Reuters
Updated: January 4, 2020

TAIPEI (Reuters) – Taiwan votes in presidential and parliamentary elections next Saturday, with three candidates standing for the position of president, including current leader Tsai Ing-wen who is up for re-election at the end of her first four-year term.

Here are profiles of the three presidential candidates.     [FULL  STORY]

France24
Date:  04/01/2020

Taiwan's presidential candidates paid tribute Saturday to the island's military chief and other officers who perished in a helicopter crash just days before key elections.

President Tsai Ing-wen cancelled campaigning to visit a radar station that Shen Yi-ming and his entourage were bound for on Thursday when their chopper smashed into mountains near Taipei.

The 62-year-old general was among eight killed in the crash, becoming Taiwan's highest-ranking military official to die on duty, while five people survived.

"I am finishing the mission for chief Shen to visit everyone on his behalf," Tsai told soldiers at the station in the northeastern region of Yilan.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan’s tallest building honors dead, puts up message of condolence in lights on its exterior

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/01/04
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – As flags at military institutions remained at half-mast for three days, Taiwan’s

tallest building, Taipei 101, put up a message of condolence in lights on its exterior on Friday (Jan. 3) night.

Chief of General Staff Shen Yi-ming (沈一鳴) and seven other senior officers died when their helicopter crashed in a remote area on their way from Taipei to a military camp in Yilan County on Thursday (Jan. 2) morning, leaving five survivors. As a show of respect, election candidates suspended their campaign and organizations, including the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), lowered their flags to half-mast.

On Friday evening, viewers looking up at Taipei 101 saw the message, “Condolences for the Chief of Staff and the General of the Nation’s Armed Forces, all citizens are your family, thank you for having protected our home,” CNA reported.

The initiative for the message had come from a Navy commander, Liu Chia-chih (劉佳志), who said he felt he had to do something and left the suggestion on Taipei 101’s Facebook page, CNA reported. Liu later expressed his thanks for the Taipei 101 message on the building’s Facebook page.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2020/01/04
By: Lee Hsin-Yin

Taipei, Jan. 4 (CNA) Information recorded on two flight data recorders which were recovered from the UH-60M Black Hawk helicopter crash on Thursday, has been analyzed and the results will be sent to the Ministry of National Defense (MND) later Saturday, the Taiwan Transportation Safety Board (TTSB) said.

Data from the recorders, known as black boxes, was comprehensive and will answer all questions related to the crash that killed eight of the 13 military personnel on board, including Taiwan's top military officer Chief of General Staff Shen Yi-ming (沈一鳴), a TTSB official said.

The UH-60M Black Hawk helicopter was carrying military personnel to a base in Dong'ao, Yilan County for a pre-Lunar New Year inspection, when it went down in the mountains of Wulai, New Taipei City, at 8:07 a.m. Thursday.

Military investigators extracted the black boxes around 10:40 a.m. Friday from the wreckage of the crash located near the Tonghou River in Wulai District, on the border between New Taipei City and Yilan County.    [FULL  STORY]

‘RESPONSIBILITY’: The Students’ Association called on the university to retract a statement it had made online that said police were ‘infringing freedom of speech’

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 05, 2020
By: Wu Po-hsuan  /  Staff reporter

The National Taiwan University (NTU) Students’ Association yesterday called on the university

administration to back freedom of speech in all cases, instead of only supporting Su Hung-dah (蘇宏達), an NTU professor of political science who has been accused of spreading misinformation.

In a video postsed to Facebook in November 2018, Su accused the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of trying to launch a “cultural revolution” to exterminate the National Palace Museum.

In the video, Su said that former National Palace Museum director Chen Chi-nan (陳其南) collaborated with the DPP on a policy to move the museum’s collection.

The museum has said that Su’s remarks were false.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 03 January, 2020
By: Shirley Lin

The 2020 Pingtung County Lantern Festival will officially open on January 6. Traditionally, the Lantern Festival is observed on the 15th day of the first month of the Lunar New Year. This year it falls on February 8. The Lantern Festival was originally set to begin on January 3, but due to a recent deadly military helicopter crash, officials decided to postpone the opening until January 6.

This year, the festival in Pingtung will feature a total of 20 large lantern installations and four different animal-themed areas.    [FULL  STORY]

DW NEWS
Date: Januay 3, 2019

Taiwanese indigenous people, like the Atayal people, are reviving their traditions after centuries of colonization and looming extinction of their languages.    [FULL  STORY]

A 'Nation-Building Conference' should draft a new Constitution, and find a new name, flag and anthem

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/01/03
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Veteran Taiwan Independence activist Peng Ming-min (彭明敏) called on the new government after the January 11 elections to organize a “Nation-Building Conference” in order to establish a normal new nation.

In an opinion piece published by the Liberty Times Thursday (Jan. 2), Peng noted it was the 56th anniversary of his original manifesto advocating a democratic Taiwan and the 50th anniversary of his flight out of the country to escape political persecution.

With the persisting threats by China against Taiwan, Peng called on the public to remember that democracy, freedom and human rights would not stay on automatically, but had to be defended. If not, the Taiwanese people would end up like the Uyghurs in Xinjiang, he warned.

After the elections, the new government should not make any concessions on the issue of Taiwan’s sovereignty, and should launched a special conference to prepare a new country, Peng wrote.
[FULL  STORY8]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2020/01/03
By: Lee Hsin-Yin

Taipei, Jan. 3 (CNA) Taiwan-based EVA Airways has been ranked the world's third safest carrier for 2020, maintaining its place on the top 20 list for the seventh year in a row, according to the latest rankings, which were compiled by an airline safety and product rating review website.

In the report published Thursday by AirlineRatings.com, which in previous years named the 20 safest airlines without giving the order, EVA Air was ranked third among the 405 airlines reviewed.

In response, EVA Air said in a statement Friday that safety is the most important issue in the aviation industry and a red line that cannot be crossed.

The airline has a safety culture committed to high standards of discipline, in aviation safety, safety when undergoing repairs, safety on the ground and occupational safety, EVA Air said.
[FULL  STORY]

SOME CONDITIONS APPLY: Taipei MRT said it would allow larger pets on the Tamsui Line’s first and last cars, but they must be carried in a stroller, cage or box

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 04, 2020
By: Staff writer, with CNA

Passengers on the Taipei MRT metropolitan rail system’s Tamsui Line would be allowed to carry pets

categorized as medium-sized or large starting today, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said.

However, the animals must be carried either in a pet stroller, cage, box or other approved container, and would be only allowed in the first and last cars on trains, the operator said.

The company defined a medium-sized or large pet as one that can fit into a carrier that does not exceed 210cm as the sum of its length, width and height.

For strollers, the measurements would exclude the frame and wheels, the firm said.    [FULL  STORY]