Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-07-31

The foreign ministry has thanked the United States for mentioning the importance of

Taiwan in a speech on the US Indo-Pacific strategy. That’s the word from foreign ministry spokesperson Andrew Lee on Tuesday.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday gave his keynote address on “America’s Indo-Pacific Economic Vision” at the US Chamber of Commerce in Washington DC. Pompeo cited numerous US partners including Thailand, Vietnam, India, and Mongolia, and the development of regional peace and prosperity.

Pompeo also said Taiwan has continued to develop its economy and democracy for it to become a high-tech powerhouse.

At a press conference on Tuesday, foreign ministry spokesperson Andrew Lee expressed the government’s gratitude for Pompeo bringing up Taiwan in his speech. The ministry also thanked the US for emphasizing the role that Taiwan can play in the region. Lee said it went on to show that the US values Taiwan as an indispensable partner under the Indo-Pacific strategy.    [FULL  STORY]

Archaeological evidence suggests dog offered a meaty supplement to farmed produce as far back as 5,000 years ago.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/07/31
By: Steven Crook and Katy Hui-wen Hung

To a large extent, Taiwan’s original inhabitants were able to live off the fat of the land. Because the island’s fecund environment and biodiversity provided a range of foods, the estimated 100,000 Austronesian people living here when the Dutch East India Company established its trading base at Tainan in 1624 did not need to engage in serious agriculture. Instead, they hunted and gathered.

At least some indigenous people consumed enough protein to grow big and tall. In his book “How Taiwan Became Chinese”, Tonio Andrade quotes early European visitors who were impressed by the health and strength of local folk in the southwest, where venison was a staple.

Chen Di (陳第), a Fujianese scholar who accompanied a Ming dynasty piracy-suppression expedition to Taiwan, saw Siraya aborigines eating every part of the deer they caught, including (to his revulsion) the intestines and contents thereof. They did not, however, eat chickens, finding them quite disgusting.

In “Dong Fan Ji” (東番記, Notes on the Eastern Barbarians), the short account Chen authored on his return to China in 1603, he recorded that the native people did not cultivate paddy fields. Instead, they grew upland-style a strain of rice that produced longer grains than the rice he was familiar with.    [FULL  STORY]

Overwhelming majority support Taiwan government action in trying to reinstate the games

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/07/31
By: Scott Morgan, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – According to a recent survey, 60.1 percent of Taiwanese people believe that Chinese pressure led to the cancellation of the 2019 East Asian Youth Games, and 76 percent feel the Chinese government is unfriendly to Taiwan’s government, reported CNA.

The survey also found that 84 percent of respondents support petitions and inquiries made by both the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee and the Taichung City Government, in the hope that the cancellation will be reversed.

The East Asian Olympic Committee has an impromptu meeting on July 24 at the request of China, at which the games were canceled. Reports say that China was angry at civil society groups in Taiwan trying to change Taiwan’s participatory name from “Chinese Taipei” to “Taiwan.”

According to the survey, 60.1 percent of respondents are angry about the incident, while 25.8 percent are not angry.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/07/31
By: Lee Hsin-Yin

Taipei, July 31 (CNA) The Pilots Union Taoyuan said Tuesday it has not ruled out the

possibility of a walkout during the Sept. 22-24 Mid Autumn Festival holiday if an ongoing vote over labor action grants its members the right to strike.

A majority of union members have already cast their ballots on whether to strike as part of a vote being held from July 16-Aug. 6, in the wake of unsuccessful negotiations on working conditions with the country’s two main airlines, China Airlines (CAL) and EVA Airways. About 70 percent of CAL pilots and 50 percent of Eva Air pilots belong to the union.

A vote in favor of action is considered highly likely and a pilot walkout could have a significant impact on the country’s aviation industry given that a one-day strike by CAL flight attendants two years ago cost the carrier NT$500 million (US$15.38 million) and affected 30,000 passengers.    [FULL  STORY]

STRATEGIC ROLE: The government thanked the US state secretary for his positive remarks about Taiwan in his speech about the US initiative at a forum in Washington

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

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday said it would soon propose ideas in

response to the US’ Indo-Pacific initiative, as it expressed gratitude to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for mentioning the importance of Washington’s partnership with Taipei in a speech on the US administration’s strategy.

Speaking at a routine news conference in Taipei, Department of East Asian and Pacific Affairs Director-General Baushuan Ger (葛葆萱) said that the department’s Indo-Pacific Affairs Section, which was established in May as an advisory agency, has been closely observing concerned nations’ rhetoric about the initiative.

“So far, no country has proposed a specific strategy regarding the initiative. We will be paying close attention to their future remarks,” Ger said, adding that the department plans to expand the section’s staff of four to help it better accomplish its tasks.

Hudson Institute Center for Chinese Strategy director Michael Pillsbury, who served on US President Donald Trump’s transition team, said at a forum in Taipei last week that Taiwan should be more active in proposing ideas for the initiative, to which Ger responded that the government plans to do so in the near future.
[FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-07-30

Taiwan’s ruling party – the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) – has signed the

Andorra Liberal Manifesto, which was adopted by the Congress of Liberal International last May in Andorra, the sixth smallest nation in Europe.

The manifesto emphasizes the ideals of freedom, democracy and human rights.

Liberal International President Dr. Juli Minoves is in Taipei to sign the Chinese-language version of the manifesto along with the DPP.

At a press conference on Monday, Minoves said the manifesto has been translated into several official languages of the United Nations. He said Liberal International chose Taiwan to publish the Chinese version because the country represents the hope for democratic values in Asia.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan’s manufacturing industry leaders have hoarded profits at the expense of wages for too long.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/07/30
By: Justin Hugo

It is the time of the year when Taiwan’s minimum wage is being put on the table for discussion again and the manufacturing industry has fired the first salvo – they do not want the government to increase it.

The Chinese National Federation of Industries (CNFI) – which represents the interests of the bulk of manufacturers in Taiwan – said last week that it wants the government to “respect the market mechanism and management autonomy of companies”, Focus Taiwan reported.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/07/30
By:  Central News Agency

Taipei, July 30 (CNA) Taichung Mayor Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said Monday that the

world’s attention must be drawn to China “ubiquitous suppression” of Taiwan, as evidenced by the revocation of his city’s rights to host a regional sports event.

“If we don’t speak up, our voices won’t be heard in the international community,” Lin said. “Even if the decision cannot be changed, we need to get more people to understand the truth.”

Lin made the appeal at an international press conference in Taipei after lodging a formal complaint earlier in the day with the East Asian Olympic Committee (EAOC) over its recent decision to cancel the East Asian Youth Games in Taichung.

The EAOC announced the decision after China called an extraordinary meeting of its members on July 24 in Beijing and initiated a vote to cancel the games, reportedly over concerns about a proposed referendum on whether the name “Taiwan” instead of “Chinese Taipei” should be used at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and other international sports events.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/07/30
By: Wang Yang-yu and Ko Lin

Taipei, July 30 (CNA) Two Taiwanese members of a Chinese university alumni association were indicted by prosecutors Monday on charges of violating national security laws, according to the Taipei District Prosecutors Office.

The two suspects, identified only by their family names of Fu (傅) and Li (李), are members of the Jinan University (JNU) Taiwan Alumni Association, where Fu currently holds the position of secretary-general while Li is the executive officer, prosecutors said.

Between 2009 and 2012, Fu and Li set up over a dozen rendezvous in a third country between Taiwanese people and Chinese officials, in an attempt to develop an organization serving the Chinese Communist regime.

The National Security Act prohibits the collection, consignation or delivery of confidential documents, pictures, information or articles, or the development of an organization for official use of a foreign country or China.    [FULL  STORY]

COMPLAINT FILED: Lin Chia-lung said he hoped the EAOC would respond as soon as possible, while warning the cancelation of the Games would stain cross-strait ties

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 31, 2018
By: Shelley Shan  /  Staff reporter

Taichung Mayor Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) is willing to go to Beijing to resolve the

cancelation of the East Asian Youth Games, if the Chinese government approves his visit, he told an international news conference in Taipei yesterday.

The Taichung City Government has lodged an official complaint with the East Asian Olympic Committee (EAOC) over its decision to cancel Taichung’s right to host the first East Asian Youth Games in August next year, he said.

The committee cited a proposed referendum on changing the name of Taiwan’s national team when it participates in the 2020 Olympic Games and other international events as its reason for canceling next year’s competition in Taichung.

“If it [China] lets me go, I will go,” Lin said. “We will not spare any effort. “

Lin was asked if he might make a statement similar to that made by Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), who last year said that Taiwan and China are part of one family, which some speculate might be why Beijing did not interfere with the Taipei Universiade last summer.    [FULL  STORY]