Radio Taiwan International
Date: 01 August, 2019
By: Paula Chao

Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je is starting a new political party, which could shake up Taiwan’s presidential race! It’s fueling speculation about who will join forces with him, and whether Foxconn founder Terry Gou will get involved. 

Also this week, China is making moves of its own, halting independent tourist visits to Taiwan for its citizens. And what does the US want in Taiwan’s presidential candidates? Former US national security advisor Steve Yates offers insight.

Plus:

*Ghost Month begins on Aug. 1st! Natalie Tso offers a 60-second explainer. 

*Could mosquito-munching bats be the key to solving Taiwan’s dengue fever woes? 

*Linsanity gets Jeremy-motional during a church sermon in Taiwan    [SOURCE]

Taiwan’s Minimum Wage Review Committee needs to make a long overdue decision to increase minimum wage in 2020.

The News Lens
Date: 2019/08/01
By: Roy Ngerng

Roy Ngerng writes on social issues and equality. He was also named a Human Rights Defender by the United Nations and believes that human rights and social justice will enable fairer, happier and more compassionate societies.

Taiwan’s Minimum Wage Review Committee will be meeting on August 14 to discuss increasing minimum wage for Taiwanese workers in 2020.

In view of the upcoming discussion, let’s compare the state of minimum wage and economic conditions between Taiwan and South Korea, since both had followed similar developmental pathways in the past decades.

Taiwan’s Reluctance to Increase Minimum Wage

Taiwanese businesses have refused to increase minimum wage claiming that this would result in higher unemployment, but in fact they are in fear of losing their profits. In July, Nelson Chang (張安平), chairman of Taiwan Cement Corporation, opposed the government’s minimum wage increase proposaland said that wages should be linked to productivity.     [FULL  STORY]

Online platform advertising for Vietnamese brides faces investigation, possible fines

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/08/01
By:  Taiwan News

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A marriage agency allegedly charged customers a matchmaking fee to choose Vietnamese brides online, according to the Liberty Times.

Taiwan's National Immigration Agency (NIA) said via a statement on Wednesday (July 31) that advertising for matchmaking is illegal and that violators face a fine of NT$100,000 to 500,000 for each case. The NIA has carried out an investigation into the reported violation. If any unlawful deeds are found, punishment will be imposed by an "international matchmaking investigation group."    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 08/01/2019
By Emerson Lim

Taipei, Aug. 1 (CNA) The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) marks its Security Cooperation Month with Taiwan in August as part of a year-long campaign celebrating 40 years of U.S.-Taiwan friendship.

The move comes as the U.S. and Taiwan have engaged in vital arms deals in recent months amid continuous threats from China toward Taiwan.

"For decades, the United States and Taiwan have enjoyed a deep and robust security cooperation relationship," AIT said in a statement Thursday, adding that the AIT@40 Security Cooperation Month is a "recognition of the multifaceted nature of the security cooperation activities that benefit both Taiwan and the United States."

Taiwan and the United States are currently celebrating 40 years since the signing of the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA) on April 10, 1979, retroactive until Jan. 1 of that same year, when Washington switched its diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Aug 02, 2019
By: Ann Maxon  /  Staff reporter

New Power Party (NPP) Legislator Freddy Lim (林昶佐) yesterday said that he would leave the party to support President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) re-election bid and expressed the hope that his departure would bring change to the party.

He said that he would run for re-election in Taipei’s Zhongzheng-Wanhua electoral district as an independent and would work with like-minded people across party lines to ensure that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) does not win a legislative majority.

Lim made the announcement immediately after the NPP’s decisionmaking committee held an extraordinary meeting to discuss its strategies for next year’s presidential and legislative elections.

Before the meeting, several party members had launched an internal petition calling for the NPP to rally behind Tsai, a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) member, in the presidential election.
[FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 31 July, 2019
By: Jake Chen

Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu said moving the military’s Arsenal 205 away from Kaohsiung’s city center will allow more space for economic development. Han, along with a number of senior officials, announced that the move officially started on Wednesday.

Arsenal 205 houses facilities that are responsible of research and development as well as the production of small arms and ammunition for Taiwan’s military. It is located in one of the busiest areas of Kaohsiung, next to the city library, the Kaohsiung Exhibition Center and the Kaohsiung Pop Music Center.    [FULL  STORY]

World Health Organization prides itself on promoting inclusive health care for all of humanity, but Taiwan is excluded from the circle.

The News Lens
Date: 2019/07/31
By: Najee Woods

It is the purpose of the World Health Organization to serve the health of all people all over the world, instead of pandering to the specific political position of a particular country. —Tsai Ing-wen, President of Taiwan

In May, The World Health Organization (WHO) held its 2019 annual assembly in Geneva. Member-states sent their delegations to participate in discussions of global health. For the third straight year, Taiwan did not receive an invitation to partake in the World Health Assembly (WHA), due to what WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier described as a lack of “cross-strait understanding” between Taiwan and China.

Since the pro-Taiwan Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) won the presidency in 2016, China has exercised every tool in its arsenal to politically obstruct and deprive Taiwan’s right of fair representation in international organizations. WHO, an organization responsible for promoting global health, has become a willing political vessel to serve the oppressive interests of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

23.5 million Taiwanese citizens have been neglected by WHO since being expelled from the United Nations in the early 1970s. Since the late 1990s, Taiwan has attempted on numerous occasions to gain observer status within WHO, but requests were not considered in the WHA agenda. Taiwan does not have the same privileges that other WHO member-states enjoy, such as access to information on the latest outbreaks and epidemics. The lack of access to WHO databases detrimentally affects the Taiwanese population and further creates a blind spot for potential diseases to spread throughout the entire global network.

During the 2003 SARS outbreak, WHO initially refused to dispatch medical experts to Taiwan until it received permission from the Chinese government. Taiwan had to rely solely on the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the latest information on SARS. Despite Taiwan being able to manage the outbreak within its borders, WHO politics resulted in Taiwan becoming the third hardest hit area after China and Hong Kong, incurring a death toll of 37 Taiwanese lives.
[FULL  STORY]

Transportation minister unveils aid plan for domestic tourism

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/07/31
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The Cabinet slammed the Chinese decision to stop issuing travel

documents to individual travelers from several Chinese cities beginning August 1 without any prior notice.

The move was either seen as punishment for Taiwan’s support for the anti-extradition bill protests in Hong Kong, or as preventive action to keep Chinese citizens away from Taiwan’s competitive campaign for the January 11, 2020 presidential and legislative elections.

Cabinet spokeswoman Kolas Yotaka strongly reproached the Chinese government, saying it had broken agreements without any consultation and punished citizens from both sides instead of the Taiwan government. Beijing should drop its arrogant posture, TV station SETN quoted the spokeswoman as saying.

Despite the absence of any official announcement, travel agents in Taiwan estimated that the Chinese ban would last until after the elections and lead to a drop of 700,000 visitors. Even with a separate fall in the number of visitors from China already occurring, Taiwan had been able to make up for the shortfall by attracting more tourists from other Asian countries, especially from Southeast Asian nations like Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/07/31
By: Elaine Hou and Joseph Yeh

Taipei, July 31 (CNA) Taiwan's representative office to Fiji has been forced to remove the country's

official name, "Republic of China" (ROC), from the designation of the office as a result of Chinese pressure, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said Wednesday.

Originally named Trade Mission of the Republic of China (Taiwan) to Fiji, the mission changed its name to Taipei Trade Office in Fiji on Wednesday, according to a MOFA statement.

MOFA said the name change was made after the Fijian government repeatedly asked Taiwan to do so, citing pressure from China that considers Taiwan to be part of its territory.

Taiwan's government condemned Beijing for pressuring the Pacific island country, MOFA said.
[FULL  STORY]

TOURISM: The move is seen as another attempt to isolate Taiwan in the hope of spoiling President Tsai Ing-wen’s re-election chances on Jan. 11 next year

Taipei Times
Date: Aug 01, 2019
By:: Bloomberg

Beijing yesterday announced that starting today it is suspending a program that allowed individual

tourists from 47 Chinese cities to travel to Taiwan, citing the current state of relations between the two sides.

Chinese nationals may only travel to Taiwan as tourists if they are part of tour groups, the Chinese Ministry of Culture and Tourism said in a statement.

The ministry’s statement did not provide any further details as to the reason for the ban.

The unexpected move comes as China attempts to isolate Taiwan and President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration.
[FULL  STORY]