The China Post
Date: August 24, 2016
By: Joseph Yeh

TAIPEI, Taiwan — A rehearsal for the live-fire portion of Taiwan’s Han Kuang exercises was

successfully completed in southeastern Pingtung County Tuesday and included the participation of a Kaohsiung-based Armored Brigade that recently lost four soldiers in a tank crash.

The one-hour-rehearsal held at the military’s Joint Operations Training Base Command (三軍聯訓基地) featured most of the nation’s newly acquired advanced weapons systems, including AH-64E Apache attack helicopters and UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters.

The rehearsal, presided over by Chief of General Staff Yen De-fa (嚴德發), was deemed a success and the troops achieved about 80 percent of their pre-set goals, military sources told local media.

The exercise was intended to prepare local troops for the official drill, to be staged at the same location.

President Tsai Ing-wen is scheduled to preside over the drill as part of the annual Han Kuang exercises, which simulate various Chinese attack scenarios.     [FULL  STORY]

The News Lens
Date: 2016/08/22
By: Edward White

As a flood of donations pours in, a Taiwanese legal commentator says the law excluding the newborns of foreigners in Taiwan from immediate insurance coverage needs changing.

An expat couple’s shock NT$1.3 million (US$41,000) hospital bill in Taiwan shows the insurance laws for newborns of foreign residents need changing, a lawyer says.

Erica Brüll-Reinhold and Bas Brüll’s twin girls were born prematurely and undersize on July 12, and following almost a month of health complications and surgery the twins were ready to leave the hospital.

The couple initially paid their hospital bill under Taiwan’s National Health Insurance (NHI) policy, which gives newborns coverage via the mother’s health insurance for the first two months.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-08-22
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Reporter

Taiwan’s government has decided to move an elementary school that is located only 900 meters from highly polluting petrochemical factories in Mailiao Township, Yunlin County to another school in a neighboring township amid serious health concern for the school children.

The air pollution caused by Formosa Petrochemical Sixth Naphtha Cracking Plant in Mailiao has been suspected to be linked to the high cancer rates among the residents of two neighboring townships, Miaoliao and Taishi.

The Yunlin County Government had passed autonomous regulations to prohibit the burning of heavily polluting coals, but the legislation was overruled by the central government of the previous administration, citing authority over energy policy.     [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: August 23, 2016
By: Stephanie Chao

Fifty-three percent of Taiwanese are satisfied with the performance of President Tsai Ing-wen’s

government as she approaches her 100th day in office, according to a survey released Monday.

According to the poll, released by pan-green-leaning think tank Taiwan Style Foundation (台灣世代智庫), 41.2 percent of respondents said they were dissatisfied with Tsai’s performance, as compared to the 53 percent who expressed support.

The survey also found that 45 percent of respondents disapproved of Premier Lin Chuan’s (林全) performance, compared to 44.5 percent who reported that they were satisfied with the premier’s actions thus far.

Sixty-one percent of those polled expressed faith in Tsai’s ability to lead the government in the future, while 33.1 percent did not. Moreover, 52.8 percent of survey participants said they were confidant in Lin’s ability to lead the government, while 37.6 percent said they were not.     [FULL  STORY]

SEF appointment expected soon

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-08-20
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – President Tsai Ing-wen marked the end of her third month in office Saturday by telling journalists that “solving problems” was her administration’s main task and that maintaining the status quo in relations with China was important.
Tsai, her vice president Chen Chien-jen, and the Executive Yuan team headed by Premier Lin Chuan all took office on May 20 as a result of the landslide victory in the January 16 presidential elections.

To mark the occasion, the president invited representatives of the media to tea Saturday afternoon.

She said she would name a new chairman for the Straits Exchange Foundation before the end of the month. Names as varied as former Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng and People First Party Chairman James Soong have been mentioned by the media, but official sources have not given any indication of Tsai’s thinking.

Cross-straits relations would be coherent, predictable and continuous under the existing constitutional order, she said.     [FULL  STORY]