Focus Taiwam
Date: 2019/09/13
By: Emerson Lim

Taipei, Sept. 13 (CNA) Hong Kong singer-activist Denise Ho (何韻詩) and Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement dominated the 2019 Oslo Freedom Forum-Taiwan on Friday, turning the gathering of international human rights advocates into a support session for Hong Kong people's fight for democracy.

The Oslo Freedom Forum (OFF) is a flagship event organized by the New York-based Human Rights Foundation (HRF) that takes place each year in Norway to promote human rights and democracy globally and support struggles against authoritarianism.

The gathering in Taipei was a satellite event of the OFF under the theme "unite."

As millions of Hong Kong people have been fighting for democracy on the streets in the past three months, Hong Kong issues became the spotlight of the forum in Taiwan, the second such gathering after its inaugural meeting in 2018.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 12 September, 2019
By: Paula Chao

The Taipei Metro has teamed up with a local temple to introduce matchmaking god-themed metro tickets. The special tickets have become a big draw for singles and their anxious parents.

The birthday of the God of Matchmaking, which falls on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month, is on September 13 this year.

There is a long line at a metro station in Taipei. The crowds are there to buy metro tickets featuring the image of the God of Matchmaking, a deity often portrayed as an old man with a long, white beard.    [FULL  STORY]

South China Morning Post
Date: 12 Sep, 2019
By: Reuters

 

• Pacific island should ‘ask for details about funding … whether these are loans or grants’, American ambassador says in reference to Beijing’s promise of financial aid
• US officials have warned the Solomon Islands to be wary of funding promises from Beijing and not be pressed into cutting ties with 

US officials have warned the Solomon Islands to be wary of funding promises from Beijing and not be pressed into cutting ties with Taiwan, in comments highlighting increasing competition for influence in the South Pacific..

The warnings were made this week in the Solomons capital of Honiara, on the island of Guadacanal, after several of the island nation’s senior lawmakers said they wanted to switch their diplomatic links to Beijing from Taipei.

The South Pacific has become a diplomatic stronghold for Taiwan, with six island nation allies, a third of all countries that recognise Taiwan. The links help stem Beijing’s expansionary policies in the region.

The US officials did not explicitly call for the retention of the Taiwan alliance, but they appealed for caution.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/09/12
By:  Central News Agency

Six Taiwanese people were indicted Thursday on charges of using false customs declarations to ostensibly export fuel oil that was in fact transported illegally to unknown buyers in the East China Sea, including North Korean-flagged ships.

Three of the six suspects are owners of petrochemical or shipping companies who allegedly colluded with a Chinese man named Xie Jiaqing (謝加慶) to use the oil/chemical tanker Polaris to transport oil to buyers through illegal ship-to-ship transfers, according to the Taichung District Prosecutors Office.

The Polaris received supplies at Kaohsiung Port and was later loaded with fuel oil at Taichung Port before departing for the East China Sea to await instructions, the prosecutors office said in a statement.

Most of the buyers were smuggling vessels, tankers caught for violating United Nations sanctions and ships requiring refueling but which might have failed to pass inspections for refueling at ports legally, according to the statement.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/09/12
By: Emerson Lim

Taipei, Sept. 12 (CNA) More than 100 civil and student groups will stage simultaneous demonstrations on Sept. 29 in three major cities in Taiwan, in support of the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong, the organizers said Thursday.

In Taipei, the demonstrators will march from the Legislative Yuan to the Ximending shopping district and back, going past Taipei Main Station, Chiang Min-yen (江旻諺), co-founder of the Taiwan Citizen Front and one of the organizers, said at a press conference.

Similar marches will be held simultaneously in Taichung and Kaohsiung under the theme "Taiwan-Hong Kong demonstrations: Support Hong Kong; oppose totalitarianism," he said.

The demonstrations are being organized to show support for the people of Hong Kong who have been staging mass protests over the past 10 weeks, calling for greater democracy and an inquiry into alleged police brutality, among other demands, according to Chiang.    [FULL  STORY]

Go there before it becomes overrun with visitors and isn’t so attractive

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/09/11
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Wantan Historic Trail (彎潭古道), part of the centuries-old Tamsui Kavalan Historical Trails (淡蘭古道) connecting Taipei and Yilan, abounds with natural scenery, and despite its remoteness, is one of the best places to visit in Taiwan.

There’s a conundrum: While natural, peaceful, and beautiful places should be better known so that more people can enjoy them; if they become too well-known, they will soon be overrun by tourists and lose their original appeal.

The Wantan Historic Trail, which hugs New Taipei City’s Pinglin District on one side and Shuangxi District on the other, fits into this category. Many people who have visited the trail harbor the same ambivalent feeling and feel fortunate that they saw it before it became infested by visitors.

The trail has two main entrances, with one located at Sansuitan Earth God Temple (三水潭小土地公廟) on the Pinglin (坪林) side and the other located at the community of Wantan (彎潭) on the Shuangxi (雙溪) side.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date:2019/09/11
By: William Yen

Taipei, Sept. 11 (CNA) A memorial will be held Thursday for the late Filipina migrant worker Deserie Castro Tagubasi, who died last month as a result of a chemical spill at a factory in western Taiwan.

The "Remembrance for Des" memorial will take the form of a community gathering, aimed not just at remembering Tagubasi but also at forging links between Taiwanese and migrant workers in Zhunan Township, Miaoli County where she lived, the organizers said.

"Despite the language and culture barriers, everyone can get together and work toward understanding each other because at the end of the day, we all live in the same area," said one of the organizers Sha Yen-hsi (沙彥羲), manager of Iasangart art workshop in the township.

Tagubasi, 29, who worked at an electronics plant in Jhunan Science Park in Miaoli, died Aug. 28 as a result of burns after she accidentally dropped a container of hydrofluoric acid earlier in the day while on duty at the factory.    [FULL  STORY]