Radio Taiwan International 
Date: 11 March, 2019
By: Paula Chao

President Tsai Ing-wen says Taiwan will strengthen cooperation with other countries to build a world free

from religious persecution. She was speaking Monday at the opening ceremony of regional forum on religious freedom, under way in Taipei.

The two-day forum is called “Civil Society Dialogue on Securing Religious Freedom in the Indo-Pacific Region”. It’s focusing on ways to advance religious freedom in the region. The event is jointly sponsored by the foreign ministry, the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy, and the US State Department.      [FULL  STORY]

China has steadily signaled to Taiwan that ‘peaceful reunification’ comes with a generous side helping of military domination.

The News Lens
Date: 2019/03/11
By Robert S. Wang

On Feb. 5, 2019, Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post (SCMP) published an article entitled “PLA bombers, jet fighters in Beijing’s ‘Happy Lunar New Year’ video message to Taiwan” and provided a link to the film itself, titled “My Fighting Eagles Fly Around Formosa.” According to the SCMP, this three-and-a-half minute video was released on Weibo, a popular social media platform in China, by the PLA Air Force Airborne Corps on Sunday (Feb. 3) with a note saying it was to celebrate the New Year.

The film starts by displaying beautiful scenes of what appears to be Taiwan’s mountains, lakes and rivers, and ocean waters surrounding its islands. It also includes shots of children playing in the water and on beaches, grandparents celebrating with their family at home, shoppers and others strolling on crowded city streets, and the iconic Taipei 101 skyscraper. At the same time, interspersed throughout the film were images of Chinese bombers and fighters flying in formation and doing maneuvers among white clouds and in clear blue skies, taking off and landing, and young pilots in uniform marching around their aircrafts. The lyrics of the catchy music accompanying these images sing of “my fighting eagles flying around Formosa softly calling on brothers and sisters to return.”

In watching this video several times, I still find it hard to understand its intent and targeted audience. Is it trying to persuade Taiwan’s “brothers and sisters” portrayed in the film to return? Did the video producers, and the Chinese government, really believe that this film would actually win over the hearts and mind of the people of Taiwan to the prospect of unification? Having worked and lived in Taiwan for many years, I cannot imagine that even my most ardent friends in the Kuomintang (KMT) would see this video as attractive and persuasive to them and their supporters, much less my friends in the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). If the Chinese government considers this video to be an effective propaganda tool, it only shows to me how very much detached they are from the reality of Taiwan and its people today.

Insofar as the video was released on Weibo, it may be that the intended audience is actually the Chinese public, especially those exuberant nationalists on the internet. Here, the intent may be to build up patriotism and strengthen support for the government, especially in the wake of increasing doubts about the current economy. At the same time, one wonders if the general public would welcome military threats and perhaps even attacks on their civilian “brothers and sisters” across the Strait? This seems to be what the film implies, even if juxtaposed with beautiful scenery and soft music. Having worked and lived in China for over a decade spanning 30 years, I doubt that my many friends in China would welcome such a scenario, however much they favor unification. If I’m wrong, it would suggest an even wider cross-Strait gap than I had thought and would confirm the worst fears of the Taiwan people about the prospect of unification with their “brothers and sisters” across the Strait.    [FULL  STORY]

From “reunification” to “mainland” to “renegade province”, the way we talk about Taiwan affects the world’s perceptions of Asia’s most vibrant democracy

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/03/11 
By: Jenna Lynn Cody

Consume any mainstream English-language media about Taiwan, and you’ll come across an abundant lexicon of terms that sound as though they help define the Taiwan-China situation: “renegade province”, “split in 1949”, “dialect”, “Mainland”, “reunification”, Chinese”, “One China Policy” and “status quo” are probably the most common. More recently, there’s also the term “one family”, though that doesn’t seem to have made the leap to English quite yet, and there’s the perennial “tensions”, a term which has already been covered extensively for its problematic usage.

These terms are readily employed by writers wanting to appear knowledgeable about the region — especially non-specialist journalists, though some specialists do it too.

The problem?    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/03/11
By: Wu Hsin-yun and Flor Wang

Taipei, March 11 (CNA) The majority of people in Taiwan support the government’s plan to phase out the use of plastic straws over the next 12 years, as part of an effort to protect the environment, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) said Monday.

Citing the results of a public opinion poll conducted by phone last November, the EPA said 76 percent of the Taiwan public backs the policy, while only 3.9 percent is against it.

Similar results were obtained in an online survey conducted late last year, which showed that 73.7 percent of the public favors the plan and 7.5 percent does not, the EPA said.

According to the EPA plan, a ban on plastic straws will be implemented July 1 in the government sector, and at all public and private schools, department stores, shopping malls and fast food stores.
[FULL  STORY]

South China Morning Post
Date: 10 Mar, 2019 
By: Minnie Chan  

• Cai Peihui, representing self-ruled island at legislative session, also says mainland will not hesitate to ‘liberate’ Taiwan if it declares independence
• Another delegate, Huang Zhixian, tells panel independence-leaning parties ‘are not qualified’ to talk to Beijing about ‘one country, two systems’

Beijing will not put off reunification with Taiwan forever but it hopes to bring the self-ruled island back into the China fold through peaceful means, according to a National People’s Congress delegate.
In an interview, Cai Peihui described Chinese President Xi Jinping as “an aspiring and visionary leader” and said “he will not allow [the reunification agenda] to be postponed indefinitely”.
Cai is one of 13 members of the Taiwan delegation – all of whom have a connection to the island but do not live there – attending the annual legislative session in Beijing.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan English News
Date: March 10, 2019 
By: Phillip Charlier  

A married couple and their eight-month-old baby died after a massive residential gas explosion destroyed one house and damaged 12 in Su’ao Township, Yilan County, yesterday, March 9.

At around 5:00pm, a massive blast tore through the neighborhood on Shengxian Road, shattering neighbor’s windows and causing buildings as far as 400 meters away to shake.

“I thought it was an earthquake,” a nearby resident told an Apple Daily reporter.

The resident saw smoke pouring out of the house and wanted to save the occupants “but even the yard was a sea of fire,” he said.    [FULL  STORY]

Strawberry fans can obtain fresh strawberries while enjoying the beautiful scenery and fresh mountain air

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/03/10 
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The 2019 Neihu Strawberry Festival kicked off at the White Stones Farm area on Saturday, signifying that the high season for strawberries in the mountainous area of Taipei’s Neihu District has arrived.

“December through April is the annual strawberry season in Taipei City’s Neihu District, with March and April being the high season for strawberries,” the Taipei Department of Economic Development (DOED), the sponsor of the event, said in a news release. As the climate this spring has been warm and full of sunlight, the strawberries in Neihu are fragrant and delicious, the DOED added.

“Not only can strawberry fans obtain fresh strawberries in the White Stones Farm area, but they can also enjoy the beautiful scenery and fresh mountain air,” the department said, emphasizing that it’s a trip well-worth taking.

For further information related to the 2019 Neihu Strawberry Festival, please feel free to contact DOED’s Agricultural Development Division (TEL: 02-2725-6586, Ms. Lai), or the Neihu District Farmers’ Association’s Promotion Department (TEL: 02-2790-0138, ext. 250 Mr. Lin).
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/03/10 22
By: Matt Yu and Emerson Lim

Taipei, March 10 (CNA) A foreign oil and chemical tanker that accidentally collided with Taiwan navy vessel Ning Yang (FF-938) on March 9, signed a document promising to pay full compensation for damages caused, a source familiar with the matter said Sunday.

The Saudi Arabia-registered tanker NCC Sama collided with the Ning Yang as it was entering the Port of Keelung after 1 a.m. on March 9, denting the port side bow. No one was hurt in the incident.

The Chi Yang class frigate was docked when the incident occurred and therefore bears no responsibility, the source said, adding that the persons in charge of NCC Sama signed a compensation agreement Sunday.

The source said the Ning Yang could have sustained damage to its electronic systems and electric wires in addition to the dent, the compensation the Navy asks for will be determined over the next few days after a thorough inspection.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Mar. 10, 2019
By: Wang Shu-fen and Evelyn Kao 

TAIPEI (CNA) — Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s south runway reopened on March 10 after a pothole was discovered the previous day, causing delays to 121 flights.

The flights were delayed by an average of 52 minutes, with a Singapore-bound flight operated by Scoot, Singapore Airlines Group’s budget airline, suffering the longest delay of nine hours, according to Taoyuan International Airport Corp. (TIAC).

The Scoot flight departed from Japan’s Hokkaido and was scheduled to arrive in Singapore via Taiwan.

The flight should have landed at Taoyuan Airport at 9:20 p.m. Saturday and departed at 10:20 p.m. that same day but was forced to divert to Kaohsiung Airport after the discovery of the pothole.
[FULL  STORY]

The island’s arts scene is enjoying something of a renaissance, a slew of new spaces and troupes having been established to appeal to domestic and – it’s hoped – international crowds

South China Morning Post
Date: 9 Mar, 2019 
By: Enid Tsui

It will come as a surprise to many to learn that the world’s largest indoor performing arts venue is not in New York, London or Beijing, but Kaohsiung, the industrial city in southern Taiwan. Last October, the futuristic, 9.9-hectare National Kaohsiung Centre for the Arts opened on the site once occupied by the Weiwuying military base. Within are four performance halls and an innovative out­door theatre that gives the impression it is sliding off a giant, undulating roof.

Weiwuying, as the centre in Taiwan’s third-largest city is known, took seven years to build, at a cost of more than NT$10 billion (US$324 million). One of the island’s first major performance venues outside Taipei, the facility was intended by then president Chen Shui-bian as a grand gesture in the rejuvenation of Taiwan’s poorer south, and to attract cultural activities away from the northern capital. It is just one of a slew of impressive venues that have been opening in what is proving to be a vibrant period for the island’s sophisticated arts scene. But it is a success story that is often drowned out by the drumbeat of nationalism heard across the Taiwan Strait: Chinese President Xi Jinping threatened, in a New Year speech, to take back the island by force if necessary after 70 years of separation.

The island’s contemporary art scene emerged in 1987, when nearly four decades of martial law ended and Taiwan diverged further politically from the mainland, embracing multi-party democracy and freedom of expression.    [FULL  STORY]