A daily breakdown of Taiwan’s top stories and why they matter.

The News Lens
Date: 2019/01/21
By: TNL Daily News

McDonald’s China expressed regret and reiterated its “one China” stance on Saturday after airing an ad on Weibo showing the nationality of a student in the ad as “Taiwan,” prompting Chinese netizens to accuse McDonald’s of supporting Taiwan independence, according to CNA.

“We regret about the ad which had stirred up such an unnecessary misunderstanding,” McDonald’s China said on its Weibo page. “We always hold a solid ‘one China’ stance and we are determined to continue to support China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. The video has been withdrawn and we are grateful to the attention and supervision in society.”

Taiwan’s foreign minister Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) chimed in on the controversy on Twitter:

Hamburgers, along with airlines, hotels and bakery chains, have been coerced into recognizing Taiwan as a territory of China in recent months. A report viewed by Reuters last Thursday hints that Beijing’s strategy of pressuring international corporations to adhere to its view of “one China” may continue in 2019. The strategy has been repeatedly criticized by Taiwanese officials, who see it as a means of suppressing Taiwan’s sovereignty and international participation.    [FULL  STORY]

Heiko Maas says the German government disagrees with threats of violence

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/01/20
By: Sophia Yang, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Two weeks after Chinese leader Xi Jinping (習近平) threatened to wage war if the people of Taiwan opted to not reunite with China in a public speech, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said during an interpellation that the government disagrees with any threat to use force as a dispute resolution.

Maas said the government of Germany is opposed to any military menace as a means to resolve disputes, in his response to questions from member of the Bundestag and German-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group Chairman Klaus-Peter Willsch at a parliamentary session on Jan. 16, according to a statement released by Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In addition to asserting the government’s stance, Maas also urged all EU members to take the same stance against China.

Decisions must be made by consensus, instead of majority, in the Council of the European Union, which allows China to exercise its influence over certain member nations to block any decisions for the council to achieve consensus‑based solutions on the Taiwan issue.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/01/20
By: Huang Li-yun and William Yen
Taipei, Jan. 20 (CNA) A total of 87 of the 148 Vietnamese tourists who went missing shortly after entering Taiwan in four tour groups in December last year have now been located, the National Immigration Agency (NIA) said Sunday.

The NIA said it had located 54 men and 33 women from the tour groups, 39 of whom had been arrested.

The other 48 had voluntarily turned themselves in to the authorities, the NIA said, adding that it was still trying to locate the remaining 61 people — 44 men and 17 women.

According to the NIA, 152 of the 153 Vietnamese nationals who entered Taiwan on Dec. 21 and Dec. 23 left their tour groups shortly after arrival and did not make further contact with them.    [FULL  STORY]

CONFESSION: A businessman who claimed he paid smugglers to transport him from China’s Fujian Province to Penghu turned himself in to police yesterday

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 21, 2019
By: Lin Chia-nan  /  Staff reporter

A Coast Guard Administration task force has been set up after a Taiwanese man said

that he paid smugglers to transport him back to Taiwan from China late last year and that others on the boat were carrying pork and other meat products.

A businessman, surnamed Lee (李), on Saturday posted on Baoliao Gongshe (爆料公社), a Facebook page for sharing revelations, that he had smuggled himself out of China after running afoul of Chinese authorities, but had decided to turn himself in to police because he realized that illegal immigration and smuggling are the biggest loopholes in the government’s efforts to prevent the spread of African swine fever to Taiwan.

He had a business in China, but was jailed in Guangdong Province for 67 days before being released pending trial and had paid smugglers NT$1.5 million (US$48,635) to transport him to Penghu County, he wrote.

He traveled by boat from Quanzhou in China’s Fujian Province to Penghu, and then flew from Penghu Airport in Makong to Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport), which meant he did not have to go through immigration, Lee wrote.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan English News
Date: 19, 2019 
By: Phillip Charlier

Police today declared that a video and photographs showing a group of vigilantes hoisting a man involved in a child abuse case in the air and firing fireworks rockets at him is fake news, and will be investigated for offences against the Social Order Maintenance Act.

People who posted the video to social media groups claimed that a group had conducted a “human flesh search” to hunt down a 47-year-old man who allegedly beat his 10-year-old stepson because the boy had stolen a classmate’s bottle of goat milk in Miaoli County.

Pictures of the boy with two black eyes swollen shut and a lacerated lip were uploaded

to social media, and became major news January 17 in the wake of several high-profile child abuse cases that sparked public outrage and vigilante mob violence in New Taipei City and Tainan City this week.

A taxi driver took a picture of a boy with two black eyes and a cut lip and uploaded it to a taxi driver social media group.
After police were alerted to the lynch mob video, which started to circulate January 18, officers contacted the child abuse suspect and confirmed that he had not been subject to violence, and was not the person shown in the video.

Police investigators contacted the moderators of various Facebook groups to alert them to the fake news, and to search for the original source of the misinformation.
[FULL  STORY]

Animal likely to have drifted ashore from Fujian Province

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/01/19
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A pig carcass found on a beach on an uninhabited island near Matsu close to China tested positive for African swine fever, the authorities said Saturday.

Earlier this month, another dead hog, found on a beach in Kinmen, also tested positive. In both cases, investigators assumed the carcasses had floated ashore from China as there were no hog farms in the vicinity, the Central News Agency reported.

After taking samples for the tests, inspectors immediately incinerated the dead animal and buried it, while the Matsu health authorities disinfected the site.

The islet was situated downstream from the mouth of the Minjiang River, while upstream, the city of Nanping in Fujian Province had registered cases of African swine fever, making it more than likely that the dead hog had drifted in from China, experts said.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/01/19
By: Sunrise Huang and Frances Huang

Taipei, Jan. 19 (CNA) A female migrant worker from Indonesia has been rescued by a joint effort by police and the New Taipei City government after she was tortured by her employer, the city’s Labor Affairs Department reported Saturday.

According to the labor department, the worker had been barred from leaving the residence of her employer in Banqiao District for several months.

According to a department investigation, the employer cut her pay for a couple of months, saying her performance failed to live up to expectations. She was also slapped on the face and given only kitchen leftovers by the employer, surnamed Lin.

The worker, who was employed as a caregiver for a sick elderly family member of the employer, was rescued Jan. 11 when an inspector from the department made a surprise visit to the worker after she called the department to complain about her situation.    [FULL  STORY]

WORKING FOR IDEALS? A Chinese official touted the program as beneficial for Taiwanese, but teachers’ salaries in Taiwan are nearly triple those in China

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 20, 2019
By: Chung Li-hua and Jonathan Chin  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer

The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said it is closely monitoring developments as

China begins allowing Taiwanese to become elementary and junior-high school teachers, a role that entails pledging allegiance to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and carrying out the CCP’s ideological and political education.

Beijing has allowed Taiwanese who have obtained Chinese residency permits to apply for the teaching positions, with the application period ending on Friday.

China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman Ma Xiaoguang (馬曉光) on Wednesday hailed the program as “another excellent policy realizing the equality of Taiwanese compatriots after the 31 measures announced last year.”

The policy is aimed at addressing the needs of Taiwanese studying in Chinese universities with the goal of becoming teachers, he said.    [FULL  STORY]

There are lingering misunderstandings following Taiwan’s Nov. 24 plebiscites.

The News Lens
Date: 2019/01/18
By: I-fan Lin

Taiwan finished voting in its regional elections and on multiple referendums on Nov. 24, 2018. Several western mainstream media outlets have interpreted the results as a victory for China and the comeback of conservatism; however, this type of analysis overlooks the political dynamics within Taiwan. This post attempts to clarify the picture by providing readers with more political context on the elections and referendum results.

The were an obvious setback for the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) as it has only retained six out of the 22 mayoral and county magistrate seats. President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) took responsibility for the election losses and stepped down as party chief on the same day.

The multiple-referendum voting consisted of 10 questions ranging from LGBTQ rights and same-sex marriage, the choice between “Taiwan” or “Chinese Taipei” at international sporting events, the development of nuclear power, etc. Below shows the referendum results:    [FULL  STORY]

Multiple well-known illustrators will have their work showcased to international publishing experts

Taiwan News 
Date: 2019/01/18
By:: Ryan Drillsma,Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Nine Taiwanese artists have been entered into the Illustrator’s Exhibition competition of the 2019 Bologna Children’s Book Fair in Italy, a new record for Taiwan.

CNA reports a representative explained a total of 2901 artists from 62 different countries entered the initial stage this year, and after deliberations by a panel of judges hailing from Argentina, Poland, Italy, the Netherland and France, 76 individuals were selected to enter the final competition, nine of whom are from Taiwan.

The Taipei Book Fair Foundation said a number of the competitors are well-known illustrators, including Teng Yu (鄧彧) and Animo (阿尼默), whose works are regularly published in The Liberty Times Supplement. Mao Yu (貓魚), another participant, was commission to design the film poster for the 2013 movie Twelve Nights (十二夜).

According to Bologna’s Visitor Bureau, the event has been held annually for over 50 years at the pavilions of the BolognaFiere. Professionals from all sectors of the publishing industry meet to obtain an overview of the latest publishing trends and attend a series of conferences and workshops.    [FULL  STORY]