The Republic
Date: September 14, 2015
By: Emma Kauffman, Special for The Republic | azcentral.com 11:45 a.m. MST

Chandler Little Leaguers will fly across the Pacific Ocean to Tainan City, Taiwan later this

month for the second half of a cultural exchange program.

Last year, a team from Tainan visited Chandler for a week of exhibition games and to tour the Valley’s many baseball training facilities and stadiums.

Fifteen 12-year-old boys on the Chandler National Little League All Stars will spend one week in Tainan City practicing and playing ball, and a  second week touring Tainan’s cultural and historical attractions.

For Chandler Little League manager Doug Brewster, the goal of the trip is simple: “They love baseball, we love baseball. They want to play us, we want to play them.”

But the kids expect to learn far more than baseball, including an appreciation for different types of food. Frances Huang, the team’s community affairs adviser, recommended the team try “stinky tofu,” a fermented dish popular in Taiwan. “I will know if you did,” he teased. “I will be able to smell it.”     [FULL  STORY]

Piracy and Security News
Date: 14/09/2015    

A memorandum of understanding helping increase maritime safety along the Somali coast was inked between Taiwan and U.S.-based Oceans Beyond Piracy Sept. 10 in Brussels.

Under the pact, Taiwan pledges US$166,000 in assisting with the establishment of the Maritime Communications Initiative. Once up and running, MCI will launch five maritime communications and safety centers in the Somali cities of Berbera, Bosaso, Hobyo, Kismayo and Mogadishu.

ROC Representative to the EU Tung Kyo-yu, who signed the memorandum on behalf of Taiwan, said the initiative helps ensure safety for local shipping traffic and promote enhanced port management practices. “It also underscores the government’s commitment to promoting Taiwan as a peacemaker and provider of humanitarian aid in the global community.”

According to Tung, MCI was recommended by the EU as a way of supporting Somali efforts to better police the East African nation’s coastline. “The centers will collaborate with international naval forces and local authorities to increase the safety of seafarers operating in the region,” he added.

OBP Senior Fellow James Burnell-Nugent, who signed the agreement on behalf of the not-for-profit project overseen by One Earth Future Foundation, thanked Taiwan for its commitment.

“We are very happy to partner with Taiwan,” he said. “This important project is intended to increase Somali ownership of their maritime domain and avoid dangerous misunderstandings between local traffic and international partners at sea.”

Set up in 2010, OBP seeks to deter maritime piracy based on the rule of law through developing public-private partnerships and mobilizing stakeholders from the maritime community.     [FULL  STORY]

ZIZ Online
Date: September 13, 2015

(ZIZ News) — A delegation of Taiwanese medical officials arrived in St. Kitts on Sunday afternoon to provide free services to the Federation over the coming week.

The 24 visiting officials are members of the Taiwan Root Medical Peace Corps and are made up of doctors, nurses and volunteers.

They’ll be in the Federation until September 21 providing services in dentistry, paediatrics, paediatric infectious diseases, gynaecology, and internal medicine.

Resident Ambassador, His Excellency, George Gow-Wei Chiou noted the significance of this partnership as it comes while St. Kitts-Nevis celebrates 32 years of Independence.

“When they come here, it’s the right week, the right time, for the National Heroes Day and Independence Day of St. Kitts and Nevis. So this is a gift from Taiwan to come here and celebrate the Independence Day of St. Kitts and Nevis,” he said.     [FULL  STORY]

The Los Angeles Times
Date: September 14, 2015
By Julie Makinen

Imagine you’re a presidential campaign director. With just four months to go before

election day, which of the following would you not want your candidate to post on Facebook?

A) She’s worried about the “sense of defeat” within your party.

B) She regards voters as complacent about the nation’s problems, comparing them to “frogs being boiled in water.”

C) She feels she can’t calm down, appeals for Buddha to help her, and says she’s going to lay off the trail for several days to “start a deep rethinking process.”

D) all of the above.

For the strategists in Taiwan’s Nationalist Party — also known as the Kuomintang, or KMT — scenario “D” is no hypothetical.

Democratic Progressive Party candidate Tsai Ing-wen speaks in Taipei, Taiwan, on April 15.   (Wally Santana / Associated Press)

With autumn arriving, the establishment party’s campaign machinery had hoped at this point to be shifting into high gear, riding on its longtime dominance and the accomplishments of President Ma Ying-jeou, who’s termed out after eight years in office.

Instead, the KMT looks to be heading toward a historic defeat come voting Jan. 16.

The party of Gen. Chiang Kai-shek appears on track to lose not just Taiwan’s presidency, which has happened only once before, but is also in danger of forfeiting control of parliament. That would be unprecedented since Chiang and millions of his supporters lost China’s civil war in 1949 and set up a completely separate government on the island, 100 miles off the mainland’s southeastern coast.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2015-09-14
By: Ko Lin, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

The city’s Department of Health confirmed a new dengue fever case in Taipei after test

results from a patient revealed to be positive, bringing the total up to 12, reports said Monday.

The 35-year-old male from the city’s Zhongzhen District had apparently visited Tainan between September 6 and 9, but was later admitted to a hospital after returning from the southern Taiwanese city on Friday due to fever, according to the health department.

Laboratory tests showed that the patient is suffering from an indigenous dengue virus known to be widely affecting residents in Tainan.     [FULL  STORY]