Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/05/20
By: Elaine Hou

Taipei, May 20 (CNA) Taiwan’s new president, Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), said in her inaugural speech Friday that she “respects” the historical fact of the talks across the Taiwan Strait in 1992, when both sides arrived at “various joint acknowledgements and understandings.”

In 1992, the semi-official Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) in Taipei and its Chinese counterpart, the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS), arrived at various joint acknowledgements and understandings through communication and negotiations, Tsai said.

“It was done in a spirit of mutual understanding and a political attitude of seeking common ground while setting aside differences,” she said. “I respect this historical fact.”

Since 1992, interactions and negotiations across the strait over the years have accumulated outcomes which both sides must cherish and maintain, she said.     [FULL  STORY]

‘POLITICAL SCAMS’:CUPP Chairman Chang An-le has called on president-elect Tsai Ing-wen to definitely say if her party wants independence, rather than paying lip service

Taipei Times
Date: , May 19, 2016
By: Alison Hsiao / Staff reporter with CNA

China Unification Promotion Party (CUPP) Chairman Chang An-le (張安樂), also known as

“White Wolf,” yesterday led hundreds of people to the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) headquarters in Taipei, calling on president-elect Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to accept the so-called “1992 consensus.”

A majority of the crowd wore black vests with red collars and imprinted with the names of the CUPP’s so-called “party branches,” which are associated with martial arts institutions. They rallied outside the DPP headquarters in the afternoon.

Chang called on Tsai to accept the “1992 consensus” in order to protect “Taiwan’s happiness,” and added that the Chinese market would be open to Taiwan only if the “1992 consensus” is accepted.

“There would be no service trade agreement or trade in goods agreement [with China] without the ‘1992 consensus;’ I hope [Tsai] hears us: we hope that the good foundation established in the past eight years is not destroyed in one night,” he said.

While the “1992 consensus” and cross-strait peace were highlighted during the event, the party’s Facebook page and news release for the event both said that the “1992 consensus” and the “one China, same interpretation” principle should be “firmly guarded in order to guarantee Taiwan’s happiness and keep war at bay.”

Some people held placards that read, “One China across the Strait for peaceful development,” while others carried the People’s Republic of China flag.     [FULL  STORY]

The News Lens
Date: May 19, 2016
Translated and compiled by Yuan-ling Liang

Grace2Me, located in Miaoli, Taiwan, grows more than 20,000 lavender plants and 3,000 tea

trees.

While it may seem like any other farm in Taiwan, it is much more than that.

Grace2Me is the only place of its kind to employ recovering drug addicts. Liu Chih-hung, founder of the farm, suffered from drug addiction for more than ten years. He was twice in psychiatric care when he was young. Whatever treatment he got, he went back to drugs after being discharged from hospital.

After finding religion, Liu finally quit drugs. He then decided to help other addicts like him by starting Grace2Me. Liu found that growing herbs and flowers was the best option to support the business and generated the most employment opportunities.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-05-19
By: Chia Lee, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

President Ma Ying-jeou will move back to his apartment on Xinglong Road in Taipei on May

20 and set up an office in Taipei’s Neihu District, the Presidential Office said Thursday, according to Taiwan’s Central News Agency.

The outgoing president will be relieved of his duties on Friday, after he hands over power to President-elect Tsai Ing-wen during the presidential inauguration ceremony the same day.

It has been rumored that Ma will move out of the presidential residence two weeks after the inauguration ceremony, inciting concerns over presidential security.

According to media reports, former President Lee Teng-hui moved out of the presidential residence one week prior to the inauguration ceremony.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan Today
Date: May 19, 2016

Nearly 700 dignitaries from 59 countries, including all 22 Republic of China (Taiwan)

diplomatic allies, will attend the inauguration of President-elect Tsai Ing-wen May 20, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The number of foreign dignitaries scheduled to attend the presidential inauguration ceremony marks a record high, highlighting the strong relations between Taiwan and its partners across the world, the MOFA said May 19.

Many of the delegations are led by presidents, prime ministers, first ladies, foreign ministers and other high-ranking officials, the ministry said, while expressing its warm welcome to all of the guests as well as its appreciation to them for accepting the government’s invitation to the ceremony.

Six heads of state from the ROC’s diplomatic allies of Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Nauru and Palau in the Asia-Pacific region, Paraguay in South America and Swaziland in Africa are scheduled to attend the inauguration.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/05/19
By: Lu Hsin-hui and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, May 19 (CNA) China has not reduced its military threat to Taiwan, as evidenced by its

continued deployment of missiles aimed at the island and ongoing training of military personnel, Hsu Pei-shan (許培山), deputy minister of National Defense, said Thursday.

Hsu was responding to a Pentagon report to the U.S. Congress on military developments in China released May 13 which stated that Chinese military development and deployments are a serious challenge to Taiwan’s security.

According to the report, despite positive cross-Taiwan Strait developments last year, such as the historic meeting between China’s leader Xi Jinping and Taiwan’s President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) in Singapore, there have been no signs that China has significantly changed its military position concerning Taiwan.

“The PLA (People’s Liberation Army) continues to develop and deploy military capabilities intended to coerce Taiwan or to attempt an invasion, if necessary,” it said.     [FULL  STORY]

China’s Defense Ministry said the drills were intended to increase responsiveness to “security threats”.

The Indian Express
Date: May 18, 2016
By: Reuters

China’s Defense Ministry said recent military drills on its southeastern coast were annual

exercises, after Chinese media had suggested they could have been timed ahead of Taiwan’s inauguration of a new president from a pro-independence party.

China and self-ruled Taiwan underwent a rapprochement under the outgoing government which was run by China-friendly Nationalists. But ties have strained with the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Tsai Ing-wen, who is set to be sworn in as president on Friday.

Chinese state media have reported that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has carried out at least three landing exercises on the country’s southeast coast since the beginning of May. The largest drill was conducted in recent days by a regiment under the PLA’s 31st Group Army, which is based in coastal Fujian province, across the strait from Taiwan, the official China Daily newspaper said on Wednesday.     [FULL  STORY]

BBC News
May 18, 2016

Chinese media outlets reported on Monday that Tuan Tuan, one of two pandas given to Taiwan

by mainland China in 2008, had died from distemper.

The zoo snapped a photo of Tuan Tuan behind bars but in front of Monday’s newspapers and put it on Facebook.
It told people not to worry, and warned them not to listen to internet rumours.

Tuan Tuan’s partner Yuan Yuan and their cub were also fine, said the zoo.

Tuan Tuan’s name means “unity” or “reunion”.
His arrival in Taiwan was seen at the time either as a sign of warming relations or of Chinese assertion of control over Taiwan, which it considers a breakaway province.

Chinese media sites which had repeated the death rumours have since apologised.

They included the Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily – it said it had been “misinformed”.     [FULL  STORY]

The News Lens
Date: May 18, 2016
By: J. Michael Cole

Pro-unification groups gathered outside the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) headquarters

in Taipei on Wednesday afternoon to pressure president-elect Tsai Ing-wen, who will be inaugurated on May 20, to recognize the “1992 consensus,” which authorities in Beijing have touted as a non-negotiable precondition for continued stability in the Taiwan Strait.

Led by Chang An-le (張安樂), chairman of the China Unification Promotion Party (中華統一促進黨), about 500 protesters, part of the “518 Action Coalition,” called on Tsai to adhere to the “1992 consensus” to ensure “cross-strait peace.” A large number of participants were visibly associated with criminal organizations; several dozen police blocked the entrance to the building. Police estimates of a crowd of 1,000 seem inflated.

In a statement, the “518 Action Coalition” said that without the “1992 consensus” as the basis for cross-strait peace, Taiwan would face destitution and economic stagnation. Lost on the organizers is the fact that despite Tsai’s predecessor’s adhesion to the so-called consensus, Taiwan’s economy has also continued to stagnate.

Also known as White Wolf, Chang is a former leader of the Bamboo Union triad and once was on Taiwan’s most-wanted list. After spending 16 years in exile in China, he returned to Taiwan in June 2013 and immediately embarked on a campaign to promote unification with China under the “one country, two systems” formula. His party fielded candidates in the January 16 elections but fared poorly, not securing a single seat.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-05-18
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – An opinion poll published by Wealth Magazine just before the inauguration of the new government team gave President-elect Tsai Ing-wen 66 percent and Premier-designate Lin Chuan 61 percent.

Both will take office with their administration on Friday May 20, more than four months after the presidential election.

Asked whether they held a positive view of how Tsai would govern, 66 percent responded in the affirmative, while 61 percent said they had positive expectations for Lin, a former finance minister selected as premier by Tsai.

The Cabinet as a whole scored 58 percent, despite being labeled by critics as “old, blue and male” due to its average age above 62, its allegedly high proportion of Kuomintang government officials, and the presence of only four women in a team of 40.     [FULL  STORY]