Taipei Times
Date: May 06, 2018 
By: Stacy Hsu  /  Staff reporter

Beijing’s increased pressure on Taiwan has raised concerns among observers in the

US, which could be the reason for the US Congress’ unanimous passage of the Taiwan Travel Act in March, American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Chairman James Moriarty said.

At a time of impressive growth in Taiwan-US ties, development in cross-strait relations over the past year has told a much less positive story, Moriarty said at a seminar, titled “The US and Taiwan: An Enduring Partnership,” at Stanford University on Thursday.

“Observers in the US, both outside and inside the government, including a broad spectrum of members of Congress, are deeply troubled that China has increased pressure on Taiwan,” Moriarty said. “Recent congressional actions on Taiwan, like the unanimous passage of the Taiwan Travel Act, reflect those concerns.”

The act, which encourages high-level visits by US and Taiwanese officials, was signed into law by US President Donald Trump on March 16, following its unanimous passage in the US House of Representatives on Jan. 9 and the US Senate on Feb. 28.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/05/05
By: Liu Chien-pang and Frances Huang

Taipei, May 5 (CNA) Police on Friday cracked a firearms smuggling ring and confiscated various guns and ammunition worth an estimated NT$40 million (US$1.34 million) in the black market, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said Saturday.

The 109 long or short guns and 12,378 rounds of ammunition had been transported from Hong Kong to Taiwan by sea in a shipping container, CIB officials said in a news conference.

Six suspects were arrested in the alleged crime, including a 24-year-old man surnamed Chen (陳), they said.

According to CIB Deputy Director Liao Tsung-shan (廖宗山), when customs officers conducted an inspection on shipping containers at the northern Taiwan port of Keelung on April 29, they suspected a container from Hong Kong carried contraband items.    [FULL  STORY]

Top 5 night markets in Taiwan

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/05/04
By: David Spencer, Taiwan News, Contributing Writer

It was revealed this week that a new poll has found that Kenting Street (墾丁大街) is

officially the worst night market in Taiwan. It was evidently a hotly contested battle for the dubious distinction, with Kaohsiung’s Liuhe Night Market (六合夜市) coming a close second and Taipeis Shilin Night Market (士林夜市) completing the top three.

Several recent scandals in which stall-holders appeared to be trying to exploit gullible tourists with overpriced food have been cited as factors in the outcome of the poll. But the truth is that many of Taiwan’s most popular night markets have seen a decline in quality in recent times. Captive audiences and sky-high rents for stalls have seen many food stalls pushing up prices, while the quality of their fare has gone down.

It is quite common to visit these tourist night markets these days and see very few Taiwanese visitors there at all. These markets are no longer what they consider to be traditional night markets. So, where should people go to get a genuine and high-quality night market experience? In this article, I am going to profile my favorite night markets around Taiwan. It’s all subjective of course, so why not share your favorite night market with us on Facebook or Twitter and tell us why you think it is one of the best.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/05/04
By: Chen Chih-Chung and Ko Lin

Taipei, May 4 (CNA) Thousands of students, faculty members and alumni of National Taiwan University (NTU) held a sit-in protest at the school’s campus on Friday to call on the government to respect university autonomy in Taiwan.

Wearing yellow ribbons, protesters said the “New May Fourth Movement” is about defending university autonomy, while expressing their anger over what they see as the government’s interference in university affairs.

Kuan Chung-ming (管中閔) was selected as president of NTU on Jan. 5 and was expected to take office on Feb. 1. After he was selected, however, the Ministry of Education (MOE) put off its approval as a string of allegations against Kuan, including plagiarism, conflict of interest and a flawed selection process, arose.

The ministry finally decided on April 27 not to approve him, leaving the ministry and the university stalemated on the issue.    [FULL  STORY]

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION: While banners supporting NTU president-elect Kuan Chung-ming have been hanging for days, those opposing his election were quickly removed, a student said

Taipei Times
Date: May 05, 2018
By: Wu Po-hsuan and Jake Chung  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer

A group of National Taiwan University (NTU) students yesterday accused school

authorities of suppressing freedom of speech and applying double standards in its treatment of people who support or oppose Kuan Chung-ming’s (管中閔) election as university president.

The Ministry of Education on Friday last week decided not to confirm Kuan’s election after a series of allegations, ranging from conflicts of interest in the selection process to plagiarism and teaching in China, prevented him from taking office as scheduled on Feb. 1.

The Action Alliance for University Autonomy, which was formed by a number of academics who support Kuan, have put up banners and yellow ribbons near the university’s bell tower.

An NTU student, who wished to only be identified by his surname, Hsu (徐), said that not everyone at the school supported Kuan, so he and several other students at 3am or 4am yesterday hung up banners saying that they do not want a lawbreaker and that the university election committee does not represent them.    [FULL  STORY]

RESHUFFLE: The bills, if passed by the Legislative Yuan, would upgrade the EPA to a ministry of environmental resources and the COA to a ministry of agriculture

Taipei Times
Date: May 04, 2018
By: Sean Lin  /  Staff reporter

The Executive Yuan yesterday approved 43 draft amendments to the Organizational Act

of the Executive Yuan (行政院組織法), which, if passed by legislators, would implement a long-awaited restructuring of government, including upgrading the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) to a ministry of environmental resources.

According to the draft amendments, the ministry of environmental resources would take over part of the responsibilities that fall under the Council of Agriculture (COA), the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC).

Those include forestry and wildlife conservation, water and soil conservation, and weather forecasting.

Unlike other agencies involved in the restructuring, the proposed environment ministry would be practically an entirely new agency rather than the product of an internal reorganization, Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Minister Jay Shih (施能傑) told a news conference in Taipei.    [FULL  STORY]

Desalination plants are being planned in a country that gets more than 160 rainy days per year.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/05/03
By: Timothy Ferry, Taiwan Business TOPICS Magazine

The Formosa Plastics Group (FPG) recently won Environmental Impact Assessment approval for a desalination plant to produce fresh water from seawater at its Mailiao industrial complex in Yunlin. The company is reportedly teaming up with Israeli-firm IDE technologies to design the plant, which will reportedly cost NT$5.4 billion (US$184.36 million) and would produce between 20,000 and 105,000 tons of desalinated water daily for industrial purposes.

Environmentalists have criticized FPG for using too much water from Nantou County’s Jiji Dam reservoir, prompting the company to look for alternative water sources, including desalination. Desalination technology is progressing steadily, and is being deployed in several countries in the world, notably Australia, Israel and Saudi Arabia.

These countries are all located in desert regions, though, where water scarcity makes desalination worth the high costs and energy consumption, and their high water prices reflect this situation.    [FULL  STORY]