Taiwan News
Date: 2016-01-31
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

The Democratic Progressive Party will hold a workshop for incoming

DPP to hold workshop for incoming legislators

legislators after Lunar New Year to discuss priority policies as well as controversial policies of the caretaker government, a DPP official said on Sunday.

The DPP will become a majority in the new legislature when it is sworn in on Feb. 1.

The DPP’s caucus and policy committee will hold a legislator workshop for incoming legislators after Lunar New Year when the party’s caucus and each committee have decided on their members, DPP Policy Committee deputy executive director Shih Keh-he said Sunday.

All legislators are invited to attend the workshop, which will focus on discussions of rules and operations of the legislature, priority bills, major policy proposals introduced during the presidential and legislative election campaign, as well as controversial policies of the caretaker government.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/01/31
By: Chen Chun-hua and Kay Liu

Taipei, Jan. 31 (CNA) When the Legislature begins a new term on

Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng waves to reporters when leaving the Legislature Sunday.

Monday, its leadership will likely be controlled by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) for the first time in Taiwan’s history.

On Monday, the 113 lawmakers who will begin a new four-year term will elect a speaker and a deputy speaker after they are sworn in, according to the Law Governing the Legislative Yuan’s Power.

All lawmakers are eligible to be elected for the posts, decided in separate elections, and the two major parties — the DPP and Kuomintang (KMT) — have nominated candidates.

The DPP put forward Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) and Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) as the party’s candidates for speaker and deputy speaker, respectively, and with the party holding 68 of the 113 seats, the DPP’s two candidates are virtually assured of victory.     [FULL  STORY]

STILL WORK TO DO:In Taiwan, connections remain between politics and big business, and corruption is still a problem, the ‘Index of Economic Freedom’ said

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 31, 2016
By: William Lowther / Staff reporter in WASHINGTON Staff reporter in WASHINGTON

Taiwan has achieved its highest-ever score in the annual Index of

Incoming Premier Chang San-cheng discusses policy priorities during a radio interview Jan. 29 in Taipei City. (CNA)

Economic Freedom released on Friday, remaining the 14th-freest economy in the world, the same position it occupied in the previous year’s ranking.

The nation is ranked fifth out of 42 economies in the Asia-Pacific region and has improved over the past year in seven of the 10 categories measured by the index.
“Despite progress, however, a relatively high level of perceived corruption and a rigid labor market still restrain Taiwan’s overall economic freedom,” the report said.

Published and compiled by the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal, the report has attracted global attention for more than 20 years.

The global average score for economic freedom is 60.4 out of 100, with Taiwan scoring above that figure with 75.1.     [FULL  STORY]