GIRDING ITS LOINS:An official said the National Security Council and other agencies have been meeting to brainstorm possible scenarios for this week’s talks and solutions

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 04, 2017
By: Chung Li-hua / Staff reporter

The US has agreed to brief Taiwan before and after US President Donald Trump’s

meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in Florida on Thursday and Friday, a national security official said yesterday.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the US government has explained its policy arrangement to Taiwan on multiple occasions and has promised to give Taipei a report after the Trump-Xi meetings.

The briefing is to be made either by American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Chairman James Moriarty to President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in Taipei, or by US government officials to representatives of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Washington, the official said.

The timing of the Trump-Xi meeting suggests that Xi intends to use it as proof of solid Sino-US ties in the run-up to the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) 19th National Congress this fall, the official said.    [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: April 4, 2017
By: The China Post news staff

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Traffic jams on the nation’s freeways piled up earlier than the

National Freeway Bureau (NFB,國道高速公路局) had predicted Monday, starting as early as 12 p.m.

According to the NFB, congestion on National Freeway No. 5 was predicted for between 3 p.m. and 11 p.m., with an estimated 98 minutes of commute time increase. However, jams on the freeway connecting Yilan and New Taipei began hours earlier than expected, with speeds down to an average of 33 kilometers per hour just past midday. At one point, motorists were trapped in a 8-kilometer long traffic jam on the freeway.

Officials at the Pinglin Traffic Control Center said the slowdown National Freeway No. 5 was expected to last until 1 a.m. Tuesday.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-04-02

Activists from Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement and Taiwan’s Sunflower Movement,

including NPP Legislator Huang Kuo-chang (second from left) call on the leaders of China and the United States to deal with the case of a Taiwanese NGO worker detained in China. (CNA photo)
Activists from Taiwan’s Sunflower Movement and Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement held an international press conference in Taipei on Sunday to address concerns about a Taiwanese NGO worker who has been detained in China for more than two weeks.

The detainee — Lee Ming-che — is a staff member at Wenshan Community College in Taipei and a former staffer of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). He disappeared after entering mainland China from Macao on March 19. In recent days it has been confirmed that Lee is being accused of “threatening national security.” It is believed that he may have shared information about democracy and human rights with friends in China via social media. His current whereabouts is unknown.    [FULL  STORY]

The old Xinbeitou train station has been restored to its former glory and returned to its home town

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/04/02
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The old Xinbeitou train station (新北投車站) has finally been restored to its original glory and was officially opened to the public yesterday, close to

the spot in Taipei’s Beitou District it was first built a century ago.

A parade, four-day fair, three-day music festival, and other events are being held to celebrate the return of the station in its present location in Qixing Park, 50 meters from its original foundation, according to Taipei’s Department of Cultural Affairs.

The train station was built during the Japanese colonial era (1895-1945) in 1916 as a terminal station on the rail line to Beitou’s hot springs. It was dismantled in 1988 to

clear the path for the Xinbeitou MRT station of the Tamsui Line, and in 1992 the old station was purchased and rebuilt as an exhibit at the Taiwan Folk Village in far away Changhua down in central Taiwan.

In 2007, the park went out of business, further galvanizing a lengthy campaign started by Beitou residents in 2004 to convince the defunct park’s owner to donate the station to the city government.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/04/02
By: Hsieh Chia-chen and Lee Hsin-Yin

Taipei, April 2 (CNA) Taiwan saw 9,136 green burials in 2015, a huge jump from 3,910

in 2014 and 246 in 2006, highlighting the growing trend among Taiwanese to deal with death in a more environmentally friendly way, the Ministry of Interior said Sunday.

It is traditionally believed in Taiwan that the deceased should be buried in cemeteries so that their souls can rest in peace.

But following the government’s promotion of cremation in recent years, even more people in Taiwan have become receptive to green burials — including scattering the ashes of their loved ones under a tree at a designated area or at sea, the ministry said.

Green burials offer a sustainable, natural alternative to conventional burials and do not take up precious land, the ministry said, adding that the ashes kept under trees or covered by flowers become part of the soil within one to two years without causing any pollution.    [FULL  STORY]

UNITED FRONT:Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong joined a New Power Party lawmaker and two former Sunflower movement leaders to condemn Lee’s continued detention

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 03, 2017
By: Chen Wei-han / Staff reporter

Taiwanese and Hong Kong democracy activists yesterday called for the immediate

release of human rights advocate Lee Ming-che (李明哲), who has been detained incommunicado in China for two weeks.

Lee, an instructor at Wenshan Community College and a former Democratic Progressive Party employee, “disappeared” after his arrival in China from Macau on March 19. The Chinese government only announced 10 days later that Lee had been detained for engaging in “activities endangering national security.”
New Power Party Executive Chairman Huang Kuo-ch
ang (黃國昌), Hong Kong democracy activist Joshua Wong (黃之鋒) and former Sunflower movement leaders Lin Fei-fan (林飛帆) and Chen Wei-ting (陳為廷) took part in a Taipei news conference where they condemned Lee’s detention and urged other nations, especially the US, to pay closer attention to China’s human rights violations.
[FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: April 3, 2017
By: The China Post news staff

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Since 1997, the Taiwan Medical Association Foundation has fought

for Taiwan to join the World Health Organization. This year, foundation chairwoman Lin Shih-chia (林世嘉) said it may be time for Taiwan to reconsider its strategy for joining international organizations.

If the Taiwan government’s effort at compromise does not receive a good faith response, it is time to reconsider the current approach, she said.

The World Health Assembly (WHA) – an annual summit of WHO committees that provides the framework for the global fight against communicable diseases – takes place this year from May 22 to May 31 in Geneva, Switzerland.  [FULL  STORY]

Since 2009, Taiwan has attended the WHA as under observer under the name “Department of Health, Chinese Taipei.”

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-04-01

Taiwan’s envoy to the United States, Stanley Kao, says Taiwan has made its positions

on issues involving Taiwan’s interests clear to the US government.

Kao was speaking Friday in Washington, DC, responding to a question about the upcoming meeting between US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.

Kao also said that the United States is fully aware of Taiwan’s stances on issues that involve US-Taiwan ties. Kao said Taiwan has used different channels to make these views known.   [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan spent US$20 million on the Congress: reports

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/04/01
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Protesters in Paraguay set fire to the Congress building

funded by Taiwan to the tune of US$20 million (NT$632 million), reports said Saturday.

The protests erupted in response to a secret vote by the Senate in favor of an amendment allowing the country’s president to run for a second term. Paraguay is the only one of Taiwan’s 21 official diplomatic allies situated in South America, and in the past the Asian island was generous with aid to counter attempts by China to undermine its international position.

The competition between the two sides for diplomatic allies was often criticized as “dollar diplomacy.”

According to reports in the Paraguayan media, not just the building, but also the laptops of the 125 members of Congress were funded by Taiwan.   [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/04/01
By: Chen Cheng-wei and Elaine Hou

Taipei, April 1 (CNA) The number of senior citizens in Taiwan reached more than 3.1

million, or 13.33 percent of the total population, outnumbering the population of young children for the first time, according to the latest official demographic figures.

As of February, there were about 3.14 million people aged 65 or above among Taiwan’s population of 23.54 million, according to statistics compiled by the Ministry of the Interior.

It was the first time the population of senior citizens surpassed the population of people aged 0-14, which accounted for 13.31 percent of the total population, it added.   [FULL  STORY]