Headline News
Presidential election candidates announced
The Central Election Commission confirmed the contesting candidates from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the opposition parties Kuomintang (KMT) and People First Party (PFP) for the presidential election on 11 Jan. 2020.
Tsai Ing-wen (DPP) will seek a second term. In 2016 she was elected with 56.12% of votes as the first we female president in Taiwan.
Han Kuo-yu (KMT) is mayor of Kaohsiung City and was a legislator from 1993 to 2002.
James Soong (PFP) was governor of Taiwan Province from 1993 to 1998, government spokesman from 1979 to 1984 and will run a fourth time as presidential candidate.
On the same day, the electorate will also vote for a new parliament (Legislative Yuan). According to the Central Election Commission, there will be 650 candidates competing for 113 seats in the Legislative Yuan.
Chinese spy confirms China’s involvement in Taiwan 2020 elections
Chinese secret agent William Wang, who recently defected to Australia, admitted to infiltrating Taiwan’s upcoming 2020 presidential election and the local elections of 2018.
Wang said to have entered Taiwan with a forged South Korean passport and instructed fellow agents on how to manipulate Taiwan’s politics. His main responsibility was to coordinate a cyber army and change public opinion in Taiwan in favor of pro-China politicians, he revealed.
Economy & Culture
IMD: Taipei 7th smartest city in the world
Taipei city ranks 7th out of 102 metropolises in the first-ever International Institute for Management Development Smart City Index 2019, released by the Switzerland-based IMD World Competiveness Center.
Cities were evaluated on 36 factors related to the use of technology in citizen’s daily life. The top 10 smartest cities are: Singapore (1), Zurich (2), Oslo (3), Geneva (4) Copenhagen (5), Auckland (6), Taipei City (7), Helsinki (8), Bilbao (9) and Dusseldorf (10).
Amsterdam is ranked 11th
Google and Microsoft expand in Taiwan
The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Investment Commission approved a US$852 million investment by Google. The investment will mainly be used to expand Google’s existing data center operations in Taiwan and for the purchase of related equipment.
Google built its first data center in Taiwan in 2013.
Microsoft Corp. has also opened an expanded hub in Taipei for the research and development of artificial intelligence. “We look forward to seeing this state-of-the-art AI R&D Center in Taiwan become a ley driver of next-generation technology that will help Taiwan shine on the world stage as an R&D powerhouse,” said President Tsai Ing-wen at the opening ceremony.
Microsoft opened its first R&D Center in Asia in January 2018 in Taipei.
China Airlines and EVA Air 5-star global airlines
Taiwan’s China Airlines (CAL) and EVA Air received a five-star rating, which has been awarded to just 21 carriers around the world by the Airline Passenger Experience Association (APEX). This is the third consecutive year that CAL gained such an APEX rating, which helps to promote the Taiwan brand in the world, said CAL. EVA Air said to continue to improve ground handling services, upgrade its hardware equipment and optimize the quality of its overall services.
NPM new online displays
The National Palace Museum added new highlights of its collection on the Google Arts and Culture platform to make its artifacts more accessible to people around the world via:
https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/national-palace-museum-taiwan