version of its Web site that denounced LGBT people for “perversion,” after the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) accused it of homophobia.

The article was originally published by the KMT on Oct. 31. An LGBT advocate identified as “Okinafa Chen” posted a screen grab of it on Facebook one week later with a translation and no comment.

Chen’s translation of the post read: “While homosexuals are naturally occurring, making laws for him [sic] is perversion, making husbands out of women and brides of men is extremely perverted, making laws for this perverted thing is even more perverted.”

“The DDP wants to make Taiwan a perverted country, we are not perverts, we do not want to be made into perverts, we will not stand for this and fuck you DPP,” it read.
[FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International 
Date: 07 November, 2018
By: Charlie Storrar

Taiwan had a hot and sunny day on Wednesday, a day that was supposed to represent the arrival of winter.

Wednesday marked “Li Dong,” the first day of winter according to the lunar calendar. But the weather was anything but wintry across most of Taiwan. The temperature even got up to 30 degrees Celsius in Taipei, making it shorts and T-shirt weather for visitors to the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall.

The Central Weather Bureau says such weather has not been unusual for this time of year over the past few years. One meteorologist said temperatures on Li Dong for 2013 and 2014 were around 24/25 degrees Celsius. But since 2015, it has not been unusual for the mercury to reach 30 degrees Celsius and beyond on the so-called first day of winter.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwanese voters will decide on 10 referendum questions on Nov. 24. Here’s how it all works.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/11/07
By: Guy Redmer

Referendum is defined as a proposed public measure subject to popular vote by the electorate. The root word alone, refer, captures the meaning of a decision being referred to the general public rather than their elected representatives.

Taiwan’s Referendum Act (公民投票法) allows for voters to make decisions on issues such as gay marriage and nuclear power. On this year’s Election Day, Nov. 24, Taiwanese voters will face no fewer than ten such questions. This is an unusually large number. The reasons for it come down to a few very recent events.

How does the Referendum Act work following its reform in 2017?
Taiwan’s original Referendum Act, passed in 2003, included hurdles that were very difficult to surmount. Most notably, it stipulated that any provision could only pass if the number of participating voters was at least 50 percent of the electorate in the last presidential election (hereafter termed “the electorate”).    [FULL  STORY]

Man regrets losing hard-earned money in drinking three beers and being flagged down by police

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/11/07
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News)—A Taiwanese man had never thought of the big price he would have to pay for drinking beer, until he was stopped by police after drinking three beers, according to a news release posted by Taisi Precinct on Yulin County Police Bureau’s website in October.

The 42-year-old man surnamed Yang had a drinking habit, and he would drink a beer to wake him up before going to work and drink a few more during dinner after work to relax, Taisi Precinct said.

Around 11 p.m. on Oct. 8, Yang went out to buy beer, but he was flagged down by police because he wasn’t wearing a helmet, the precinct said. As Lunfeng Police Station chief Lin Chien-lung (林建隆) and officer Lin Kuan-yu (林冠余) approached him, they could smell alcohol emitting from Yang’s body. The policemen then asked him, “You smell of strong alcohol. How many bottles and what alcohol did you drink?” To which, Yang replied, “Only three beers.”

The police asked him to provide a breath test, the result of which was 0.98mg/l.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/11/07
By: Chen Chi-chung and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, Nov. 7 (CNA) Languages of new immigrants in Taiwan will be listed as required

courses at elementary schools in the near future as the number of second-generation immigrant students increases, making up 7 percent of the total student numbers, the Ministry of Education said Wednesday.

The number of the second generation of immigrant students in Taiwan has exceeded 300,000, making up 7 percent of the total number of students at various school levels, with 12 percent of the total at elementary and junior high schools, Minister of Education Yeh Jiunn-rong (葉俊榮) said at a legislative hearing.

Among these students, 32,189 study at kindergartens, 107,407 are at elementary schools, 73,894 are at junior high, 68,883 are at senior high school and 24,684 are at college, according to the latest statistics released by the ministry.

These students are an important part of Taiwanese society, Yeh noted, adding that their education will focus on building their advantage at using their native languages and helping them explore opportunities from the government’s New Southbound Policy that aims to strengthen Taiwan’s trade and economic ties with members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and South Asian countries, as well as New Zealand and Australia.    [FULL  STORY]

CULTURAL GUIDANCE:Ko’s campaign director has been a target of criticism by KMT candidate Ting Shou-chung, who says Ko is attempting to use him to draw DPP votes

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 08, 2018
By: Lee I-chia  /  Staff reporter

Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) today is to begin a leave of absence to focus on his re-

election campaign.

Asked yesterday morning about his feelings on his last working day as mayor, Ko said he does not feel anything in particular, as he just discussed urban renovation issues in a daily meeting and still had to review many documents.

Ko also said that his campaign director Hsiao Yeh (小野) is a “nice person,” after Hsiao Yeh appeared in a promotional video for Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Kaohsiung mayoral candidate Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁), stirring speculation over Ko’s political stance.

Ko had earlier said that he respects Hsiao Yeh’s decision to support Chen, as election and political party preferences are not the only concerns in personal relationships.
[FULL  STORY]

The event will explore cooperation opportunities among indigenous peoples from Taiwan, New Zealand, and other countries

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/11/07
By: Huang Tzu-ti, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The 2018 Indigenous Peoples Economic Development Forum will take place at the Parkview Hotel in Hualien between Nov. 9 and 11.

The event will seek to promote Taiwan’s aboriginal culture while strengthening ties with New Southbound Policy countries in areas of trade, tourism, and culture, according to the Council of Indigenous Peoples.

Experts from Canada, Thailand, Malaysia, and New Zealand will be attending the three-day event, sharing their insights on engaging indigenous peoples to develop agriculture and creative industry, among other business initiatives.

The first day of the forum will feature an exhibition and sale fair spotlighting merchandise from indigenous peoples of Taiwan and New Zealand, honoring the Agreement between New Zealand and Taiwan on Economic Cooperation (ANZTEC) signed by the two sides in July, 2013.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International 
Date: 06 November, 2018
By: Shirley Lin

New Taipei’s education department invited 28 high school students to organize an exhibit on Southeast Asian culture. The students selected have been on internship programs with Taiwanese companies based in Vietnam and Thailand.

At the exhibit, some students wore traditional Vietnamese clothes and invited visitors to try Vietnamese food. In recent years, there has also been a program in which children born to new immigrant parents traveled to their parents’ country of birth to visit their grandparents.

New Taipei mayor Eric Chu attended the exhibit and congratulated the students on the success of the event.

Schools in New Taipei have sent 183 students to countries in Southeast Asia in the last four years on similar cultural exchange programs.    [FULL  STORY]