Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/12/15
By: Huang Li-yun and Y.F. Low

Taipei, Dec. 15 (CNA) The most important celestial event of 2016 will be a total solar eclipse on March 9, part of which will be visible in Taiwan, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said Tuesday.

In Taiwan, the sun will be about 20 percent obscured by the moon during the event, the museum said.

In Taipei, the eclipse will begin at 8:19:38 a.m., reach its maximum point at 9:14:56 a.m. and end at 10:15:18 a.m. Maximum effect will last for one hour, 55 minutes and 40 seconds, according to the museum.

Besides the solar eclipse, there will also be several observable meteor showers in 2016, with the best being the Quadrantids on Jan. 4 and the Perseids on Aug. 12, the museum said.      [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan Today
Date: December 15, 2015

A five-year project promoting green trade was launched Dec. 14 by the Ministry of Economic

Affairs, paving the way for local firms to better access the potential-laden industry.

Set to kick off next year under the auspices of the MOEA Bureau of Foreign Trade, the Green Trade Action Plan focuses on building export momentum and marketing capacities for Taiwan businesses providing low-carbon products and services.

It is expected that the undertaking will see the country develop into a top global choice when it comes to green procurements. This is to be achieved by expanding homegrown outfits’ related exports, developing new business models, joining global and regional government procurement networks and obtaining international green product certifications.

An MOEA official said the timing of the project could not be better as worldwide demand for green products and services should spike following the consensus to cap the global temperature rise at 2 C reached during the recently concluded 21st Conference of the Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change in Paris.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan Today
Date: December 14, 2015

A startup incubator fostering creative technological applications was

inaugurated Dec. 12 by the Cabinet on the site of the former ROC air force headquarters in Taipei City.

Launched as part of the first phase of the Taiwan Air Force initiative, the project serves as a flexible platform for promoting entrepreneurship and ingenuity spanning arts and culture, hardware and software integration, social innovation and technological development.

During the ceremony, Premier Mao Chi-kuo said TAF is a world-class undertaking enabling entrepreneurs to achieve multidisciplinary collaboration. “The word Taiwan is synonymous with the global innovation economy; air signifies a boundless space where ideas converge; and force means the momentum generated by that meeting of ideas.

“We envision the long-term development of TAF going beyond the Internet of Things. At its core is the Internet of Humans, a smart network connecting our lives through locally developed and implemented cutting-edge technology, transforming Taiwan’s infrastructure, ecology, education and environment.”     [FULL  STORY]

INVESTMENT THREAT:Government promises to prevent a hollowing out of the IC industry lack substance, as it has not provided concrete safeguards, experts said

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 15, 2015
By: Abraham Gerber  /  Staff reporter

Opening the semiconductor industry to Chinese investment without adequate

safeguards would deepen Chinese influence and lead to a hollowing out of the industry, several academics said yesterday.

“China holds a knife in one hand and money in the other and then says to us: ‘You are my person and would you like money? Because otherwise I’ll knife you,’” Chang Shun-chih (張順志), a professor of electronics engineering at National Cheng Kung University. “However, many people only see the money and do not see the knife.”

Chang made the remarks at a joint press conference by several academics and the Economic Democracy Union to protest Minister of Economic Affairs John Deng’s (鄧振中) statement late last month that President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) government intends to open the sector to Chinese investment before his term expires in the May.

His remarks were followed last week by the announcement that China’s Tsinghua Unigroup would seek to purchase stakes in Siliconware Precision Industries Co and MediaTek — two key semiconductor firms.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2015-12-12
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Over a thousand heavy motorbikes moved from the

Taipei City Government to the Ministry of Transportation and Communications Saturday in a protest demanding the right to use freeways in Taiwan.

The protesters accused the ministry of still dragging its feet, four years after the Legislative Yuan reportedly agreed to let heavy motorcycles use major national roads and freeways.

The ministry’s Taiwan Area National Freeway Bureau responded to the bikers’ demands by saying that opinion polls indicated that a majority of the public opposed the free moving around of heavy motorbikes. As long as the ministry had not publicly declared a change in the law, it would be illegal for the bikers to use the roads, the bureau said.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/12/13
By: Lee Hsin-Yin

Taipei, Dec. 13 (CNA) Stargazers in central and southern Taiwan will have an

opportunity on Dec. 15 to catch the Geminid meteor shower, which is expected to produce about 120 shooting stars per hour, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said Sunday.

One of the three most prolific meteor showers of the year — along with the Quadrantids in January and the Perseids in August — the Geminids can be seen most easily between moonset at 9 p.m. on Dec. 14 and sunrise on Dec. 15, it said.

Weather forecasts showed that except for northern Taiwan, where heavy clouds and rain are likely during that period, skywatching condition should be fair in other parts of the country.     [FULL STORY]