Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/09/24
By: Chiang Chin-yeh and Joseph Yeh

Montreal, Sept. 23 (CNA) A top Taiwanese aviation official has warned that Taiwan's exclusion from the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has created a major gap in the global aviation network as the ICAO Assembly prepares to meet starting on Sept. 24.

Speaking in Montreal, Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) Deputy Director Ho Shu-ping (何淑萍) said that as one of the 300-plus flight information regions around the world, the Taipei Flight Information Region (FIR) has been an "inseparable part" of the global aviation community.

According to the CAA, the Taipei FIR served more than 1.75 million flights and 68.9 million passengers in 2018.

Taiwan's exclusion from the ICAO has created a gap in the global aviation network and is contrary to the United Nations-affiliated body's own objective of a "seamless sky" and ICAO efforts to promote international civil aviation development and services, Ho said.    [FULL  STORY]

BRAVE EAGLE: There were many challenges, critics and naysayers along the way, but ‘we were right and our efforts were not in vain,’ President Tsai Ing-wen said

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 25, 2019
By: Yang Chun-hui and Jonathan Chin  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer

President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended the rollout of the first indigenously produced

Advanced Jet Trainer at the Aerospace Industrial Development Corp (AIDC, 漢翔航空) factory in Taichung’s Salu District (沙鹿)

The manufacture of the prototype, which the Ministry of National Defense named the AIDC T-5 Yung Ying (勇鷹, “Brave Eagle”), marks a historic milestone for the air force, the nation’s aerospace industry and the administration’s pledge to create a self-sufficient defense industry, Tsai said.

“There have been many challenges, detractors, critics and naysayers on the long journey leading to this day, but the facts show that we were right and our efforts were not in vain,” she said before thanking the ministry, the AIDC and the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology.

Tsai said that the idea for the indigenous trainer came from a discussion in 2016 with then-AIDC chairman Feng Shih-kuan (馮世寬) when she was campaigning as the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) presidential candidate.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 23 September, 2019
By: Natalie Tso

President Tsai Ing-wen says that Taiwan will not bow to pressure from China. Her comments came on

Monday at the Presidential Office. She was speaking with French National Assemblyman Jean-Francois Cesarini, who is the chair of the assembly’s Taiwan-France Parliamentary Friendship Group.

Tsai said that Taiwan and France are both concerned about the anti-extradition movement in Hong Kong. Twenty members of the French National Assembly recently signed an open letter calling on Beijing to replace violence with dialogue and to face the people’s demands for democracy. Tsai said this shows that Taiwan and France share the values of freedom and democracy. She said Taiwan is a beacon for democracy, and that with the support of friends, Taiwan can continue to light up the world.
[FULL  STORY]

Hong Kong's Pro-Democracy Movement

The News Lens
Date: 2019/09/23
By: Reporter/Photographer: Sophie Wei
Translator: Ying-jen Lin

A post-90s girl immigrating by investment, a post-80s “Taiwanese daughter-in-law,” and a post-70s father choosing to immigrate for the sake of his three children’s education — three Hongkongers of different generations have each gone through a destroy-and-reconstruct period to acclimatize to their new life and environment in Taiwan.

How did they overcome the challenges that came with immigration? What advice would they give to Hongkongers who are considering emigration as a result of the ongoing anti-extradition bill protests?

“My business closed down within two years, and I lost money.”

“You can’t romanticize about other countries with your own imagination. The more you romanticize, the more difficult it would be for you. That’s how I became a misanthrope in the first two years…,” said Selina, who has immigrated to Taiwan four years ago.    [FULL  STORY]

Ministry of Defense confirms M109A6 Paladin self-propelled howitzer 'meets Taiwan's defense needs'

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/09/23
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

(Screenshot of YouTube video by Gung Ho Vids)[/caption] TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense (MND) on Monday (Sept. 23) said that the M109A6 Paladin self-propelled howitzer "meets the needs of Taiwan's defensive operations."

The Legislative Yuan's Foreign National Defense Committee held a meeting to discuss the "Special Bill for the Purchase of New Fighter Aircraft" on Monday. During the meeting, legislators posed questions to Army officials about the country's weaponry needs.

When Taiwan lawmaker Freddy Lim (林昶佐) asked if the Army is planning on procuring Paladin howitzers, National Defense Minister Yen De-fa (嚴德發) said the self-propelled gun "meets the needs of Taiwan's defensive operations and has fast reaction speeds and great power" and that "It is hoped that it will further enhance combat effectiveness in the future," reported CNA.

Lin then asked whether the Army's current digitalization process would include compatibility with the weapon. In response, Lt. Gen. Yang Hai-ming (楊海明), chief of staff of the Army, said that the multifunctional laser designator rangefinder has already been partially digitized and included in live-fire drills, according to the report.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/09/23
By: Matt Yu and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, Sept. 23 (CNA) A draft bill that would pave the way for NT$250 billion in funding for Taiwan to buy 66 F-16V fighter jets from the United States passed a preliminary review by a legislative committee on Monday.

The draft bill, which was approved by the Cabinet on Sept. 5, would allow the government to create a special budget of up to NT$250 billion (US$8.07 billion) to procure a new fleet of advanced F-16 fighter jets to reinforce and modernize Taiwan's military jet fleet.

The Legislature's Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee completed a preliminary review of the draft bill Monday, and it will now be sent to a cross-caucus negotiation.

The U.S. State Department approved the sale of 66 F-16 C/D Block 70 fighter jets, known as the F-16Vs, to Taiwan on Aug. 20.    [FULL  STORY]

LEGISLATIVE ACTION: The defense minister and air force chief of staff were quizzed about the F-16V and the Chengdu J-20, and if the government was still eyeing F-35s

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 24, 2019
By: Aaron Tu and Jonathan Chin  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer and CNA

A draft bill that would pave the way for NT$250 billion (US$8.05 billion) in funding for Taiwan to buy

66 F-16Vs from the US yesterday passed a preliminary review by the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee.

The bill, which was approved by the Cabinet and signed off by Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) on Sept. 5, would allow the government to create a special budget of up to NT$250 billion to procure a new fleet of more advanced F-16 jets to reinforce and modernize the military fighter fleet.

The bill will now be sent to a cross-caucus negotiation.

The US Department of State approved the sale of 66 F-16Vs on Aug. 20.

The government and Washington still have to sign a letter of offer and acceptance to finalize the sale, which is expected to happen by the end of this year, the air force has said.    [FULL  STOry]

Washington must temper its enthusiasm—and especially avoid any manifestations of meddling.

The American Conservative
Date:  September 23, 2019
By: Ted Galen Carpenter

Hong Kong’s most visible pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong joins Taiwan’s New Power Party

chairman Huang Kuo-chang, Taiwan’s “Sunflower Movement” leaders Li Fei-fan and Chen Wei-ting chant slogans to demand the Chinese government release detained Taiwanese rights activist Lee Ming-cheh in Taipei (SAM YEH/AFP/Getty Images)

Hong Kong’s pro-democracy demonstrations appear to be having a major impact on Taiwan’s presidential campaign in advance of its January 2020 election. 

Protest leaders urge the Taiwanese to express emphatic vocal support for Hong Kong’s democratic aspirations. To a large extent, that is already happening. Taiwan’s president, Tsai Ing-wen, frequently speaks out in favor of the Hong Kong demonstrators and their demands, infuriating Beijing. Protests in Hong Kong have made the Taiwanese “increasingly treasure” their democracy and “deeply feel” what it would be like if China treated them the way it’s handling Hong Kong, Tsai said in June.
[FULL  STORY]

Philippine Daily Inquirer
Date: September 23, 2019
By:: Antonio C. Hila     

The Manila Symphony Orchestra (MSO) has a new conductor and music director—Taiwanese-

American Marlon Chen, former associate conductor of the Baltic Sea Philharmonic, assistant conductor of the MDR (Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk) Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra and assistant conductor of the Orchestre de Paris.

Jeffrey Solares, MSO executive director, made the announcement during the orchestra’s concert last Sept. 1 at the Power Mac Center Spotlight in Circuit Makati.

Chen may be familiar to concertgoers since he has been a guest conductor in the last three seasons of the MSO. Last June, he successfully led the MSO in the 5th Hunge River Bank Symphonic Festival in Shenyang, China. MSO was the only foreign orchestra invited to the festival.

Chen said his vision was to make the MSO a “world-class orchestra.” The musicians have the “heart” and a “resilient attitude,” which are rare musical gifts and necessary to achieve such a vision, he pointed out.    [FULL  STORY]

Ranitidine-based medications found to contain carcinogen

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/09/22
By: Huang Tzu-ti, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — At least 38 acid-reducing medications in Taiwan have been ordered to be taken off shelves in a precautionary measure over alleged carcinogen contamination.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and European Medicine Agency raised alarms over the safety of some ranitidine-based medications earlier this month, as they may contain N-Nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA), a cancer-causing substance, CNN reported. Ranitidine medications are used to treat stomach-related conditions, including ulcers.

The 38 medications in question are manufactured by both local and foreign pharmaceutical companies, according to a list published by Taiwan’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The authorities have requested an island-wide halt in the distribution of the drugs by Monday (Sept. 23) to investigate the extent to which they are affected by the contamination. The companies that manufacture the medications are required to conduct inspections and submit a report of the results by Oct. 18.    [FULL  STORY]