The China Post
Date: November 4, 2016
By: The China Post news staff

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiwanese singer Claire Kuo, “Ambassador of Love” for the 22nd Citi-United Way

Fundraising Campaign, urged the public to participate in this year’s “Love Together” event and make donations in the spirit of “love without discrimination.”

Over the past 22 years, Citibank Taiwan and United Way of Taiwan have been working together to raise funds for small- and medium-sized social welfare groups to help the needy, according to a press release from the Citibank Taiwan.

This year’s event aims to help donors gain a better understanding of their recipients through five chick-shaped toys in “gashapons,” Japanese vending machines that dispense toys in capsules.

The fundraising drive kicked off at a press conference on Nov. 3 and will run until Feb. 28, 2017.

During the four-month campaign, those who donate NT$500 or more for 12 consecutive months will receive a chick plush toy and a cute canvas bag, according to the bank.    [FULL  STORY]

The Tsai administration decides to push for legislation that would only allow Chinese students seeking degrees in Taiwan to be covered by the National Health Insurance

Taiwan News
Date: 2016/11/03
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Premier Lin Chun and ruling Democratic Progressive Party legislators decided in a meeting on Thursday to push for legislation that would only allow Chinese students seeking degrees in Taiwan to benefit from the National Health Insurance (NHI) coverage, excluding short-term and exchange students.

The decision came after the Tsai Ing-wen administration decided to push for legislation to include Chinese students in Taiwan in the NHI coverage about a week ago.

Executive Yuan spokesman Hsu Kuo-yung said the meeting decided to amend the National Health Insurance Act so that a proviso that “only students with permit to enter Taiwan to seek degrees are eligible for the NHI coverage” will be added.

Chinese and foreign students who are eligible will have to pay the full premium in the future, Hsu said, adding that short-term and exchange students in Taiwan will not be covered by the NHI.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/11/03
By: Chiu Chun-chin, Wang Hung-kuo, Chen Chia-lun and S.C. Chang

Taipei, Nov. 3 (CNA) Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱), chairwoman of the opposition Kuomintang (KMT), said Thursday her party will continue its efforts to help stabilize relations with China.

The KMT leader made the remark upon her return to Taiwan from a five-day visit to China, during which she paid tribute to the late Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the founding father of the KMT and the Republic of China, in Nanjing and met with Communist Party of China chief Xi Jingping (習近平)in Beijing.

“During our stay there, we experienced the warmth of our hosts and the goodwill and sincerity of their leader (Xi),” Hung said.

She said China will soon reach out to her party by hosting agricultural and tourism fairs staged by eight Taiwan cities or counties that are led KMT members.

The eight pan-blue local government heads visited China in September amid criticism from the pan-green camp, including the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, of kowtowing to the communists.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan Today
Date: November 3, 2016

U.S. Department of State Spokesperson John Kirby reiterated Nov. 2 that the U.S. remains committed to

supporting Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations such as Interpol and the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Speaking at a foreign policy briefing at the Washington Foreign Press Center, Kirby said that climate change, international security and transnational crime are all matters of global importance requiring cooperation from stakeholders from all around the world. “We remain committed to supporting Taiwan as it seeks to expand its already significant contributions to address many of these global challenges,” Kirby said.

“In keeping with our one China policy, we support Taiwan’s membership in international organizations that do not require statehood,” he noted. “In organizations that require statehood, we support Taiwan’s meaningful participation.”

U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner, in a statement released Nov. 1 ahead of Interpol’s 85th General Assembly to be held Nov. 7-10 in Bali, Indonesia, said “It is imperative Taiwan is granted observer status to this organization.    [FULL  STORY]

The News Lens
Date: 2016/11/03
By: Taiwan News, Staff Writer

The Kuomintang’s first female leader attracted more than her share of attention Tuesday by meeting

with one of the most powerful men on earth, China’s President and Communist Party chief Xi Jinping.

As usual with such meetings, there was plenty of attention for the vocabulary that would be spoken by either side. The 1992 Consensus, One China, the Republic of China, cross-straits relations, Taiwan Independence and other clichés present when Taiwanese and Chinese politicians sit down together.

A new element to the mix this year was the term “peace treaty.” It was former President Ma Ying-jeou who first briefly broached the term during his 2012 campaign for re-election. Briefly, because he abandoned it after overwhelming negative reactions from the public.

That was no problem for Hung Hsiu-chu, who first tried to run for president last year and later converted her replacement into a successful bid for party leader. All along, she has projected a strong China-leaning image, even more so than Ma, whose trade deals with Beijing were for a large part responsible for the KMT’s crushing defeat in this year’s January 16 elections.    [FULL  STORY]

Can Taiwan maintain reliable – and affordable – electricity prices even as it slashes greenhouse gas emissions?

The News Lens
Date: 2016/11/02
By: Timothy Ferry

Among the extensive data available on the website of the Taiwan Power Co. (Taipower) – the state-

owned monopoly responsible for power generation, transmission, and distribution – is a 24-hour chart showing the amount of electricity being generated by the network of Taipower’s own power plants plus those of Independent Power Producers (IPP). Updated every 15 minutes, the chart details how much power is being generated from each type of fuel source.

Broad stripes across the bottom two-thirds of the chart vary little by time of day. They represent Taiwan’s baseload capacity – the power that remains on all the time, 365 days a year, to meet the minimal power demand – from such sources as nuclear, coal, and liquefied natural gas (LNG). Above these steady swaths are rising and falling bands representing the contributors to non-baseload power that is turned on to meet the peak-power demands of society. These sources include LNG-, oil- and diesel-fired “peaking plants” and pumped-storage hydropower, as well intermittent renewables such as wind and solar power.

This chart illustrates the challenge Taiwan’s new government faces as it embarks on its ambitious plan to phase out nuclear power, which currently generates roughly 16% of Taiwan’s electricity, while expanding renewables’ contribution from today’s 3% of power generation to 20%, both by 2025. Nuclear power generation hardly varies at all across days or weeks, while renewable energies generate at high volume when conditions are right, such as when the sun is shining or the wind blowing, but then fade to zero when conditions are unfavorable.   [FULL  STORY]

Stars shine at Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk event

Taiwan News
Date: 2016/11/02
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Director Ang Lee said he had come to show new technology at the Asian

premiere of his latest Hollywood film, “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk,” in Taipei Wednesday.

The movie uses new technology, including the shooting of images at an ultra-high rate of 120 frames per second in 3D at a 4K HD resolution, an unprecedented feat in movie technique. Various versions will be available for viewing, distributors said.

The story combines a Thanksgiving celebration at an American football game put on for soldiers returning from Iraq with flashbacks revealing what really went on in the war. It is based on a novel written by Ben Fountain.

The movie’s main actor, Joe Alwyn, and Lee’s son Mason Lee, who also stars in the film, were both present at the premiere near Taipei Railway Station.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/11/02
By: You Kai-hsiang and S.C. Chang

Taipei, Nov. 2 (CNA) Lawyer Huang Di-ying (黃帝穎) filed a lawsuit Wednesday against former President

Ma Ying-jeou（馬英九）on charges of leaking confidential information regarding the arrangements for his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jingping (習近平) in Singapore late last year.

Huang said that during a talk to Soochow University students Sept. 27, Ma disclosed some details regarding his Nov. 7, 2015 meeting with Xi — information that is still listed as classified.

Ma bragged about how Taiwan and China agreed to inform the United States on Nov. 2 of the impending meeting of the two leaders, “taking the U.S. by surprise,” according to Huang.

Disclosing such classified information has damaged the mutual trust between Taiwan and the U.S., and violates the Criminal Code provisions on leaking state secrets, said Huang, a former spokesman for the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).    [FULL  STORY]