Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/12/06
By: Elaine Hou and Sophia Yeh

Taipei, Dec. 6 (CNA) Taiwan describes a statement issued by the Chinese government urging the

United States to block transit stops by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) during a reported trip to three of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies in Central America next month as an overreaction that is not conducive to the development of cross-strait relations.

Taiwanese media has reported that Tsai — who doubles as chairwoman of the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party — plans to visit Nicaragua, Guatemala and El Salvador in January. As part of the trip she will attend the inauguration of the Nicaraguan president and make stopovers in the United States. There has also been speculation that she could meet with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.

In response, China has urged the U.S. not to let her transit there, according to a Reuters report.

In a statement sent to Reuters addressing the possibility of a Tsai stopover in the U.S., China’s Foreign Ministry said the “one China” principle, which states Taiwan is part of China, was commonly recognized by the international community, the report said.    [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: December 7, 2016
By: Sun Hsin Hsuan

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiwan risks “going backward” if it fails to embrace new technologies, Uber’s

regional chief said Tuesday at a press conference in Taipei.

A recently proposed amendment by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to slap Uber Taiwan drivers with up to NT$25 million in fines “threatens innovation,” Uber’s Asia Regional General Manager Michael Brown said.

Brown added that the weight of the penalty “has never been seen in any other place in the world.”

Taiwan was the second market that Uber entered in the Asia-Pacific region. The firm currently operates in four cities on the island.

More than 1 million people in Taiwan downloaded the Uber app, Brown said.

Nonetheless, the government was “turning its back on the innovation that ride-sharing represents,” Brown said.    [FULL  STORY]

The News Lens
Date: 2016/12/05
By: Mo Tz-pin

Taiwan’s national symphony orchestra to perform in Canada and the U.S.

Taiwan’s National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) will perform in Vancouver, Canada and California, U.S.

respectively on Dec. 9 and Dec. 12. This is the first time the NSO has performed in North America, state-owned CNA reports. The tour will also see its world premiere of a piece “Last Mile,” which was inspired by legends of the Taiwanese indigenous people. Music director of NSO Lu Shao-chia (呂紹嘉) will conduct the piece, which is composed by Lee Chun-wei (李俊緯).

Taiwanese restaurant chain states support for “one-China”

Taiwanese seafood restaurant chain Hai Pa Wang (海霸王) issued a statement to support the “one-China” policy on China Times this morning. Hai Pa Wang was recently fined in China for mislabeling items, but there have been reports that the company had been fined because its owners had ties to President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) family, CNA reports.
In its statement, Hai Pa Wang stated its support for the “one-China” policy and denied claims of connections with Tsai. Lin Chuan (林全), premier of Taiwan, said that politics should not interfere with businesses and that China should stop targeting Taiwanese companies with “political agendas,” United Daily News (UDN) reports. Mainland Affairs Council Minister Katharine Chang (張小月) said that Taiwanese companies in China have huge contributions to China’s economy and should not be “labeled” by the Chinese government.    [FULL  STORY]

The company announced that they have no plans to build luxury hotels and resorts in Taiwan.

Taiwan News
Date: 2016/12/05
By: Maggie Huang, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

The Trump Organization said Saturday that the company has no plans to expand in Taiwan and

squashed rumors of building luxury hotels and resorts in Taiwan’s Taoyuan City.

The organization’s announcement on Saturday comes after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump spoke with President Tsai Ing-wen, breaking decades-long U.S. foreign policy.

In November, the mayor of Taoyuan told media that a representative of the Trump Organization had traveled to the island and expressed interest in building a hotel there.

The Trump Organization’s vice president of marketing, Amanda Miller, responded to ABC News on a recently surfaced Facebook post by Anne-Marie Donoghue, who is global director of transient sales and Asia at Trump Hotels.

The New York Times also found her posted a picture on her Facebook on Oct. 15 from Taipei and in the comments described her visit there as a “work trip,” and declared the company’s investment interest in Taiwan’s Taoyuan Aerotropolis, a large urban planning development project surrounding the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/12/05
By: Hsieh Chia-chen and Lilian Wu

Taipei, Dec. 5 (CNA) Mirage fighters purchased from France have superb performance and Taiwan has no plans to decommission them ahead of schedule, Deputy National Defense Minister Lee Hsi-ming (李喜明) said on Monday.

The Apple Daily, a local newspaper, reported that 19 years have passed since Taiwan began to take delivery of Mirage fighters in 1997.

Taiwan has been asking France to upgrade the performance of the 56 Mirage fighter jets since 2012, but Paris has been dragging its feet, and even gave an “exorbitant” price tag, which resulted in the MND not accepting the deal, the report said.

There are worries that if parts and components of the fighters become unavailable, the Air Force could decommission them before the scheduled time, the report said.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 06, 2016
By: Hung Juei-chin and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writer

An exhibition commemorating the 70th anniversary of the 228 Massacre by giving glimpses of the

personal lives of some of the victims has opened in Tainan.

“Regardless of one’s [political] stance everyone should remember the past and engage in dialogue if progress is to be made together,” Minister of Culture Cheng Li-chun (鄭麗君) said at the opening of the exhibition at the National Museum of Taiwan History.

The 228 Massacre refers to an uprising that began on Feb. 27, 1947, against the then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government and the resulting crackdown that left tens of thousands of people dead and launched the White Terror era.

Next year will be the 70th anniversary of the 228 Massacre and the 30th anniversary of the lifting of martial law, but still more needs to be done in the pursuit of human rights and social justice, Cheng said.    [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: December 6, 2016
By: Stephanie Chao

All 15 campsites that underwent recent government review failed the inspections, according to a

report released by the Executive Yuan Department of Consumer Protection (DCP) on Monday.

Camping has become a popular recreational activity in recent years, yet the DCP’s first report on their inspections shows that many camping businesses have yet to upgrade their facilities, department representatives said.

The DCP reviewed five factors in the report — precautionary safety measures, facility safety management, liability insurance preparations, legal contract guidelines and location safety.

The report determined that four out of the 15 privately-owned campsites were located in dangerous areas, such as on mountainous slopes and in landslide-prone zones. Pingtung County’s Liang Shan Campsite (涼山露營區) was penalized with a NT$60,000 fine for illegally developing on a slope.

Local government agencies are still investigating Pingtung County’s Inda Farm (穎達生態休閒農場) for violating land usage regulations by deviating from the development plan that they submitted to local authorities. By law, the business could face up to NT$300,000 in penalties.    [FULL  STORY]

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that included a section on senior military exchanges with Taiwan

Taiwan News
Date: 2016/12/04
By: Central News Agency

The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday passed the National Defense Authorization Act for

Fiscal Year 2017, which included for the first time a section on senior military exchanges with Taiwan.

The bill, which was voted through 375-34, will be forwarded to the Senate for consideration next week.

Section 1254 of the act states: “It is the sense of Congress that the Secretary of Defense should conduct a program of senior military exchanges between the United States and Taiwan that have the objective of improving military-to-military relations and defense cooperation between the United States and Taiwan.”

Such a program should be conducted at least once each calendar year in both the United States and Taiwan, according to the act.    [FULL  STORY]