The China Post
Date: May 10, 2017
By: The China Post news staff

TAIPEI, Taiwan — The Health Ministry confirmed Tuesday morning that Taiwan still

had not been invited to the World Health Assembly (WHA) as the deadline for registration passed.

At a press conference on Tuesday, Health Minister Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said that despite the absence of an invitation, a team led by himself would depart for the Geneva meeting as scheduled and conduct bilateral meetings with attendees as well as foreign officials and NGOs on the sidelines of the assembly.

“It (the assembly) is all about exchanging and updating information and technology,” Chen said.

Although this could hopefully be accomplished to some degree at the sideline meetings, he said, not receiving an official invitation was still “extremely upsetting.”
[FULL  STORY]

A Taiwanese teacher forced a deaf elementary student to remove his hearing aid in class

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/05/08
By: Judy Lin, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News)—The family of a hearing-impaired child exposed a 52-year-

old female Taiwanese teacher surnamed Hsieh for discriminating against their hearing-impaired child in class and forcing him to remove his hearing aids, reported the local Chinese-language media Apple Daily.

The 8-year-old school boy surnamed Huang was diagnosed at a very young age as being unable to hear sounds in a certain frequency range, and has been wearing hearing aids since his last year at kindergarten, said his father.

Preschools and kindergartens are on a three year basis in Taiwan, starting at the age of four where children typically graduate by the age of six.

Even with the help of the hearing aids that cost the boy’s family NT$90,000 (US$ 2,985) to purchase, the boy can only hear sounds within a range of three to five meters, said the senior Huang.    [FULL  STORY]

The News Lens
Date: 2017/05/08
By: Edward White

As the wife of a Taiwanese man detained in China travels to the U.S. and Europe to

lobby the international community for support, a prominent U.S. human rights lawyer sees several reasons for optimism as to why Trump may not be so bad on human rights after all.

Lee Ching-yu (李凈瑜), wife of the Taiwanese human rights activist detained in China, plans to leave Taipei in the coming weeks for the United States and Europe in a bid to lobby foreign governments to press Beijing for her husband’s release.

Lee Ming-che (李明哲), 42, has not been heard from after flying from Taipei to Macau and into Guangdong on March 19. China, which has confirmed he was detained by a branch of the state security police for “involvement in a threat to national security,” has not detailed where he is or the charges he faces.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/05/08
By: Justin Su and Lilian Wu

Taipei, May 8 (CNA) Two legislators from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) who have physician licenses said they will take part in this year’s World Health Assembly in their capacity as representatives of civic groups.

The annual conference of the World Health Assembly, the decision-making body of the World Health Organization, is scheduled to be held in Geneva May 22-31, but Taiwan has yet to receive an invitation to attend as an observer.

If an official Taiwan delegation cannot take part, DPP legislators Chiu Tai-yuan (邱泰源) and Lin Ching-yi (林靜儀) will still be there as part of associations they belong to that have received invitations to the meeting.    [FULL  STORY]

REACHING OUT:In a Japanese message on Twitter, the president highlighted the nation’s desire to attend the WHA and to contribute to the international community

Taipei Times
Date: May 09, 2017
By: Lee I-chia / Staff reporter

The Ministry of Health and Welfare said that Taiwan had not received an invitation to

attend the annual World Health Assembly (WHA) as of yesterday evening — a few hours before the online registration period ended, but said that the government would persist in its efforts to secure one.

The annual meeting of the WHA, the decisionmaking body of the WHO, is to take place from May 22 to 31 in Geneva.

With the online registration for this year’s WHA ending yesterday in Geneva, the ministry held a news conference in Taipei at 6pm to clarify the nation’s position.

“We are still making an all-out effort to actively pursue [the invitation],” International Cooperation Office Technical Superintendent Hsu Min-huei (許明暉) said.
[FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: May 9, 2017
By: Kuan-lin Liu

TAIPEI, Taiwan — With Mother’s Day just around the corner, local job bank 1111

released its latest survey report on working women’s family planning in Taiwan on Monday.

Although most working women surveyed (78 percent) reported a desire to have a family, 22 percent did not want to have kids, primarily due to concerns regarding an inability to afford the expenses related to raising children (28.8 percent).

Economic concerns have long been a factor in whether couples choose to have children, with stagnant wages and economic volatility making Taiwan one of the countries with the lowest total fertility rates.

In the two decades from 1996 to 2016, Taiwan’s crude birth rate fell from 15.18 births per 1000 total population to 8.86 births per 1000 total population, 1111 found.
[FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-05-07

With just one day remaining ahead of the May 8th deadline to register for this year’s

World Health Assembly (WHA) meeting in Geneva, Taiwan has yet to receive an invitation.

Taiwan has participated as an observer for the last eight years, but China has taken moves to prevent Taiwan’s participation in similar organizations ever since President Tsai Ing-wen took office last May.

Health Minister Chen Shih-chung said Sunday that if the invitation does not arrive by Monday evening – the deadline for registration – then the government will hold a press conference to address the situation.

Last year, Taiwan did not receive its invitation until the last day of registration, and it included special wording stressing the organization’s “One China” principle.
[FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/05/07
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News)–“Embrace the World,” officially released on March 27, 2017,

is the Taipei Universiade theme song made by Kris Wu and sung by him and his friends, I-WANT. Click the following to download the song: http://data.2017.gov.taipei/001/HamaTestUpload/upload/636284953859008689pta_985_4136657_86063.mp3

Embrace the World emerged victorious from the original 264 outstanding entries. The work is a joint effort between internationally-renowned techno producer Howie B. (who has worked with the likes of Björk, New Order, U2, Tricky, Soul II Soul, and other top groups and musicians) and Taiwan’s famed music producer Ada Su, according to the Taipei Universiade Organizing Committee.

The fast tempo of traditional indigenous music, with Rumba rhythm and Latino instruments mixed with techno elements create a powerful feeling of the song, the committee said.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/05/07
By: Chiu Chun-chin and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, May 7 (CNA) A Malaysian tourist was caught on Sunday at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport for trying to smuggle into Taiwan three angonoka tortoises, which are listed as critically endangered species by international wildlife conservation organizations and reputed to be the most expensive tortoise on earth – worth about NT$1 million (US$33,150) each.

The Malaysian man arrived at Taiwan’s main international airport via Malaysia Airlines at around 3:30 p.m. and three tortoises were found in his luggage, Taipei Customs said.

The three animals were identified as angonoka tortoises (Astrochelys yniphora), a critically endangered land tortoise species endemic to Madagascar that has been included in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and is listed as one of the world’s three most threatened turtles in the World Wildlife Crime Report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), according to Taipei Customs.   [FULL  STORY]

‘NOT NORTH KOREA’:Taiwan would not seek nuclear weapons in a bid to deter China or use them as a bargaining chip, Minister of National Defense Feng Shih-kuan said

Taipei Times
Date: May 08, 2017
By: Chen Wei-han / Staff reporter

The nation will remain committed to cross-strait peace despite increasing military

threats from China, which is expected to project its military power beyond the first island chain on a regular basis, Minister of National Defense Feng Shih-kuan (馮世寬) said yesterday.

As China is building new aircraft carriers, the East China and Yellow seas will no longer be enough for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to conduct training on open seas, and long-distance military operations beyond the first island chain, and even near the second island chain, would become common, Feng told a forum on national security strategy hosted by Tamkang University in New Taipei City.

China’s military power has grown exponentially, with its aircraft carrier group and bomber fleets capable of conducting training around and beyond Taiwan’s airspace, he said.    [FULL  STORY]