Radio Taiwan International
Date: 06 August, 2019
By: Jake Chen

President Tsai Ing-wen has said that members of the APPU share support for maritime development, democracy and multiculturalism.

The Asian-Pacific Parliamentarian’s Union (APPU) was established in Japan in 1965. The union is composed of national groups of parliamentarians who aim to collectively achieve and preserve freedom and     [FULL  STORY]

Searchlight
August 6, 2019

St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) will officially open its Embassy in the Republic of China (Taiwan), this Thursday, August 8.

There will be an official ceremony which will have in attendance Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of China (Taiwan) Dr Jaushieh Joseph Wu, and the designated Ambassador of SVG to Taiwan, H.E. Andrea Bowman.

The President of the Republic of China (Taiwan), H.E. Tsai Ing-wen will also attend this event.

Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves, who is leading an eight-member mission on an official visit to Taiwan, will unveil the sign to mark the official opening of the embassy.

The opening of the Vincentian embassy is a sign that the relationship between this country and the Republic of China (Taiwan) is growing and becoming more institutionalized, a release from the Prime Minister’s office said.    [FULL  STORY]

New Power Party Chair Chiu Hsien-chih voices support for President Tsai Ing-wen

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/08/06
By: Teng Pei-ju, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Chairs of the New Power Party (NPP) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) were set to hold talks on Tuesday (Aug. 6) about collaborating for the presidential and legislative elections scheduled for January 2020.

“As a party chair, I support President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to run for re-election,” said Chiu Hsien-chih (邱顯智), NPP’s chair, via a Facebook post on Monday (Aug. 5), breaking a months-long silence on the party’s preference for presidential candidate. The likelihood of the NPP nominating its own candidate is diminishing as the election nears.

NPP’s founding member and legislator Freddy Lim (林昶佐) announced his departure from the party last week. Since then, friction within the NPP between those inclined to collaborate with the DPP and those who want to maintain a good relationship with Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), who is yet to confirm his presidential bid, has come to the surface.

Lim cited a lack of consensus among the party’s executive members as the principal reason for his decision to quit the party, and openly expressed his support for Tsai. Hung Tzu-yung (洪慈庸), another NPP legislator, also rumored to follow in Lim’s steps and leave the party, has additionally voiced her support for Tsai.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/08/06
By: Liang Pei-chi and Chi Jo-yao

Taipei, Aug. 6 (CNA) An elephant at Taipei Zoo pleasantly surprised zoo visitors last week by tossing back a hat that flew into its enclosure, but the zoo said Tuesday that the spectators were lucky because close interaction with elephants can be dangerous.

When the bucket hat worn by a mother visiting the zoo with her children was blown into the elephant enclosure, a female African elephant approached the object and grabbed it with its trunk.

As the children yelled "give it back" and "throw it," the elephant complied and flicked it back to them, according to a video posted on Facebook on July 31.

Identifying the elephant as 37-year-old Chien Hui (千惠), Taipei Zoo spokesman Eric Tsao (曹先紹) said Monday that elephants are intelligent and sensitive creatures, and Chien Hui is quite familiar with human voices because it often interacts with zookeepers.    [FULL  STORY]

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

President Tsai Ing-wen says Taiwan is hoping to strengthen judicial cooperation with Paraguay. She was speaking on Monday while meeting with Paraguay’s Supreme Court President Eugenio Jiménez and his wife at the Presidential Office in Taipei.

Jiménez is the head of Paraguay's legislative and judicial branches.

President Tsai said she hopes the two sides can work together to make more contributions to people’s rights and social justice. 

“The Supreme Court under your leadership has strived for three tasks: transparency, a sensible budget, and a crackdown on the delays in the hearing of cases. It is [my] belief that Paraguay’s judicial system will become more transparent, fairer and more efficient. Your convictions and performance are exactly the legal protections needed by Taiwanese businesses with investments in Paraguay," said Tsai.     [FULL  STORY]

Voice of America
Date: August 5, 2019
By: Ralph Jennings

TAIPEI – China's decision last week to stop issuing permits for independent tourists to Taiwan applies new economic pressure to their already strained relations, and analysts see three underlying reasons behind Beijing's move.  

Beijing’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism cited the “current mainland China-Taiwan relations” as cause to stop permitting indie travelers after about a decade. China regards self-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory rather than a state, but Taiwan prefers at least today’s level autonomy over the Chinese goal of unification. That schism has caused the two sides to chafe for 70 years.

Here are three reasons China cut off travel permits:

Taiwan's president opposes China despite earlier pressure to get along

Suspending the travel permits lets China remind Taiwan of its economic clout, some analysts say.

The permit shutdown ends a process that generated on average more than 82,000 arrivals per month last year, which boosted the island’s service economy.    [FULL  STORY]

The `Urban-Rural Collaboration Learning Program’ broadened students’ learning experiences and also enriched the schools

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/08/05
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Guangrong (光榮) and Kenting (墾丁) elementary schools have learned from and improved each other in the four areas of “leisure and sports, biological education, tourism industry, and creation,” under the Ministry of Education’s “Urban-Rural Collaboration Learning Program.”

Students at Guangrong Elementary School in Kaohsiung have regularly participated in “interdisciplinary learning,” with their curriculum and learning environment extending well beyond the school grounds. In the same way, the collaborative learning program between Guangrong and Kenting also extended to “Siwan Wooden Boat” and the “M.Zone” at the Pier-2 Art Center, in Kaohsiung.

The creation and tourism aspects of the collaborative process took place at “Siwan Wooden Boat,” where studens were encouraged to make their own wooden boats. At M.Zone, students from the two schools learned about the narrated history of Hamasen and Yancheng districts.

As Kenting Elementary School is located in Kenting National Park, in southern Taiwan, the school took students from Guangrong on a field trip to explore the area’s unique biology and geology. The urban-rural collaborative learning project has not only broadened the students’ learning experiences, but also enriched interscholastic studies, cooperation and parental assistance.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/08/05
By: William Yen

Taipei, Aug. 5 (CNA) One of Taiwan's first private museums to be registered under the country's Museum Act received its official certification Monday, and its founder hoped at the ceremony that the program will offer the assistance private museums need to thrive.

K.C. Chen, executive director of Museum 207, a private museum founded in a Taipei government-designated "historic building," praised the Museum Act at the ceremony for taking into consideration private museums, which are generally housed in rehabilitated old structures.

"The museum law in fact was a very welcome change and very important to the development of museums in Taiwan," she told CNA after accepting Museum 207's official paperwork as a private museum.

"This law actually represents the government's participation in private museums. They will provide the resources we need through this certification process," Chen said.    [FULL  STORY]

A delegation from the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) recently visited several universities and start-ups in Taipei, Taiwan, and Sydney, Australia, participating in the Dubai World Challenge for Self-Driving Transport.

The tests were meant for participants in the second (start-ups) and third-tiers (Academia — International), and were restricted to entities shortlisted for the challenge, following a series of theoretical and field assessments.

"The RTA visited several Sydney Technology Universities and start-ups (iAuto) to assess the models they have developed for solving first and last-mile challenges, that is the ability to provide easy access to residential and other destinations, while addressing security and safety requirements. During the visits, test vehicles were subjected to various climatic conditions, such as rain and fog," said Adel Shakri, Director of Planning and Business Development, Public Transport Agency and Head of the Dubai World Challenge for Self-Driving Transport Committee.

The challenge was launched by Mattar Al Tayer, Director-General and Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of the RTA, during the Los Angeles CoMotion Congress, USA, in November 2017, in collaboration with Khalifa University and the NewCities International Foundation.
[FULL  STORY]