’CHINA FACTOR’:Wong told dozens of students about his participation in the ‘Umbrella movement’ in 2014 and the Hong Kong legislative election last year

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 16, 2017
By: Chen Wei-han / Staff reporter

Following an uneventful arrival in Taiwan on Saturday night, Hong Kong democracy campaigner Joshua

Wong (黃之鋒) yesterday spoke to a group of Taiwanese students in Taipei about his involvement in the territory’s struggle for self-determination.

Wong was escorted by police at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport after disembarking, and his speech was marked by a heavy police presence, although there was no protest of any kind.

Wong and three Hong Kong lawmakers, Edward Yiu (姚松炎), Nathan Law (羅冠聰) and Eddie Chu (朱凱迪), were confronted by a group of pro-unification protesters on their arrival at Taoyuan Airport on Jan. 7, with protesters attempting to break a police cordon to attack the four, who were invited to participate in forums organized by the New Power Party.

Wong said he was more confident in the Taiwanese police force’s investigation efficiency than in their Hong Kong counterparts.

Only four people were arrested for attacking Law at Hong Kong International Airport on Sunday last week, while 13 people were arrested in Taiwan for attempting to attack Wong and the three pro-localization lawmakers, he said.

Wong said he had not taken any special measures to prevent more conflict with protesters and had only asked the event organizer to attend to his safety.

The event — organized by a think tank affiliated with the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) — was to familiarize college students with cross-strait political and economic interactions.   [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: January 16, 2017
By: The China Post news staff

A local taxi driver was detained Sunday after admitting to drugging three South Korean tourists and

sexually assaulting one of them.

The driver, surnamed Chan (詹), told police he used a syringe to inject sleeping drugs into unopened yogurt drinks that he offered to three female tourists he picked up in Taipei’s Wanhua District Thursday afternoon.

That evening, after taking the three to sightsee in New Taipei’s Ruifang District, Chan drove them to Shilin Night Market. During the ride, two of the women fell asleep while the third remained awake, police said.

The taxi arrived at Shilin around 9 p.m. and the passenger who had remained awake visited the night market alone, they said.

Chan then drove the two sleeping women to a secluded area near the night market before sexually assaulting one of them, police said.    [FULL  STORY]

CNN
Date: January 14, 2017
By: Eugene Scott, CNN

Washington (CNN)China’s Foreign Ministry firmly pushed back Saturday against President-elect Donald Trump’s suggestion that the “One China” policy on Taiwan is negotiable, calling it the “political foundation” of the relationship between the US and China.

China views Taiwan as a renegade province and, since 1979, the US has acknowledged Beijing’s claim that Taiwan is part of China, with US-China relations governed by a set of protocols known as the “One China” policy.

“The ‘One China’ principle is the political foundation of Sino-US relations and it is non-negotiable. We urge the relevant side in the US to recognize the high sensitivity of the Taiwan issue and abide by the pledges by successive US administrations from both parties,” spokesman Lu Kang said.

He was responding to a question about Trump’s remarks Friday in The Wall Street Journal in which he said, “Everything is under negotiation, including ‘One China.’ ”
“The pledges include adopting the ‘One China’ policy, adhering to the principles in the three Sino-US joint communiques and properly handling the Taiwan issue. Only doing so would prevent the healthy and stable development of Sino-US relations as well as bilateral cooperation in major areas from being affected,” Lu added.    [FULL  STORY]

The News Lens
Date: 2017/01/14
By: James Baron

‘Taiwan’s questionable role in Salvadoran politics is not limited to this dark period of the country’s modern history.’

The single shot from a rifle that hit Archbishop Oscar Romero straight in the heart as he was preparing communion at San Salvador’s Church of the Divine Providence on the evening of March 24, 1980, was to send shockwaves through El Salvador and the world. Even in a country where murder had become a way of life, this was considered a singularly wicked act.

Few Salvadorans were in doubt as to the identity of the killers. Major Robert D’Aubuisson, a military intelligence chief, widely perceived as the godfather of the Salvadoran death squads, had publicly railed anyone perceived as supporting left-wing guerrillas in Salvador’s civil war. Romero and like-minded liberation theologists were at the top of his hit list.    [FULL  STORY]

Clinton showed interest in controversial 2011 editorial piece

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/01/14
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – According to an alleged e-mail by Hillary Clinton published by WikiLeaks, the

former United States Secretary of State was willing to discuss a New York Times editorial calling on Washington to ditch Taiwan in return for China writing off debt.

Her adviser Jake Sullivan passed on the editorial to Clinton, and she replied, “I saw it and thought it was so clever. Let’s discuss,” according to WikiLeaks.

The editorial, titled “To Save Our Economy, Ditch Taiwan” appeared on the newspaper’s website on Nov.20, 2011 and was written by Paul Kane, a former international security fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School.

In the piece, the author says President Barack Obama “should enter into closed-door negotiations with Chinese leaders to write off the $1.14 trillion of American debt currently held by China in exchange for a deal to end American military assistance and arms sales to Taiwan and terminate the current United States-Taiwan defense arrangement by 2015.”    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/01/14
By: Tony Liao and Y.F. Low

Washington, Jan. 13 (CNA) Several pro-Taiwan members of the U.S. House of Representatives on

Friday jointly introduced legislation that encourages visits between the United States and Taiwan at all levels.

The Taiwan Travel Act was initiated by Rep. Steve Chabot with co-sponsorship from Ed Royce and Brad Sherman, ahead of a transit stop in San Francisco by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on her way back to Taiwan after a visit to Central America.

Royce, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said as a thriving democracy, Taiwan is vital to U.S. interests in the region.

“By encouraging more frequent visits between our two governments — including at the highest levels — we will further strengthen the critical U.S.-Taiwan partnership,” he said in a statement.    [FULL  STORY]

BARGAINING CHIP?President Tsai Ing-wen said her administration would be able to handle the nation’s place in US-China relations and ‘put Taiwan’s interests first’

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 15, 2017
By: Reuters

US president-elect Donald Trump said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal that he would not

commit to the “one China” policy until he sees progress from Beijing in its currency and trade practices.

In excerpts from the hour-long interview published on Friday, Trump, when asked if he supported the “one China” policy toward Taiwan that has underpinned US relations with Beijing for decades, said: “Everything is under negotiation, including ‘one China.’”
“We sold them [Taiwan] US$2 billion of military equipment last year. We can sell them US$2 billion of the latest and greatest military equipment, but we’re not allowed to accept a phone call. First of all, it would have been very rude not to accept the phone call,” Trump said in the interview.

In a previous interview with Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace last month, Trump questioned the need for Washington to stick to its “one China” policy.

“I fully understand the ‘one China’ policy, but I don’t know why we have to be bound by a ‘one China’ policy unless we make a deal with China having to do with other things, including trade,” he said at the time.

Presidential Office spokesman Alex Huang (黃重諺) at the time said that the office had no comment about Trump’s remarks on the Fox show.   [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: January 15, 2017
By: The China Post news staff

TAIPEI, Taiwan — President Tsai Ing-wen downplayed the government’s role in enforcing new workweek

rules, telling the press corps to “talk to the boss” about securing their guaranteed time off.

Tsai told reporters accompanying her on a four-nation trip to Central America that those in the media sector must negotiate their rights with employers rather than ask the authorities to intervene, according to reports.

The president made the remarks during a chat with reporters on the presidential plane as it prepared to leave El Salvador for Taiwan on Friday.

During the exchange, a reporter said that those in the media “really need one fixed day off and one flexible day off (a week).”

According to the Central News Agency, Tsai told the reporter, “You don’t talk to me about that! You ought to talk to your boss.”

The president said Taiwanese workers relied too heavily on the government to resolve labor disputes.   [FULL  STORY]

An Indonesian magazine has found that many Indonesian workers working on Taiwanese fishing vessels are inexperienced.

The News Lens
Date: 2017/01/13
By: ZiQing Low

A joint investigation by reporters from Taiwan and Indonesia has revealed new details about widespread abuse faced by Indonesians working in Taiwan’s fishing industry.

Indonesian magazine Tempo and Taiwan-based online publication The Reporter found the number of Indonesians working on Taiwanese fishing vessels is four times higher than the Taiwan Fisheries Agency’s 2015 official number of 9,000.

By cross-referencing records of Indonesians boarding Taiwanese fishing boats at major ports in Indonesia, South Africa and other countries, the Indonesian Ministry of Transport now believes that up to 40,000 Indonesians are working on Taiwanese fishing boats, Tempo reports. However, the Indonesian government does not have official statistics of the worker numbers.

Tracing the reason behind this disparity, Tempo found large numbers of “blank” crew identification documents for sale. Workers wishing to work on Taiwan fishing vessels are required to hold these identification documents, which are processed by brokers and then approved and issued by the harbor master’s office.    [FULL  STORY]

Yu Shyi-kun to lead 11-member delegation

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/01/13
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Former Premier Yu Shyi-kun said Friday he would take stamps with him to the

presidential inauguration of Donald Trump to show the evolution of Taiwan’s struggle for sovereignty.

Yu will lead an 11-member delegation to the United States from January 16 to 23. President Tsai Ing-wen described his mission as focused on “wishes, thanks, and exchanges,” reports said.

In addition to official presents supplied by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Yu said he himself had chosen a first-day envelope with two stamps as a low-priced but nevertheless symbolic souvenir.

The envelope, published to mark the Lunar New Year of the Rooster, carried the text “Republic of China (Taiwan),” while one stamp on the envelope just said “Republic of China” and the other “Taiwan,” Yu said.    [FULL  STORY]