SMEAR CAMPAIGN: President Tsai Ing-wen thanked the LSE for making a statement and apologized for the ‘shameful’ political culture in Taiwan causing a disturbance

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 10, 2019
By: Su Yung-yao and William Hetherington  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer

The London School of Economics (LSE) has received a large number of queries regarding President

Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) doctorate and it can confirm that the degree was conferred, it said in a statement issued on Tuesday.

“Those with their eyes closed cannot see the truth, those with their ears closed cannot hear the truth,” Tsai said yesterday in response to allegations about the legitimacy of her dissertation.

The LSE’s statement should put an end to those who have tried to discredit her academic background or the school’s reputation, she said.

“We can be clear that the records of LSE and of the University of London — the degree-awarding body at the time — confirm that Dr Tsai was correctly awarded a PhD in Law in 1984,” the school’s statement said.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 08 October, 2019
By: Natalie Tso

A Chinese tourist and his wife traveling on their own in Taiwan tore down messages on a “Lennon Wall” on Monday that supported the protests in Hong Kong.

Lee Shao Tung was visiting National Taiwan University when he saw the wall in the student activity center and began to take down pro-democracy messages. His actions were seen and recorded by a student. The police then came to detain Lee who will be deported and banned from coming into Taiwan for 5 years.

Premier Su Tseng-chang spoke on Tuesday about the incident. He said any Chinese tourist who comes to commit a crime should be detained and deported. He said Taiwan will not allow people under China’s authoritarian regime to do illegal acts on our democracy walls. Taiwan will not allow them to be here.      [FULL  STORY]

At the 2019 Taipei Defense and Security Forum, researchers suggested the government to pursue Indigenous Military Programs to strengthen Taiwan's national defense.

The News Lens
Date: 2019/10/08
By: Andrew Maxey

Over dozens of academics gathered in Taipei last week to discuss Taiwan’s asymmetrical diplomacy as a small island nation caught between the power dynamics of China and the United States.

At the 2019 Taipei Defense and Security Forum hosted by the Institute for National Security and Defense Research (INDSR), researchers from the institute shared their studies during a session on strengthening Taiwan’s defense.

INDSR research fellow Dr. Hung Jui-min presented his study on Taiwan’s defense industry, followed by Dr. Paul An-hao Huang’s introduction of the role of the Taiwanese Army in defending critical infrastructure.

The forum largely focused on Taiwan’s pursuit of an asymmetric strategy to fend off Chinese hybrid aggression. In terms of numbers, Taiwan’s military cannot match China’s ship-for-ship, bullet-for-bullet, so the Taiwanese government must find the best way to use its limited resources to re-equip its military.    [FULL  STORY]

14 people died in one building in Hualien after the Feb. 6, 2018 quake

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/10/08
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

The Yun Men Tsui Ti building in Hualien shortly after the February 2018 earthquake. (By Central News Agency)

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The developer, the architect and a civil engineer were sentenced to five years in prison Tuesday (October 8) for the collapse of the Yun Men Tsui Ti Building (雲門翠堤) in Hualien which killed 14 people during an earthquake in February last year.

Appeals were still possible against the Hualien District Court verdict, the Central News Agency reported.

The magnitude-6.0 quake struck at 11:50 p.m. on February 6, 2018, and registered a maximum intensity of 7 in the east coast city. The 12-story Yun Men Tsui Ti, which also housed a hotel, partly collapsed within eight seconds of the quake.

While the total death toll reached 17, 14 of those died in the building, raising questions about its construction process.

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/10/08
By: William Yen

Taipei, Oct. 8 (CNA) The Yilan County Labor Affairs Department has started the planning process for building onshore accommodation for migrant fishermen in the port of Nanfang'ao, a labor official said Tuesday.

Lee Fang-ching (李芳菁), Yilan County Labor Affairs Department deputy director, told CNA that the project will be conducted in three phases, with approximately 300 beds to be offered in the first phase, which will take two years to complete, with the number increasing in phases two and three.

"The final goal is to provide onshore accommodation for all of Nanfang'ao's migrant fishermen," she said.

Lee revealed the plan in response to calls by migrant rights and church groups who called for migrant fishermen to be able to live onshore instead of sleeping on the boats on which they work.
[FULL  STORY]

GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES: Former Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper and former White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders also spoke at the Yushan Forum

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 09, 2019
By: Lin Chia-nan  /  Staff reporter

China’s attempts to isolate Taiwan on the global stage would only hinder regional prosperity and

stability, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) told the Yushan Forum in Taipei yesterday, calling on like-minded partners to stand with Taiwan.

The two-day forum is being hosted by the Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation and opened at the Grand Hyatt Taipei yesterday.

The first day of the forum, which has the theme “Deepening Progressive Partnerships in Asia,” was attended by representatives from Australia, Canada, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, South Korea, Thailand, the US and Vietnam.

Tsai said she was glad to see that in its third year, the annual forum had become an important platform for regional dialogue.    [FULL  STORY]

Straits Times
Date: October 8, 2019

TAIPEI (BLOOMBERG) – Seventy years after the founding of the People's Republic of China, President

Xi Jinping is nearing a goal that was only a distant dream for Mao Zedong: Getting every country in the world to drop diplomatic recognition of Taiwan.

The decision of two Pacific Island states to switch relations to Beijing from Taipei in recent weeks leaves the Republic of China (ROC) – the government forced off the mainland by Mao's forces in 1949 – with just 15 formal diplomatic partners.

President Tsai Ing-wen's security council acknowledged last month that the island could lose as many as two more allies this year, as Mr Xi accelerates efforts to isolate her pro-independence party.

The approaching milestone raises as many questions for Mr Xi as it does for Ms Tsai, as she faces a re-election fight against a China-friendly rival in January. While the diplomatic squeeze may make some voters feel it's futile to resist unification with the mainland, it also risks backfiring and bolstering those who have long argued for replacing the ROC with a Republic of Taiwan.  [FULL  STORY]

The Korea Herald
Date: Oct 6, 2019
By: Yonhap

China's political dispute with Taiwan may add to regional risks created by protest rallies in Hong Kong that could further undermine South Korea's exports to its neighbors, a central bank report suggested Sunday.

South Korean exports have dipped for 10 consecutive months since December amid the prolonged trade dispute between the United States and China, the world's largest importers of South Korean goods.

"Considering the country's close financial and trade relations with the countries, a change in China's relationship with Taiwan and Hong Kong may have direct and indirect impacts on the Korean economy," the Bank of Korea said in a weekly report.

China is by far the world's largest importer of South Korean products, while Hong Kong and Taiwan make up the world's fourth and sixth-largest destinations of South Korean exports, respectively.
[FULL  STORY]

The National Interest
October 6, 2019
By: TNI Staff

Key point: The Su-35 is an advanced and important piece of hardware that Taiwan would be hard-pressed to counter.

The Sukhoi Su-35 Flanker-E has entered service with the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) according to the Chinese Ministry of Defense. The advanced Russian-built fourth-generation fighter is a significant boost to the PLAAF and could be used to good effect by Beijing in over the South China Sea.

“The Su-35 is a multi-purpose fighter jet capable of air combat and precision strike against land and surface targets,” Senior Colonel Wu Qian, Director General of the Information Office of China's Ministry of National Defense, said during a April 26 press conference. “Currently, the aviation troop units of the PLA Air Force have been armed with the Su-35 fighters.”

With the jets now in service, the Su-35 would significantly bolster Chinese forces operating over the South China Sea or the Taiwan Straits. Indeed, Beijing has in recent days been conducting exercises in the region near Taiwan, which it considers to be a breakaway province. “Recently, the PLA Air Force dispatched multiple types of warplanes to carry out real combat training exercises in the airspace over the sea to further enhance the capability of safeguarding China’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Wu said. “The island the PLA warplanes patrolled around is, of course, China’s Taiwan Island.”    [FULL  STORY]

Mayor of Czech capital, Zdenek Hrib, called on China to change wording of agreement back in January

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/10/06
By: Duncan DeAeth, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – On Oct. 4 it was reported that the Czech capital of Prague is planning to

cancel its sister-city relationship with Beijing over the latter's unwillingness to re-negotiate wording relating to Beijing’s ”One China Policy" in the partnership agreement.

The move, made thanks to Prague Mayor Zdenek Hrib, indicates that the Czech capital has reconsidered its position on China’s claims to Taiwan, and this could indicate a first step by the Czech government towards strengthening ties with Taiwan. According to Expats.cz, the Prague City Council will meet Monday (Oct. 7) to address the issue.

It is currently anticipated that the Prague City Council will move forward with canceling the arrangement and that the City Assembly will vote on the decision in the near future. Beijing and Prague established sister-city relations only recently in 2016 under previous mayor Adriana Krnáčová, after Xi Jinping made a visit to the city.

The current mayor of Prague Zdenek Hrib has shown strong support for Taiwan and began calling for Beijing to remove the “One China” language from the agreement back in January. Hrib made a visit to Taiwan in March, and has come under fire from Beijing for his “pro-Taiwan stance.”
[FULL  STORY]