FREEDOM OF SPEECH? The Constitution guarantees basic freedoms, but advocating the use of force violates the universal value of peace and civil rights, the MAC said

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 18, 2019
By: Su Yung-yao, Lu Yi-hsuan and William Hetherington  /  Staff reporters, with staff writer

Chinese nationalists who have advocated for the use of military force against Taiwan

should be barred from entering the nation when necessary, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday.

Those who have promoted applying China’s “one country, two systems” framework to Taiwan or have called for China to intimidate Taiwanese should also be barred from entry when necessary, Tsai said after meeting with Ministry of National Defense and Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) officials at a routine national security meeting.

The instruction followed the deportation last week of Chinese academic Li Yi (李毅), who was scheduled to speak at a pro-unification seminar held by the Chinese Unity Promotion Party (CUPP).

Li had previously advocated for Chinese military action to force Taiwan’s unification with China.    [FULL  STORY]

Hong Kong’s loss of sovereignty has hurt its housing market. Observers in Taiwan should take notice.

The News Lens
Date: 2019/04/16, Politics
By: Turnip Magazine

Why is it important to protect your sovereignty? Without it, you have no way of solving your own problems.

Recently, the atmosphere in Taiwan has been very strange. The consensus among many is that sovereignty is a “fake” issue, or that sovereignty is no more important than social issues. Some points of views even seem to be that sovereignty and social issues are mutually exclusive.

I completely disagree when people say that a country’s sovereignty and its social issues are not related to each other. In reality, not only are the protection of a country’s sovereignty, and the resolution of social problems, not mutually exclusive, but they actually share a cause and effect relationship.

A good example to explain this is a problem of great concern to Taiwan’s younger generation: housing prices. Let’s look at Hong Kong to best illustrate the problem.
[FULL  STORY]

US approves $500 million in training, logistics, and maintenance for Taiwan’s F-16s

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/04/16
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The U.S. State Department has approved the potential sale for the continuation of a pilot training program and maintenance and logistics support for F-16 aircraft currently stationed at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona valued at an estimated cost of US$500 million, according to a statement released on Monday (April 15).

According to an announcement issued by the State Department, the request for continued training and support for its F-16 fighters includes the following:

“flight training; participation in approved training exercises; inert/dummy training munitions; supply and maintenance support; spares and repair parts; support equipment; program management; publications; documentation; personnel training and training equipment; fuel and fueling services; engineering, technical, and logistics support services; and other related elements of program and logistical support necessary to sustain a long-term CONUS training program.”
The total estimated cost of the program is US$500 million and the term “CONUS” refers to the training of Taiwanese F-16 fighter pilots in the Continental United States. The State Department emphasized that the sale is meant to improve the defensive capabilities of Taiwan, which the department credits as being a stabilizing force in the region:    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/04/16
By Hung Chien-lun, Sabine Cheng, Wu Hsin-yun and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, April 16 (CNA) Taiwan’s public and private sectors and France’s de facto embassy in the country voiced heartfelt sadness and sympathy after a fire at Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris on Monday evening (local time) destroyed the 850-year-old cathedral’s iconic spire and roof.

President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) tweeted that she was saddened to see the images of a burning NotreDame Cathedral, which she described as “a magnificent cultural treasure in the world.”

“Our thoughts are with all in #France,” Tsai wrote on Twitter.

She also directed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) to convey Taiwan’s concern over the tragedy to France and expressed hope the cathedral will be rebuilt, according to the Presidential Office.    [FULL  STORY]

‘RESOLUTE’: The nation’s military is determined and committed to defending the nation, the president said, while thanking the US for its support on defense training

Taipei Times
Date: April 17, 2019
By: Yimou Lee  /  Reuters, TAIPEI

Taiwan has not been intimidated by China’s military drills this week, President Tsai Ing-

wen (蔡英文) said yesterday, while a senior US official denounced the latest Chinese maneuvers as “coercion” and a threat to regional stability.

Tsai said Taiwan was resolute in its defense.

“China’s armed forces yesterday [Monday] sent a large number of military aircraft and naval vessels into our vicinity. Their actions threaten Taiwan and other like-minded countries in the region,” Tsai said at a forum cohosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to mark the 40th anniversary of the US’ Taiwan Relations Act.

The event was attended by a delegation led by former US House of Representatives speaker Paul Ryan.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International 
Date: 15 April, 2019
By: Natalie Tso

St. Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Timothy Sylvester Harris is in Taiwan this week on a five-day visit. The Caribbean nation is one of Taiwan’s 17 diplomatic allies.

President Tsai is welcoming Prime Minister Harris with military honors and the two will hold talks. Taiwan and St. Kitts and Nevis are currently working together on agriculture, education, infrastructure, medicine and technology projects.

This is Harris’s fourth visit to Taiwan since he became prime minister in 2015.
[FULL  STORY]

Xi has unification on his mind, but the conditions are not ripe for it, given that China is still locked in a trade war with the US and Taiwan is gearing up for elections. The PLA’s incursion into Taiwanese airspace was intentional, but it won’t be overplayed

South China Morning Post
Date: 15 Apr, 2019 
By: Deng Yuwen

For the first time in years, two Chinese fighter jets crossed into
Taiwanese airspace on March 31, causing Taiwan to scramble its own aircraft in a tense stand-off. What impact will this incident have on cross-strait relations, and will a similar stand-off eventually lead to an accidental exchange of fire?
As Taiwan gears up for the 2020 presidential election, unification and independence will surely be one of hot topics of debate.

So far, both President Tsai Ing-wen and her colleague at the Democratic Progressive Party, former premier William Lai Ching-te, a self-proclaimed “pragmatic Taiwan independence worker”, have said they would seek nomination

for the contest. We can’t rule out the possibility that the DPP will turn to some underhand means to try to win the election, but it would not want to trigger a Chinese campaign to force unification.    [FULL  STORY]

President Tsai Ing-wen condemns China’s reckless behavior for undermining regional peace and stability

Taiwan News 
Date: 2019/04/15
By: Duncan DeAeth, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Shortly after noon on Monday, April 15, a squadron of numerous Chinese warplanes transited the Bashi Channel south of Taiwan, as confirmed by the Ministry of Defense (MND).

President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), speaking at an event hosted by the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) celebrating 40 year of the Taiwan Relations Act, condemned the actions of China as undermining peace and stability across the strait.

The group of warplanes reportedly consisted of range of aircraft, including H-6K bombers, Shenyang J-11 fighters, Sukhoi Su-30 fighters, Shaanxi Y-8 transport aircraft, and a KJ-500 spy plane, reports ET Today.

The warplanes reportedly headed Southeast through the Bashi Channel, skirting the Taiwan Strait, to enter the Western Pacific for training exercises. With the exception of one of the H-6K bombers, which returned through the Miyako Strait, the planes returned along the same route.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/04/15
By: Joseph Yeh

Taipei, April 15 (CNA) The United States would respect the decision of the Taiwanese

people in the 2020 presidential election and will work with the leader selected by the electorate, American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Chairman James Moriarty said Monday.

“Of course, we would respect the will of the Taiwanese people,” he said. “Democracy chooses its own leaders, and the interests of countries and partners continue, and we would expect those interests to continue under any leadership the Taiwan people elect.”

“We respect the system here in Taiwan and we respect it to accurately reflect the will of the people,” Moriarty said in response to a question raised by Taiwanese tycoon Terry Gou (郭台銘) at a conference on the 40th anniversary of the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA) in Taipei.  [FULL  STORY]

TIES ON 101: To mark 40 years of the AIT and the TRA, AIT Director Brent Christensen said that a message of Taiwan-US friendship would be displayed on Taipei 101

Taipei Times
Date: =Apr 16, 2019
By: Stacy Hsu  /  Staff reporter

The rest of the world should be more like Taiwan, former US House of Representatives

speaker Paul Ryan said yesterday at an event at the American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) new facility in Taipei’s Neihu District (內湖) to mark 40 years of friendship between Taiwan and the US.

Ryan made the remarks at an afternoon banquet at the AIT compound, which is to officially open on May 6.

The US’ Taiwan Relations Act (TRA), enacted in 1979, was a rarity, as it had “absolute consensus” in Washington, he said.

“It is this deep, abiding friendship and bipartisanship that is a testament to the enduring friendship between our two countries,” Ryan said, adding that the anniversary of the passage of the TRA serves as a “picture-perfect display” of a wonderful foreign-policy achievement between Taipei and Washington.    [FULL  STORY]