Taiwan News
Date: 2017/03/11
By: Sophia Yang, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A three-year-old international animation festival in central Taiwan is set to open to culturally- and geographically-diversified animation artists this year in a competition to justify itself as an international event while helping the local animation industry to flourish through more exchanges.

Established in 2015, Taichung International Animation Festival (TIAF) is the first event of its kind in Taiwan featuring animation. This year, the festival has expanded its pool by calling for entries from all over the world and has added two brand new categories to the competition – International Short Films, and Student Short Films.

The event is funded by the Taichung City Government and organized by the Taichung Film Development Foundation. The two new categories are created to involve more animation talent from around the world to compete and to exchange ideas with local animation artists.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/03/11
By: Lu Hsin-hui and Lee Hsin-Yin

Taipei, March 11 (CNA) President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) reasserted Taiwan’s intention to phase out nuclear energy by 2025 as planned on Saturday, when more than 5,000 people took to the streets across the country to demand the government move faster to meet that goal.

“Taiwan in 2025 will no longer rely on nuclear power. Taiwan will have embraced clean and sustainable energy by then,” Tsai said on her Facebook page.

Taiwan has been working to develop renewable energy, she said, adding that green energy output in Taiwan grew by 21.2 percent from 2015 to 2016, to a record-high 12.69 billion kilowatt-hours.    [FULL  STORY]

CAUTION:The Ministry of Health and Welfare should wait for the findings of the assets committee to be released before accepting donations from the league, the Cabinet said

Taipei Times
Date: Mar 12, 2017
By: Lee Hsin-fan / Staff reporter

The National Women’s League last month said it would donate NT$16 billion

(US$515.53 million) to government agencies in charge of providing long-term care, but the Ministry of Health and Welfare is inclined to refuse the donation, a source said.

The donation was discussed in a recent cross-ministerial meeting, the source said, adding that because the league is still being investigated by the Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee over its affiliation with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), its financial sources remain unclear.

Although the league has declared its finances to the Ministry of the Interior, it has not explained more than NT$9 billion of so-called “surcharge for the military” collected in the past.

The league has denied more than once that it is affiliated with the KMT and expressed a desire to donate to long-term care services.
[FULL  STORY]

The China post
Date: March 12, 2017
By: The China post news staff

TAIPEI, Taiwan — China is mulling participation in upcoming Trans-Pacific Partnership

(TPP) talks to be held in Chile in the wake of the U.S.’ withdrawal from the agreement, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson has said.

The spokesperson was responding a Reuters report that cited a Chilean official as saying that representatives from 12 countries that formed the TPP, plus China and South Korea, would meet March 14 and 15 for the first time since U.S. President Donald Trump pulled his country out of the group, effectively killing it in its current form.

“The Chinese side supports economic integration in the Asia-Pacific, and stands ready to enhance communication and coordination with Chile and other relevant countries to build FTAAP (Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific), create an open Asia-Pacific economy and inject new impetus to economic growth in the region and beyond,” the spokesperson, Geng Shuang, said at a regular press conference Friday.
[FULL  STORY]

Taiwan Today
Date: March 10, 2017 | A- A+

Taiwan’s aging index reached a record 100.18 in February, reflecting the high standard

of local health care but presenting the government with a unique set of policymaking challenges, according to the Ministry of the Interior March 9.

Calculated as the number of persons 65 years old or over per 100 persons under age 15 by the MOI, the benchmark is widely used to gauge the degree of aging in a society.

Jair Lan-pin, deputy director-general of the MOI’s Department of Household Registration, said Taiwan’s aging index has been on the rise since 2011 when it was 72.2. There are several reasons for this trend, she added, citing the country’s low birth rate, an increase in life expectancy brought about by the National Health Insurance system, enhanced health awareness among the public and a general improvement in the well-being of the people.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 017/03/10
By: Emerson Lim and Elizabeth Hsu

Manila, March 10 (CNA) Taiwan and the Philippines reached agreement on several

fishery cooperation proposals during a meeting held Thursday in Manila, according to Taiwan’s representative to the Philippines, Gary Lin (林松煥).

In the third Taiwan-Philippines technical meeting on fishery affairs, representatives from Manila answered a request by Taipei, promising efforts to push for the legislation of a “sea-land passage bill” that would allow innocent passage by fishing boats from Taiwan or other countries through waterways between Philippines-controlled archipelagos, Lin said Friday.

Such a bill would help to reduce fishing disputes, Lin said, adding that the fishery meetings have helped boost relations between Taiwan and the Philippines and their cooperation in law enforcement efforts related to fishing.    [FULL  STORY]

TWO PROPOSALS:Premier Lin Chuan said that the Cabinet did not approve a draft, because there were concerns that it would be an overreach of government authority

Taipei Times
Date: Mar 11, 2017
By: Alison Hsiao / Staff reporter

Premier Lin Chuan (林全) yesterday reiterated that a draft national security and

counterintelligence bill has not been approved by the Cabinet, while Minister of Justice Chiu Tai-san (邱太三) said the need for anti-infiltration measures should not be likened to authoritarian-era persecutions.

The proposal has sparked controversy over the authority it would give government agencies, prompting some to say it harkened to the White Terror era.

Media outlets on Thursday reported the full text of a Investigation Bureau draft, which would give counterintelligence agents with approval access to documents regarding people suspected of posing a threat to public security.

It also proposes that public security units be established at every level of government, representative offices and state-run enterprises that operate vital infrastructure.
[FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: March 11, 2017
By: Kuan-lin Liu

TAIPEI, Taiwan — The Ministry of Culture’s Bureau of Audiovisual and Music Industry

Development gathered entertainers and media for a preview of what would be showcased at the Taiwan Exhibition Hall at the upcoming 2017 Hong Kong International & TV Market (FILMART).

The bureau invited the cast and producers of three films and three TV shows to discuss their work at a pre-FILMART event, amongst which were noted Taiwanese author and director Giddens Ko (九把刀) and Golden Bell Award nominated actor Weber Yang (楊一展).

Bureau Chief Hsu Yi-chun (徐宜君) highlighted the importance of the exhibition, noting that 60 industry-related businesses from the country will be heading to the event, an international platform for cross-media and cross-industry partnerships.

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-03-09

President Tsai Ing-wen has taken over as head of the General Association of Chinese

Culture.The civic association was established with the help of the government in 1967 to promote cultural exchanges.

Tsai’s selection was decided during a committee meeting held Thursday. After her selection was announced, Tsai said that the organization must strive to achieve three goals in the future: the development of Taiwanese culture, the promotion of cross-strait cultural exchanges, and the strengthening of international cultural exchanges. Tsai said that cultural exchanges should play a key role in the government’s New Southbound Policy, which seeks to bring closer ties with South Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand.    [FULL  STORY]