Radio Taiwan International
Date: 08 January, 2020
By: Shirley Lin
US defense official David Helvey
The official, David Helvey, made the comment at a seminar on US-Japan defense cooperation held in Washington. [FULL STORY]
Dissident blogger sets fire to Chinese passport, calls on Taiwanese to cherish their democratic freedom
Taiwan News
Date: 2020/01/08
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer
Zhou Shuguang burns Chinese passport. (CNA photo)
Zhou Shuguang (周曙光), 40, a native of Ningxiang County in Hunan Province, has lived in Hualien's Rueisui Township (瑞穗) with his Taiwanese wife for nine years, becoming a naturalized Taiwan citizen in 2018. Zhou was originally an information technology professor, but later became known for his citizen journalism, being a blogger and covering China's censorship of the press.
Zhou, who goes by the handle Zuola (佐拉), used his blog to publish stories about government land seizures, oppression of ethnic minorities and repression of freedom of speech. Starting in 2007, he started gaining attention for his "citizen reports," and he soon became known as the "father of citizen journalism in China."
Because Zhou had to relinquish his Chinese citizenship to become a Taiwanese citizen, his Chinese passport has been rendered useless. Rather than simply discarding it, Zhou decided to burn it as a form of performance art to make a point about Taiwan's democracy. [FULL STORY]
Focus Taiwan
Date: 01/08/2020
By: Wang Shu-fen and Frances Huang
CNA file photo
CAL and EVA Air, the two largest international carriers in Taiwan, were among many major airlines in the world to take action to divert or cancel flights amid rising geopolitical tensions in the region.
CAL said its cargo flights to Europe were rerouted over the airspace of Turkmenistan or Saudi Arabia, while none of its passenger flights to Europe fly over the two Middle East countries.
EVA Air said that none of its flights to Europe fly over Iraq and that flights that use Iranian airspace, such as flights to London via Bangkok and to Vienna and Amsterdam were diverted Wednesday to ensure safety. [FULL STORY]
MAKING CHANGES: A branch line to connect a high-speed rail station and a railway station in Changhua County would be finished by 2026, the transportation minister said
Taipei Times
Date: Jan 09, 2020
By: Shelley Shan / Staff reporter
The government intends to spend NT$4.181 billion (US$138.96 million) on building a branch line to
Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Chia-lung tells township mayors in Changhua County yesterday about a planned shuttle service between Changhua Railway Station and the Taiwan High-Speed Rail station in Tianjhong Township.
Photo: Chen Kuan-pei, Taipei Times
Lin made the announcement during his tour of the TRA station in the township, where the high-speed rail station is also located.
The small town to the south of the county has become a popular tourist destination due to the Taiwan Rice Heaven-Tianzhong Marathon, where participants run while sampling various dishes presented by local residents along the way.
Construction on the 3km branch line is scheduled to begin next year, with the cost estimated to reach NT$1.181 billion, Lin said. [FULL STORY]
Radio Taiwan International
Date: 08 January, 2020
By: Shirley Lin
President Tsai Ing-wen (3rd from right) says China threat on Taiwan election is real. (Photo by Ou Yang Meng-ping)
Tsai said even foreign correspondents say that Taiwan’s 2020 election season has been one marked by the spread of false information. She reminded voters to be vigilant. [FULL STORY]
The Hong Kong protests might not have influenced Taiwanese voters as much as expected, but Taiwan's election results might determine the fate of the pro-democracy protesters who have fled from the city.
The News Lens
Date: 2020/01/08
By: Timothy S. Rich, Isabel Eliassen, Madelynn Einhorn, Carolyn Brueggemann / Western Kentucky University
Photo Credit: Vincent Thian / AP / TPG Images
Taiwan lacks an asylum law, providing at best ad hoc responses (e.g. “humanitarian visas”) to specific cases after public pressure, with the Mainland Affairs Council arguing the existing regulation as sufficient. Taiwanese are familiar with Chinese meddling in their own affairs, culminating most recently with the anti-infiltration law targeting Chinese efforts to spread disinformation, while also concerned that Taiwan’s future may resemble that of Hong Kong.
However, we should be cautious in overestimating the impact of the protests on Tsai’s rising polls.
[FULL STORY]
Taiwan Central Election Committee investigates attempts to interfere in Jan. 11 polling
Taiwan News
Date: 2020/01/08
By: Ching-Tse Cheng, Taiwan News, Staff Writer
CEC urges voters to be careful about online misinformation. (CEC photo)
The permanent statutory agency said it has received 128 reports of online misinformation, including some targeting the CEC for manipulating election results. Some false rumors also claimed that Taiwanese with older IDs are ineligible to vote and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidates have fabricated their educational backgrounds, reported New Talk. [FULL STORY8]
Focus Taiwan
Date: 01/08/2020
Only three days are left until Taiwan's Jan. 11 presidential and legislative elections, and the candidates have been busy making their final appeals to voters.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), who is running for re-election, continued her campaign tour Wednesday in central Taiwan.
Her motorcade traveled through Changhua, Taichung and Miaoli and she is scheduled to attend campaign rallies in Hsinchu and Taoyuan in the evening.
Also Wednesday, Kuomintang (KMT) presidential candidate Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) answered questions from reporters before taping an interview for Ctitv News, while James Soong (宋楚瑜) of the People First Party (PFP) campaigned in Taichung. [FULL STORY]
‘UNKNOWN ETIOLOGY’: Listing the pneumonia as a category 5 communicable disease allows the Centers for Disease Control to implement mandatory quarantine measures
Taipei Times
Date: Jan 09, 2020
By: Wu Liang-yi / Staff reporter
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday said it is preparing to list a viral pneumonia of an
Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang speaks at a news conference in Taipei yesterday.
Photo: CNA
Fifty-nine cases had been reported in China as of yesterday, with seven showing severe symptoms, it said.
The CDC on Tuesday last week started conducting onboard inspections of direct flights from Wuhan, it added.
It has conducted inspections on 13 flights, covering a total of 1,193 passengers and crew members, the CDC said. [FULL STORY]
Radio Taiwan Internatiional
Date: 07 January, 2020
By: John Van Trieste
President Tsai Ing-wen (front row, third from left) and young supporters hold a press conference aimed at getting young voters to the polls.
Taiwan heads to the polls on Saturday, and Tsai is hoping to win a second term. She is spending the final days before the election on the road in a final campaign push that is taking her from Taiwan’s far south up to the north.
On Tuesday, Tsai stopped in the southern county of Chiayi for a press conference aimed at getting more young voters to the ballot box.
One obstacle to increasing voter turnout in Taiwan is the distance many voters must travel in order to cast their ballots. Taiwan has no system of absentee ballots. In addition, voters can only vote in the precincts where their household registrations are located, often a hometown far from where they actually live. [FULL STORY]
