The China Post
Date: October 30, 2016
By: The China Post news staff

Premier Lin Chuan said Saturday that the government would invest NT$100 billion into

improving highways and rail transport in Eastern Taiwan.

Lin pledged that the infrastructure projects would not “sacrifice the natural and humanistic landscapes in the area,” promising that improvements to the Suao-Hualien Highway would be completed by the end of 2019.

Lin made the remarks at a ceremony marking the breakthrough of Gufeng Tunnel, the sixth and final tunnel to be built as part of the highway project.

The premier described improving transportation in Eastern Taiwan as a key policy commitment of the Tsai administration.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/10/28
By: Christie Chen

Taipei, Oct. 28 (CNA) Lymphadenectomy, or the surgical removal of lymph nodes, should be “re-evaluated” as lymph nodes have been found to play an important role in cancer immunotherapy, prominent Japanese scientist Tasuku Honjo said in Taipei on Friday.

The 74-year-old immunologist made the argument during a speech at Taipei Medical University, when he shared the latest findings of his team.

In an interview with CNA after the speech, Honjo said doctors are trained to remove the lymph nodes surrounding a tumor as a precaution against metastasis, which is the spread of cancer from one part of the body to another.

But there have not been any good clinical studies comparing the condition of patients with and without a lymphadenectomy, especially those receiving immunotherapy treatment, Honjo noted.    [FULL  STORY]

CLARIFICATION:Legislative Speaker Su Jia-chyuan said cross-caucus negotiations are open to the public if people want to examine whether he has been biased

Tapei Times
Date: Oct 29, 2016
By: Alison Hsiao / Staff reporter

A row over an amendment to the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法) concerning the five-

day workweek continued in the Legislative Yuan’s general assembly meeting yesterday, with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus refusing to engage in cross-caucus negotiations and occupying the speaker’s podium.

After scuffles in the committee in the past two days, Legislative Speaker Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) called for a cross-caucus negotiation yesterday morning, which the KMT caucus snubbed, saying that a negotiation should have been called when opposition lawmakers demanded that the Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee amendment review meeting on Oct. 5 be invalidated.

KMT Legislator Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) said that the negotiation was only called because “someone had shed tears.”

He was referring to New Power Party (NPP) Executive Chairman Huang Kuo-chang’s (黃國昌) tears during Thursday’s committee meeting where a physical fight broke out among lawmakers and Huang accused the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of betraying its legislative reform promises.    [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: October 29, 2016
By: The China Post news staff

Extremely poor air quality was reported in western Taiwan on Friday morning, with four

monitoring stations showing that suspended particulate matter PM2.5 had already reached a hazardous purple warning level, according to data issued by the Taiwan Air Quality Monitoring Network operated by the Environmental Protection Administration.

The network indicated that monitoring stations in the outlying county of Kinmen, Puzi township of Chiayi County, and Taxi and Lunbei townships of Yunlin County showed a hazardous purple warning level at around 8:30 a.m. Friday.

Many other areas also showed a red warning level for air quality, including Banqciao District in New Taipei City, Chungli and Pingchen districts of Taoyuan City, Miaoli, Shalu, Xitun and Dali districts of Taichung City, Changhua, Mailiao of Yunlin, Liuchiao of Chiayi and Xining of Tainan City.    [FULL  STORY]

This is the first of a three-part interview with Taiwan’s ‘genius hacker’.

The News Lens
Date: 2016/10/28
Edward White

Audrey Tang (唐鳳) this month started in her new role as Taiwan’s first “digital

minister.” Officially, she is a minister without portfolio in Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) Cabinet with responsibilities for the digital economy and open government.

Tang, 35, “retired” from the business world in 2014 after a successful tech career, which included time working with companies in Silicon Valley. Over the past two years she has been dedicated to public service and her new position will see the continuation of her work using her advanced programming skills and passion for open democracy. She is also Taiwan’s first transgender politician and the youngest member of the Tsai administration.

In this interview series with The News Lens International, Tang describes the crucial behind-the-scenes role she played in the Sunflower Movement, how Taiwan’s digital community has continued to create new avenues for citizen participation in the years since, and her beliefs about how assistive technology will benefit society in future. She also explains her views on different types of hackers, and why, actually, she is still an anarchist.    [FULL  STORY]

EPA to introduce ban in 2018

Taiwan News
Date: 2016/10/28
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Plastic bags at seven categories of small shops selling

products like medicine, books, drinks and pastry will no longer be free beginning from 2018, the Environmental Protection Administration said Friday.

The policy of limiting the use of plastic bags began in 2002 but only covered supermarkets, department stores, shopping malls, schools, convenience stores and fastfood chains.

An expansion of the ban on handing out free plastic bags to customers would take effect on January 1, 2018 and be valid for an estimated 70,000 outlets, reports said. The EPA said seven categories of shops would fall under the new restrictions, including bakeries, launderettes, stores selling drinks, books and stationery, photography and telecom equipment, medicine, and medical appliances.    [FULL  STORY]

Closer albeit ‘unofficial’ ties between Tokyo and Taipei will have an impact on decisions in Beijing and Washington.

The News Lens
Date: 2016/10/27
By: Lauren Dickey

If there is one issue leaders in Taipei and Tokyo can find common ground on, it is

China’s destabilizing and assertive behavior. Beyond the impact of Chinese actions within the region, both Taiwan and Japan also share an economic dependency upon the mainland Chinese market. United by a common perception of the Chinese threat and geostrategic vulnerability, Taiwan has thus sought relations with Japan that are in many ways unofficial in name only. [1] Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration recently passed its first one hundred days in office. The months and years ahead offer many opportunities for Taiwan to continue to deepen ties with Tokyo, addressing existing sources of tension while developing more robust defense, economic, and law enforcement cooperation. A closer Taiwan-Japan partnership would further contribute to the U.S.-led regional alliance structure, a strategic objective that is in the national interest of both Taipei and Tokyo.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016/10/27
By: Sophia Yang, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Taiwan will be enjoying hot weather until Saturday while at the same time certain cities

along the west coast of the island can expect the presence of higher levels of minuscule particles carrying a variety of toxic heavy metals, chemicals, or organic pollutants known as PM2.5.

Cheng Ming-dean, director of the Central Weather Bureau’s Weather Forecast Center, posted on his Facebook fan page Thursday to advise residents residing in western Taiwan to be aware of severe air pollution because of the high barometric pressure and subsequently the low wind speed that couldn’t disperse pollutants in the air.

The wind moves faster in low pressure than in high pressure areas because of the faster rotation of air in a low pressure system.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/10/27
By: Wen Kuei-hsiang, Chen Chia-lun and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, Oct. 27 (CNA) Taiwan’s high-ranking officials in charge of China affairs expressed regret and discontent on Thursday after a Chinese official stated a day earlier that Taiwan has never been a country.

At a regular press conference on Wednesday, An Fengshan, a spokesman for China’s State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, said Taiwan is an indispensable part of China and has never been a country.

An made the remarks in response to a question concerning a Taiwanese official’s recent remarks that ties across the Taiwan Strait are special state-to-state relations.    [FULL  STORY]

NO STATE:Minister Katharine Chang said that a planned meeting between the KMT chairwoman and the Chinese president would be a non-governmental exchange

Tapei Timnes
Date: Oct 28, 2016
By: Stacy Hsu / Staff reporter

Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Katharine Chang (張小月) yesterday urged

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) to refrain from inking a cross-strait peace accord with Beijing without the government’s authorization, adding that Hung’s upcoming meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) would be a non-governmental exchange.

Chang made the remarks during a question-and-answer session with People First Party Legislator Chen Yi-chieh (陳怡潔) at a meeting of the legislature’s Internal Administrative Committee.

Hung is expected to meet with Xi in Beijing on Tuesday.

“We must remind [the KMT] that while this [meeting] is a non-governmental exchange, it must nevertheless conform to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (兩岸人民關係條例),” Chang said.

Chang also said that the KMT should not sign any agreements with China on issues that pertain to public authority without the government’s authorization, particularly a peace accord.    [FULL  STORY]