Country faces U.S. trade hostility and aging workforce

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/02/23
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – United States-educated 66-year-old Politburo member Liu He will

lead a team to manage China’s economy and probably be promoted to vice premier next month, reports said Friday.

If his appointment is approved, he could become one of the most powerful Chinese vice premiers in a long time, potentially closer to President Xi Jinping than to Premier Li Keqiang, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported.

Liu gained international prominence last month, when he spoke at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. He promised unprecedented economic reforms in China, though he will have to face the threat of sanctions from the U.S. and a host of domestic problems from runaway debt to an ageing workforce, reports said.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/02/23
By: Yu Hsiao-han and Kuan-lin Liu

Taipei, Feb. 23 (CNA) The Ministry of Labor’s (MOL) decision to start proactively checking and verifying the results of health check ups undertaken by potential migrant workers, that went into effect on Jan. 1, 2017, has improved the time taken to approve employment applications by those individuals by an average of nearly two days.

Previously, employers looking to hire migrant workers were required to submit the results of potential employees’ health check ups to be reviewed by the ministry together with the rest of the employment application, a process that took an average of 7.31 days.

According to the MOL Workforce Development Agency, the Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s decision to create a joint platform to store the results of health check ups undertaken by foreign nationals applying to work as migrant workers in Taiwan has reduced average application approval time to 5.55 days.    [FULL  STORY]

The New York Times
Date: Feb. 22, 2018
By: Keith Bradsher

BEIJING — As China ratchets up pressure on Taiwan, the self-governing island it claims

as its territory, the United States is cautiously starting to push back.

In recent months, Chinese strategic bombers have been conducting “island encirclement” flights, escorted by fighter jets. The Chinese government has discouraged tourism to Taiwan and imports of goods like fish over the past year and a half, hurting its economy. And China persuaded the island’s most important remaining diplomatic ally, Panama, to switch diplomatic recognition last summer from Taipei to Beijing.

Concern about Taiwan’s fate now appears to be building slowly in Washington, even as President Trump continues to seek China’s help on other issues. Through his first year in office, Mr. Trump pressed Beijing to put more pressure on North Korea to abandon its nuclear and ballistic missile programs, with limited success. He has also sought to limit China’s nearly $400 billion trade surplus with the United States, which has nonetheless continued to widen.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwanese doctors prescribe drugs to just about every patient, many completely needlessly. This is creating a nation of people with weak immune systems and also helping to fuel the global antibiotic crisis

Focus Taiwan  
Date: 2018/02/22
By: David Spencer,Taiwan News, Contributing Writer

Dealing with a nasty bout of the flu was not how I envisaged spending the first few days of

the Year of the Dog. But being ill has given me another first-hand experience of Taiwan’s healthcare system, which has left me with both positive and negative feelings.

Firstly, when you are ill in Taiwan, you can get seen fast. We called into the local doctor’s clinic at around 8 p.m. and within 10 minutes were sat with the GP. She checked me over then explained, in pretty good English, that she needed to do a quick test to see if I had flu or just a regular cold. This took another 10 minutes, after which she told me I had Type B flu and prescribed me various pills to make me feel better.

She also looked at my 3-year old daughter, who was just starting to show some of the symptoms and, without doing the tests, prescribed medication for her too. Within half an hour we were back at home and had only been relieved of around NT$200 (US$6.80) for my treatment.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/02/22
By: Miao Zong-han and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, Feb. 22 (CNA) Taiwan’s government has rejected a request by a Chinese official to

visit the island, taking into consideration the controversy sparked by his previous trip here, a Taiwanese senior official in charge of mainland China affairs said on Thursday.

Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正), deputy head and spokesperson for Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), Taiwan’s top agency in charge of China policy, said that while Chinese people are welcome to carry out exchanges here, the government hopes they will not be conducted for political purposes or based on political intentions and will not spark controversy or fuel differences in Taiwanese society.

Chiu was responding to a United Daily News report on Feb. 15 that an application by the head of the Shanghai city government’s Taiwan Affairs Office, Li Wenhui (李文輝), did not receive approval from a joint review panel composed of representatives from the MAC and various government agencies.    [FULL  STORY]

START-UP HUB: The Cabinet plans to help start-ups in early-stage funding, recruit employees, facilitate mergers and public listings, and tap into the international market

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 23, 2018
By: Chen Wei-han  /  Staff reporter

The Executive Yuan has set a goal of creating a unicorn company in two years and

increasing annual investment in start-ups by NT$5 billion (US$170.64 million) as part of a program to improve the domestic entrepreneurship environment and make Taiwan a regional hub for start-ups.

The Cabinet yesterday announced an action plan to improve the investment environment for Taiwanese start-ups and promise to help incubate the first unicorn business in two years and three other unicorn companies in the next six years.

A unicorn is a start-up that is less than 10 years old with a value of more than US$1 billion without going public.

There are 228 unicorn companies in the world and Taiwan has yet to have its own, National Development Council Minister Chen Mei-ling (陳美伶) said.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-02-21

Health Minister Chen Shih-chung says there are no plans to lift a ban on food imports from

five Japanese prefectures.

Chen was responding Wednesday to questions about whether the health ministry might lift the ban after the Lunar New Year.

The restrictions have been in place since the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster. Proposals to lift the ban have met with strong public opposition at public hearings due to lingering food safety concerns.    [FULL  STORY]