Progressive Grocer
Date: 11/11/2019
By: Bridget Goldschmidt

H Mart, which bills itself as the largest Asian supermarket chain in the United States, is holding a two-week Taiwanese food festival this month at 10 of its stores in New York, New Jersey, North Carolina, Texas and California. The event kicked off on Nov. 8 and will end Nov. 28.

During its H Mart Taiwan Food Festival, the retailer will offer a broad range of items from Taiwan, including Sugar & Spice’s French nougat, Old Pot Rice Noodles from Hsinchu, dipping sauces from SauceCo. and homemade biscuits from Hwajen. 

Organized in collaboration with Taiwan’s Small and Medium Enterprise Administration of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Corporate Synergy Development Center, H Mart’s event aims “to introduce distinctive products from Taiwan and create a brand-new retail experience that makes customers feel welcome and comfortable,” according to the company.

This year, the grocer will offer a giveaway of a Hello Taiwan lunch bag designed by Taiwan’s Super B Studio for those who buy more than $50 worth of products promoted at the festival.
[FULL  STORY]

With 2020 presidential election just two months away, poll shows Tsai Ing-wen has extended lead over Han Kuo-yu

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/11/11
By: Sophia Yang, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – With the 2020 election just two months away, a poll shows incumbent President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has extended her lead over the Kuomintang's (KMT) Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜).

In the latest edition of ETtoday's poll, Tsai (45.7%) was beating her KMT rival (33.7%) by over 12 percentage points. Support for Tsai has risen to 45.7% compared to Han's 33.7%.

Tsai has widened the lead from the previous poll dated Oct. 27 (42.1%: 33.1%). The number of undecided voters decreased from 24.8% to 20.5%, with most siding with Tsai.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/11/11
By: Huang Jui-hung and Chiang Yi-ching

Taipei, Nov. 11 (CNA) President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) denounced the Hong Kong government and Beijing in a Facebook post Monday after Hong Kong police shot a protester with live rounds earlier in the day.

"The government should not shoot at unarmed citizens; it only exacerbates the problem," Tsai wrote. "Beijing and the Hong Kong government should not respond to the Hong Kong people with bullets but with a commitment to democracy and freedom."

The president further urged the Hong Kong government to listen and respond to the people's demands, arguing that it is the only approach to restoring stability to Hong Kong.

Hong Kong protesters on Monday launched protests across the special administrative region, a continuation of the protests that began in June over a now-withdrawn extradition bill, which would have subjected anyone in Hong Kong to China's opaque and arbitrary legal system.
[FULL  STORY]

‘NOT A SUBSTITUTE’? While the KMT praised Simon Chang for his political, business and academic experience, a DPP councilor said Han Kuo-yu has found a ‘babysitter’

Tasipei Times
Date: Nov 12, 2019
By: Ann Maxon  /  Staff reporter

Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential

candidate, yesterday tapped former premier Simon Chang (張善政) as his running mate in next year’s presidential election.

Han said that since his nomination in July to represent the party, Chang has always been at the top of his list for vice president.

“The choice was not simply based on whether he would help attract more votes, but how he could share the work of running the nation,” Han told a news conference in Kaohsiung.

Having worked as a premier under former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and head of Google’s Asia-Pacific hardware operations, and currently a professor emeritus at National Chiao Tung University, Chang has achieved great success in politics, the private sector and academia, Han said.    [FULL  STORY]

The lack of such treaties with the mainland, Taiwan and Macau means criminals are allowed to take advantage of the legal vacuum

South China Morning Post
Date: 10 Nov, 2019

SCMP Editorial  

Months of opposition and violent protests have forced the Hong Kong government to abandon the controversial extradition bill, under which fugitives would have been sent to jurisdictions with which the city has no such treaty, including the mainland and Taiwan. Regrettably, the unrest sparked by the ill-fated legislative attempt continues, as does the perceived legal vacuum. The violence facing the city is no doubt worrying and must be tackled as a matter of priority. The vacuum, while becoming less urgent after Chan Tong-kai, the murder suspect at the centre of the fiasco, is prepared to surrender himself to the Taiwan authorities, still warrants rectification in the longer term.

Taiwan asks Hong Kong to help find watch store robbery suspect

The need for an extradition deal is highlighted in the escape of a Taiwanese suspect following a robbery in Hong Kong last month. According to the police, the man arrived on October 6 and stole two luxury watches from a Tsim Sha Tsui shop before fleeing back to the island on the same day. While it is understood that the Hong Kong government is trying to confirm the identity of the suspect with the Taiwan authorities, he is unlikely to face prosecution due to the lack of an extradition treaty between the island and the city.     [FULL  STORY]

The Japan Times
Date: Nov 10, 2019

A group of Japanese lawmakers is looking to ramp up security cooperation with the United States and

Taiwan in a bid to counter China’s military buildup and growing assertiveness in the region, according to sources familiar with the plan.

The cross-party group, headed by Keiji Furuya of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, is mulling the creation of a forum with U.S. and Taiwanese lawmakers by the end of the year to facilitate such coordination, the sources said.

The move coincides with independence-minded President Tsai Ing-wen’s bid for re-election in Taiwan’s presidential election in January.

As such, the envisaged trilateral parliamentary tie-up may anger China at a time when ties with Japan have been improving and ahead of a planned state visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to the country in the spring.    [FULL  STORY]

'Taiwanese court should take Vietnamese human rights situation into consideration'

The Good Men Project
Date: November 10, 2019 
By: Global Voices 

This post was written in collaboration with members of the Global Voices Chinese Lingua team.

On 14 October 2019 the Taipei District Court dismissed a lawsuit filed by nearly 8,000 Vietnamese fishermen against Taiwan-based Formosa Plastics Group (FPG) over a 2016 marine disaster in Vietnam. The court said that it had no jurisdiction to rule on the case, but the plaintiff’s lawyers filed an appeal on October 24.

The marine disaster, which took place on 6 April 2016, is seen as the most serious environmental disaster in Vietnamese history. The incident, caused by the discharge of toxic waste into the sea by FPG subsidiary Ha Tinh Steel Corporation, led to the death of massive amounts of fish and marine life in central Vietnam.

The fishing industry in the affected areas has declined dramatically after the marine disaster and it estimated that complete recovery would take about a decade.

FPG accepted responsibility for the disaster on 30 June 2016 and agreed to give US$500 million in compensation to the Vietnamese government for disaster relief work. Yet, the Vietnamese government mainly gave compensation to those who live in Ha Tinh. Those who live in other parts of central Vietnam, such as Quang Binh, Nghe An, and Quang Tri, have not received any money.
[FULL  STORY]

Mayor says Daxi area has great potential for developing agritourism

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/11/10
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The 2019 Taoyuan Flower Festival's Daxi event began on Sunday (Nov. 10), featuring blossoming flowers in a 17-acre field surrounding the Li Teng-fang Mansion.

The organizer of the annual event, the Taoyuan City Government, has grown various flowers in vast fields of fallow farmland, which it has also decorated with installation art. This year’s flower festival will last from Nov. 9 to Dec. 1 at three exhibition areas across the city, according to a CNA report.

According to the event’s Facebook page, the Daxi exhibition is taking place in the Yuemei community in Daxi District from Nov. 9 to Nov. 17. The other two venues are in Zhongli and Pingzhen Districts.

The Zhongli exhibition will take place around Wenxing Rd. and Dongzhi Rd. from Nov. 16 to Nov. 24, while the Pingzhen event will be held in the vicinity of Miaoqian Rd. and Longxiang Rd. from Nov. 23 to Dec. 1.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/11/10
By: Yu Hsiang and Joseph Yeh

Taipei, Nov. 10 (CNA) Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) of the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) is expected on

Monday to name former Premier Chang San-cheng (張善政) as his running mate in the 2020 presidential election, his aide told CNA Sunday.

Chang, who served as premier from February to May 2016 during the KMT administration, is being selected based on his administrative experience and unconventional approach to politics, according to the aide.

Chang, 65, was the premier with the highest approval rate during the presidency of Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), from 2008 to 2016.    [FULL  STORY]

NO SMOKING: Wednesday next week is World Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Day, a disorder that killed 3 million people last year across the globe

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 11, 2019
By: Lee I-chia  /  Staff reporter

The Health Promotion Administration (HPA) urged people not to neglect symptoms of long-term

coughing, wheezing and excess mucus, as a WHO report shows that chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) was the third-most common cause of death last year.

According to the report, COPD claims more than 3 million lives around the world each year.

The HPA added that chronic lower respiratory disease is the seventh-most common cause of death in Taiwan, claiming more than 6,000 lives each year, among which more than 5,000 were from COPD.

Smoking is a major risk factor for COPD, and a study suggests that the risk of COPD in smokers increases six-fold when compared with non-smokers. The risk increases with prolonged smoking durations, it said.    [FULL  STORY]