Activists see Taiwan referendums as the No.1 international priority: NBC

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/11/09
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – With Taiwanese citizens voting on five referendums for or against gay issues on Nov. 24, a group in the United States has been raising funds to support the Taiwanese campaign for same-sex marriage.

Opponents of gay marriage have tabled three referendum questions, while supporters have proposed two. The voting will take place in combination with local and regional elections, along with five referendum questions about other issues ranging from Taiwan’s name at the next Olympics to nuclear energy and those concerning same-sex marriage.

On November 2, the U.S. group Freedom to Marry Global co-organized an event in New York which raised US$6,700 for the Taiwanese cause in favor of same-sex marriage, NBC News reported.

The initial goal of the fundraiser at the Stonewall Inn, an iconic location in the struggle for gay rights, was to find US$5,000, with Freedom to Marry Global matching the final amount.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/11/09
By: Lee Hsin-Yin

Taipei, Nov. 9 (CNA) Bruce Jacobs, a leading expert on the political history of Taiwan, on Friday urged the Taiwanese public to revisit the country’s current status and envision its future beyond the “One China” narrative that often downgrades Taiwan as a nation state.

There are numerous discussions Taiwan needs to raise national awareness, including the revision of its flag, national day and national anthem as they were all brought by the Kuomintang (KMT) colonial regime, Jacobs said during a speech at the Australian Office in Taipei.

The emeritus professor of Asian Languages and Studies at Monash University said he hopes that such discussions, among others, will lead to a “paradigm shift” for Taiwan.

The new thinking also applies to Taiwan’s foreign policy in order to wrest control from China and its attempts to introduce the “one-China” principle, under which Taiwan is part of its territory, said Jacobs.    [FULL  STORY]

‘OLD TACTICS’: The KMT countered that the president and the DPP are using the independence versus unification issue to stir conflict and save their election campaign

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 10, 2018
By: Shih Hsiao-kuang  /  Staff reporter, with CNA

The new “three noes” proposed by former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) have hurt

Taiwan’s sovereignty and sent the wrong message that China’s bullying of Taiwan is effective, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday.

“Ma’s remarks were very inappropriate and gave people the feeling he is trying to hold them back,” Tsai said after attending a meeting for Industry Day in Taipei.

Tsai was referring to the “three noes” — no ruling out the possibility of unification with China, no support for Taiwanese independence and no use of force — put forth by Ma at a forum on Wednesday that marked the three-year anniversary of his summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in Singapore.

When Ma met with Xi, many in Taiwan questioned whether he insisted on the “different interpretations” part of the so-called “1992 consensus” when he spoke to Xi, Tsai sai
[FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International; 
Date: 08 November, 2018
By: Natalie Tso

Taiwan’s navy added two new warships on Thursday. The frigates Ming Chuan and Feng Chia were bought from the United States.

President Tsai Ing-wen spoke at the inauguration ceremony at Kaohsiung’s Zuoying Military Harbor. She said, “Through the navy’s inauguration ceremony for the Mingchuan and Fengjia frigates, we, the people of Taiwan, are once again sending a firm message to the world and global society. We are saying that we will guard the Republic of China, Taiwan and protect our free and democratic way of life. We will not yield one step.”

She also gave the navy three noes. “I also have Three Noes for the national military: Do not forget your mission to protect Taiwan, do not give up on pursuing regional peace and stability and do not forget the threats from outside our borders,” she said.

President Tsai also reminded the navy that China is using the Internet, social media, fake news and many other ways to attack Taiwan’s government and industries. This is a challenge to national security. President Tsai said that strengthening the nation is the best way to protect the nation.    [FULL  STORY]

Empty words, false contrition: Is Taiwan, the island of ‘buhaoyisi,’ the embodiment of Uriah Heep?

The News Lens
Date: 2018/11/08
By: James Baron

In literature’s hall of shame, few characters have caused such revulsion as the antagonist Uriah Heep, the antagonist of the Charles Dickens novel “David Copperfield.” The feigned humility and malevolent obsequiousness of David Copperfield’s nemesis have made his name a byword for sycophancy.

In some ways, Heep’s kowtowing makes him the perfect avatar for what has been dubbed buhaoyisiculture in Taiwan.

For all his loathsome qualities, Heep is a complicated character who can be seen as the product of a society premised on keeping people in its place. Heep himself casts his self-abnegation as a defense mechanism, telling the novel’s eponymous hero: “When I was quite a young boy, I got to know what umbleness did, and I took to it. I ate umble pie with an appetite… ‘People like to be above you,’ says father, ‘keep yourself down.’ I am very umble to the present moment, Master Copperfield, but I’ve got a little power!”
[FULL  STORY]

Planned reduction of coal use are in line with Japan and South Korea

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/11/08
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taiwan cannot stop the use of coal to produce energy by 2030, but needs to rely on a mix of alternative energy forms, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) said Thursday.

The government has already set 2025 as the date for Taiwan to become nuclear-free, but the recent spate of serious air pollution has inspired some to demand the island also abandon coal five years later.

The MOEA said that it was not possible to drop coal all at once by 2030, but that it could reduce its use while developing more environment-friendly alternatives to cut the level of pollution, the Central News Agency reported.

The MOEA advised against the opposition proposal to draw up separate legislation to reduced the use of coal, adding that an existing proposal already addressed the stability of the power supply and the cutting of carbon emissions.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/11/08
By: Liu Lee-jung and Flor Wang

Taipei, Nov. 8 (CNA) A meeting between President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and Chinese

President Xi Jinping (習近平) is not impossible, even without her recognition of the “1992 consensus,” Hsu Hsin-liang (許信良), former chairman of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), said Thursday.

“As long as Xi is willing to meet with Tsai, there could be such a meeting, whether or not recognition of the ‘1992 consensus’ is set as a prerequisite,” Hsu said.

“It’s not the DPP that does not want to accept the ‘1992 consensus,’ but rather it’s a large number of people in Taiwan,” Hsu said at a seminar sponsored by the Ma Ying-jeou Culture and Education Foundation to mark the third anniversary of Ma’s historic summit with Xi in Singapore in 2015.

Describing Tsai as an elite rather than a staunch supporter of Taiwan independence, he said the DPP would have gone down if it has accepted the “1992 consensus,” given that the party had long refused to recognize the tacit agreement between Taiwan and China.
[FULL  STORY]

ADVANCED SYSTEMS: The two Perry-class frigates have advanced anti-sub capabilities and are fitted with the sonar system used currently by the US Navy

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 09, 2018
By: Aaron Tu and Jonathan Chin  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer and agencies

President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday vowed that the nation would not “concede one

step” in defending itself as she inaugurated two frigates purchased from the US.

The two Perry-class guided missile frigates were commissioned in a ceremony at the Zuoying naval base in Kaohsiung.

Built in the 1980s, the frigates were originally named USS Taylorand USS Gary, and were part of a US$1.8 billion arms deal to Taiwan announced in 2015 under then-US president Barack Obama. They have been renamed Ming Chuan (銘傳) and Feng Chia (逢甲).

They have “high mobility, high sea resistance and low noise,” and are fitted with the SQR-19 sonar system currently used by the US Navy, the Republic of China Navy said.
[FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International 
Date: 07 November, 2018
By: Charlie Storrar

The deputy head of the National Security Bureau (NSB), Chen Kuo-en, said Wednesday

that Taiwan’s security apparatus monitors external threats, not the country’s public.

Chen’s superior, NSB head Peng Sheng-chu, had earlier said the bureau would monitor Facebook and other social networking sites for content that could affect national security. This content, he said, would include slandering the head of state.

President Tsai Ing-wen subsequently said that no Taiwanese citizen would be monitored for their political posts on social media.

NSB deputy head Chen said the bureau’s intelligence gathering targets false information from hostile external sources, not political views expressed by members of the public. He said, “The NSB in accordance with the Intelligence Services Act is responsible for combining the national security organs. We will gather information on hostile Chinese or foreign dissemination of false information that would seek to affect our national security or social stability. What we do is for national security and social stability. We don’t target our citizens.”    [FULL  STORY]

Incoming House Democrats are likely to maintain a policy of diplomatic and military support for Taiwan.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/11/07
By: Nick Aspinwall

Democrats have taken the House of Representatives while Republicans will retain control of the Senate as the final results of the Nov. 6 United States midterm elections continue to trickle in.

The shakeup in the House will complicate President Donald Trump’s ability to push his domestic agenda, as the Democratic House majority can block legislation it does not support. It is unlikely, however, that the results will deal a blow to the Trump administration’s policies towards Taiwan.

Since Trump’s election in 2016, ties between the U.S. and Taiwan have been unprecedentedly warm as the U.S. has engaged Beijing in an all-out trade war. Congressional Democrats have stood with Trumpin taking a tougher stance on Chinese trade and intellectual property practices and have been critical of actions seen as favorable to China, such as Trump’s decision in May to ease U.S. penalties on Chinese technology firm ZTE.    [FULL  STORY]