Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/09/22
By: Elaine Hou and Joseph Yeh

Taipei, Sept. 22 (CNA) The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) is scheduled to appropriate funding originally allocated to the Solomon Islands and Kiribati and disperse it to Taiwan's remaining four Pacific allies after the two island-states decided to end diplomatic ties earlier this week, according to a diplomatic source.

Taiwan cut diplomatic ties with the Solomon Islands and Kiribati on Monday and Friday, respectively, after the two countries decided to establish formal relations with China.

The severing of ties with the two Pacific nations leaves Taiwan with only 15 diplomatic allies worldwide.

A diplomatic source told reporters earlier this week that MOFA had sent its 2020 annual budget proposal to the Legislative Yuan in late August and it awaiting lawmakers' approval.6
[FULL  STORY]

MULTINATIONAL EFFORT: Teams from the US and 14 other nations are to challenge a Taiwanese team in a two-part drill to test the government’s ability to defend Web sites

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 23, 2019
By: Staff writer, with CNA

Taiwan is to test its cyberdefense capabilities in the first-ever Cyber Offensive and Defensive Exercises

to be held with the US in November, Vice Premier Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said yesterday.

Chen, who is also head of the Cabinet department for information security, said that in the wake of increasing cyberattacks targeting the government, the department has been holding regular cybersecurity drills to test the readiness and responsive capabilities of related authorities.

As part of ongoing efforts to respond to such threats, Chen said Taiwan and the US are to hold the five-day Cyber Offensive and Defensive Exercises in early November.

The drill was first announced by American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Brent Christensen during a cybersecurity forum in Taipei on Tuesday.

According to Chen, the exercises will be similar to the Cyber Storm exercises, which are the US Department of Homeland Security’s exercises to strengthen cyberpreparedness in the public and private sectors, held every two years.
[FULL  STORY]

RNZ
Date: 21 September 2019 
By: Jamie Tahana, RNZ Pacific Journalist

Taiwan suffered two major diplomatic blows in the Pacific this week with both the Solomon Islands and Kiribati severing their ties in favour of China.

In just four days, Taiwan's diplomatic allies fell from 17 to 15, further isolating the island as Beijing aggressively courts the handful of countries that still recognise the government in Taipei.

The Taiwanese flag is lowered outside the embassy in Honiara after the relations between Taiwan and Solomon Islands were severed on Tuesday. Photo: Facebook/ Maverick Peter Seda

The Pacific had been a stronghold of support for Taipei as its diplomatic allies steadily dwindled. Until this week, six countries in the region recognised Taiwan over China. But in terms of population, Solomon Islands and Kiribati were the biggest.    [FULL  STORY]

The Asia Dialogue
September 21, 2019
By: Chia Sui Crystal Sun

What can indigenous media do in Taiwan? At its best it can strengthen indigenous identities by showcasing tribal heritage, helping to maintain local languages and providing a public sphere for debate about indigenous issues. Indigenous media can also convey significant meaning as an indicator of cultural and societal change.

When indigenous society encounters change, media is an important means to engage with social movements, cultural changes and the maintenance of endangered languages. From a cultural policy perspective, indigenous media records and preserves traditions, enhances and facilitates cultural forms such as music and crafts, and can also build connections to the wider world. Quality media productions can positively represent indigenous people and raise cultural visibility.

To become truly multicultural, society needs to value and advance each indigenous ethnic group

Taiwan Indigenous Television (TITV) is the most representative organisation of indigenous media in Taiwan and is governed by the Indigenous Peoples Cultural Foundation. TITV’s mission is to “develop themes dedicated to indigenous peoples and guarantee their right to have access to broadcast and other forms of media”. TITV offers programs in Chinese and indigenous languages and includes news programs designed to build dynamic connections to a wider world by showing major events in global indigenous communities. In 2017 under authority of the Indigenous Peoples Cultural Foundation, Alian 96.3 joined TITV to provide greater variety for audiences and to explore indigenous issues.    [FULL  STORY]

Brothers adopted by Missouri couple one year later

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/09/21
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Two brothers who were found abandoned in a park in the Yilan County

township of Luodong one evening in 1985 have grown up in the United States and now want to find their birth mother, reports said Saturday (September 21).

On the evening of May 9, 1985 at 10 p.m., police were alerted to the fact that crying was heard from a space used as an air raid shelter in the city’s Zhongshan Park, the Central News Agency reported.

They found two boys, aged five months and two or three years respectively, with a stash of milk powder and clean clothes but no written note.

An American couple named Skiles took care of them at a private kindergarten in the nearby town of Dongshan and gave them their surnames, but one year later, they found a couple in a village in Missouri willing to adopt them, CNA reported.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: 2019/09/21
By Chen Wei-ting and Chung Yu-chen

Taipei, Sept. 21 (CNA) An estimated 180,000 people will benefit from the loosening of regulations governing applications for subsidized respite care services when their regular foreign caregivers take time off, the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) said in a statement Saturday.

Under the new regulations, Taiwanese nationals who have hired foreign caregivers to take care of family members with a severe disability will be eligible for such services.

A maximum of 21 days of subsidized respite care will be allowed annually.

The MOHW will soon make a public announcement detailing the date the new rules come into force.
[FULL  STORY]

‘PERVERSE LOGIC’: Former AIT director Douglas Paal said China believes that its diplomatic maneuvering should help the KMT, when it actually hurts all Taiwanese

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 22, 2019
By:  Staff writer, with CNA, WASHINGTON

The US Department of State on Friday said that China’s campaign to lure Taiwan’s allies to switch

recognition to Beijing has been “harmful” to regional stability.

“China’s active campaign to alter the cross-strait status quo, including by enticing countries to discontinue diplomatic ties with Taiwan, are harmful and undermine regional stability,” a department spokesperson said in an e-mail.

“They undermine the framework that has enabled peace, stability and development for decades,” the spokesperson said.

Earlier in the day, Taiwan announced that it was cutting diplomatic ties with Kiribati.
[FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 20 September, 2019
By: Paula Chao

The United States has reiterated its support for Taiwan’s meaningful participation in the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). The State Department reaffirmed its support Thursday.

A State Department spokesperson, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that Washington supports Taiwan's bid to join international organizations where statehood is not required. These include ICAO, the World Health Organization, and Interpol.    [FULL  STORY]

The Solomon Islands and Kiribati have both switched allegiance from Taiwan to China, but is it really a loss for Taiwan?

The News Lens
Date: 2019/09/20
By: David Evans

The Solomon Islands’s decision to switch diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China has received widespread domestic and international media coverage this week. News of Kiribati's decision to follow suit has just broken at the time of writing, but it is likely to follow the same pattern.

The media coverage on the severance of ties has been markedly different from previous diplomatic switches. Most reactions suggest that, while the loss of an ally is never good news, when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) pressures Taiwan in a foul manner, it can play out to Taiwan’s advantage.

Controversy Behind the Solomon Islands General Election

In April of this year, the Solomon Islands held a general election, where there were several reports of irregularities at the polling stations, including people omitted from the voting register and even votes for sale.    [FULL  STORY]

Eighth passage of US Navy ship so far this year

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/09/20
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – On the day Taiwan announced diplomatic relations with the Pacific island nation of Kiribati were ending, a United States Navy guided missile cruiser sailed through the Taiwan Strait, reports said Friday (September 20).

The Ministry of National Defense identified the ship as the USS Antietam based in the Japanese port of Yokosuka, the Central News Agency reported.    [FULL  STORY]