Epoch Times
Date: September 7, 2019
By: Nathan Su

San Francisco – As the 74thsession of the United Nations General Assembly approaches, Taiwan makes another run of efforts to gain participation in the Assembly, including getting Taiwan’s passport holders and journalists admittance into the UN premises.

The 74thsession of the UN General Assembly will officially open on Sep. 24.

According to a recent article by Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Taiwanese passport holders are blocked from entering UN premises for public visits and meetings, and Taiwanese journalists and media outlets are denied accreditation to cover UN meetings.

Additionally, the United Nations, under the pressure from China, has not allowed Taiwan to attend the regular activities of UN agencies with a non-UN member status. These activities include events hosted by International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), World Health Organization (WHO), the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol), and so on.    [FULL  STORY]

Officer accompanied him back to tour group

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/09/07
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A Taiwanese tourist on a tour of North Korea left his group twice and ended up inside a forbidden military zone, the Liberty Times reported Saturday (September 7).

The Kumgang Mountain is one of the most popular tourist destinations in relatively isolated North Korea, but its position close to the border with South Korea makes it a sensitive area heavily patrolled by military personnel.

One participant in a Taiwanese tour left his group on two occasions during mountain hikes, attracting the attention of the North Korean military and leading to the suspension of the two guides for two months, according to the Liberty Times.

However, the traveler himself wrote on Facebook that on August 22, he had received permission from a guide on the bus to hike to a peak first and rejoin the group later.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/09/07
By: Emerson Lim

Taipei, Sept. 7 (CNA) Filip Grzegorzewski, a senior diplomat in the European Union and the Polish

diplomatic service, has been nominated head of the European Economic and Trade Office (EETO) in Taiwan, the European External Action Service announced Saturday.

In a press release dated Sept. 7, Federica Mogherini, high representative of the European Union for foreign affairs and security policy and vice president of the European Commission, announced a latest round of rotations for its head of delegations, which involved 43 officials.

"Filip Grzegorzewski has been nominated as Head of the European Economic and Trade Office in Taiwan," the press release said, adding that these heads of delegations will be formally appointed after receipt of the agréments.

Meanwhile, the EETO in Taipei announced in a Facebook post on Sept. 4 that Grzegorzewski has already assumed his new post as EETO head but is currently in Brussels for the week long EU Ambassadors Conference, which began on Sept. 2.    [FULL  STORY]

Jamestown Foundation
Date: September 6, 2019
By: Timothy Rich, Andi Dahmer

Introduction: China’s Historic Stance on Unification with Taiwan

The position taken by the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) regarding Taiwan’s

Image: In a demonstration held in the southern Taiwan city of Kaohsiung in April 2019, participants carry signs rejecting the “One Country, Two Systems” framework promoted by Beijing. (Source: RFA)[/caption]Image: In a demonstration held in the southern Taiwan city of Kaohsiung in April 2019, participants carry signs rejecting the “One Country, Two Systems” framework promoted by Beijing. (Source: RFA)[/caption]status is clear, and enshrined in the preamble of the country’s constitution: “Taiwan is part of the sacred territory of the People’s Republic of China. It is the inviolable duty of all Chinese people, including our compatriots in Taiwan, to accomplish the great task of reunifying the motherland.” [1] Although PRC officials have never given a public timeline for this unification, they have consistently reiterated their commitment to a “One Country, Two Systems” (一国两制, Yi Guo Liang Zhi) framework—one that Taiwan officials, including current President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), have repeatedly rejected (Nikkei Asian Review, January 5).

This could change in the future: China’s political and economic rise, coupled with the removal of term limits for Chinese Communist Party (CCP) General Secretary Xi Jinping, potentially changes the strategic calculus for prolonging the status quo. Xi stated in 2013 that a solution cannot wait forever, and reiterated in early 2019 that the PRC reserved all options to achieve unification (China Brief, February 15). The PRC has continued to prepare for a military solution to the Taiwan situation, and earlier this year Xi ordered the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to be ready for such military action (NPR, January 2; Straits Times, January 6).

With these matters in mind, we asked polling recipients in Taiwan about their concerns regarding the possibility of forced unification: a situation in which Chinese threats or coercive actions give Taiwan leaders no choice but to concede to permanent PRC sovereignty over Taiwan. Asking about one’s preferred status for Taiwan constitutes one of the core questions asked on most public opinion surveys in Taiwan since democratization. In recent years, around 15 percent of the population (at most) has stated support for unification, even after a prolonged status quo (Taiwan News, January 3). However, detailed public opinion research on forced unification remains rare. Our own research reveals significant concern about forced unification among Taiwan’s population, albeit with stark differences along the partisan divide of Taiwan politics.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 06 September, 2019
By: Shirley Lin

Transportation Minister Lin Chia-lung announced on Friday that the fuel surcharge on tour buses will be

suspended for one year starting in October.

That’s in light of China’s decision to bar its citizens from visiting Taiwan outside of a tour group. The move has caused concern in the country’s tourism sector.    [FULL  STORY]

28-year-old DPP politician to serve on CSBC-DEME Wind Engineering board of directors

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/09/06
By: Huang Tzu-ti, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The decision by a subsidiary of a shipbuilding company in Taiwan to

appoint a young member of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party to its board of directors has sparked controversy on the island.

Luke Cheng (鄭亦麟), 28, will become a board member of the CSBC-DEME Wind Engineering Co. (台船環海), a subsidiary of CSBC Corporation, Taiwan, reported SET News. CSBC was a state-owned enterprise that manufactured ships for both military and civilian use before its privatization in 2008.

Cheng is regarded as a rising star in the pro-independence green camp, having worked as a researcher in a DPP think tank and played a vital role in drafting the party's energy policy in the 2016 presidential election. He has previously served as the director of the Office of Energy and Carbon Reduction and deputy CEO of the Green Energy Industry Promotion Center, wrote Storm Media.

In 2017, Cheng published articles on offshore wind power and the challenges facing Taiwan in its development of renewable energy. His expertise in green energy has been lauded by Economic Affairs Minister Shen Jong-chin (沈榮津).    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/09/06
By: Wu Jui-chi and Ko Lin

Taipei, Sept. 6 (CNA) A Taiwanese delegation comprised of civic group members departed Friday for the United States to express Taiwan's desire to join the United Nations, ahead of the latter's 74th session of the U.N. General Assembly from Sept. 17-30.

Michael Tsai (蔡明憲), president of the Taiwan United Nations Alliance (TAIUNA), said the 18-member group will hold a rally in New York together with local Taiwanese expatriates to highlight Taiwan's desire to join the international organization.

Among the participants, supporters from Hong Kong, Tibet and several Chinese human rights activists will also be joining the march, Tsai said.

After New York, the delegation will also tour Washington to meet with members of the United States Congress and White House officials to call on Taiwan's appeal, as well as to express Taiwan's support for Hong Kong's ongoing democracy movements.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 05 September, 2019
By: Paula Chao

The government has yet to pick an envoy for this year’s APEC summit. That was the word from

Presidential Office spokesman Chang Chun-han on Thursday.

Chang was responding to a newspaper report that says President Tsai has appointed business tycoon Morris Chang to attend the event on her behalf.

This year’s summit is scheduled to take place in Chile in mid-November. Taiwan’s president is barred from the annual summit due to opposition from China, and so Taiwan sends a special envoy instead.    [FULL  STORY]