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HSBC survey: Singapore most livable city for expats; Taiwan 8th

Taiwan News
Date: 2015-10-18
By: Ko Lin, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Taiwan has been ranked as the world’s eighth most livable cities for

Taiwan ranks 8th most livable city. Central News Agency

Taiwan ranks 8th most livable city. Central News Agency

expatriates in 2015, a survey conducted by HSBC revealed Sunday.

The multinational banking and financial services company showed that Singapore remained the world’s top destination for expats with an overall score of 0.56 for all criteria, followed closely by New Zealand in second position and Sweden in third. The United States was ranked 16th, while China a distant 27th.

The survey was conducted based on three criteria – Economics, Experience and Family – through opinion polls collected from expatriates in 2015, the HSBC said.

“Our experts have analyzed the survey data provided by 21,950 expats this year. The research has been concentrated into 19 succinct findings.”     [FULL  STORY]

H5N2 flu detected in Changhua; over 20,000 chickens culled

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/10/18
By: Hsiao Po-yang and Maria Tsai

Taipei Oct. 18 (CNA) More than 20,000 chickens were culled on a poultry 201510180021t0001farm in Changhua County after it was confirmed that they had been infected with H5N2, a highly pathogenic avian influenza virus, the local Animal Disease Control Center said Sunday.

Changhua’s Animal Disease Control Center received a report Wednesday that several indigenous chickens had died under unusual circumstances on a farm in Tacheng Township in Changhua County in central Taiwan.

Specimens sent to health authorities tested positive for the H5N2 bird flu virus, the Bureau of Animal Health Inspection and Quarantine confirmed Saturday. Based on the test results, local epidemic prevention workers culled 20,060 indigenous chickens on the farm Sunday, the bureau said.     [FULL  STORY]

Eric Chu mulling US visit: KMT spokesman

Want China Times
Date: 2015-10-18
By: CNA

Eric Chu, chairman and newly selected presidential candidate of Taiwan’s

Eric Chu at a special KMT congress in which he was selected as the new presidential candidate, Oct. 17. (Photo/CNA)

Eric Chu at a special KMT congress in which he was selected as the new presidential candidate, Oct. 17. (Photo/CNA)

ruling Kuomintang (KMT), is considering a visit the United States, but the details are still being worked out, a party spokesman said Sunday.

In response to questions by CNA, the spokesman Yang Wei-chung said such a trip is possible and Chu is thinking about it.

Since Chu’s selection Saturday as the KMT presidential candidate in place of Hung Hsiu-chu, local media have been reporting that he may make a one-week trip to the US in November and may also visit Japan on his way back to Taiwan.

Meanwhile, Sonia Urbom, spokeswoman for the American Institute in Taiwan, said earlier in the day that the US welcomes visits by Taiwan’s presidential candidates. She was responding to a CNA question on the possibility of a US visit by Chu.     [FULL  STORY]

DPP heavyweights pan KMT’s selection of Chu

’SPOILED KID’:Former premier Yu Shyi-kun said Chu was only good at marketing himself and manipulating the media, and regularly broke his campaign promises

Taipei Times
Date:  Oct 19, 2015
By: Loa Iok-sin  /  Staff reporter

While maintaining that the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) decision to

Democratic Progressive Party New Taipei City councilors yesterday hold a banner calling on Mayor Eric Chu to step down after breaking his promise not to stand as presidential candidate while still in office. Photo: Lai Hsiao-tung, Taipei Times

Democratic Progressive Party New Taipei City councilors yesterday hold a banner calling on Mayor Eric Chu to step down after breaking his promise not to stand as presidential candidate while still in office. Photo: Lai Hsiao-tung, Taipei Times

change its presidential candidate is its own business, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) heavyweights yesterday said that the move would not help at all.

“The KMT’s decision to change its presidential candidate only a few months away from the election will have a negative impact,” said Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊), who doubles as DPP presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) campaign manager.

She was referring to the KMT’s special congress on Saturday, that selected Chu as the party’s candidate for January’s presidential election and nullified the candidacy of Deputy Legislative Speaker Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱).

“In fact, no matter who is the replacement, it will not change the fact that the public have suffered in the past eight years of KMT governance,” Chen said.     [FULL  STORY]

Protesters gather outside KMT congress

Taiwan News
Date: 2015-10-17
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Supporters of Kuomintang presidential candidate Hung Hsiu-chu gathered

Protesters gather outside KMT congress. Central News Agency (2015-10-17 15:14:01)

Protesters gather outside KMT congress. Central News Agency (2015-10-17 15:14:01)

outside the venue of the party congress on October 17, 2015.
TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Supporters of Kuomintang presidential candidate Hung Hsiu-chu gathered outside the venue of the party congress as it was preparing to replace her with chairman Eric Liluan Chu Saturday.

The KMT decided last week it would hold the congress to replace its candidate in the January 16 election because of her consistently low opinion poll ratings and her views about relations with China, which were deemed to have strayed too far in the direction of unification.

While over a thousand KMT delegates were reported to have signed a petition approving Chu’s candidacy, several organizations supporting Hung called for 2,000 members to show up outside the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in Taipei City during the congress Saturday afternoon.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan, Alabama sign reciprocal driver’s license accord

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/10/17
By: Tony Liao and Lee Mei-yu

Washington, Oct. 17 (CNA) Alabama on Friday became the 13th U.S. state 201510170026t0001to allow Taiwanese citizens with legal residence there to obtain a driver’s license without taking a written or road test.

The policy took effect after Taiwan and Alabama signed a reciprocal driver’s license agreement that allows their citizens to exchange their non-commercial driver’s license for a local license.

With the signing of the agreement, Taiwanese aged 18 and over, with legal residence in the U.S., can obtain an Alabama driver’s license by presenting their Taiwanese license, along with other documents, and paying a fee.    [FULL  STORY]

The day China joined the UN

UN Resolution 2758, passed in 1971, still carries ramifications for Taiwan today

Taipei Times
Date:  Oct 18, 2015
By: Han Cheung  /  Staff reporter

Taiwan in Time: Oct.19 to Oct. 25

Taiwan is one of a handful countries in the world not a member of the UN,

In this file photo, a sign in New York calls on countries throughout the globe to support Taiwan’s entry into the UN. Photo: Wang Pei

In this file photo, a sign in New York calls on countries throughout the globe to support Taiwan’s entry into the UN. Photo: Wang Pei

stemming back to Oct. 25, 1971 when UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 was ratified in a two-thirds vote.

The resolution, sponsored by Albania, recognized the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as “the only legitimate representative of China to the United Nations” and expelled “the representatives of Chiang Kai-shek [蔣介石] from the place which they unlawfully occupy at the United Nations and in all the organizations related to it.”

The issue was that after the Chinese Civil War, the PRC under the Chinese Communist Party gained control of China, with Chiang’s Republic of China (ROC) government under the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) relegated to Taiwan and other minor islands. Yet both governments continued to claim to be the legitimate ruler of both China and Taiwan.     [FULL  STORY]

Free Taiwan Party seeking candidates for legislative elections

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/10/16
By: J.H. Chang and Lillian Lin

Tainan. Oct. 16 (CNA) The newly formed Free Taiwan Party (FTP), which 201510160025t0001advocates Taiwan independence, is inviting people who share the party’s political ideals to join it and run for seats in the January 2016 legislative elections.

A new political party needs to nominate candidates in at least 10 of the 73 electoral districts in order to qualify to run for seats in the Legislative Yuan, and the FTP is hoping that if it can qualify to run, it could win 5 percent of the votes and win one of the 34 party-list seats, according to FTP Chairman Tsay Ting-kuei.

Opening the first FTP campaign office in Tainan, the civil engineering professor and political activist said that by representing the FTP in the Jan. 16 elections, politicians interested in public office can build up their images with more public exposure.     [FULL  STORY]

Latest China visit won’t be last for Taiwan’s MAC head: Hsia

Want China Times
Date: 2015-10-16
By: CNA and Staff Reporter

Taiwan’s top mainland policy official said before concluding his three-day

Andrew Hsia, center, poses with students at the Taiwan Businessmen's Dongguan School, Oct. 15. (Photo/Lai Hsiang-ju)

Andrew Hsia, center, poses with students at the Taiwan Businessmen’s Dongguan School, Oct. 15. (Photo/Lai Hsiang-ju)

visit to China on Thursday that he and his Chinese counterpart had agreed that institutionalized negotiations between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait must not be disrupted for any reason.

Emphasizing the importance of official contacts, Andrew Hsia said his visit “definitely will not be the last” that a Taiwan official at his level makes to China.

The head of Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) was responding to a media question if he thinks he will be the last MAC head to visit China, since the Democratic Progressive Party appears poised to return to power in Jan. 16’s presidential and legislative elections. Beijing dislikes doing business with the DPP, which has traditionally advocated Taiwanese independence, though the party’s leader and presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen has pledged to maintain the cross-strait status quo if elected.     [FULL  STORY]

DPP slams claims of pressuring unions

CARROT AND STICK:Two major confederations of trade unions denied a report alleging the DPP had offered incentives or threatened them to ensure their support

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 17, 2015
By: Alison Hsiao and Abraham Gerber  /  Staff reporters

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday slammed a trade union

Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen, second left, visits Keelung yesterday to canvass for votes. Photo: CNA

Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen, second left, visits Keelung yesterday to canvass for votes. Photo: CNA

boss and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Central Committee member for alleging that the DPP had been using “treats or threats” to lure or pressure state-run enterprises’ bosses and labor unions to support the party.

The Chinese-language China Times published a report yesterday claiming that top public enterprises officials and labor unions were moving to support the DPP — which is widely expected to return to power in next year’s elections — by offering benefits or threatening to “clip the wings” of uncooperative unions.

Taiwan Petroleum Workers’ Union chairman Chuang Chueh-an (莊爵安) was quoted in the story as saying that the DPP had been using the “carrot-and-stick” approach to entice state-run enterprises and unions. The story did not mention that Chuang is also a member of the KMT’s Central      [FULL  STORY]