Taiwan News  
Date: 2017/12/18
By: Taiwan Today,Agencies

A delegation of U.S. experts in anti-terrorism, border security and fraud prevention recently visited the Port of Kaohsiung in southern Taiwan, highlighting the close collaboration between the two sides on tackling transnational crime, according to the Ministry of Finance.

Led by Rand Beers, former acting secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the nine-member group was in Taiwan for updates on the implementation of the Container Security Initiative and Megaports Initiative at the harbor. They also visited a container terminal to witness firsthand the operations of an inspection station.

According to the MOF, since Taiwan joined the two initiatives in 2005 and 2006, respectively, port authorities have solved several cases involving counterfeit U.S. dollar bills and the smuggling of cigarettes and ephedrine.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/12/18
By: Yeh Su-ping and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, Dec. 18 (CNA) Former Presidential Secretary-General Tseng Yung-chuan (曾永權)

Tseng Yung-chuan (曾永權/CNA file photo)

was denied permission to travel to China next month because the travel restriction on him – a former government official who had access to top level information- has not yet passed the deadline, Presidential Office spokesman Alex Huang (黃重諺) said Monday.

Tseng, who served in the previous Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) administration, applied on Dec. 6 for the Presidential Office to allow approval for a visit to the mainland, Huang said, noting that Tseng had planned to set off on Dec. 21 for the trip, which he said is aimed at visiting Taiwanese business people and students on the mainland.

However, Tseng, now a deputy chairman of the opposition Kuomintang (KMT), failed to submit his travel application 20 days before his planned departure date as the rules of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act demand.    [FULL  STORY]

USS Ronald Reagan and ships of Carrier Strike Group 5 transit the Pacific Ocean in June 2017. (Photo: US Navy) SHARE ARTICLE ON FACEBOOKSHARE TWEET

National Review
Date: December 15, 2017
By: Jerry Hendrix 

A Chinese diplomat’s insulting words invite a vigorous response from the U.S. The United States Navy will be making a port call in Taiwan in the near future. The only questions that remain are where, when, and how many ships of what type will drop anchor or tie up at Taiwanese piers. Of course, this may cause a war to break out in Asia, but it won’t be one of the United States’ making.

We owe this troubling possibility to a China whose rising sense of anticipatory greatness is at odds with its capacity to execute a successful war. Hubris stimulated a Chinese official, Li Kexin, who is attached to its embassy in Washington, D.C., to threaten war against the United States. Li was responding to fairly normal language within the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act that allowed for mutual port visits between American and Taiwan naval vessels. In response, Li stated: “The day that a U.S. Navy vessel arrives in Kaohsiung [Taiwan’s main deep-water port] is the day that our People’s Liberation Army unifies Taiwan with military force.” This non-diplomatic démarche represents a break in precedent, as the United States Navy has made port calls in Taiwan, and it also directly challenges U.S. law in the form of the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979, which unequivocally states that the United States will “consider any effort to determine the future of Taiwan by other than peaceful means, including by boycotts or embargoes, a threat to the peace and security of the Western Pacific area and of grave concern to the United States.”
[FULL  STORY]

The clothes will be donated to the Wanhua Social Welfare Center on Christmas.

Taiwan News 
Date: 2017/12/17
By: Maggie Huang, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) –As the weather gets colder in Taipei, a group of foreign students living in Taipei found that there are people on the streets who don’t have enough warm clothes to wear in the winter season, and they are now organizing a winter clothing donation event for the homeless people in Wanhua, the district in the city with the most low-income households, senior citizens living alone, people with disabilities, and homeless.

According to the  Wanhua Social Welfare Center, the majority of homeless people are men, so they need more male clothes. The group is now calling for secondhand winter clothes and urging the public to donate their extra winter clothes to those who need them.

One of the students will be collecting clothes donations in Louisa Coffee near Da’an MRT Station on December 23 from 13:00 to 16:00, and those who can’t make it that day can contact them via their Facebook event.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/12/17
By: Yang Sz-ruei and William Yen

Taipei, Dec. 17 (CNA) Many wild birds, including 16 pheasant-tailed jacanas, a protected species, have been found dead on a farmland in Tainan’s Guantian District, according to an ecological education and conservation group Sunday.

A volunteer from Guantian’s Jacanas Education and Conservation Garden said 16 pheasant-tailed jacanas, 14 moorhens and other birds were found dead Friday possibly after consuming pesticides.

In the past, some farmers have been known to purposely immerse seeds and grains in pesticides to prevent birds from eating their newly sown seeds in the soil.

However, such practices have not been reported in a long time after the conservation group taught farmers how to expel birds in a safer manner.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 18, 2017
By: Shelley Shan  /  Staff reporter

The 800 Heroes group of military veterans yesterday at a protest in Taipei vowed to defend

Members of the 800 Heroes veterans’ group demonstrate in Taipei yesterday as part of a long-term protest over pension reform.  Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times

the Constitution and their rights, after the Executive Yuan last week announced that it would soon present draft regulations governing military retirement pensions to the Legislative Yuan.

Minister Without Portfolio Lin Wan-yi (林萬億), who is in charge of reforming the national pension system for government workers, teachers and military personnel, said in an interview that the Ministry of National Defense would soon send the draft to the Executive Yuan, adding that the government hoped that the draft could be deliberated at the Legislative Yuan in the interim session next month.

The group said it held the protest to observe Constitution Day, which is observed on Dec. 25.    [FULL  STORY]

Beijing sees legislation to remove all tributes to former leader Chiang Kai-shek as a political move paving the way to independence, but there are good reasons Taiwan may want to move on from the former dictator’s legacy

South China Morning Post
Date: 16 DEC 2017
By: Cary Huang

A recent Taiwanese legislative motion to remove all tributes to Chiang Kai-shek, the former

Mao Zedong, left, and Chiang Kai-shek in Chongqing in 1945. Photo: Handout In ancient Chinese dynasties it was standard practice for new rulers to destroy all symbols of their predecessors to ensure their legacies did not endure.

Kuomintang leader and dictator, is not merely a continuation of this practice – it is a significant advancement in the philosophy of rule.

The transitional justice bill, passed by the island’s legislature on December 5, requires the removal of all symbols related to the former strongman leader, as well as the renaming of streets and schools named in his honour. It also calls for a full investigation into Chiang’s rule and the political purges of his opponents between 1947 and his death in 1975 – a period known as the “White Terror”, when at least 140,000 people were imprisoned or executed.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-12-16

The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has expressed regret over a decision by Spain’s

(CNA file photo)

National Court that will see Taiwanese nationals deported to China.

The Taiwanese nationals are part of a group of 121 people from both sides of the Taiwan Strait scheduled for deportation from Spain after being arrested for telecom fraud.

On Saturday, MAC spokesman Chiu Chui-cheng responded to a court statement that cited Taiwan’s lack of UN membership as a reason for the decision. Chiu said that while Taiwan is not a UN member, the Republic of China, Taiwan’s official name, is a sovereign country. Chiu also called on Beijing to work with Taiwan on fighting crime, citing existing cross-strait agreements on both fighting crime and judicial cooperation.    [FULL  STORY]