Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/12/24
By: Wang Shu-fen and Lee Hsin-Yin

Taipei, Dec. 24 (CNA) The Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said Saturday that Typhoon Nock-ten

became stronger earlier in the day, with the moisture it carries likely to affect Taiwan from Dec. 27.

As of 8 a.m. Saturday, Nock-ten was centered 1,330 kilometers southeast of Eluanbi, the southernmost tip of Taiwan, moving at a speed of 15 kph in a west-northwesterly direction.

With a radius of 180 km, the storm was carrying maximum sustained winds of about 184 kph, with gusts of up to 227 kph, according to bureau data.

Forecasters said Nock-ten will approach the South China Sea next week, leading to increasing chances of rain in northern, eastern and southern Taiwan from Dec. 27.    [SOURCE]

The China Post
Date: December 25, 2016
By: The China Post news staff

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Former President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) Saturday delivered public remarks for the

first time since his release from prison on medical parole.

Chen — who was handed a 20-year sentence for a string of corruption charges shortly after leaving office in 2008 — made a short speech at the opening of his daughter’s dental clinic in Tainan.

The former president was joined by Tainan Mayor Lai Ching-te (賴清德), as well as others, as he cut the ribbon to open the clinic.

Questions had been raised over Chen’s appearance at the event, as the former president is barred from giving public speeches of a political nature or at political events as part of the conditions of his release.

Taichung Prison officials stated after the event that whether Chen had violated conditions of his medical parole would be “evaluated.”    [FULL  STORY]

The News Lens
Date: 2016/12/23

Two chickens at a Taipei slaughterhouse have been confirmed as having been infected with the new H5

subtype of the avian influenza virus, CNA reports. The cases were confirmed yesterday after veterinarians reported the cases, and the authorities have ordered the disinfection of the poultry slaughterhouse. Seventy slaughtered chickens have been frozen and will be disposed of today.

The avian influenza virus spread into Taiwan in 2004, but Taiwanese government officials covered up the situation, which led to the virus mutating into a new strain and a large-scale outbreak in 2010. Freelance journalist Kevin H.J. Lee exposed the cover up in his 2011 film documentary “A Secret That Can’t Be Exposed.”  [SOURCE]

Chinese gamers go berserk after they discover EA Sports FIFA online soccer game left Taiwan out of China map

Taiwan News
Date: 2016/12/23
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Taipei (Taiwan News) – Chinese players of the online game EA FIFA went into a fit of rage when they

realized the latest version of the soccer game shows a map of China in yellow that does not include Taiwan.

A user on the online Taiwanese forum PTT, thepowers, while eavesdropping over a group of mainland Chinese playing the EA Sports online soccer game FIFA, noticed the game’s moderator and followers went into a rage when they discovered the map of China did not include Taiwan. They were so agitated by the map that one of the Chinese gamers made a crude attempt at “fixing it” by turning Taiwan into what appears to be a giant yellow pixel or square.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/12/23
By: Wang Shu-fen and Christie Chen

Taipei, Dec. 23 (CNA) Over 1,000 passengers of Taiwanese airlines EVA Airways and China Airlines have been stranded in the northern Japanese city of Sapporo due to heavy snow, which has paralyzed the local airport and caused flights to be cancelled or delayed since Thursday.

More than 700 of the stranded passengers are scheduled to take EVA Airways flights to Taiwan from Sapporo, Hokkaido, according to the airline, which has arranged accommodation for them.

Its flight BR116, which left the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport Friday afternoon bound for New Chitose Airport in Hokkaido, also had to make a detour and land in Tokyo due to the heavy snow in the northern Japanese island, EVA Airways said

China Airlines said the snow has affected over five of its flights since Thursday and more than 300 of its passengers are now stranded at New Chitose Airport.    [FULL  STORY]

The News Lens
Date: 2016/12/22
By: Olivia Yang

‘I think the Taiwanese are especially difficult customers. You go to an exhibition meant only to entertain,

but then you come out and criticize the show for having no intellectual value. This is a unique phenomenon. It’s like telling a street food stand that their plating is ugly.’

Earlier this year our chief content officer wanted to experiment with a daily blog written by the editorial team to be published on the Taiwan edition of our website. Though an editor for the international edition, I also had to contribute to the blog and, to be honest, I dreaded each time the monthly deadline for my blog loomed closer. It is not that I dislike writing, I would not be working in journalism if I did, but first of all, it had to be written in Chinese, and second, it was difficult to come up with something to write about. We were not restricted to any topic, but that just made it harder for me.

In late March, that dreaded deadline was once again near and I was getting frantic. Having a background in arts journalism, there was something I had wanted to write about for a while but frankly did not have the courage. However sitting in a coffee shop that Sunday, I was feeling frustrated and cynical, so I went ahead and typed the piece out.    [FULL  STORY]

Ukrainian-born Larisa Bakurova is on edge of achieving Taiwanese dual citizenship

Taiwan News
Date: 2016/12/22
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Taipei (Taiwan News) — Ukrainian born actress and model, Larisa Bakurova (瑞莎), was granted

permission to apply for naturalization as a Taiwanese citizen, while apparently also being permitted to retain her Ukrainian citizenship in November by the Ministry of the Interior due to an obscure exception listed in the “Nationality Act.”

Generally speaking, most foreign nationals are required by law to relinquish the citizenship of their birth before their Taiwanese citizenship has been approved, which in the past led to many people becoming stateless before receiving approval, or remaining so if their approval was denied. A recent amendment passed earlier this month now gives foreign nationals a one year grace period to relinquish their original citizenship before their Taiwanese citizenship is finalized.

Still, the requirement to renounce citizenship itself is a highly contentious issue as many other countries such as the United States do not have such a requirement, and thus Taiwanese who become naturalized American citizens can hold dual passports, while the opposite is not true.

In the case of Bakurova, she has been in a state of limbo for two years because the country of her birth, Ukraine, does not recognize Taiwan as a country nor does it allow for the renunciation of Ukrainian citizenship, and has refused to respond to her requests. After the Ministry of Foreign Affairs intervened on her behalf and tried to contact Ukrainian authorities without success, she qualified for Article 9 of the Nationality Act, which stipulates that she can gain an exception to relinquishing citizenship if providing a certificate of doing so is beyond her control:    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/12/22
By: Tai Ya-chen and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, Dec. 22 (CNA) The Cabinet on Thursday approved a proposal to designate April 7 as Freedom

of Speech Day in Taiwan, with the goal of helping the people of Taiwan gain a better understanding of the value of freedom of speech.

The proposal was put forward by the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) based on a promise made by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in April at an event to mark the 27th anniversary of the death of pro-democracy pioneer Cheng Nan-jung (鄭南榕).

On April 7, 1989, Cheng, then editor-in-chief of Freedom Era Weekly, set himself on fire as heavily armed police attempted to break into his office following his 71 days of self-imposed isolation after he was charged with insurrection for printing a draft “Republic of Taiwan Constitution” in his magazine in 1988.

At the time, Article 100 of the Criminal Code still banned the advocacy of replacing the Republic of China constitution with a new charter to mark the founding of a new nation, with the convicted mastermind liable to be sent to prison for life.    [FULL  STORY]