From expensive high-mountain oolong to humble roadside tea stands, Taiwan does not mess around when it comes to perfecting the art of tea.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/07/27
By: Jules Quartly

The playbill for a Broadway production in the early 1900s pictures a waiter serving a gentleman and two impeccably attired ladies in some undefined but leafy and upscale location. Tea is served in cut-glass, coupe stemware.

“The Champagne of Teas!” exclaims one of the characters.

“Yes, it’s Formosa Oolong Tea,” comes the reply.

Though India is justifiably proud of its Darjeeling and China’s Pu’er has history on its side, most would agree that the utterly unique terroir, light jade coloration, and muscatel-like flavor make choice-grade Oolong the brew of champions. And as anyone who knows tea will tell you, there’s much more where that came from.
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Nantou school choir takes part in World Peace Choral Festival

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/07/27
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Bullying by China led to the cancellation of a performance by a Taiwanese high-school choir at a United Nations building in the Austrian capital Vienna, reports said Friday.

A choir from the Min Ho Junior High School in Nantou County was in Vienna to participate in the World Peace Choral Festival, and one of the items on its schedule was a performance scheduled for Friday at the city’s UN Center, the Central News Agency reported.

However, due to pressure from the Chinese embassy in Vienna, the Taiwanese choir’s appearance was canceled. The official reason was that only a maximum of 500 people were allowed inside to perform, but all parties concerned knew clearly that Chinese pressure was the real reason, CNA reported.

The choir is still performing at the opening and closing ceremonies for the World Peace Choral Festival, and at other events in the city.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/07/27
By: Elaine Hou and Hsu Hsiao-ling

Taipei, July 27 (CNA) Taiwan nationals can now register births, deaths, and divorces online, using their Citizen Digital Certificates, as those services were digitalized on July 16, the interior ministry said Friday.

The process of registering or applying for birth, death and divorce records now simply involves visiting the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) website and entering the relevant information, Hua Ching-chun (花敬群), deputy minister of the interior, said at a press conference.

After that process is completed, the applicant will receive a confirmation email and can then go to the Household Registration Office to collect their revised national identification cards bearing the newly registered information, Hua said.

He said applications for any government subsidies related to births and deaths can also be filed on the MOI website at http://www.ris.gov.tw/834.    [FULL  STORY]

‘FACE REALITY’: The cross-strait situation could benefit both sides if Beijing heeds international ideals, but if it does not, China would face the consequences, Lai said

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 28, 2018
By: Lee Hsin-fang, Chen Yu-fu, Lu Yi-hsuan, Huang Wei-chu and She  /  Staff reporters, with staff writer

China’s suppression of Taiwan would have the opposite effect and China would

suffer the consequences of its actions, Premier William Lai (賴清德) said in an interview with the Liberty Times (sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) published yesterday.

China has poached diplomatic allies, stopped the nation from participating in the World Health Assembly, pressured international airlines into changing how they refer to Taiwan and prevented Taichung from hosting the East Asian Youth Games, Lai said.

China has an excuse every time, but its real purpose is to suppress the government’s authority, attack morale and force Taiwan to accept its “one China” principle, he said.

No matter what considerations China has taken into account, these moves would have the opposite effect, he said.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan English News
Date: July 26, 2018
By: Phillip Charlier

Police and animal welfare officials ended a three month long investigation after finding evidence that two men had adopted 20 stray dogs from animal shelters, and sold them to be slaughtered for meat in Taichung City.

In March this year, after an investigation by the Miaoli County Animal Protection and Epidemic Prevention Bureau, two men named Qiu – an uncle and nephew, were fined NT$30,000 each after being found guilty animal cruelty offences for trapping stray dogs using wire traps. Further investigations began when it was discovered that the two men had adopted 20 stray dogs, which were unaccounted for.

The suspects were found to have gone to animal shelters in Hsinchu County and Miaoli County to adopt the dogs from the beginning of the year to March.

The suspects claimed that they had adopted the dogs and sent them to friends as watchdogs. However, police went to each address provided and found no trace of the dogs. As the men’s lies crumbled, investigators suspected that the dogs had been sold for slaughter.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-07-26

Premier William Lai is condemning China’s suppression of Taiwan in the

international arena. Taiwan’s right to host the 2019 East Asian Youth Games has been canceled by the East Asian Olympic Committee due to interference from China.

Premier Lai condemned China’s actions on Thursday. Lai said, “This barbaric behavior is aimed at suppressing the government and the spirit of the people and to force Taiwan to accept the One China principle. This will not succeed and will only cause a backlash from Taiwan. It will cause Taiwan to be more united and the international society to be more cautious about China. China’s suppression will only have the opposite effect. It will not be effective and will bring more difficulties to China.”

The foreign ministry is also calling on nations to stand up for Taiwan’s dignity. In April, China sent a letter to 44 global airlines demanding that they do not list Taiwan as a country on their destination list. Many of these companies have given in to Beijing and changed Taiwan’s name.
[FULL  STORY]

Taiwan’s unique position as a cyber threat hotspot presents an opportunity to galvanize its domestic cybersecurity industry.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/07/26
By: Philip Hsu

On May 11, Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan passed the Cybersecurity Management Law, Taiwan’s first national cybersecurity law (iThome, May 22). This law, which mandates cybersecurity requirements for Taiwan’s government agencies and operators of critical infrastructures, represents the latest initiative in the Tsai administration’s push for cybersecurity under the policy “Cyber Security is National Security.” As part of this push, the administration is also working to develop Taiwan’s indigenous cybersecurity industry through a policy of “cyber autonomy” (資安自主).

The cyber threats to the island are substantial. Taiwan has been ranked as one of the top targets of advanced cyber attacks in the world, mainly from state-initiated or state sponsored Advanced Persistent Threats, or APTs (FireEye, Jan. 14, 2014). These APTs conduct cyber espionage against government agencies and corporate entities in Taiwan, most of which can be traced back to China. In April, the Department of Cybersecurity of Taiwan’s Executive Yuan revealed that China’s “internet army” accounted for 288 successful attacks against Taiwan’s government agencies in 2017 (Liberty Times, April 5). Last March, the Director of Taiwan’s National Security Agency admitted to the Legislative Yuan that China’s cyber penetration of Taiwan’s networks is “worse than before” (Liberty Times, March 9, 2017).

Cyber autonomy and national security
Given this backdrop, it may come as no surprise that Taiwan’s push to support its cybersecurity industry through cyber autonomy has a national security bent. In one sense, the word autonomy (自主) is connected to Taiwan’s ongoing efforts at “defense self-reliance” (國防自主) to reduce the island’s reliance on foreign arms. Such efforts to indigenously design and build military jets, missiles, and armored vehicles have been ongoing for decades, but the Tsai administration has made self-reliance a central component of its defense policy, most notably including Taiwan’s new plans to deploy indigenously developed attack submarines.    [FULL  STORY]

Hualien prosecutor took police officers with him on their day off

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/07/26
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A prosecutor faces charges because he took police

to a kindergarten to interrogate a boy who he suspected of bullying his daughter, reports said Thursday.

The case came to light after the parent of a child at the kindergarten, in the city of Hualien, informed the local prosecutors office, the Central News Agency reported.

On June 21, prosecutor Lin Chun-yu (林俊佑) took two police officers, who just like him had a day off, to his daughter’s kindergarten because he suspected she had been bullied by a boy there.

Despite protests by the kindergarten director and by a teacher, Lin reportedly forced his way into the classroom and interrogated the boy.

One week later, he visited the kindergarten again and demanded the director supply him with surveillance camera footage, but the latter refused though he welcomed Lin to look at the tapes at the school, according to CNA. The director reportedly called the prosecutors office, which sent an official to intervene.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/07/26
By: Lung Po-an and William Yen

Taipei, July 26 (CNA) Taiwan’s Sports Administration (SA) plans to seek

talks to overturn the recent decision by the East Asian Olympic Committee (EAOC) to revoke Taichung City’s right to host the first East Asian Youth Games, according to a sports official Thursday.

SA deputy head Lin Che-hung (林哲宏) made the remark after a joint meeting with the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee (CTOC), Taichung City officials and experts on sport regulations.

The decision to revoke the city’s hosting rights was made at an EAOC extraordinary meeting on Tuesday in Beijing about which Taichung was not informed, Lin said, adding that the city was not given an opportunity to defend itself.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-07-25

President Tsai Ing-wen says the cancellation of Taichung’s right to host the East

Asian Youth Games goes beyond Taiwan’s political divide. Tsai was speaking Wednesday at a central committee meeting of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), of which she is the chair.

The East Asian Olympic Committee this week stripped Taichung of the right to host the 2019 East Asian Youth Games. The decision came after pressure from China. Reports claim Beijing acted in retaliation after Taiwanese civic groups lobbied for Taiwan to take part in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics under the name “Taiwan” instead of “Chinese Taipei.” This is the designation under which Taiwan takes part in international sporting events, again due to pressure from China.

President Tsai called the East Asian Olympic Committee’s decision a mistake. She also said this was a matter that went beyond the division between Taiwan’s ruling “green” and opposition “blue” political camps. She urged the country to stand united behind Taichung in a bid to reverse the decision.    [FULL  STORY]