There is no reason why an ethnic Chinese society cannot also be a democracy

Financial Times
Date: June 16, 2019
By: Gideon Rachman

Nothing better captures the difference between Hong Kong and mainland China than the annual commemoration of the Tiananmen Square massacre that takes place on June 4 every year in Hong Kong’s Victoria Park.

In mainland China the memory of the crushing of the pro-democracy movement in 1989 is ruthlessly suppressed. But Hong Kong has been allowed to continue to mark the anniversary. That kind of freedom matters not just to the 7.4m inhabitants of Hong Kong. Potentially, it is also of great importance to the future of China itself.

Put simply, Hong Kong is acting as a guardian of China’s memory and of the hope that a more liberal China could one day replace the current one-party state. The “one country, two systems” arrangement put in place when Britain handed Hong Kong back to China in 1997 has allowed the territory to continue to preserve vital freedoms, such as an independent judiciary and a free press.

Hong Kong is not a full democracy. Its chief executive is elected by a tiny group from a Beijing-approved list. But, nonetheless, since 1997 the territory has provided room for ideas, people and organisations banned from mainland China. I know of well-connected Beijing families who have taken their children to Hong Kong for the June 4 commemoration — just to ensure that the memory of Tiananmen is passed down through the generations.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/06/16
By: Taiwan Today, Agencies

President Tsai Ing-wen (right) welcomes Richard C. Bush and a delegation of scholars from the U.S. and Japan at the Presidential Office June 13 in Tai

President Tsai Ing-wen said June 13 that Taiwan is determined to ramp up cooperation with the U.S. and Japan in countering rising challenges to rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific.

Taiwan will deepen trilateral ties and work closely with the like-minded partners in promoting regional peace, stability and prosperity for the benefit of all, Tsai said. This approach is in line with the U.S.’s visions and principles for a free and open Indo-Pacific, she added.

Tsai made the remarks while receiving a delegation of academics and experts from the U.S. and Japan at the Presidential Office in Taipei City. Led by Richard C. Bush, senior fellow at Washington-based Brookings Institution and former chairman and managing director of the American institute in Taiwan, the six-member group is in Taiwan on a policy and political fact-finding visit.

According to Tsai, Taiwan and the U.S. were joined this year by Japan in co-staging workshops under the Global Cooperation and Training Framework. These focused on key subjects such as advancing women’s economic empowerment, enhancing cybersecurity, fighting corruption and managing drug-resistant tuberculosis.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/06/16
By: Joseph Yeh

Taipei, June 16 (CNA) The Republic of China's top school for cultivating military talent, the R.O.C. Military Academy, organized military aircraft flybys and a parade of ground troops to celebrate the 95th anniversary of its founding on Sunday.

The celebration, held at the academy's Kaohsiung base and presided over by Defense Minister Yen De-fa (嚴德發), opened with flybys of Army helicopters, including OH-58D scout helicopters, AH-1W Super Cobra attack helicopters, AH-64E Apache helicopters and UH-60M Black Hawk choppers.

Navy CH-47SD and S-70C helicopters and the Air Force's Thunder Tiger Aerobatics Team (雷虎小組) with its AT-3 jet trainers also took part in the maneuver to say happy birthday to the academy.

On the ground, a parade featured cadets from the Army, Air Force and Navy academies and National Defense University, as well as soldiers from the Army's 333 Mechanized Infantry Brigade. 
[FULL  STORY]

Straits Times
Date: June 15, 2019

TAIPEI (DPA) – The Taiwan government on Saturday (June 15) said Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam's use of Taiwan as an excuse to suspend a controversial extradition Bill is unacceptable.

"Blaming Taiwan is immoral, shameful and unacceptable. Embrace democracy and stand on the right side of history!" Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu tweeted late Saturday.

Mrs Lam said on Saturday that the Bill to allow extraditions to mainland China was put on hold. She further explained that Taiwan had said it would never accept an amendment that would allow the extradition of Taiwanese suspects to China.

"I'm deeply upset by the assault on freedom and human rights in Hong Kong. Chief Executive Carrie Lam must listen to the people and take full responsibility," Mr Wu said.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 16, 2019
By: Staff writer, with CNA

A loyal fan waited about 20 hours to be the first person to enter Taiwan’s second official Apple store, which had

its grand opening in Taipei’s Xinyi Di6strict (信義) at 10am yesterday.

“I came here between 2pm and 3pm yesterday [Friday], because I wanted to become the first visitor to the new Apple store,” 33-year-old Lu Shao-hua (呂紹華) excitedly told reporters.

In July 2017, when Apple opened its first official store inside the nearby Taipei 101 Mall, the first visitor was a 28-year-old foreigner who lined up for 68 hours.

“This time, I, a Taiwanese, was the first visitor to the new Apple store, instead of a foreigner,” Lu said.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan's 2020 Presidential Race

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/06/15
By: Courtney Donovan Smith (石東文)

Courtney Donovan Smith (石東文) is a contributing writer for The News Lens. He is a publisher of the

Compass Magazine, current chairman of the Taichung American Chamber of Commerce, the Central Taiwan correspondent for ICRT Radio, the founder of the popular Taiwan News in English Facebook group and is an organizer of rock festivals including the Compass Food and Music Festival.

The legend of Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) as the master of turning things around continues to grow. This week she slew the "god" William Lai (賴清德) , and so decisively that his insurgent forces will have to fall back into the fold or face a lonely winter come January. Any significant presidential-level rebellion is likely finished in the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) for this election cycle — the primary is over, and the incumbent Tsai is again the standard bearer for the party in the battle for the presidency.

The quelling of internal revolt wasn't all: Her presumptive opponents in the general election were served notice she is now the front-runner. The incumbent president trounced the two candidates the party deemed most likely to enter the race as her opponents in the general election: Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and independent Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) of Taipei.

This was a huge turnaround. Only three months ago her approval rating had been languishing in the 20-30% range for quite some time and in all prospective matchups against her opponents, both internal and external, she wasn't even close; her own party was in revolt and pundits were writing her off as a long shot.
[FULL  STORY]

Move scheduled to be completed in 2024

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/06/15
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A military police unit will move into new quarters right behind the Presidential Office Building amid the growing threat from China, the Liberty Times reported Saturday (June 15).

Chinese troops have over the past years repeatedly trained for an attack on Taipei, with footage leaking of a reconstruction of the Taiwanese capital’s neighborhood around the Presidential Office Building set in Inner Mongolia.

In order to help prevent a “beheading” operation by the People’s Liberation Army against President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), the military police will move its 202nd Command from its current location near Zhonghua Road to a military camp only separated from the Presidential Office Building by one street, according to the Liberty Times.

Real estate considerations are also behind the likely move, as the Taipei City Government, which owns the present 202nd Command headquarters between Zhonghua Road and Yanping South Road, reportedly wants to redevelop the area.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/06/15
By: Stacy Hsu

Taipei, June 15 (CNA) A rally scheduled for Sunday in Taipei to protest a controversial extradition bill in Hong Kong will go on as planned and ask Hong Kong authorities to withdraw the bill rather than simply suspend its legislative process, the organizer said Saturday.

The group of Taiwan-based Hong Kong students that organized the rally said in a statement that the move by Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam's (林鄭月娥) administration to "temporarily suspend" the bill may be nothing but a "semantic ploy."

The group also expressed "extreme outrage" over Lam's justification of the Hong Kong police's perceived violent handling of protesters in large-scale demonstrations Wednesday, accusing her of trying to evade responsibility and condoning police brutality.

"The group's goal remains unchanged and still demands the bill's withdrawal," it said, adding that the rally will take place as planned from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Jinan Road outside the Legislative Yuan on Sunday.
[FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan Internatinal
Date: 14 June, 2019
By: Leslie Liao

If you’ve ever been to the observatory in Taipei 101, you’ll know that the public has only ever been allowed up to the 89th floor. However, beginning on June 14, the public will be given access to an exclusive space on the 101st floor for the first time.

Since Taiwan’s highest skyscraper, Taipei 101’s completion in 2004, over two million people have visited the lower observatory down on the 89th floor each year. Since it can only accommodate around 10,000 visitors a day, guests sometimes have to wait for up to half an hour before going up.

But now visitors can bypass the cue, and go even higher. Taipei 101 President Angela Chang says that starting on June 14th, guests will be allowed into the observatory at the peak of it all – the once-exclusive 101st floor, in the highest outdoor observatory in Asia.

There are a few caveats. Space is limited, and at first, only 36 people will be allowed up each day. Bookings must be made at least one day in advance. Once there, visitors have to put on safety gear to step out into the 460 meter-high outdoor roof area. A visit up top is pricey, too. While a ticket to the 89thfloor costs only NT$600 (US$19), a ticket for the 101st floor is NT$3,000 (US$95) per person.    [FULL  STORY]

VOA
Date: 15 June 2019
By: Ralph Jennings

TAIPEI, TAIWAN — Not long after street demonstrators massed in Hong Kong this week to protest a controversial extradition bill that would allow criminal suspects to be sent to mainland China for trial, Taiwan’s president, her ruling party and two of her government ministries voiced emphatic support for the demonstrators.

Taiwanese officials, who normally avoid taking sides in political issues offshore, back the protest’s underlying cause of squelching the expansion of rule by China. Beijing gained control of Hong Kong in 1997 and hopes someday to rule Taiwan the same way, which it calls “one country, two systems.”

Officials in Taipei jumped into the Hong Kong fray to show they’re in tune with China-leery public sentiment at home, especially ahead of elections, analysts say.

“I believe that Taiwanese people, regardless of whether in the majority or minority political camps, will feel increasing dissatisfaction toward the Chinese government’s actions that could be directed at Taiwan,” said Michael Tsai, chairman of the Institute for Taiwan Defense and Strategic Studies in Taiwan.
[FULL  STORY]