Taipei Times
Date: Jul 27, 2019
By: Jason Pan  /  Staff reporter

Following new developments in a duty-free cigarette smuggling scandal, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英

文) yesterday said that it is time to root out illicit practices that have long been a part of the nation’s bureaucracy, while the Presidential Office said that a preliminary investigation has produced no evidence of wrongdoing by mid to high-level officials.

Tsai said that she has entrusted the judiciary and new National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) to investigate the case, and demanded that mismanagement and disciplinary problems found at China Airlines (中華航空), the Airport Police Bureau and national security agencies be corrected.

“We will respect the results of the investigation and all infractions found must be rectified,” Tsai said.

“We have to face these illicit practices that have accumulated within the bureaucracy for many years,” she said. “Now that they have been exposed, they must be fixed.”
[FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 26 July, 2019
By: Leslie Liao

Lam Wing Kee has been in Taiwan since April 2019[/caption] Hong Kong bookstore owner Lam Wing-kee is seeking political asylum in Taiwan. However, Taiwan currently lacks a legal procedure to grant him a permanent stay. Still, the government has granted him a three-month extension as his current visa comes close to expiring.

Lam Wing-kee is the owner of Causeway Bay books, a Hong Kong store best known for selling publications banned in China. He has been detained in China and remains a wanted person for “selling books illegally.” Lam has been in Taiwan since April 2019, and he is seeking political asylum as Hong Kong considers allowing extraditions to China.

However, Taiwan lacks formal refugee laws, and so Lam’s status here is uncertain. He first entered Taiwan on a one-month visa, which was then extended for two months. The National Immigration Agency has since extended his visa again until October 25th.    [FULL  STORY]

Tiger and the Horse is a new pop-up dinner series by chef Jonathen Liu. Its menu is dedicated to sustainability.

Los Angelese Times
Date: July 26, 2019
By: Hadley Tomicki

As a kid growing up in Upland, Jonathen Liu spent weekends fighting carsickness on trips to the San Gabriel Valley, where his Taiwanese parents drove every Sunday to buy groceries.

“Born and raised in America, I was like, ‘I just want cheeseburgers,’ ” he said. “I felt really disconnected to the Taiwanese culture that I grew up with.”

Liu began cooking when he was a teen, taking on a number of kitchen and front-of-house restaurant jobs. He moved to New York in 2013, where he sang in a punk rock band. The young chef also worked at the Manhattan bistro Estela and began to apply the techniques he was learning there to the food he grew up with. A trip to Taiwan in 2016 cemented his interest.

“I visited my dad there for a month and explored all the street food stands and places I could find, including an incredible Taiwanese/Japanese omakase restaurant,” Liu recalled. “It was an amazing reconnecting and learning experience for me.”    [FULL  STORY]

Fight breaks out between Taiwanese and Chinese tourists at hot pot eatery in Kaohsiung

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/07/26
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Early this morning (July 26), a fight broke out between Taiwanese tourists and Chinese tourists at a hot pot restaurant in Kaohsiung.

At 5 a.m. this morning, a fight broke out between Taiwanese and Chinese tourists at a well-known mala hot pot restaurant in Kaohsiung's Lingya District, reported Apple Daily. One table had a group of Taiwanese tourists, while the other table was full of Chinese tourists.

Just as the Taiwanese were getting up to pay their bill and leave, the Chinese tourists allegedly stared at the Taiwanese. The Chinese tourists' glares were enough to ignite a massive brawl, according to the report.

Soon hot pot bowls, cups, wooden chairs, and broth became weapons. The restaurant was in shambles in a matter of minutes.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/07/26
By: Chang Ming-hsuan and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, July 26 (CNA) A woman living in New Taipei has been diagnosed with chikungunya fever, the first indigenous case in Taiwan's history, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said Friday.

The patient, who is in her 20s, had not traveled abroad before the onset of symptoms that included fever, joint pains, a headache and a rash on July 21, CDC Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said.

The patient is currently recovering at home where she has isolated herself from others, said Chuang, who noted that so far none of the people who made contact with the woman before she went into isolation have developed any suspicious symptoms.

According to the CDC, the woman lives in a neighborhood where foreign migrant workers gather frequently.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 25 July, 2019
By: Paula Chao

Caught! National security officers brought US$200,000 worth of cigarettes back to Taiwan on Monday along with President Tsai’s delegation. The agents used special government privileges to bypass customs. 

In Taiwan Insider, Natalie Tso and Andrew Ryan tell you more about one of the men at the heart of the scandal: Wu Tsung-hsien (no, not the entertainer Jacky Wu). Also, learn what agencies and officials have been implicated in the scandal.    [SOURCE]

The government is investigating Chinese Taipei Skating Union to determine if it caved into China’s ‘invisible pressure’

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/07/25
By: Teng Pei-ju, Taiwan News, Staff Reporter

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Chinese Taipei Skating Union (CTSU) has given up the right to host an international figure skating competition in Taipei scheduled for late October, saying the decision was made due to “invisible pressure.”

CTSU Secretary-General Wu I-te (吳奕德) held a press conference on Thursday (July 25) amid widespread criticism of the association’s handling of the issue.

In May, the International Skating Union (ISU) awarded the CTSU the right to host the 2019 Asian Open Figure Skating Trophy, which will be held from Oct. 30 to Nov. 4. However, the association claimed on Tuesday (July 23) its right to host the event had been revoked due to “international circumstances,” though it later scrapped this wording from the statement.

The event will now be organized by the Hong Kong Skating Union instead, with the competition taking place in the Chinese city of Dongguan.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/07/25
By: Wang Shu-fen, Lin Chang-shun, Wang Yang-yu and Joseph Yeh

Taipei, July 25 (CNA) China Airlines (CAL) Chairman Hsieh Shih-chien (謝世謙) apologized to the public on Thursday over a recent case of attempted cigarette smuggling allegedly by government security agents, one of whom had traveled on a presidential flight operated by CAL.

At a press event, Hsieh said that for the past 20 years, CAL has been providing dedicated charter flights for overseas travel by the president of Taiwan and has been facilitating the purchase of duty-free products, including cigarettes, by passengers on those flights.

In an effort to provide high quality service, CAL has been allowing passengers on presidential charter flights to pre-order tax-free products, without limiting them to one carton of cigarettes per person, he said.

As a result, a total of 10,009 cartons of cigarettes were sold to passengers traveling with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on her recent visit to the United States and the Caribbean, Hsieh said.
[FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 24 July, 2019
By: Shirley Lin

Traditional crafts face an uncertain future in Taiwan. But one father and son duo in Yunlin County insists on preserving their family’s special skill: making paper lanterns the traditional way.

Lin Chung-hsien’s family has been in the paper lantern business for a long time. His generation is the fifth to run the family lantern shop in Beigan, Yunlin County. Lin has been practicing this traditional craft for over 40 years. He demands that everything be done the old-fashioned way, from splitting bamboo strips with a knife, to plastering paper on to the bamboo frames, and finally painting each lantern by hand.

Lin does not use any sketches or plans for his lanterns. He works quickly, too, creating lifelike paintings of dragons in no time.

Now, Lin’s son is learning the art too. This son is adding his own updates to traditional designs, even painting cartoon characters if customers request them. Lin disapproves: he says lanterns must depict sacred characters.    [FULL  STORY]