Headline News
President calls for Beijing to resolve aviation issue
President Tsai Ing-wen is urging Beijing to start negotiations with Taiwan about its unilateral decision to launch a northbound M503 route over the Taiwan Strait, putting aviation safety and regional stability at risk.
The route is only about 7.8 km from the median line of the Taiwan Strait, at its nearest point. In addition to the M503 route, also three east-west extension routes were unilaterally introduced, overlapping with Taiwan’s flight routes to the outlying islands of Matsu and Kinmen.
The negotiations to resolve the aviation issue should start as soon as possible, in line with an agreement reached by the two sides in 2015.
EP resolution calls for release of Taiwan activist
The European Parliament has passed a resolution calling on the Chinese government to drop charges against several human rights activists, including Lee Ming-che from Taiwan.
Pending their release, the human rights activists should have access to lawyers of their own choosing, access to adequate medical care, and regular unrestricted visits by relatives and lawyers. They should not be tortured or subjected to other forms of abuse, the EP said in the resolution.
The detention of Lee for alleged “subversion of state power” is seen as an attempt by Beijing to deter foreign non-governmental and human rights organizations as well as their staff, and as a sign of increasingly tense cross-strait relations.
Taiwan rated high in World Freedom report
The Freedom House’s 2018 Freedom in the World report gives Taiwan 93 out of 100 points in its annual assessment of political rights and civil liberties in 195 countries.
With this score, two points up from previous year, Taiwan receives its best rating in 12 years.
Canada and the Netherlands are leading the pack with an aggregate score of 99 points.
Economic
Strong trade growth recorded for 2017
Taiwan’s foreign trade recorded a growth of 12.92 percent in 2017 totaling US$576.9 billion. Exports surged 13.2 percent to US$317.39 billion, while imports increased by 12.6 percent to US$259.51 billion, both rates are the highest in 7 years.
Electronic components and parts were top export items (+15.5%) and machinery (+21.1%), followed by basic metals, plastic and rubber products, information and communication technology products, chemicals and optical devices.
TSMC ranks 7th after Apple
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) ranks among the top 10 firms in the technology sector, together with Microsoft, Intel, Alphabet, following right after Apple Inc.
In terms of the top 100 technology companies compiled by Thomson Reuters Corp, there are twelve companies from Taiwan, compared to three from China. The selection is based on financial performance, management and investor confidence, risk and resilience, legal compliance, innovation, people and social responsibilities, environmental impact and reputation.
TSMC on the 7th spot is the only Asian company in the top 10.
High speed rail breaks record in passenger transport
Over 60 million passengers made use of the high-speed rail line in Taiwan in 2017, breaking the 60 million mark for the first time in its 11-years of operation.
The company ran 51,000 train services, carrying an average of 166,000 people per day in 2017. It had an on-time rate of 99.72 percent with an average delay of only six seconds.
Art & Culture
Taiwan movies at 2018 Rotterdam Film Festival
Taiwan cinema is well represented at the International Film Festival Rotterdam with the following films:
The Bold, the Corrupt and the Beautiful (Yang Ya-che); Extrastellar Evaluations III: Entropy: 25800 (Chen Yin-ju); I Have Nothing to Say (Ying Liang); Re-rupture (Hsu Che-yu); Their Remaining Journey (John Clang); The Walker (Su Hui-yu); Father to Son (Hsiao Ya-chuan); An Impossibly Small Object (David Verbeek). Both latter films are nominated for the VPRO Big Screen Award.
For screening days: https://iffr.com/