RECOVERING APPROVAL:The results suggest that Tsai’s administration has been given a mandate to continue to handle cross-strait relations, a DPP lawmaker said

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 31, 2017
By: Chen Wei-han  /  Staff reporter

President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) cross-strait policy has an approval rate of about

45 percent, higher than those of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) and Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), according to a survey released yesterday.

A poll conducted by the Cross-Strait Policy Association gave respondents a description of Tsai’s, Wu’s and Ko’s cross-strait narratives before asking whose policy they prefer.

According to the results, 44.8 percent of the respondents said they approve of Tsai’s policy the most, while 28 percent favored Ko’s and 18.3 percent preferred Wu’s.

Tsai’s cross-strait policy aims at maintaining the “status quo” and her administration would not change its position, promises and goodwill toward China while not succumbing to pressure or returning to confrontation.   [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: October 30, 2017
By: Lu Hsin-hui and Flor Wang

HONOLULU (CNA) – President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said Saturday Taiwan’s ties

with the United States have never been stronger and that the partnership was important to maintain peace in Asia.

Speaking at a seminar at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Tsai said she welcomed the U.S.’ commitment to peace and security in the Asia-Pacific region.

Taiwan can clearly see this commitment as U.S. President Donald Trump is about to visit China, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines and Vietnam from Nov. 3-14, she said.

The U.S. must secure strong and stable partnerships with its allies and friends in the Asia Pacific region, including Taiwan, in order to maintain peace and security in the region, she said.    [FULL  STORY]

Can we marry already? (Reuters/Tyrone Siu)

Quartz Media
Date: October 29, 2017
By: Isabella Steger

Months after a court decision paved the way for Taiwan to become the first nation in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage, a record number of people took part in Taipei over the weekend (Oct. 28) for the city’s annual LGBT pride parade.

Estimates for turnout were well over 100,000 people, compared to about 80,000 last year, with many coming from other countries in Asia. The official theme (link in Chinese) for this year’s parade, the 15th Taipei pride parade, was “make love, not war—sex ed is the way to go,” in the hope that more education can broaden the space for sexual equality in society.

A Taiwan court ruled in May that the existing law that bans same-sex marriage is unconstitutional and that action should be taken to make the relevant legal amendments within two years, but the country has yet to move forward to formally enshrine marriage equality into law. In July, local government restrictions on same-sex partnership registrations were lifted, but the rights to same-sex unions are still not equal to heterosexual partnerships.    [FULL  STORY]

Lu was convicted of three counts of child molestation in 2004 and rated as a Level III, a high-risk offender

Taiwan News 
Date: 2017/10/29
By: Maggie Huang, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A US/Taiwan dual citizen wanted by US police as a child sex offender has been fired following investigation after a Taiwanese media report alerted the authorities that he has been hired to teach children English in Taipei.

The Department of Education of Taipei City Government requested the cram school to investigate Wesley Lu,and make a background check according to Article 9 of the Supplementary Education Act following a media report that revealed him as a wanted child sex offender in the US.

Lu was convicted of three counts of child molestation in 2004 and facing trial for another in 2006. He was rated as a Level III, a high-risk offender by Bellevue Police Department. A warrant and a prize money of US$1.5 million for information leading to his arrest has been issued by the US authorities.

He was believed to have fled to Taiwan after failing to appear for trial in 2006.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/10/29
By: Shih Hsiu-chuan, CNA staff reporter 

It’s been almost a year since Vietnamese immigrant Ho Thanh Nhan (or Hu Ching-

hsien, 胡清嫻) was made a presidential advisor, but even though she has not been given the opportunity to actually advise President Tsai ing-wen (蔡英文) in person on issues of concern to her fellow immigrants, she has been busy compiling a list of requests.

She is nonetheless hopeful that she will get to sit down with Tsai someday before her unpaid term ends May 19, 2018.

Hu is among a group of 56 presidential advisors Tsai named in December 2016 to help her set policies. She works as a translator and assistant to social workers at the Haohao Women’s Rights Association in Pingtung County, southern Taiwan.
[FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: October 29, 2017
By: Shih Hsiu-chuan

TAIPEI (CNA) – A group of foreign dignitaries marched Saturday with tens of

thousands of others through Taipei in support of equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people, saying that the huge turnout was a show of Taiwan’s progressive and open-minded society.

As in previous years, members of the diplomatic corps representing foreign representative offices in Taiwan, including the European Union, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States took part in the 15th Taiwan LGBT Pride Parade, which attracted a record 123,000 participants.

In an interview with CNA ahead of the parade, European Economic Trade Office (EETO) head Madeleine Majorenko said she was happy to take part. “It’s a fantastic opportunity to show how wonderful Taiwan is, how fantastic a country it is, and how beautiful and open-minded its people are.”    [FULL  STORY]

President Tsai’s Ballot Box Balancing Act

The News Lens
Date: 2017/10/28
By: Sheryn Lee

Like most incumbents, Taiwan president Tsai Ing-wen is experiencing mid-term

polling blues, but the erosion of identification with either of the two major parties should be greater cause for concern.

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration is experiencing the mid-term blues. In July, support for Tsai’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) fell to a meagre 23.9 percent — only marginally higher than support for the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) at 22.5 percent. A majority of Taiwanese voters were undecided on party identification. In the following month, Tsai’s personal approval ratingdropped to 29.8 percent, making her a less popular leader than U.S. President Donald Trump in the same period. While Tsai’s approval recovered to 46.4 percent by the end of September, the figures remain well below her May 2016 post-election popularity high of 70 percent.

On the one hand, shifts in preferences are normal in democracies as mid-term campaigns often motivate voters to vote against the ruling party in order to achieve a balance in policies. But the decrease in party affiliation should be alarming for Taiwan’s two major parties. The number of people who feel strongly affiliated to either the DPP or the KMT is declining, while undecided or swing voters are increasing. This usually has two effects on election day: weak voter turn-out or voters that decide at the polling booth.    [FULL  STORY]

Chiayi City, Kinmen, Tainan and Taoyuan were named among the world’s Smart21 Communities of 2018

Taiwan News 
Date: 2017/10/28
By: Juvina Lai, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — On Friday, New York-based Intelligent Community Forum

(ICF) listed four regions from Taiwan namely Chiayi City, Kinmen County, Tainan City and Taoyuan City as part of the world’s Smart 21 Communities of 2018.

The number of cities that made the list this year was one less than last year.

The winner for the 2018 ICF nomination list was Canada with 11 Canadian cities making it to the list including Hamilton, Niagara Falls, Pickering and Sarnia-Lambton County of Ontario according to the ICF.

Three cities from Australia and one city each from the United States, France and Finland were also added to the list this year.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/10/28
By: Christie Chen 

Taipei, Oct. 28 (CNA) Tens of thousands of people marched through Taipei Saturday in a colorful annual parade to call for swift passage of legislation to legalize same-sex marriage in Taiwan, and to demand that gender equality education is adequately implemented in schools.

Rainbow flags and people dressed in flamboyant costumes dominated the streets as the Taiwan LGBT Pride Parade, the largest in Asia, was launched from Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office at 2:30 p.m.

Taiwan LGBT Pride Community, the organizer of the parade, estimated that a record 123,000 people from more than 20 countries participated in the parade, which has attracted additional attention this year after Taiwan’s Constitutional Court ruled in favor of same-sex marriage in May.    [FULL  STORY]