Taiwan says it won’t permit Hong Kong to simply let Chan show up on the island to turn himself in
Taiwan wants full judicial cooperation from Hong Kong in murder trial

South China Morning Post
Date: 20 Oct, 2019
By: Lawrence Chung  

Attempts to arrange for the voluntary return of Hong Kong murder suspect Chan Tong-kai to Taiwan for trial were thrown into disarray on the weekend after the island refused to grant him entry until the city complied with judicial procedures.

Hong Kong police wrote to its counterpart in Taiwan on Friday to relay Chan’s decision to surrender, but the island’s Mainland Affairs Council officially turned down the offer on Sunday, saying Chan could only be allowed in if his entry complied with legal procedures.

“If the Hong Kong government is to send the suspect Chan to Taiwan to surrender, the arrangements must go through the process of mutual judicial cooperation and the Hong Kong side must provide all relevant evidence gathered in Hong Kong to facilitate investigation of the case [on the island],” the council said in a statement.

“If the two sides can engage in judicial cooperation, we believe it would help to smoothly tackle this case and bring justice to the victim.”    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/10/20
By: Shen Peng-ta and Joseph Yeh

Taipei, Oct. 20 (CNA) Taiwan's top policymaking body on China, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC),

Chan Tung-kai (photo courtesy of Hong Kong China News Agency)

Hong Kong citizen Chan Tung-kai (陳同佳), is the chief suspect in the murder of his girlfriend Poon Hiu-wing (潘曉穎) when the pair were traveling in Taiwan in February 2018.

Chan returned to Hong Kong before police in Taiwan had a chance to investigate the crime, but once Taiwanese authorities identified him as a suspect they issued an arrest warrant and sought his return to face trial in Taiwan.

However, the lack of an extradition treaty between Taiwan and Hong Kong made that impossible.
[FULL  STORY]

SHARING IDEAS: Issues such as poor privacy and soundproofing, and a lack of kitchen and dining facilities, were discussed at a forum cohosted by the Ministry of Education

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 21, 2019
By: Sherry Hsiao  /  Staff writer, with CNA

Much work is needed to improve the amount and quality of student housing, members of the National

National Pingtung University students pose for a picture in a university dorm on June 11.
Photo: Chiu Chih-ju, Taipei Times

The group made the remarks during a forum in Taipei cohosted by the Ministry of Education and the NSUT to discuss the campus dorm issue.

Students and representatives from more than 50 colleges nationwide attended the event.

Since last month, the NSUT has been conducting surveys on the opinions of university student associations regarding student housing, it said.
[FULL  STORY]

Han Kuo-yu’s campaign office said it does not want police to pursue case

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/10/20
By: Teng Pei-ju, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

KMT members join Han at Tainan rally. (CNA photo)
KMT members join Han at Tainan rally. (CNA photo)

Chaos broke out as a man started to throw eggs at Han, who was about to get into a vehicle after finishing the event at around 8 p.m. The attacker reportedly threw three to four eggs, which missed Han, hitting instead a supporter and a bodyguard standing nearby.

The attacker escaped before anyone could react, but a witness later claimed that it was a man with a crew cut. Minister of the Interior Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) said via Facebook shortly after the incident that he had instructed the National Police Agency to capture the attacker as soon as possible. “I will not tolerate violent behavior that challenges public authorities,” said Hsu, adding that he had also asked the NPA to tighten the mayor’s security detail.

Han’s campaign office, however, said it hopes the police do not pursue the case further. “Han Kuo-yu considers that everyone has their right to express different opinions,” the office said, adding that Han expresses his gratitude to the police and apologizes to those affected by the incident.
[FULL  STORY]

The Telegraph
Date: 19 October 2019
By: Nicola Smith, asia correspondent

A radar station operates from a clifftop on the Taiwanese island of Kinmen which, at points lies only a few miles from China CREDIT: CARL COURT/GETTY 

More than 50 years later, political tensions remain high between Taipei and Beijing but China now wants to build a bridge to the islands, claiming it will help boost their economic development.

Taiwan, however, fears the move is just another provocative strategy to divide and conquer its territory, which China claims as its own. Some have accused Beijing of floating the bridge project to try to meddle in its upcoming election this January. 

The Chinese media reported last week on the launch of an ambitious blueprint to construct bridges between Xiamen, a 3.5-million-strong city in its southeastern Fujian province, to Taiwan’s Kinmen, Matsu and Fuzhou islands.     [FULL  STORY]

The Washington Post
Date: Oct. 18, 2019
By: John Pomfret 

When President Trump was trying to explain why he abandoned the Kurds to Turkish forces,

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen watches a drill near the city of Magong on May 25, 2017. (SAM YEH/AFP/Getty Images)

At more than 7,800 miles from Washington, Taiwan is even farther away than Syria. And at just over 23 million, there are about half as many Taiwanese as there are Kurds.

Could an unscripted phone call between Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping greenlight a Chinese invasion of Taiwan? Given Trump’s impulsive nature, that chilling scenario — and its baleful ramifications — can’t be ruled out.

A Chinese attack on Taiwan, especially one with U.S. acquiescence, would roil East Asia. It would cause the United States’ Asian allies, from Japan and South Korea to the Philippines and Australia, to suspect Washington’s commitment to their security, and would embolden North Korea. If successful, the invasion would crush an Asian democracy and propel China’s naval interests far into the western Pacific, setting the scene for Chinese domination of the region for years to come.
[FULL  STORY]

Taiwanese illegal employers and brokers were also detained

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/10/19
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Arrests during a previous crackdown on unaccounted-for foreign workers. (By Central News Agency)

From the early hours of the morning until 4 p.m., a total of 687 agents of the NIA, the Coast Guard and the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau went searching for people who had stayed on longer than the law allowed, the Central News Agency reported.

The search turned up 240 unaccounted-for foreign workers, including 122 Indonesians and 112 Vietnamese. A further 147 people had overstayed their visa, with 82 of those hailing from Vietnam and 51 from Indonesia.

In addition, 140 Taiwanese arrested were illegal employers and 35 were employment brokers, according to the CNA report.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/10/19
By: Chen Chih-chung and Matthew Mazzetta

Taipei, Oct. 19 (CNA) The Ministry of Education (MOE) sent a letter to Taiwanese universities last

CNA file photo

The letter follows a spate of recent incidents at campus Lennon Walls, where messages of support for Hong Kong have led to political conflict, often pitting students from Taiwan and Hong Kong against students and tourists from China.

In an interview with CNA, Chu Chun-chang (朱俊章), director of the ministry's Department of Higher Education, said the decision to send the letter was made following the Oct. 8 deportation of a Chinese tourist who was filmed tearing down messages at a Lennon Wall at National Taiwan University.

The purpose of the letter was to create awareness on the part of Chinese students studying in Taiwan, and avoid a situation where a student's ignorance of Taiwanese law could jeopardize their academic standing, Chu said.    [FULL  STORY]

EXECUTION FEAR: Chan Tong-kai reportedly had great regret for the family of the woman he is accused of killing and was sorry for the trouble in Hong Kong

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 19, 2019
By: Jake Chung  /  Staff writer, with CNA and AFP

Hong Konger Chan Tong-kai (陳同佳), who is suspected of murdering his girlfriend in Taiwan last

Poon Hiu-wing and her boyfriend, Chan Tung-kai, are pictured in an undated photograph posted on Poon’s Facebook page.
Photo: Screen grab from Facebook

The comments by Chan, who is wanted in Taiwan for allegedly strangling his pregnant girlfriend, Poon Hiu-wing (潘曉穎), and dumping her body on the outskirts of Taipei, were reported by Hong Kong’s Sing Tao Daily yesterday.

Chan is serving a short jail sentence in Hong Kong on a money laundering charge related to his theft of Poon’s possessions.

Peter Koon (管浩鳴), an Anglican clergyman, has visited him regularly in prison and said that Chan was willing to hand himself over to Taiwanese authorities.    [FULL  STORY]