The China Post
Date: August 28, 2016
By: Stephanie Chao

TAIPEI, Taiwan — In light of the uncertain job market, the cast of “Ace of Sales” (銷售奇姬) held a

forum Saturday to offer tips for those fighting to escape the dreaded “28K monthly salary” and to bring home a larger paycheck.

The forum brought together job seekers hoping to improve their communication skills with the stars of the career comedy.

“Ace of Sales,” directed by Cho Li (卓立) and produced by Yeh Jufeng (葉如芬), follows the story of Sue Chen (Bianca Bai, 白歆惠).

After losing her job, Sue has no choice but to earn a living working at a hypermarket.

Lacking key skills, she barely scrapes by until a bit of training from sales expert Jack, played by Jack Na (那維勳), allows her to become top dog at a TV shopping channel.     [FULL  STORY]

The appointment of a young ‘Internet genius’ and hacker to Tsai Ing-wen’s cabinet has created high expectations in Taiwan.

The News Lens
Date: 2016/08/26
By: ZiQing Low

The Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) administration has appointed hacker and tech expert Audrey Tang (唐鳳)

as a minister without portfolio with responsibility for the digital economy and open government.

The 35-year-old will be the youngest minister in Tsai’s cabinet. She takes office on Oct. 1.

Tang, a programmer, confirmed her appointment on Facebook, saying she hopes to become a “civil servant for civil servants,” using her expertise in digital systems and technology to solve problems within the public service sector and increase government cooperation with the digital community.

She said her appointment was not intended to provide certain groups with an insider, or for her to advocate online on the government’s behalf. Instead, she wants to be a channel for the combination of intellect and power.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-08-26
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Mkmatuy, a tribal unit of the Atayal Tribe located in Jianshih Township, Hsinchu County, will hold a thanksgiving and harvest festival on Aug 28 for the purpose of reviving the Atayal tribal culture, according to an event organizer.

The Hsinchu County Government said as changes of the social structure have forced more and more tribal people to sell their land and move out of the tribes they grew up, the memory of Atayal culture has been fading away, which prompted Huang Yi-feng, an Atayal hair stylist, to organize a thanksgiving and harvest festival at Mkmatuy in Yixing Village on Aug 28.

Huang said traditionally August is Atayal’s thanksgiving season and the thanksgiving festival falls on the last Friday of August every year, when all the agriculture produces have been harvested, but these ceremonies are being forgotten and even unknown to younger generations.

Huang said he hopes to build an international stage, through which people can see the beautiful home of the aboriginal culture, and a homeland on which all tribal people can stay and work. The thanksgiving festival is like the Chinese New Year to Taiwanese people, he said, calling for all aboriginal people not to forget their cultural origin.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/08/26
By: Lee Hsin-Yin

Taipei, Aug. 26 (CNA) The Ministry of Communications and Transportation (MOTC) said Friday it

remained optimistic that Taiwan will attract more than 10 million overseas visitors this year despite a recent decline in visits from Chinese nationals.

The ministry did not say if it expected overseas arrival numbers this year to surpass the 10,439,785 foreign nationals who visited Taiwan last year, but it indicated that there should not be much of a fall-off.

The number of foreign visitors to Taiwan was up 7.93 percent year-on-year in the first seven months of the year, the ministry said, with the performance of some major inbound tourism markets remaining robust.

Although Chinese visitor arrivals registered only 0.41 percent growth in the January to July period, visitors from South Korea and Japan were up 29.01 percent and 17.46 percent, respectively, from the same period a year earlier, the ministry said.     [FULL  STORY]

‘DAZE’:The nation’s administrative system grants the president power, but not the authority to implement policies, Taiwan Democracy Watch’s president said

Taipei Times
Date: Aug 27, 2016
By: Sean Lin / Staff reporter

Taiwan Democracy Watch yesterday called for amending the Constitution to allow President Tsai Ing-

wen (蔡英文) to directly shape and answer for her policies, amid declining approval ratings for Tsai.

“Tsai wants to get to work, but cannot find a way to do so,” the organization’s president Chen Chao-ju (陳昭如) told a news conference in Taipei that was held to review Tsai’s performance in her first 100 days in office since assuming the presidency on May 20.

As the nation’s administrative system grants Tsai power, but not the authority to implement policies, she had been stuck in a “constitutional daze,” in which she often has to resort to unconventional means to push policies, Chen said.

For example, Tsai gave the Executive Yuan instructions to establish a committee to promote transitional justice for Aborigines under the Council of Indigenous Peoples, Chen said, adding that Tsai has also reportedly berated Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers, mayors and commissioners at the party’s Central Standing Committee meeting; invited Cabinet members to her residency for meetings; and held private “lunchbox meetings” with DPP lawmakers at the Presidential Office.     [FULL  STORY]

With China appearing to turn a blind eye to international fishing regulations, how can Taiwan, which is under constant EU scrutiny, improve its fishing industry?

The News Lens
Date: 2016/08/25
By: Olivia Yang

Last October a Taiwanese fishing boat was caught illegally finning sharks, leading to a yellow card

by the EU against Taiwan. The EU gave the Taiwanese government six months to amend laws preventing illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU) or it would issue a red-card warning and impose sanctions on Taiwanese fisheries.

On July 6 the Legislative Yuan passed new regulations on pelagic fishing with amendments that align Taiwan with international fishery regulations and regulate IUU fishing while implementing import controls. The yellow card issued by the EU is likely to be dismissed before the EU’s second examination next month.

Although the EU penalties on Taiwan appear to have been resolved, a feature story by Initium Media says the incident highlights the challenges that the fishery industries in both Taiwan and China have faced in recent years due to lack of fish in nearby waters, which has pushed the two countries to expand their pelagic fishing operations.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-08-25
By: Elsie Tsai, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Sha Hailin, head of the United Front Work Department of Chinese Communist Party’s Shanghai Municipal Committee, finished a three-day visit and left Taipei for Shanghai on Thursday, August 24, 2016.

The Shanghai Communist Party official arrived in Taiwan on Monday for a city-to-city dialogue, amid a chill in relations following the inauguration of the island’s new president, Tsai Ing-wen, in May.

The visit is a rare point of direct contact between Taiwan and China in China’s earlier announcement that it was freezing exchanges between the two sides.

About a dozen politicians and citizens from pro-independence parties, including Taiwan Solidarity Union, staged an airport protest in Taipei Songshan Airport over Sha’s departure, saying the 1992 Consensus is to “lead the wolf into the house” and that Taiwan refuses united front.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/08/24
By: Liu Chien-pang and Elaine Hou

Taipei, Aug. 24 (CNA) People flocking to Beitou Park in Taipei to play the mobile game Pokemon Go have left behind large amounts of trash, forcing Taipei authorities to take extra measures to clean up the garbage, city officials said Wednesday.

The park has become a popular spot for Pokemon Go players because of the sighting of several rare Pokemon monsters, attracting waves of people but also their trash. The city has set up more trash cans there and deployed more workers to clean up the garbage.

A cleaning worker at the park said city workers removed more than 100 kilograms of trash from the park on the afternoon of Aug. 21 alone.

Noting that crowds of Pokemon players have continued to appear at the park and generate large amounts of waste over the past two days, the Parks and Street Lights Office under the city government called on the players Wednesday to remove their trash after visiting the park.     [FULL  STORY]