Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/12/14
By: Chang Ming-hsun and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, Dec. 14 (CNA) The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said Wednesday that it has rejected

the entry to Taiwan of five brands of Japanese natto seized a day earlier at Taichung Port after they were found to contain packets of soy sauce from two radiation-affected Japanese prefectures from which foodstuffs are banned from entering Taiwan.

The soy sauce packaged with the five brands of natto, which weighed at total of 187 kilograms and was imported by the Taichung store of Japanese supermarket chain Yumaowu Capita’n, came from Ibaraki and Chiba prefectures, according to the FDA.

Taiwan banned food imports from Fukushima, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma and Chiba prefectures after the meltdown of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in March 2011.

The FDA launched an inspection of food products from Japan sold in stores and supermarkets around Taiwan after it was discovered Dec. 11 that the soy sauce packaged with two brands of Japanese natto available in Taiwan was produced in Ibaraki Prefecture.    [FULL  STORY]

TAIPEI SEMINAR:Former US State Department official Wendy Sherman told the media that the US and Taiwan had a policy that has served them well for decades

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 15, 2016
By: Alison Hsiao / Staff reporter

The US believes that “it is important that no country be intimidated or isolated,” former US under

secretary of state for political affairs Wendy Sherman told a conference in Taipei yesterday.

Sherman had been invited by the Taipei-based Prospect Foundation to attend an annual seminar on security dialogue involving Taiwan, the US, Japan and their Asia-Pacific partners hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the foundation, the Washington-based Center for a New American Security and the Tokyo-based Institute for International Policy Studies.

Sherman told reporters before the conference started that she was delighted to be making her first visit to Taiwan.

“I’ve long been a strong supporter of the Taiwan-US relationship, but I have never had the privilege of visiting Taipei. I’m very much looking forward to the US-Taiwan-Japan dialogue, which I think is very important for all of their countries,” she said.    [FULL  STORY][

The China Post
Date: December 15, 2016
By: Joseph Yeh

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiwan staged a live-fire exercise on Wednesday to test the nation’s missile system

amid tensions with Beijing after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump suggested the U.S. was not necessarily bound by the “one China” policy.

The three-day drill, which took place in Pingtung, southern Taiwan, came as the military held an unannounced air defense drill on the same day, simulating how Taiwanese warplanes could swiftly intercept incoming fighter jets from the enemy side.

The drills were staged just days after Chinese military aircraft circled near Taiwan for the second time in less than a month, albeit without entering the country’s air defense identification zone.

Multiple media reports have stated that an islandwide anti-airstrike exercise held by all three major branches of the armed forces was carried out from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. Wednesday.    [FULL  STORY]

The News Lens
Date: 2016/12/14

Nassim Taleb, author of the international bestseller “Black Swan,” has exposed what he says was attempted Chinese censorship of one of his books to be sold in the United States.

The Chinese company printing a U.S.-bound edition of his 2012 book, “Antifragile,” sought to change a reference to “Taiwan” so that it included “China,” the author said in series of comments on Twitter.

“I (angrily) said ‘No censorship!’,” Taleb says. He has also has posted photos of the manuscript with suggested changes, which he says are from the Chinese printing company.

Taleb’s publisher Random House was supportive of his decision and has changed to a new printer, he says.   [FULL  STORY]

The News Lens
Date: 2016/12/13

International media has rushed to condemn Donald Trump for his comments on the “one-China”

policy, accusing the president-elect of using Taiwan as a bargaining chip with China, the Chinese-language Apple Daily reports. While the Taiwanese presidential office has remained largely silent on Trump’s “one China” comments, international press like Vox and the Washington Post have criticized Trump and say he risks starting a war if he does not hold to the “one-China” policy.

Speaking to Fox News Sunday a week after accepting a controversial congratulatory call from President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Dec. 2, the U.S. president-elect said, “I fully understand the one-China policy, but I don’t know why we have to be bound by a one-China policy unless we make a deal having to do with other things, including trade.”

Meanwhile, the White House responded to Trump’s comments by insisting that the one-China policy should not be used as a bargaining chip, Reuters reports. Republican senator John McCain also said he personally supports the one-China policy, and that he would not respond to every comment made by the president-elect since his comments “might be reversed the next day,” Reuters reports.    [SOURCE]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016/12/13 15:40
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

A Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) official said on Tuesday the US President-elect Donald Trump’s call with President Tsai Ing-wen and a subsequent talk in a media interview is too early to be regarded as his future policy and that Taiwan’s government will continue to contact Trump’s camp.

Trump said during a Fox News Sunday interview that he fully understands the one-China policy when he received Tsai’s call and that the U.S. should not be bound by the policy unless the U.S. and China strike a deal regarding other things including the issues of unfair trade practices, North Korea nuclear threats, and the Chinese buildup in the South China Sea.

In response to media questions about the new development in the U.S.-Taiwan-China relationship even before Trump takes office in January, Douglas Hsu, deputy director general of MOFA’s Department of North American Affairs, said, “I feel it’s too early” to regard Trump’s comments and talks in the media as his future policy toward Taiwan and China.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/12/13
By: Wen Kui-hsinga, Wang Cheng-chung, Chen Chun-hua , Liu kuan-ting and Lilian Wu

Taipei, Dec. 13 (CNA) Consultations between party caucuses in the Legislature were broadcast live for the first time on Tuesday as part of an effort to reform how the legislature does business.

In a bid to address the criticism of closed-door deals and calls for legislative proceedings to be more transparent, Legislative Speaker Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) said consultations between party caucuses will be broadcast live starting on Tuesday, after an amendment to the Organic law of the Legislative Yuan was promulgated by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) last week.

Su said that caucus consultations will now be broadcast live in the same way as legislative sessions and committee meetings.

Under the new regulation, consultations on the confirmation of nominees for the Fair Trade Commission were broadcast live on Tuesday.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan Today
Date: December 12, 2016

Southeast Asian languages will be included as elective subjects in school curriculums beginning from

the 2018 academic year, according to the K-12 Education Administration under the Ministry of Education Dec. 10.

Under the current system, elementary school students are required to study a native language—Holo, Hakka or an indigenous tongue. They may then opt to continue their chosen subject in junior high school.

From 2018, various Southeast Asian languages will be added to this list. Students who select a Southeast Asian tongue will have the option to persist with it in junior and senior high school.

“The introduction of these languages will help bolster cross-cultural understanding between Taiwan and countries throughout Southeast Asia,” said an official at the K-12 Education Administration. “This should provide Taiwan with greater opportunities for collaboration with nations in the region.”    [FULL  STORY]