PURE EXCHANGES: The president said she would remain open and positive about city-to-city exchanges, but hopes that they would have no ‘political prerequisites’

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 01, 2018
By: Stacy Hsu  /  Staff reporter

President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday said that her cross-strait policy would

remain unchanged, despite the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) losses in the nine-in-one elections last Saturday, adding that Taiwanese did not vote on cross-strait relations, nor has there been a shift in their general expectation for the future of ties.

Tsai made the remarks when receiving a delegation from the New York-based National Committee on American Foreign Policy at the Presidential Office in Taipei, where she congratulated former US ambassador to Tajikistan Susan Elliott on assuming the presidency of the committee in August.

“Your visit came on the heels of the conclusion of our nine-in-one local elections. I believe you have listened to different opinions about the races, which showed that the people have accumulated discontent over some domestic affairs and reform efforts,” Tsai said.    [FULL  STORY]

A Middle Eastern beacon of direct democracy says there is a path forward for Taiwanese civil society.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/11/29
By: Nick Aspinwall

Taiwan’s democracy works. It’s an oft-repeated truism binding Taiwanese society since the country shed decades of martial law and held its first democratic elections in 1996. However, Taiwan’s young democracy does not come without frustrations.

After last Saturday’s elections, the young, progressive wing of voters which mobilized against a pro-China Kuomintang (KMT) during the 2014 Sunflower Movement found itself bitterly disappointed as KMT legislators swept to power and referendums against marriage equality and gender equity education were successful at the polls. The failure of progressivism to take popular hold in Taiwan – reflective of similar trends in Europe and the Americas – has led some young voters to gradually lose faith in democracy as the island lies under the cross-Strait shadow of China and is now recognized as an independent nation-state by only 17 countries.

Deep in the arid desert of what appears on the map as northern Syria, however, a representative from the unrecognized, self-governing, secular democratic confederation of Rojava, described by New York Times Magazine in 2015 as a “utopia in hell,” insists there is a clear, if seemingly unorthodox, path forward for Taiwanese civil society.

Rojava’s territorial boundaries can be fluid, but this Oct. 2016 map shows the general area it administers in what appears on the map as northern Syria.
Rojava, officially named the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria (DFNS), lies just west of the similarly autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan. While the two share cultural roots, Rojava, which declared autonomy in January 2014, eschews the better-established, resource-rich Iraqi Kurdistan’s emphasis on traditional liberal democracy and Kurdish nationalism in favor of a governmental philosophy laid out by the leftist revolutionary Abdullah Ocalan. This ethos, known as Democratic Conferedalism, emphasizes direct local democracy and the proactive inclusion of women, religious and ethnic minorities, and outsiders from all backgrounds.
[FULL  STORY]

1 man shot, 2 men stabbed during Bangka Qingshan Temple festival in Taipei’s Wanhua District

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/11/30
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — One man was shot and two men were stabbed during the tail end of a temple festival early this morning in the heart of old Taipei, reported TVBS.

A miaohui (廟會) or temple festival held by the Bangka Qingshan Temple (艋舺青山宮), in which Qingshan Wang (青山靈安尊王, King of Green Mountain) tours Taipei’s Wanhua District, has been underway over the past three days. At 2 a.m. early this morning, as the last night of the festival was starting to wind down, reports came in of a shooting and two stabbings in the area.

However, based on a preliminary police investigation, they do not believe the incidents were directly related to the festival activities. Police are currently reviewing surveillance footage to clarify the circumstances of the assaults.

At 2 a.m. this morning, the fire department received a report that a fight broke out on the Huanhenanbei Expressway and that police on the scene requested medical attention for wounded persons on the scene. A 40-year-old man surnamed Wei (魏) had been shot in his right thigh and had been beaten unconscious.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/11/29
By: Chang Ming-hsuan and Chi Jo-yao

Taipei, Nov. 29 (CNA) Former President Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), 95, lost his footing

at home and was rushed to hospital Thursday. His condition is currently stable but requires further observation, according to his attending physician.

Lee’s office director Wang Yen-chun (王燕軍) said the former president fell at home and hit his head on the floor around noon Thursday. He was examined at Taipei Veterans General Hospital within half an hour.

Chen Yun-liang (陳雲亮), Lee’s attending physician, said the former president is in a stable condition after the bleeding from his nasal cavity was stopped on the way to the hospital and is expected to be admitted for three days.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 30, 2018
By: Staff writer, with CNA

The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) yesterday confirmed that it purchased a

plot of land in Taipei to build a residential complex for its staff, saying the decision reflects the US’ strong long-term commitment to the nation.

“On Nov. 28, 2018, AIT finalized a conditional purchase agreement with Jean Co, Ltd [新美齊] for the construction of a new residential tower in Tianmu [天母] and purchase of the underlying land,” AIT spokesperson Jesse Curtis said in an e-mail.

“When completed, AIT plans to use the residential tower as housing for AIT staff and their families,” Curtis said, confirming a report in the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) about the deal.

It was not the AIT’s first real-estate purchase in Taiwan, as the newspaper had reported, he said without elaborating.    [FULL  STORY]

Tsai Ing-wen says she wants to listen to the young voices of Taiwan. Here’s what they are saying.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/11/28
By: Roy Ngerng

Most people I have spoken to, as well as most news analysis I have read, agree that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lost the local elections last Saturday mainly because they did not match up to expectations. It was not that the Kuomintang (KMT) did better. In fact, in none of the conversations that I have had has anyone praised the KMT for any policy proposals or suggestions.

On the other hand, many of the progressive-leaning youths I have spoken to are more concerned that, with the swing in votes to the KMT, Taiwan might be aligning too closely with China.

“If KMT wins at the next presidential election, that’s it. Taiwan will lose its sovereignty,” a young woman – let’s call her Macy – told me. “Can you imagine living under the social credit system that China has come up with? I wouldn’t be able to speak up! My score will keep going down!”

“Why do the Taiwanese vote for the KMT? Don’t they realize that if Taiwan becomes part of China, that we will rank quite lowly under the credit system?” she railed.
[FULL  STORY]

Distraught woman drowns in Kaohsiung’s Lotus Pond 1 day after finalizing divorce

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/11/28
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A 25-year-old old woman was found to have drowned in an apparent suicide early this morning in Kaohsiung’s Lotus Pond a day after divorcing her husband, reports Apple Daily.

The woman, who policed identified by her surname of Chen (陳), had just finalized the paperwork for a divorce from her former husband yesterday morning. That evening, she went drinking with her friends to try to relieve her depression.

At about 2 a.m. this morning, Chen told her family that she wanted to go out to relax, but she called her friends to say that she was in a bad mood and that she wanted to jump into Lotus Pond. Two colleagues rushed to the scene to try to dissuade her, but after she saw them, she jumped into Lotus Pond in front of them.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/11/28
By: Miao Zong-han and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, Nov. 28 (CNA) China has rejected several requests by the family of Taiwanese

democracy activist Lee Ming-che (李明哲) to visit him in prison and has not given any reasons for doing so, which is not in keeping with due process of law, Taiwan’s Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) said Wednesday.

Since October, Chinese authorities have turned down four requests for Lee’s relatives to visit him, with the most recent rejection issued last week, according to SEF spokesperson Kuan An-lu (管安露).

Kuan’s comments came in the wake of a statement earlier in the day by Ma Xiaoguang (馬曉光), spokesman for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, who said there were no problems concerning visits to Lee in Chishan Prison in Hunan.

At a news conference in Beijing, Ma said Lee’s wife had visited him in prison and that authorities will continue make arrangements for Lee’s family to visit him at an “appropriate time” in the future.    [FULL  STORY]

‘DISCONTENT’: The DPP would reflect on its mistakes and find solutions, Tsai said, while the Taoyuan mayor urged her to reshuffle the Cabinet and Presidential Office

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 28, 2018
By: Stacy Hsu  /  Staff reporter

President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday apologized for letting her administration

become a burden on Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidates in Saturday’s local elections, as she embarked on a series of trips across the nation to gather opinions from the party’s frontline campaign staff.

Tsai, who on Saturday evening resigned as DPP chairperson over the party’s losses, made the remarks at a Kaohsiung forum attended by members of a fan club for DPP Kaohsiung mayoral candidate Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁), who lost to his Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) rival Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜).

Chen’s loss ended the DPP’s 20-year governance of the city, which has traditionally been a pan-green camp stronghold.

Kaohsiung is one of the seven cities and the counties the DPP lost in the local elections. The party had won 13 cities and counties in the 2014 race.
[FULL  STORY]

What happened after Saturday’s KMT victories? In Beijing, they say, Xi’s heart grew three sizes that day.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/11/27
By: Stellina Chen

Count Chinese President Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) among those pleased with Saturday’s election results in Taiwan, which saw the reunification-favoring Kuomintang (KMT) win races in Kaohsiung, Taichung, and New Taipei City, among others, at the expense of the faltering Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

Under President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), the DPP, which favors eventual Taiwanese independence, has wielded sharp rhetoric to differentiate itself from China, whose ruling party aspires to overtake Taiwan despite never ruling over the sovereign island of over 23 million people. However, the DPP agenda suffered a devastating blow on Saturday as voters rejected its failures to follow through on progressive promises made during its 2014 electoral rout and its decisive victory in the 2016 presidential election.

China reacted to the news with glee. After seemingly lifting a media embargo as news of KMT victories in Kaohsiung and Taichung hit the presses, the state-run tabloid Global Times reported on the DPP’s “major defeats” late Saturday evening. Its editor, the ever-notorious Twitter personality Hu Xijin, wasted no time chiming in himself:    [FULL  STORY]