Radio Taiwan International
Date: 22 July, 2019
By: Leslie Liao
Taiwan Indigenous Fighter Vehicles are outfitted with MK44 Bushmaster II chain guns acquired from Orbital ATK
Originally, Taiwan had acquired the MK 44 Bushmaster II chain guns from American aerospace and defense company Orbital ATK. The Chung-shan Institute then modified the guns to help them integrate better with Taiwan’s armored ground fleet. [FULL STORY]
Taiwan’s foreign minister on Monday called for “genuine” democratic elections to be held in Hong Kong after the city was rocked by fresh political violence, comments that will likely infuriate Beijing.
Hong Kong Free Press Photo: May James/HKFP.
Date: 22 July 2019
By: AFP
Hong Kong has been plunged into its worst crisis in recent history by weeks of marches and sporadic violent confrontations between police and pockets of hardcore protesters.
The initial protests were lit by a now-suspended bill that would have allowed extraditions to mainland China.
But they have since evolved into a wider movement calling for democratic reforms, universal suffrage and a halt to sliding freedoms in the semi-autonomous territory.
Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters on Sunday night, the seventh weekend in a row that the city has witnessed political violence. [FULL STORY]
Woman hit by Puyuma express train after jumping off platform in New Taipei City
Taiwan News
Date: 2019/07/22
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer
(New Taipei City Police Department photo)
At 12:53 p.m. today, as the Puyuma 271 express running from Hualien to Changhua was about to arrive at Banqiao Station's platform 2, a woman suddenly fell onto the tracks and was struck by the train, reported CNA. At 1:10 p.m., the woman was removed from the tracks by firemen and rushed to Far Eastern Memorial Hospital for emergency medical treatment, reported UDN.
Tracks two through four at Banqiao Station were shut down to enable police to carry out an investigation. The Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) arranged for about 150 passengers on the train to transfer to Tze-Chiang Limited Express (自強號)125.
Police said that when paramedics arrived on the scene, the woman was not showing any vital signs, and they rushed her to the hospital. Officers said that the cause of the accident is under investigation. [FULL STORY]
Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/07/22
By: Wu Chia-jun, Yeh Su-ping, Wang Yan-yu, Matt Yu and Joseph Yeh
Taipei, July 22 (CNA) A special service agent who accompanied President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) 
during her just-concluded state visit to Taiwan's Caribbean allies has been removed from his post pending investigation after allegedly smuggling NT$6 million (US$191,418)- worth of cigarettes into Taiwan.
The suspect, surnamed Wu (吳), had attempted to take advantage of the speedy clearance treatment enjoyed by government officials accompanying Tsai's overseas visit to smuggle the cigarettes after the delegation arrived in Taiwan, according to a press statement released by the Customs Administration.
The administration said it had received a prior tipoff that the suspect had ordered the cigarettes at the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and kept them in a warehouse of a China Airlines-affiliated onboard catering services company.
According to the Presidential Office, Tsai was "furious" when she was informed of the secret service official's alleged involvement. She called on the National Security Bureau (NSB), where the suspect works, to work with relevant judicial authorities to investigate the case.
[FULL STORY]
The tears the teen had been trying hard to withhold were no longer retainable, and they hugged each other and cried together
Taiwan News
Date: 2019/07/21
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer
The 16-year-old girl (left) meets her biological father surnamed You (center) for the first time at Hsinchu City’s Xiangshan Household Registration Office.
Hsinchu City’s Xiangshan District Household Registration Office said on Sunday that a few days ago a teenage girl came to the office to apply for the National Identification Card. When she was told that she needed to have the presence of a legal representative, in other words, one of her parents, to be allowed to apply for the identity card, she put up a facial expression that showed she had difficulty.
The teen said her mother fell in love with her biological father 17 years ago, but because of parental objection, they were forced to part, according to the news outlet. However, the girl’s mother later found herself pregnant, so she gave birth to her daughter and raised the child by herself. For 16 years, the teen had not been able to meet her father because her parents had not contacted each other since they parted, and she had no ways of contacting her father either.
After the household registration office workers learned of the girl’s situation, they began a "manhunt" to look for the teen’s father. After going through some twists and turns, they finally got in contact with the teen’s father surnamed You (游), CNA reported. The office workers acted as go-betweens and arranged for the teen and her father to meet at the household registration office, and for the girl to complete her identity card application procedure at the same time, according to the news outlet.
[FULL STORY]
Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/07/21
By: Wen Kuei-hsiang and Joseph Yeh
Denver, July 20 (CNA) President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Saturday became the second head of a
U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research head Everette Joseph (right), President Tsai Ing-wen (second right), American Institute in Taiwan Chairman James Moriarty (second left) and U.S. Senator Cory Gardner
During a trip to one of the world's premier scientific institutions as part of her visit to Denver, Tsai was welcomed by NCAR Director Everette Joseph, a group of Taiwanese scientists currently working at the facility, as well as Taiwanese students in the region.
NCAR is responsible for developing FormoSat-7, the second satellite constellation jointly built by Taiwan and the U.S. after FormoSat-3.
FormosSat-7 launched into orbit from the John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida on June 24 to replace FormoSat-3 and collect meteorological, ionospheric and climate data. [FULL SORY]
‘HOPE FOR STABILITY’: The DPP would hold discussions on a running mate for her re-election bid, the president said, adding that the party aims to create the best ticket
Taipei Times
Date: Jul 22, 2019
By: Yang Chun-hui and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, in DENVER, Colorado, with staff writer and CNA
Next year’s presidential election is a choice between value systems and ways of life, and the
President Tsai Ing-wen, left, smiles as US Senator Cory Gardner talks to reporters in Denver, Colorado, on Saturday.
Photo: CNA
After concluding a state visit to the nation’s four Caribbean allies on Friday, Tsai made a two-night stopover in Denver, Colorado, on her way home and held an informal meeting with reporters accompanying her delegation.
Commenting on foreign media reports that next year’s presidential and legislative elections would be a battle between pro-China and pro-US camps, Tsai said she sees the elections as “a choice between value systems and ways of life.”
Taiwan is a democratic society and its voters are focused on the nation’s future, especially whether its democratic way of life and freedom can be sustained, said Tsai, of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), who is running for re-election. [FULL STORY]
NOT FISH: The Taipei Customs Office said that it found slider turtles, baby crocodiles, Assam roofed turtles and ploughshare tortoises worth a combined NT$5 million
Taipei Times
Date: Jul 21, 2019
By: Yao Chieh-hsiu and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writer
The Taipei Customs Office’s express cargo inspections team has seized a shipment of protected
A cargo inspection officer from the Taipei Customs Office holds a ploughshare tortoise in Taipei on Thursday.
Photo: Tony Yao, Taipei Times
The shipment included two critically endangered ploughshare tortoises, the office said, adding that the species is the most valuable tortoise in the world, with the pair valued at up to NT$2.4 million (US$77,295).
The shipment also included 21 Assam roofed turtles, which is classified as an endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the office said.
The office at 2:30pm on Thursday received an express cargo shipment from Malaysia labeled as tropical fish, it said. [FULL STORY]
South China Morning Post
Date: 20 Jul, 2019
By: Mimi Lau
It will be difficult to verify the recent arrivals’ claims to have taken part in the Hong Kong protests. Photo: Antony Dickson
Taiwan is struggling to handle the sudden arrival of dozens of extradition bill protesters from Hong Kong who want to seek refuge on the self-ruled island.
Although members of Taiwanese civil society have already offered safe houses for the new arrivals, their status remains unclear since the protesters have not yet been charged with criminal offences in Hong Kong and verifying their claims to have taken part in the mass protests will be tricky.
Legal analysts also warned that the situation would be further complicated by Taiwan’s lack of clear and specific laws on handling asylum and refugee claims. Although President Tsai Ing-wen said on Thursday
that Taiwan would “handle their cases in appropriate ways” and on “humanitarian grounds”, the government has yet to indicate if it would offer refuge to the protesters. [FULL STORY]
And how mad will China get?
The National Interest
Date: July 20, 2019
By: Sebastien Roblin
On July 8, the U.S. State Department announced it would approve a $2.2 billion arms deal with Taiwan including 108 Abrams main battle tanks and 250 Stinger man-portable surface-to-air missiles—a deal which elicited new sanctions from Beijing on the companies involved.
But the announcement was more notable for what the approval didn’t include—a nearly done-deal for sixty-six F-16V jet fighters built fresh off the F-16 production line in Greenville, South Carolina.
This would have been the first sale of new Western combat jets to Taiwan since 1992—a fact not unrelated to Beijing’s claims that sales of jet fighters to the “renegade province” constitute a redline.
This stance caused three prior U.S. presidents to shy away from additional jet sales, but from the beginning, the Trump administration has proven consistently willing todisregard Beijing’s sensitivities regarding Taiwan. [FULL STORY]
