The China Post
Date: October 28, 2016
By: Sun Hsin Hsuan

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Six more households were torn down in Kaohsiung City Thursday, amid a series of

controversial land expropriation projects.

Residents who live at the site of a wholesale fruit and vegetable market in the center of Kaohsiung City’s commercial area threatened to go on hunger strike in front of Kaohsiung City Mayor Chen Chu’s residence, after their homes were torn down early Thursday morning.

According to one resident, identified only by the surname Hsuei, the city government’s agricultural bureau deployed four excavators to her home at approximately 6:30 a.m. on Thursday and had demolished six homes in the area by 7:20 a.m.

Later on Thursday, Hsuei threw eggs and paper money for the deceased at Chen’s residence to protest what she called an “autocracy” against the people.

Paper money for the deceased is believe to bring bad luck.

“Does she thinks she is the queen?” Hsuei said, breaking down in tears. “I have a job because I have family to look after — I cannot guard my house to keep her (Chen) from coming in and bringing it down. But she still managed to do so while I was asleep.”    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan Today
Date: October 26, 2016

Premier Lin Chuan directed 19 ministries and agencies to immediately draft key

performance indicators for evaluating the effectiveness of New Southbound Policy implementation measures during a Cabinet meeting on the government initiative held Oct. 21 in Taipei City.

Strategies must effectively address the challenges faced by Taiwan companies while advancing sustainable development of the country’s industries, Lin said. As well as strengthening existing relations between Taiwan and its partners, the policy seeks to deliver win-win outcomes and protect the economic activities and investments of the country’s firms, he added.

The policy, a central plank in President Tsai Ing-wen’s national development strategy, aims to create fresh economic impetus and deepen business, cultural, education and trade links between Taiwan and Association of Southeast Asian Nations member states, South Asian countries, Australia and New Zealand. It also helps prepare the country to quickly adjust to changing global conditions and the trend toward regional economic integration exemplified by trade deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-10-26
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The Japanese capital Tokyo was the favorite destination of

Taiwanese traveling overseas in 2016, with the top-ten filled with Asian cities and only one European destination, according to a survey released Wednesday.
The global travel-related search engine Skyscanner drew up a list of the most popular destinations for Taiwanese venturing abroad, and found that three out of ten locations were situated in Japan.

Tokyo was top of the list, followed by its rival Osaka at No.2, the survey showed. Okinawa, in the southern archipelago known as the Ryukyu Islands, finished at No.6.

In third place was Hong Kong, in fourth the South Korean capital Seoul, and in fifth place Shanghai, the only mainland Chinese city in the list, according to Skyscanner.

Singapore was No.7, the Thai capital Bangkok No.8 and the former Portuguese colony and casino haven of Macau No.9 in the survey.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/10/26
By: Chen Chia-lun and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, Oct. 26 (CNA) Taiwan’s top China policy maker said on Wednesday the

government considered regrettable a comment made by a Chinese official accusing Taiwan of making insufficient effort to secure the release of a Taiwanese sailor after the ship on which he worked was hijacked by Somali pirates in March 2012, resulting in him being held as a hostage for more than four years.

The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) was responding to An Fengshan (安峰山), spokesman for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, who said earlier in the day at a press conference that China’s semi-official Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) had notified its Taiwanese counterpart — the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) — about the condition of the ships’ crew on several occasions.     [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: October 27, 2016
By: Yuan-Ming Chiao

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Kuomintang (KMT) Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu has assured her

party that a meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping will be devoid of mishaps and surprises.

Party spokesman Hu Wen-chi, relaying the chairwoman’s comments, stated that Hung’s meeting with Xi next week would be “very measured in expression” with “appropriate remarks.”

The party chairwoman also told Hu that there had been no tension between her and former president Ma Ying-jeou at a Monday dinner with other party leaders.

The two allegedly clashed over interpretations of the “1992 Consensus,” with Hung reportedly asking the former president why reunification was not up for discussion.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-10-25
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

A Philippines House of Representatives delegation visited compatriot workers at I-Mei

Foods Company’s Nankan plant in Taoyuan City on Tuesday afternoon and was pleased to find that their country people are all very happy working for Taiwan’s leading food company and biggest bread provider.

The delegation led by Rose Marie “Baby” Arenas, the House’s Inter-Parliamentary Relations and Diplomacy Committee chairperson, was welcomed by the singing and dancing of about 30 of I-Mei’s Filipino employees and the company’s representative, Peter Kao.

Kao told Arenas that I-Mei’s Filipino colleagues have done tremendous jobs for the company, which first hired 50 workers from the Philippines back in 1993, but now the company employs 531 from the southern neighbor, or about one sixth of the company’s total staff. Kao praised them for their quality job performances and contribution to the company.     [FULL  STORY]

Threats have been made against people associated with the so-called Gulen movement in Taiwan.

The News Lens
Date: 2016/10/24
By: Edward White

Police in Taipei are investigating claims of harassment and threats of violence made via social media in

recent months against members of the “Gulen-inspired” Formosa Institute, a Taipei think-tank focusing on links between Turkey and Taiwan.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s regime has blamed the exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen for July’s failed coup attempt and classified the group as a terrorist organization. Since the brief uprising, tens of thousands of professionals across Turkey thought to be associated with Gulen-linked institutions – this includes schools, hospitals and media organizations – have faced persecution for their ties to Gulen.

Turkish academic Burhan Cikili, vice-chair of the Formosa Institute, says harassment directed at himself and others associated with institute has been referred to police. Investigations are continuing; police are understood to be in the process of translating the material from Turkish to Chinese.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-10-24
By: Maggie Huang, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

A documentary that delves into the daily dramas of Filipino domestic workers had its premiere at the 21st Busan International Film Festival in South Korea early this month, with the Manila-based director seeking to shatter stereotypes about the millions of women employed in households across the world.

Babyruth Villarama’s documentary “Sunday Beauty Queen” tells the story of Filipina domestic helpers in Hong Kong finding fulfillment through a beauty contest. She followed five domestic workers as they gear up for the annual Miss Philippines Tourism Hong Kong, a pageant organized by maids in the Asian financial hub since 2008.

Sunday Beauty Queens (Pitch Trailer #1) from Voyage Studios on Vimeo.

The film gives audiences a closer look at domestic workers’ daily lives in Hong Kong, which includes interactions with their employers, their working conditions, and their relationships with families back in the Philippines.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/10/24
By: Chen Chun-hua and Kuo Chung-han

Taipei, Oct. 24 (CNA) Ten legislators of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said Monday they

will propose an amendment to the Civil Code that would legalize same-sex marriage.

Yu Mei-nu (尤美女), a convener of the Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee who proposed the amendment, said the bill would change wording in the Civil Code to allow all people in a marriage to assume husband-and-wife obligations, hold parental rights and have an equal opportunity to adopt children.

The proposed amendment would change the description of those who make commitments to marry from the current “man and woman” (or male and female parties) to “the two parties” in Article 972 of the Civil Code.

Yu, who is also a lawyer, said at a press conference in Taipei that the amendment had to go through the Procedure Committee and the full legislative floor before it can be sent to committee.    [FULL  STORY]