Page Two

A new Miss Taiwan has been crowned

The 9th Miss Taiwan Beauty Contest was held last weekend in Kaohsiung, 20 year old Kao Man-jung crowned Miss Taiwan 2017

Taiwan News 
Date: 2017/12/04
By:  Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) –The beautiful young Kao Man-jung (center above), was recently crowned the

The top five contestants in the 2017 Miss Taiwan Beauty Pageant (By Central News Agency)

winner of the 9th Miss Taiwan Beauty Contest that was held on Dec. 1 in Kaohsiung.

Fourteen young ladies from all over Taiwan competed for the title of Miss Taiwan 2017 at the Kaohsiung Grand Hotel this past week in a competition that was as fierce as it was enchanting.

With all the contestants lined up and wearing elegant and traditional white cheongsam, the winners were announced.

After all was said and done, 20 year old Kao Man-jung, who is a student at the Chinese Culture University, received the honor of being crowned Miss Taiwan 2017. She will go on to represent Taiwan next year at International beauty pageants in Japan, China and other countries as well.    [FULL  STORY]

Northeast monsoon to bring PM2.5 particles and poor air quality

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/12/04
By: Yang Shu-min and Frances Huang 

Taipei, Dec. 4 (CNA) The northeast monsoon is expected to bring fine particulate matter smaller than 2.5 micrometers (PM2.5) per cubic meter to Taiwan and impact air quality, starting Monday evening, according to the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA).

The impact is expected to last until about 6 a.m. Tuesday and be worst early morning in northern Taiwan, the EPA said, urging the public not to take any outdoor activity during that time.

Chang Shun-chin (張順欽), head of the EPA’s Department of Environmental Monitoring and Information Management, told the press that the highest concentration of PM2.5 will range from 80-90 micrograms per cubic meter for one hour early Tuesday morning in northern Taiwan.

Bad air quality will affect northern Taiwan first and then spread to central areas, with residents in southern Taiwan expected to be least impacted by the monsoon, Chang said.    [FULL  STORY]

‘Treason’ proposal passes committee

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 05, 2017
By: Chen Wei-han  /  Staff reporter

Draft amendments to allow people accused of spying for China to be indicted on foreign aggression charges and to allow political parties to be indicted on organized crime charges was approved yesterday by the legislature’s Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee.

Prosecutors have traditionally cited the National Security Act (國家安全法) when indicting alleged Chinese spies because the treason and foreign aggression offenses stipulated in the Criminal Code only apply to crimes committed on behalf of an “enemy state.”

However, convictions under the National Security Act are subject to a maximum sentence of five years in prison, which is seen as too lenient for people working for China.

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wang Ding-yu (王定宇) proposed amending the Criminal Code to make the foreign aggression charges applicable to crimes committed by an “enemy” in addition to an “enemy state.”    [FULL  STORY]

Group protests Cabinet’s labor amendment

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 04, 2017
By: Chen Wei-han  /  Staff reporter

About 100 protesters yesterday rallied in front of the Executive Yuan in Taipei, performing a comic skit

Demonstrators protesting the government’s draft amendment to the Labor Standards Act perform a mock Buddhist ceremony outside the Executive Yuan in Taipei yesterday.  Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times

satirizing the Cabinet’s latest draft amendment to the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法).

Protesters, mostly students, condemned the draft amendment for relaxing overtime rules, which would allow some industries to raise the maximum number of consecutive working days from six to 12 and lower rest time between shifts from 11 hours to eight hours.

A number of protesters had their heads shaved in the manner of Buddhist monks before reading the act clause by clause as if reciting a religious chant, while others wearing monk’s robes presided over a mock Buddhist ceremony.

The protest was inspired by Premier William Lai’s (賴清德) Buddhism-related comments last month, when he asked caregivers to look past their low salaries and treat their jobs as a way to earn “good karma” or “spiritual merit.”    [FULL  STORY]

Officials investigating possible border control security breach

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-12-03

National Immigration Agency (NIA) officials are facing a probe over alleged bribery and a security breach involving a border control system which may have technology that originated in China.

Taiwan launched the e-Gate system in major airports in 2012. With a pricetag of NT$52 million (US$1.73 million), the system allows fast-track passport control for frequent visitors by using biometric verification software such as facial recognition and fingerprint identification systems.

Local media reports on Sunday said that Chinese companies might have gained access to the personal information of people traveling through the gates, which constitute a serious breach of national security. Taiwan’s regulations ban government agencies from buying information services and systems from China due to national security concerns.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan Tourism Bureau celebrates OhBear’s fourth birthday

The party drew a crowd of park visitors to participate in a slew of activities

Taiwan News 
Date: 2017/12/03
By: Maggie Huang, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) —The Tourism Bureau held an outdoor party to celebrate the fourth birthday of OhBear, a tourism goodwill ambassador for Taiwan, at Huashan 1914 Creative Park, drawing a crowd of park visitors to participate in a slew of activities.

Titled “OhBear’s Island hopping trip,” the event aimed to promote the 2018 Bay Area tourism projects.

During the birthday celebration, the tourism bureau invited other mascots from ten outlying islands and from six different counties in Taiwan to join the day’s festivities, and give Ohbear local souvenirs as birthday presents.

Din-Dong, a special friend of OhBear from Hong Kong also showed up at the party to promote the island hopping tourism campaign.

Partygoers were able to lie on outdoor inflatable hangout sofas and enjoy live performance by the popular band, Cosmospeople.    [FULL  STORY]

U.S. urged to enhance ties with Taiwan in dealings with Pyongyang

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/12/03
Additional reporting by Stacy Hsu

Taipei, Dec. 3 (CNA) The United States should improve its efforts to get China to cooperate in reining in

Image taken from Google Maps (www.google.com.tw/maps)

North Korea’s nuclear ambitions, a former U.S. official said recently, suggesting that the U.S. can start by deepening its ties with Taiwan.

Joseph Bosco, a fellow at the Institute for Corean-American Studies, published an article titled “There have to be consequences for China” on RealClearWorld on Nov. 29.

Bosco said that the latest missile test conducted by North Korea on Nov. 28 showed that China “has not delivered on North Korea” as Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) has promised U.S. President Donald Trump.

Instead, China “continues to deliver for North Korea,” undermining the sanctions it voted for in the United Nations Security Council, he said.
[FULL  STORY]

DPP to propose revising labor changes

‘POWERLESSNESS’:Sunflower movement leader Chen Wei-ting called on people who are fed up with the DPP government to take to the streets and join the protests

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 04, 2017
By: Chen Wei-han  /  Staff reporter

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus is today to propose a revision to the Cabinet’s latest draft amendment to the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法) to clearly define preconditions that would allow employees in some industries to be exempt from requiring a minimum of 11 hours of rest between shifts.

The draft amendment would allow certain industries to lower the minimum rest time between shifts from 11 hours to eight hours, given that it is approved by the relevant authorities and the Ministry of Labor.

The DPP’s proposed revision would lay down a screening mechanism to ensure that the industries that are given the rest time exemption are indeed those with staffing difficulties, DPP caucus secretary-general Ho Hsin-chun (何欣純) said yesterday.

Industries that require the services of specially trained professionals, or those that have to meet special staffing needs because of issues such as seasonal fluctuation, might be relieved of the obligation to ensure 11 hours of rest between shifts, she said.    [FULL  STORY]

A Smarter Way to Sell Arms to Taiwan

International Policy Digest
Date: 02 DEC 2017
By: Yu Ding

On the Kinmen Island only a few miles east of mainland China, Taiwan deploys anti-ship missiles, surface-to-surface missiles, monitoring radar and remote howitzers. Among these arms directly pointing at China, the most advanced ones are from the United States.

Every round of U.S. eye-catching and pricy arms package sales to Taiwan irritates China. These sales of advanced armaments lead to intense condemnation of Washington and sanctions against U.S. companies. However, by changing current arms package sales to the approach of a steady stream of small deals, the United States can relieve tensions with China and better fulfill its security commitment to Taiwan.

The U.S. has sold arms to Taiwan since establishing diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China. These arms sales help the U.S. to fulfill the security commitment to the island based on the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act (TRA). However, with the current approach, the U.S. is failing to help Taiwan to deter China, and also risks U.S.-Taiwan-China trilateral relations.    [FULL  STORY]

Premier: Funding for first stage of long-term care plan secure

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-12-02

Premier William Lai says that funding for the first stage of the government’s Long-term

(CNA)

Care 2.0 plan is secure.

The plan is the Tsai Ing-wen administration’s program for taking care of the increasing elderly population in Taiwan.

Lai was speaking Saturday during a visit to a home for those with dementia in eastern Taiwan’s Hualien County. He said that Taiwan’s population has reached a tipping point, with the number of people over the age of 65 overtaking the number of people younger than 14. He said that Taiwan’s people must face the problems that an aging society will bring together.
[FULL  STORY]