Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/07/18
By: Chi Jo-yao

Taipei, July 18 (CNA) The number of Hong Kong people who support Taiwan independence has surged to a record high since 1993, according to the results of a survey released Tuesday by the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute (PORI).

The institute, successor to the Public Opinion Programme under the University of Hong Kong since July, released its first opinion poll, which showed that 43.7 percent of the respondents in Hong Kong support Taiwan independence, up from 35 percent in January 2019.

The support rate is the highest since 1993, the PORI said.

Ivan Choy (蔡子強), a senior lecturer at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, attributed the rise in support for Taiwan independence to Hong Kong people's increasing dissatisfaction with Hong Kong politics.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 19, 2019
By: Lin Chia-nan  /  Staff reporter

More than 400kg of meat allegedly harvested from whales and dolphins was intercepted by the Coast

Guard Administration in Yilan County’s Suao Township (蘇澳) on Wednesday, even though hunting cetaceans has been banned for more than two decades, the Ocean Conservation Administration (OCA) said yesterday.

The Forestry Bureau, which previously managed protected species before transferring responsibility to the OCA, in 1995 listed all cetaceans as protected and banned hunting and trading in the animals, the OCA said.

On Wednesday afternoon, the Yilan County Government informed the OCA that Coast Guard Administration officials in Suao had stopped a driver surnamed Lin (林), who was delivering 449.5kg of meat seemingly cut from cetaceans, it said.

The Ministry of Justice’s Investigation Bureau is to perform DNA identification on the sampled meat, the OCA said.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 17 July, 2019
By: Shirley Lin

President Tsai Ing-wen delivered a speech Tuesday at the parliament of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, one of Taiwan’s Caribbean allies. Tsai was on the third leg of a state visit that will take her to four Taiwan’s diplomatic allies in the region.

In her speech, Tsai first congratulated the Caribbean nation for being elected as a member of the UN Security Council and for playing a role in bringing about global peace and security. Tsai said Taiwan is proud to be an ally of the country. She also expressed admiration for the country’s active involvement in important issues surrounding climate change and sustainable development.
[FULL  STORY]

China's Taiwan Affairs Office reportedly meddles with news reporting in Taiwan

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/07/17
By: Teng Pei-ju, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

[Updated with a statement from the China Times and CTI at 22:00 on July 17]

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A Taiwan-based media conglomerate, Want Want China Times Group, reportedly follows direct instructions from China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO), a government agency exercising Beijing’s policy towards Taiwan.

The editorial management of the China Times and CTiTV (CTI) receive calls on a daily basis from the Chinese authorities, which give directions as to how reports concerning cross-strait relations and China should be covered, reported the Financial Times on Tuesday (July 16).

“[TAO] have a say in the angle of the story and whether it goes on the front page,” Financial Times quoted a China Times reporter as saying.

The China Times and CTI issued a joint statement in the evening, denouncing the report as fake news with malicious intent. They said they would take legal action against individuals and media outlets citing or paraphrasing the content of the article.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/07/17
By: Flor Wang and Yeh Su-ping

Taipei, July 17 (CNA) The ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said Wednesday that it will

hold a series of events across Taiwan to ward off Chinese infiltration into Taiwanese society, especially on campuses, starting in August.

From next month, the DPP will sponsor various sessions with rank-and-file throughout the country to examine China's tactics on infiltration into Taiwanese society, DPP spokeswoman Lee Yen-jong (李晏榕) cited party Chairman Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) as saying following a Central Standing Committee meeting.

During the meeting, Edwin Yang (楊聰榮), an associate professor at National Taiwan Normal University and an expert on Asian history, gave a keynote speech on how to prevent China's infiltration of Taiwan's higher education institutions.

Due to Taiwan's geographic proximity to China and its strategic importance, the island stands at the front of China's infiltration campaign — a vital reason why Taiwan must maintain stringent vigilance against China's intangible expansion and build an aggressive mechanism to counter its offensive, Cho was quoted by Lee as saying.    [FULL  STORY]

RAIN STILL EXPECTED: The Central Weather Bureau lifted the land alert for Danas as of 8:30pm yesterday. Most schools and offices nationwide are to be open today

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 18, 2019
By: Shelley Shan  /  Staff Reporter

Tropical Storm Danas’ threat to Taiwan proper appears to be diminishing, as its projected path is

moving it away from the east coast, but the center and south of the island should brace for rain being brought by another low-pressure system, the Central Weather Bureau said yesterday.

The bureau issued sea alerts for Danas at 11:30pm on Tuesday and 11:30am yesterday.

It had previously forecast that the storm would make landfall on the southeast coast, move across the nation and proceed to China.

However, as of 7pm last night, Danas’ center was located 360km southeast of Pingtung County’s Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), and the storm, with a 150km radius, was moving northwest at 17kph.
[FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 16 July, 2019
By: Paula Chao

President Tsai Ing-wen received the Order of Saint Christopher and Nevis from Governor-General Tapley Seaton during her visit to the Caribbean island country.

On Monday, Tsai talked about the significance of receiving the highest medal.     [FULL  STORY]

A review of the VR film The Missing Body Episode 1, featured in the 2019 Taipei Film Festival.

The News Lens
Date: 2019/07/16
By: CJ Sheu

Go to Taipei’s Zhongshan Hall (中山堂) and take the elevator to the fourth floor. At the head of the adjacent staircase are two tented booths, each about the size of a freight elevator. Point to the booth showing the film of your choice and give your ticket to the attendant, who will seat you in the 360-degree swivel chair bolted into the floor at the center of the booth.

The attendant then fits a virtual reality headset in front of your eyes, closes the strap behind your head, and flips down the earphones. The score of the standby screen drowns out the attendant’s continued instructions.

Taking a controller in each hand – they’re not very ergonomic, especially in the placement of the triggers – you are faced with a dead body lying facedown in a prison cell, and the outside world is quickly forgotten.

The Missing Body Episode 1

Director Huang Hsin-Chien (黃心健) says that his newest VR film, The Missing Body Episode 1 (失身記-上集), is about personal memories, Taiwanese culture, and the Martial Law Period, according to the Taipei Film Festival program synopsis. But you may not be aware of these themes simply by watching the film alone.    [FULL  STORY]

Potential presidential contender took to Facebook on Tuesday to make important announcement

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/07/16
By: Duncan DeAeth, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – On Tuesday (July 16), just a day after the Kuomintang (KMT) announced

their presidential nominee as Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) on Monday (July 15), Taipei Mayor and potential presidential challenger, Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), stated that he had a “huge announcement” to make as well.

Mayor Ko took to social media with a live event on Facebook on Tuesday that instantly drew the attention of thousands in Taiwan who are eager to know if and when Ko plans to enter the race for 2020.

However, despite asking for his followers support, many were disappointed because the “huge announcement” from the mayor was not related to the upcoming presidential election. Instead, Ko asked netizens to support Taipei’s official mascot, Bravo the Bear, in an upcoming competition to decide Taiwan’s favorite mascot.

The first ever Mascot Taiwan competition is taking place right now, and before July 26 people can vote on their favorite mascot in Taiwan on the official 2019 Mascot Taiwan website. In the major announcement today, Mayor Ko not only trolled thousands of his online followers, but he also emphasized that the best candidate in any race is a candidate with good ideas, ability, and one who contributes to the people’s happiness.    [FULL  STORY]