A revealing glimpse into life inside a Taiwanese prison.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/09/13
By: Lu Ching-wen

Editor’s note: Taiwan is currently undergoing a debate over an alarmingly high rate of recidivism. As many as four out of five prisoners in the country’s jails are repeat offenders, leading to questions over whether prisons are serving any corrective or educational purpose. One element of this debate is that the denial of basic human rights in prisons is a major factor in contributing to the problem.

Touring the inside of a medical clinic and other facilities in a central Taiwan prison caused me to reflect deeply on the living conditions and medical care of prisoners in Taiwan.

Prisoners aim to behave well so they can earn promotion within the four-tier system that governs the standard of treatment and privileges in Taiwan’s prisons, at the top of which beckons an increased prospect of parole.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/09/13
By: Duncan DeAeth, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The chairman of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), James Moriarty, said the recent decision by the U.S. to withdraw diplomatic envoys from three Central American nations, was made to show that China’s continual chipping away at Taiwan’s diplomatic relations would not be “consequence-free.”

Speaking in Washington on Sept. 12, Moriarty said the decision was made to send a message to China and other countries considering breaking ties with Taiwan, and to discuss regional issues and strategy moving forward with the diplomats serving in those countries.

Moriarty was quoted by CNA as saying:

“We will tell the Chinese that picking off diplomatic partners of Taiwan is a source of great concern to the United States. We’ve been telling China as clearly as possible that these are not consequence-free actions.”
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/09/13
By: Lu Hsin-hui and Y.F. Low

Taipei, Sept. 13 (CNA) President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) expressed her appreciation Wednesday to the European Parliament for passing a report that calls for an end to China’s military provocation of Taiwan.

“We welcome the passage of the new EU-China relations report by Europarl … grateful to EU parliament for shining light on such an important issue,” Tsai wrote in a Twitter post.

In a statement released Thursday, the Presidential Office said that as a member of the international democratic community, Taiwan is willing to continue contributing to the maintenance of regional security and stability, working closely with like-minded countries to fulfill its international responsibilities.

“Facing multiple challenges from China, we will make the best of our efforts to protect our people’s freedom, democracy and well-being from being undermined,” it added.
[FULL  STORY]

MODUS OPERANDI: The Concentric Patriotism Association told the reporter that it only trusted people with family in China and that it paid Taiwanese to attend events

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 14, 2018
By: Stacy Hsu  /  Staff reporter

A 25-minute investigative documentary aired by Qatar-based al-Jazeera TV has shed

some light on how pro-unification groups operate in Taiwan, including by reportedly paying people to attend events and asking the police for the names of independence advocates.

The documentary was produced by Lynn Lee (李成琳) and seeks to draw attention to activities of pro-unification groups in Taiwan, most notably the Concentric Patriotism Association (CPA, 愛國同心會) and the China Unification Promotion Party (CUPP), whose members have grabbed headlines by attacking independence advocates and Falun Gong members staging a sit-in outside Taipei 101.

The network sent an undercover reporter posing as a Chinese visitor to Taiwan in an attempt to infiltrate the CPA.

During the reporter’s conversations with CPA executive director Zhang Xiuye (張秀葉), a Chinese immigrant, Zhang told him that the association paid people between NT$800 and NT$900 per day to wave the national flag of the People’s Republic of China.
[FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-09-12

For years, a wildlife center run by the agriculture ministry has been caring for rescued

bears. Conservationists say changes over the past two years have given the bears a better quality of life, with visible results.

This government wildlife center is devoted to research and conservation. Its mission extends to caring for a group of seven bears, including four Formosan black bears. Some of these bears were taken in after suffering injuries, while others have been rescued from illegal captivity.

For the most part, the bears have been at the center for between ten and twenty years. Conservationists noticed that after a long period in the center, the bears started displaying repetitive behaviors, such as pacing, rocking back and forth, or walking in circles. Since 2016, the center’s staff has been working to enrich the bears’ lives and reduce such behavior.    [FULL  STORY]

A proposal to compete as ‘Taiwan’ rather than ‘Chinese Taipei’ in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics serves as a warning to Beijing.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/09/12
By: By Hsieh Shang-po

In a meeting on July 24, the East Asian Olympic Committee decided to revoke Taiwan’s right to host the first East Asian Youth Games in 2019 in Taichung City.

The decision is controversial because it was guided by the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). It sends a warning to Taiwanese activist groups who want to challenge the Olympic Model – an agreement established in 1981 that Taiwan’s participation in the Olympic Games would occur only under the name “Chinese Taipei,” instead of “Taiwan” or “Republic of China” (ROC).

While the Olympic Model has been the subject of criticism in Taiwan for years, long-held grievances are finally starting to inspire action. Following the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, an alliance of civic groupshas pushed to hold a referendum on whether the ROC should participate in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games under the name “Taiwan.”

For many critics, such initiatives reflect the rise of Taiwanese nationalism that challenges the so-called “One China” ideology.   [FULL  STORY]

Super Typhoon Mangkhut’s periphery to bring rain to southern and eastern Taiwan

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/09/13
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Super Typhoon Mangkhut has continued to gain in intensity but has shifted south and appears to be headed toward the northern Philippine island of Luzon, while it appears that Taiwan will be largely spared from its effects, according to the Central Weather Bureau (CWB).

CWB forecaster Wu Yin-fan (吳依帆) today said that the probability of issuing a sea warning has diminished as Mangkhut has shifted to the south, but there will still be significant rainfall in southern and eastern Taiwan. As of 2:00 a.m. this morning, Super Typhoon Mangkhut was located 1,510 kilometers southeast of Eluanbi and was packing maximum sustained winds of 198 kilometers per hour with gusts of up to 244 kilometers per hour, according to the CWB.

It is estimated that Mangkhut will come closest to Taiwan tomorrow evening (Sept. 15), but due to the intensification of a Pacific high pressure system, the typhoon’s path has shifted further south, pushing it further away from the country. The image below shows the Pacific high pressure system in red which is shielding Taiwan from Mangkhut:
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/09/12
By: Hsiao Po-wen and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, Sept. 12 (CNA) The Supreme Court turned down Wednesday an appeal by

Hualien Magistrate Fu Kun-chi (傅崐萁) against an eight-month prison term he was given for stock speculation last year, ruling that the case is now closed and that Fu must serve his term.

The prosecution has been instructed to take action to prevent Fu from fleeing the country, according to a statement released by the Supreme Court.

Fu, along with several accomplices, was accused of having speculated in stocks of Taipei-based Hold Key Electric Wire and Cable Co. using many dummy accounts from October 2003 to January 2004.

During that period, the price of Hold Key stocks rose from NT$15.5 (US$0.5) per share to NT$40.6, the statement said, noting that the price hike generated “criminal transactions” valued at NT$118.48 million.    [FULL  STORY]

MANIPULATED OPINION? The Transitional Justice Commission would never be a campaign tool, but remain independent and objective, Chairman Huang Huang-hsiung said

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 13, 2018
By: Stacy Hsu  /  Staff reporter

Transitional Justice Commission Deputy Chairman Chang Tien-chin (張天欽) has

resigned over his alleged plan to manipulate public opinion so that Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) New Taipei City mayoral candidate Hou You-yi (侯友宜) would be held accountable for his actions during the White Terror era.

Chang’s resignation came in the aftermath of a leaked audio recording of an informal meeting on Aug. 24, which was allegedly attended by Chang, commission Secretary-General Hsu Chun-ju (許君如), as well as two commission researchers and two associate researchers.

According to a partial transcript published yesterday by the Chinese-language Mirror Media magazine, Chang asked the participants to brainstorm on how to enforce a lustration law that the commission had planned to draw up and, specifically, how to use it against Hou, whom Chang called the “most despicable case [of concern] in transitional justice.”    [FULL  STORY]

A STRETCH OR KICK? A ministry spokesman said Taiwan respects everyone’s right to express their opinions, but they should do so ‘in a peaceful and rational manner’

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 12, 2018
By: Stacy Hsu  /  Staff reporter

The actions of a Japanese man who allegedly kicked a statue in Tainan honoring

“comfort women” only reflected his own uncivilized behavior and hopefully would not affect Taiwan-Japan relations, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday.

“The ministry denounces any provocative, violent and uncivilized behavior, whether it is conducted by a Taiwanese or a foreigner… Such actions are not conducive to resolving the comfort women issue,” spokesman Andrew Lee (李憲章) told a news conference in Taipei.

As far as he knew, Mitsuhiko Fujii, who was seen in video footage released by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Tainan City Councilor Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) on Sunday with his raised left leg touching the statue, has already left Taiwan, Lee said.

Fujii reportedly visited Taiwan as a representative of 16 Japanese right-wing groups.
[FULL  STORY]