City of Xiamen is helping Taiwanese with their legal battle

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/04/06
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The Ministry of Interior (MOI) fined two Taiwanese citizens last week for serving as assistants to the chair of a community in the Chinese city of Xiamen, while China decided to fund their legal battle, the Liberty Times reported Saturday.

The two were fined NT$100,000 (US$3,245) each, while another 53 Taiwanese in similar positions were allowed to voice their case until April 10.

The city government of Xiamen, in the province of Fujian, was reportedly forming a legal team to assist the two Taiwanese in their legal battle with the MOI, according to the Liberty Times.

The fines were based on Taiwanese law barring citizens from serving in government, administrative and military positions in China. The law had already caused about ten Taiwanese to quit from similar jobs, the Liberty Times reported.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/04/06
By Elaine Hou and Ko Lin

Taipei, April 6 (CNA) Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) on Saturday warned the public not

to become unwitting tools of Chinese propaganda as Beijing ramps up efforts to spread fake news through social media aimed at creating division in society.

In a Facebook post, the premier accused China of taking advantage of Taiwan’s openness to spread false information to disrupt local society and encourage confrontation among the people of Taiwan.

The communist regime will use all means at its disposal to pressure Taiwan, not just military intimidation, Su wrote, noting that Beijing uses a multitude of methods to realize its objective, especially through the internet.

Earlier in the day while attending a religious temple ceremony in New Taipei, he was asked about rumors suggesting China has recently been trying to create a local cyber army that leans toward Beijing through social media and local websites.
[FULL  STORY]

NEW TACTICS: The bill would focus on methods that utilize media and commerce, and would create a task force for enforcement, DPP Legislator Lee Chun-yi said

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 07, 2019
By: Huang Hsin-po and Jake Chung  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) yesterday pledged

to propose an “anti-united front act” based on US legislation to counteract “severe undermining of Taiwanese democratic values” by Chinese “united front” tactics.

Beijing’s tactics include actions such as purchasing Taiwanese produce, promoting travel to counties and cities governed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and hosting Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu’s (韓國瑜) visit to China last month, Lee said.

The world has recognized the threat of Chinese infiltration, he said, calling on the nation to face the issue.

Other nations have enacted legislation to prevent infiltration via finance and media, Lee said.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen slammed a “provocative” encroachment of Chinese aircraft.

The Diplomat
Date: April 05, 2019
By: Nick Aspinwall

The sense of enmity on the waters of the Taiwan Strait has risen significantly following

what the Taiwanese government called a “reckless and provocative” flight by two Chinese fighter jets into Taiwan’s airspace last Sunday.

The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) Shenyang J-11 fighters crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait, violating what Taiwan’s foreign ministry called a “long-held tacit agreement” in a tweet. Chinese aircraft conduct regular operations in the Strait and often approach Taiwanese airspace, but they rarely cross the median line separating China and Taiwan.

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen responded by vowing a “forceful expulsion” of Chinese fighters should they cross the median line again. During a Thursday inspection tour of an air force base in Chiayi, Tsai instructed pilots to respond to future Chinese incursions with force and vowed to “fight alongside you all to the last” in defense of Taiwan’s sovereignty.

Enjoying this article? Click here to subscribe for full access. Just $5 a month.On the morning of Sunday, March 31, Taiwan’s air force responded to the PLAAF jets by scrambling its own jets and airing warnings. The Chinese jets then retreated into their own airspace, according to Taiwan’s defense ministry.    [FULL  STORY]

South China Morning Post
Date: 6 Apr, 2019 
By: Lawrence Chung

• Nearly 500 staff – including military personnel – will move to the US$255 million American Institute in Taiwan complex on May 6
• Analysts say AIT has become ‘a lot more high-profile’ since Donald Trump became president, as calls grow for Washington to elevate ties with the island

The United States will move its de facto embassy in Taiwan to a new site next month, amid what analysts see as a shift in US policy on the self-ruled island since Washington switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing 40 years ago.

Nearly 500 staff – including active US military personnel – will relocate to the brand new US$255 million hillside complex in the Neihu district of Taipei on May 6.

They will leave behind the old premises on the former site of the US Military Assistance Advisory Group that was set up to defend Taiwan against any military action from Beijing before 1979.

The new American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), which took more than nine years to build, will occupy a five-floor office and other buildings that take up about one-third of the 6.5-hectare (16-acre) site.    [FULL  STORY]

Time
Date: APRIL 5, 2019
By: John Walcott and Justin Worland

The Trump Administration has put on hold a previously reported sale of jet fighters to Taiwan until the United States seals a trade deal with China, three Administration officials told TIME on Thursday.

That decision has contributed to concern among some in the Administration that the President may soon go soft on China in his desire to secure a trade deal. The draft trade agreement currently under negotiation would boost Trump’s political fortunes and ease the jittery stock market, but it is unlikely to address many of the issues at the core of the U.S.-China trade dispute, said the U.S. officials, who spoke anonymously because they aren’t authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

The move underscores the complexity and difficulty of balancing U.S. relations with an increasingly powerful China against the American commitment to help Taiwan defend itself. The White House’s initial decision, first reported late last month, to offer tacit approval for Taiwan to buy 60 Lockheed Martin F-16V fighter jets was widely seen as a U.S. show of strength against China.

The sale would be the first time the U.S. has sold F-16s to Taiwan since 1992. While the U.S. has a statutory obligation to aid Taiwan’s defense in its decades-long standoff with China, recent administrations have stopped short of allowing the island to buy new fighter jets. The Trump Administration’s apparent pause on the arms sale therefore represents a new deference to China.    [FULL  STORY]

Suspect ads surface on job banks and social media

Taiwan News 
Date: 2019/04/06
By: Ryan Drillsma, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Advertisements have surfaced on job banks and social media pages in Taiwan seeking supporters of cross-strait unification to spread propaganda.

A user of social networking website Dcard wrote that they had discovered an ad recruiting supporters of “peaceful unification” to administer “political party Facebook pages,” CNA reports.

A screenshot of the now-deleted ad, posted to 104.com.tw on April 2, shows the recruiter would offer a monthly salary of between NT$20,000 and NT$50,000 for successful candidates to “manage party fan pages”—the condition being they support cross-strait unification.

Dcard users also said similar advertisements had appeared on Facebook. Recruiters were reportedly seeking social media celebrities that support cross-strait rapprochement for content mills.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan Internatiional 
Date: 05 April, 2019
By: Paula Chao

An 11-year-old Burmese girl with Goldenhar syndrome is enjoying better vision after receiving medical treatment in Taiwan.

Goldenhar syndrome is a rare congenital defect affecting the development of the eyes, ears and spine. The condition affects roughly one in every 50,000 children.

Thanks to a medical team at the Taiwan-based China Medical University, one girl with the condition is seeing improvements.    [FULL  STORY]

Are you considering studying abroad in Taiwan? Here’s a quick guide to what you need to know.

The News Lens
Date: 2019/04/05
By: Katrina Hatchett

Though people don’t often realize it, Taiwan is a big facilitator of higher education with over 100 public and private institutions. It’s worth it on a cultural level as well as an academic one. Unlike some education systems across Asia, Taiwan focuses on human rights, gender equality and freedom of speech. It’s a world-class country for education.

Taiwanese higher education

Taiwanese institutions are foundationally strong and reliable, having remained largely unaffected by the recession and economic crisis. It is particularly popular for international students, with English being the medium of instruction in over 121 courses spreading over 41 universities. There are currently roughly 160 institutions to pick from.

Taiwan’s best universities

Like anything, “the best” is subjective, but there are some obvious picks when it comes to Taiwanese higher education. There are 21 universities in Taiwan listed on the QS World University ranking list, indicating the scope it has on an international level. National Taiwan University (NTU), located in the capital city Taipei, is one of Taiwan’s most internationally recognized and prestigious institutions. National Tsing Hua University (NTHU) in Hsinchu, on the other hand, is impressively ranked 155 in the QS World University rankings.    [FULL  STORY]

After Ian Easton suggested a nuclear deterrent might be a good move for Taiwan, we look at the negative aspects and consider some alternatives

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/04/05
By: David Spencer, Taiwan News, Contributing Writer

The China Uncensored channel is a terrific source of information about Chinese propaganda and misinformation and also has a knack of asking difficult questions that many other media outlets would not even countenance.

They did exactly this in one of their recent episodes when host Chris Chappell asked renowned US scholar Ian Easton whether Taiwan should have nuclear weapons.

The logic behind the question is a pretty sound one. The justification for all nuclear powers that continue to hold nuclear weapons is that they act as a deterrent. ‘Other countries will not attack us if we have nuclear weapons because of the damage we can cause them in response,’the thinking goes.

In his response, Easton appeared to fall into line behind this logic. “Only a nation that has completely lost its mind and is suicidal is ever going to invade another nation that is armed with nuclear weapons,” he said.    [FULL  STORY]