Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/09/28
By: Stacy Hsu and Frances Huang

Washington, Sept. 27 (CNA) U.S. State Secretary Mike Pompeo on Friday encouraged to Tuvalu to

work with Taiwan to push for democracy in the Pacific region as international media reported recently that the selection of a new prime minister in the South Pacific country could complicate its diplomatic relationship with Taiwan.

Pompeo mentioned the cooperation between Tuvalu and Taiwan in a statement, saying the United States has been a friend of Tuvalu since the South Pacific country's independence in 1978, and the close ties have extended back to earlier generations.

"We welcome your commitment to advancing our shared vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific region with other democracies in the Pacific region including Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan, and Japan," Pompeo said.

The statement came before Pompeo was scheduled to attend a celebration ceremony planned by Tuvalu for the 41st anniversary of its independence next month.    [FULL  STORY]

INTIMIDATION: Beijing hopes Taiwanese will elect leaders who bow to its demands and don’t buy warplanes or support the Hong Kong democracy protests, Tsai Ing-wen said

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 29, 2019
By: Sean Lin  /  Staff reporter

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday passed a resolution rejecting the “one country, two

systems” framework that Beijing has proposed for Taiwan, as well as to streamline the government’s collaboration with the public, ensure equity when pushing for economic and social transformation, and deepen ties with nations that value democracy and human rights.

The DPP held its national congress at the Grand Hotel in Taipei, where party members also celebrated its 33rd anniversary and prepared for next year’s presidential and legislative elections.

The resolution reasserted the party’s Resolution on Taiwan’s Future, passed in 1999, which states that the nation’s future should be decided by all Taiwanese.

Reforms that are necessary to achieve this aim should be implemented, the new resolution said.
[FULL  STORY]

GREATER STAKES: The premier compared the spread of the disease to the reach of Beijing’s political influence, saying that Taiwan faces losing its democracy and freedom

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 28, 2019
By: Sean Lin  /  Staff reporter

Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday drew a parallel between Chinese political influence and

African swine fever, saying that the disease would deprive people of pork, but Beijing would deprive them of their freedom.

Su made the remark while delivering an administrative report at the Legislative Yuan when commenting on efforts to keep African swine fever out of Taiwan.

Hong Kong has destroyed about 6,000 pigs, Vietnam has buried 1.5 million and South Korea has culled 50,000 due to the disease, Su said.

Thanks to the efforts of 14 central government agencies, Taiwan’s pig farming industry, which has more than 6 million hogs, and the nation’s pork supplies have remained intact, he said.
[FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 27 September, 2019
By: Leslie Liao

Ministry of Defense spokesman Shih Shun-wen says that a US MC-130J aircraft flew along the median line of the Taiwan Strait on Thursday afternoon. Shih says that the defense ministry closely monitored the plane’s movement, and that nothing was out of the ordinary.

Shih says that the defense ministry is aware of activity in and around the Taiwan Strait at all times. He says that Taiwan takes swift and appropriate measures in response to any movement.
[FULL  STORY]

Protesters in Taipei joined the Fridays for Future climate strike today despite heavy rain.

The News Lens
Date: 2019/09/27
By: Brian Hioe

As part of the Global Climate Strike taking place from September 20 to September 27, hundreds participated in Taipei’s climate rally today despite rainy weather.

Protesters started marching from outside of the Legislative Yuan and continued to the Red House by Ximending, past the 228 Memorial Park, Taipei Main Station, and back to the Legislative Yuan. At the end of the rally, demonstrators handed petitions to government officials outside the Legislative Yuan and the Executive Yuan.

Similar to the previous Fridays for Future protests in Taipei, the demonstration was highly artistic. While Fridays for Future protests have not been a regular event in Taiwan, a protest in May involved performers dressed in spandex costumes, billed as alien conservationists who had come to visit Taipei from the cosmos in order to promote environmentalism.

During the climate strike today, a group of performers dressed in white and covered with white paint walked zombie-like through the streets of Taipei, sometimes crying and screaming, representing the future victims of environmental disasters. Some performers carried a large dinosaur puppet and a dragon puppet, resembling the dragon figure used in Chinese dragon dances, representing the “monsters” of environmental destruction. Representatives of the Extinction Rebellion movement were also present, consisting mostly of expats living in Taiwan.    [FULL  STORY8]

Appeals are still possible

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/09/27
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The owner of one of Taiwan’s main shipbuilding companies was sentenced to 25 years in prison Friday (September 27) for fraudulently obtaining loans from banks to invest in China instead of building minesweepers for the Navy.

Appeals were still possible against the verdict, which also included a fine of NT$105 million (US$3.38 million) for Ching Fu Shipbuilding Co. (慶富造船) Chairman Chen Ching-nan (陳慶男), a fine of NT$280 million for the company, and an 18-month jail sentence for Chen’s wife and six months for a former executive director. One company adviser was found not guilty.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/09/27
By: Randall Schriver

Washington, Sept. 26 (CNA) The Marshall Islands and Palau, two allies of Taiwan, face great pressure from China to change their allegiance, a U.S. official said Thursday.

"There's tremendous pressure on the remaining diplomatic allies of Taiwan to switch diplomatic recognition," Randall Schriver, U.S. assistant secretary of defense for Asian and Pacific security affairs, said during a U.S. House of Representatives hearing on sustaining U.S. Pacific insular relationships.

"We are particularly concerned by China's use of coercive tools to attempt to erode their sovereignty and induce them to behave in accordance with Chinese interests," Schriver said in his statement, referring mainly to the Marshall Islands and Palau.

Being asked to comment on how China influences the two countries, Schriver said China's measures include a range of economic coercion, debt trap diplomacy and diplomatic and political pressure.
[FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 26 September, 2019
By: Paula Chao

China has lured a second diplomatic ally from Taiwan in the past week: the South Pacific nation of Kiribati. These diplomatic successes come as China prepares to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China on October 1. Analysts say the impending anniversary is having an effect on how Beijing is handling tensions with not just Taipei, but also Hong Kong and Washington. 

In today’s Taiwan Insider, Hong Kong-based columnist and renowned journalist Frank Ching gives us insight into how China may deal with the Hong Kong protests. He also talks about what he thinks might happen in Hong Kong on National Day.    [FULL  STORY]

Breitbart
Date: 26 Sep 2019
By: Frances Martel

The few countries of the United Nations that recognize Taiwan’s sovereignty made a case for their

ally’s inclusion in the General Assembly on Tuesday and Wednesday, urging the world not to allow China to intimidate it out of accepting reality.

The leaders of Guatemala, eSwatini, and Palau urged the United Nations – which recognizes breakaway territories like “Palestine” as nations, but not Taiwan, a nation that has never formally accepted China’s colonial aspirations over it – to include Taiwan in its activities. At a separate event outside of the main stage of the General Assembly, the Caribbean country of St. Vincent and the Grenadines similarly noted that it had partnered with Taiwan to receive medical aid.

The government in Taipei has expressed particular dismay recently at being excluded from United Nations activities to combat public health disasters like the Ebola outbreaks of Africa, to which it feels it can positively contribute.    [FULL  STORY]

Investigators from Kaohsiung assisted Taoyuan police in operation

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/09/26
By: Duncan Deaeth, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — An investigation headed by the Ciaotou District Prosecutor’s Office in Kaohsiung led to the bust of an indoor marijuana farming operation on Tuesday (Sept. 24).

After nearly a month of investigation, officers raided the grow house in Taoyuan’s Yangmei District (楊梅區), where they seized nearly 200 cannabis plants worth an estimated value of NT$100 million (US$3.2 million). An elderly male suspect surnamed Kang (康) was arrested in the raid, and officers are now expanding their investigation to determine the primary customers of Kang's illegal operation.
[FULL  STORY]