‘VENDEMIAIRE’: The nation’s armed forces have ‘complete and precise’ information regarding all vessels passing through the Taiwan Strait, President Tsai Ing-wen said

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 26, 2019
By:: Reuters, WASHINGTON

A French warship passed through the Taiwan Strait earlier this month, US officials said, a

rare voyage by a vessel of a European nation that is likely to be welcomed by Washington, but increase tensions with Beijing.

The passage is a sign that US allies are increasingly asserting freedom of navigation in international waters near China, and it could open the door for other allies, such as Japan and Australia, to consider similar operations.

Two officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a French military vessel carried out the transit on April 6.

One of the officials identified the warship as the French frigate Vendemiaire and said it was shadowed by the Chinese military.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International 
Date: 24 April, 2019
By: Paula Chao

President Tsai Ing-wen says the United States is supporting Taiwan with concrete action. Tsai was speaking Wednesday while meeting with a visiting US congressional delegation. The delegation was led by Tommy Hicks, the co-chair of the Republican National Committee.

Tsai thanked the US government and the Republican Party for their staunch support of Taiwan.    [FULL  STORY]

The News Lens
Date: 2019/04/24
By: Xiaochen Su

The controversy surrounding Japanese tennis star Naomi Osaka has parallels to opposition to Taiwan’s plans to become a bilingual nation by 2030.

The woman looked absolutely perplexed when I asked her for direction in English.

Assuming that she is a foreigner based on her dark skin tone, I stopped her in the streets to inquire the whereabouts of a local park in an unfamiliar neighborhood of Tokyo. But clearly, the lady did not comprehend the words that were coming out of my mouth.

Embarrassed that I had inadvertently stepped into the landmine that is the definition of who is a Japanese person, I quickly switched into Japanese to apologize. The woman was good-natured about the incident, apparently quite used to people mistaking her for a foreigner. But her explanation of her Japanese identity was a rather odd one. Remarking that her father is Jamaican and her mother Japanese, she nonchalantly said, “I am fully Japanese because I cannot speak any other language other than Japanese.”    [FULL  STORY]

Video shows scooter driver without helmet plow into pillar in central Taiwan

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/04/24
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Dashcam video has surfaced today on Taiwanese social media showing a helmet-less joyrider on a scooter casually chatting with his buddy before suddenly colliding with a concrete pillar in a tunnel in central Taiwan.

The incident occurred when two men were riding scooters without helmets on Tuesday (April 23) afternoon on Provincial Highway 14 in Nantou County’s Ren’ai Township. The entire accident was captured by the dashcam of a motorist who happened to be trailing the two reckless riders.

In the video, a man wearing a gray shirt can be seen weaving in and out of traffic, before his stout friend suddenly appears from the right shoulder to catch up with him. The two men then enter a tunnel as they drive side-by-side.

As the men start to round a bend in the road, they start chatting with each other. Unfortunately, the two are too busy looking at each other rather than looking at the road.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/04/24
By: Miao Zong-han and Evelyn Kao 

Taipei, April 24 (CNA) Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) expressed regret Wednesday after a court in Hong Kong handed down prison sentences of up to 16 months earlier that day on nine leaders of pro-democracy demonstrations in 2014.

In a statement, the MAC, Taiwan’s top China policy-making body, said that the court ruling proved China’s “one country, two systems” mechanism does not respect and guarantee people’s political rights.

It also called on the parties concerned to adhere to their commitment to the “one country, two systems” policy of governing Hong Kong and the promise to grant Hong Kong a high degree of autonomy as enshrined in the Basic Law.

That is the only way to observe the rule of law and maintain Hong Kong’s prosperous development, the MAC said.    [FULL  STORY]

JUST IN CASE: Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung said his speech stresses the value of health for all and that ‘Taiwan needs the WHA and the WHA needs Taiwan’

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 25, 2019
By: Lee I-chia  /  Staff reporter

Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) yesterday said he has prepared

speaking notes for next month’s World Health Assembly (WHA) in Geneva, Switzerland, even though he might be relegated to the event’s sidelines if Taiwan is not invited for a third consecutive year.

Taiwan obtained an invitation to attend the annual WHA meeting as an observer from 2009 to 2016, but has not received an invitation due to Chinese pressure since President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) took office in 2016.

The Chinese-language Apple Daily last month reported that WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier, when asked about the possibility of inviting Taiwan this year, said that without “cross-strait understanding” an invitation would not be forthcoming.

At a Legislative Yuan committee meeting yesterday, Chen said that “several like-minded countries have expressed strong support for us to attend the WHA this year.”
[FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International 
Date: 23 April, 2019
By: Paula Chao

The foreign ministry says Taiwan will work with the EU and with other countries to press

China on improving its human rights record.

Last week, the European Parliament passed a resolution expressing grave concerns over China’s worsening human rights violations.

It also condemned Beijing for its persecution of minorities in Tibet and Xinjiang, as well as Muslims, Catholics, Protestants, and members of the Falun Gong spiritual group.

The European Parliament also accused China of suppressing Christian communities despite a deal it reached with the Vatican last year on the appointment of bishops.  [FULL  STORY]

A closer look at the current status and future prospects of one of Taiwan’s flagship foreign policy initiatives.

The Diplomat
Date: April 23, 2019
By: Prashanth Parameswaran

Over the past few weeks, a number of activities tied to the commemoration of the 40th

anniversary of the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA) on April 10 have spotlighted Taiwan’s relations with the United States as well as its role in the wider Indo-Pacific. One of the key aspects of this has been Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy (NSP) under President Tsai Ing-wen, which has sought to advance ties with select regional countries as part of the island’s wider foreign policy approach. Given the significance of the NSP for Taiwan at home and abroad, it is worth assessing where the initiative lies today as well as its prospects are looking further ahead.

As I have noted before in these pages, while previous governments in Taiwan have also sought to “look South” to diversify the country’s ties in a dynamic Asian region and to reduce dependence on mainland China, Tsai’s New Southbound Policy (NSP) – which got underway early on when she took office in May 2016 and focuses on strengthening ties with Southeast Asia along with South Asia, Australia, and New Zealand – constitutes a noteworthy advancement of efforts in this vein. The NSP seeks to advance ties between Taiwan and these countries in specific economic and people-to-people areas, including agricultural cooperation, medicine and public health, and youth exchanges.

Thus far, the NSP has begun to see some advances in terms of translating rhetoric into reality. Taiwan government statistics indicate increases in areas such as tourism, education, trade, and investment, some of which have surpassed previous targets. There has also been progress in some specific priority areas within the NSP as well, be it individual developments such as the conclusion of a Taiwan-Philippines bilateral investment agreement, which is to serve as an example for the advancement of economic ties with other target NSP countries, or the establishment of the One Country, One Center program in public health which has linked six Taiwanese hospitals with six Asian countries – Indonesia, India, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam.
[FULL  STORY]

Precise circumstances of death not clear

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/04/23
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Police confirmed Tuesday evening (April 13) that a dead man found on the beach at Jinshan in New Taipei City was the father wanted as a suspect in the death of two children.

Wu (吳), 40, had disappeared after the bodies of a sister and brother, aged 10 and 7 respectively, were found at his home in the New Taipei City district of Taishan on April 21.

Judging from his clothes, the man discovered in Jinshan at 5:23 p.m. Tuesday was Wu, though no identification was found on him, the Central News Agency reported.

He had recently divorced his wife, who received custody of the daughter. The girl was visiting her father for the weekend, but did not return home, leading the mother to search for her and find the crime scene.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/04/23
By: Wu Hsin-yun, Yu Hsiao-han and Evelyn Kao 

Taipei, April 23 (CNA) Over 5,000 workers are expected to take to the streets of Taipei in a Labor Day march on May 1 to call for more holidays and paid time off and better protection of their rights, the organizers said Tuesday.

The protesters will gather on Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office and march past the Ministry of Labor and Legislative Yuan, before returning to the starting point, according to the organizers, an action coalition of worker groups and unions.

The workers will demand more public holidays, an increase in maternity leave from 60 days to 90 days, and the enactment of legislation that would allow employees to take leave without pay for long-term care of family members, the organizers said.

The protesters will also call for better protection of workers’ rights, suggesting, for example, that businesses with fewer than four employees be required to provide labor insurance coverage, according to the organizers.    [FULL  STORY]