Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/01/11
By: Ku Chuan, Wang Cheng-chung and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, Jan. 11 (CNA) Premier Lai Ching-te (賴清德) led his Cabinet in a mass resignation Friday in preparation for a major reshuffle in which he will be replaced.

At a provisional Cabinet meeting beginning at 9:30 a.m., Lai announced the en mass resignation, after which all of the Cabinet members signed the official document.

Lai, who will be replaced by Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), shook hands with each of his Cabinet members after the en mass resignation procedure was completed.

Addressing the meeting, Lai said he does not regret the efforts he and his team made toward domestic economic development, the improvement of people’s welfare, and the strengthening of the nation.    [FULL  STORY]

EXPERIENCED: Su cited Winston Churchill as another leader who returned to power despite his advanced age and promised to ‘roll up his sleeves’ in this ‘critical moment’

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 12, 2019
By: Sean Lin  /  Staff reporter

Former premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) is to be sworn in as the new premier on Monday,

President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday.

The appointment came in the wake of the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) heavy losses in the Nov. 24 local elections, which led to Tsai’s resignation as party chairperson and the Cabinet’s mass resignation on Thursday.

At a news conference at the Presidential Office in Taipei, Tsai said that she asked Su to take the role as he possesses three characteristics the nation needs at this moment: experience, boldness and the ability to get things done.

Su’s philosophy of “breaking new ground” was evidenced by his campaign last year for the mayorship of New Taipei City through his employment of young campaign employees, innovative policymaking or creativity in promotions, she said.    [FULL  STORY]

World leaders are watching with glee as Tsai Ing-wen takes her turn as Asia’s Wonder Woman.

The News Lens
Date: 2019/01/10
By: Stellina Chen

Fresh off humiliating November 2018 regional election losses which saw President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) resign as Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairperson, Taiwan’s leader has started off 2019 with a bang.

Tsai gave a clear and forceful policy speech on New Year’s Day, just before Chinese leader Xi Jinping made the indecent proposal of offering Taiwan governance under a Hong Kong-style “one country, two systems” framework.

Tsai, often accused of vacillating on cross-Strait matters in the past, wasted no time in issuing a strong rejection of Xi’s offer. Her determination won her plaudits among Taiwanese of all political orientations along with policymakers across the globe. Naturally, this included Taiwan’s 17 remaining formal diplomatic allies, such as Belize:

Belize strongly supports Taiwan to safeguard its sovereignty and democracy, and to have its voice heard in the international community.#StandWithTaiwan #SpeakUpforTaiwan
[SOURCE]

The sports car hit a hillside in a bend and ended upside down in the middle of the road

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/01/10
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A Porsche overturned on a road between Taipei City and Yilan County Thursday, but both women inside escaped without severe injuries.

The accident occurred in the early afternoon in the New Taipei City district of Shiding, close to Pinglin on the road between Taipei and Yilan City, the Central News Agency reported.

Preliminary analysis concluded that the sports car had spun out of control in a bend and hit a hillside before overturning and ending upside down in the middle of the road.

The driver, a 27-year-old woman surnamed Chen (陳), and her passenger, a woman named Hsiao (蕭), 29, were taken to hospital with light injuries to the hands and head respectively, CNA reported.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwn
Date: 2019/01/10
By: Fan Cheng-hsiang and Christie Chen

Taipei, Jan. 10 (CNA) Taiwan’s Legislature on Thursday passed the central government’s general budget proposal for fiscal year 2019, after cutting it by 1.19 percent to NT$1.998 trillion (US$64.88 billion).

During the extraordinary session that began Jan. 2, ruling and opposition lawmakers put forward 2,157 proposals for budget cuts but the number was reduced to 202 during cross-caucus negotiations chaired by Legislative Speaker Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) Jan. 7-9.

Lawmakers finally settled on a budget of NT$1.998 trillion, cutting 1.19 percent from the government’s estimate of NT$2.022 trillion.

The opposition Kuomintang’s (KMT’s) proposals to cut or freeze budgets for government agencies such as the Central Election Commission, Ill-Gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee and Transitional Justice Commission did not get enough votes to pass.
[FULL  STORY]

PARTY LINES: KMT motions to freeze or cut budgets for the transitional justice commission, ill-gotten assets committee and election commission were struck down

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 11, 2019
By: Sean Lin  /  Staff reporter

After the general budget cleared the legislative floor, Premier William Lai (賴清德)

yesterday evening announced that the Cabinet is to resign en masse today.

Lai made the announcement at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei while thanking legislators for passing this year’s budget.

“The general budget has been passed. The time has come,” Lai said.

“I will hold an extraordinary Executive Yuan meeting tomorrow [Friday] to proceed with the Cabinet’s mass resignation and patiently wait for the president to announce a new premier,” he told reporters.

He expressed gratitude to Taiwanese for the support they have shown during his time as premier.    [FULL  STORY]

In an open letter to Xi Jinping, Taiwan’s indigenous call on China to respect the self-determination of the island and its indigenous population.

The News Lens0
Date: 2019/01/09
By: Nick Aspinwall

Representatives from Taiwan’s indigenous communities issued a joint statement yesterday in response to Chinese President Xi Jinping, who said in a Jan. 2 speech that Taiwan “must and will be” united with China based on the so-called “1992 Consensus.”

Taiwan’s indigenous have inhabited the island for over 6,000 years, long before the first Han Chinese settlers reached its shores.

In their statement, titled “Indigenous Peoples of Taiwan to President Xi Jinping of China,” Taiwan’s indigenous leaders write that Taiwan “has never belonged to China.”

“We are the indigenous peoples of Taiwan and have lived in Taiwan, our motherland, for more than six thousand years,” the letter says. “We are not ethnic minorities within the so-called ‘Chinese nation.’”    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan military mobilizes against critically low blood reserves

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/01/09
By: Scott Morgan, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – In response to Taiwan’s critically low blood reserves, the armed forces begin a campaign to donate blood, reported CNA.

Military spokesman Chen Chung-chi (陳中吉) said today that all units of the Armed Forces will participate in the campaign, with 50 units already giving blood through 72 events.

On Jan. 4, the Taipei Blood Center said it had on average 2.5 days worth of blood reserves left, putting its stock in a critical condition. The blood bank aims to have at least seven days worth of blood stockpiled.

This blood scarcity led hospitals and the Taipei Blood Center to call on the public to donate if possible.    [FULL  STORY]

GENERAL CONSENSUS: President Tsai Ing-wen’s ‘four musts’ received support from 85.2% of respondents, while 61.6% were satisfied with her response to Xi’s speech

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 10, 2019
By: Stacy Hsu  /  Staff reporter

More than 80 percent of Taiwanese do not accept the “one country, two systems”

formula and a majority reject the existence of the so-called “1992 consensus,” a survey published yesterday by the Cross-Strait Policy Association found.

Asked whether they supported Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) proposal of a “one country, two systems” model for unification, which would make Taiwan a local government and eliminate the Republic of China (ROC), 80.9 percent answered “no” and 13.7 percent said “yes.”

Even among respondents who identify with the pan-blue camp, the majority — 64.7 percent of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supporters and 63 percent of People First Party supporters — rejected the formula, the survey found.

In addition, 68.5 percent did not think Beijing’s “one China” principle has room for the ROC, versus 25.5 percent who believed it does.    [FULL  STORY]