The city government service will provide buses to show around visitors so they can easily explore Keelung and its many attractions

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/07/25
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Keelung launched Taiwan’s first sightseeing bus service for cruise ship passengers on Tuesday (July 23), Keelung’s Department of Transportation and Tourism said.

Keelung is a popular destination for international cruise ships, and giant vessels docked in the busy downtown harbor are part of the cityscape.

Keelung Mayor Lin Yu-chang (林右昌) said that as more international cruise ships are visiting Keelung, the city government has teamed up with Port of Keelung to launch the nation’s first one-day sightseeing bus service for cruise ship passengers.

The department said the bus will depart every 40 minutes while the ship is docked in the harbor. A one-day ticket includes a foreign-language guide and visits to popular attractions such as Heping Island, the colorful houses at Chen-Pin Fishing Harbor (正濱漁港), and Chaojing Park.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/07/25
By: Chiang Chin-yeh and Chung Yu-chen

Washington, July 24 (CNA) U.S. lawmaker Michael McCaul said in an article published online Wednesday that he anticipates Congress will receive notification of the sale of dozens of F-16V fighter aircraft to Taiwan very soon.

The Bureau of Political-Military Affairs under the U.S. State Department already announced a weapons package for Taiwan that includes M1A2T Abrams tanks and Stinger missiles, with the Defense Security Cooperation Agency informing Congress of its approval July 9.

However, the package does not include 66 F-16V fighter jets that Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense (MND) sought to purchase in February.

House Representative Michael McCaul said in an article published Wednesday in the Diplomat, an online Asia-Pacific current-affairs magazine, that China's military forces are estimated at more than 2 million active duty personnel, compared to about 275,000 in Taiwan.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 24 July, 2019
By: Jake Chen

Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je has presided over the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Feitsui Dam in New Taipei City.

In 2015, Typhoon Soudelor damaged a reservoir in Taipei leading to reports of discolored tap water in parts of the city.

In response, the Taipei Water Department undertook planning for the new Feitsui Reservoir. The goal of the project is to ensure a clean water supply to residents of Taipei and New Taipei even if extreme weather leads to the contamination of other water sources.

Construction of the new reservoir will cost NT$2 billion (US$64 million) and is set to wrap in June, 2023.    [SOURCE]

The Hour
Date: July 24, 2019
By: Gerry Shih, The Washington Post

BEIJING – China sharpened its hostility toward the United States and Taiwan in a new high-level report on its future military strategy that accused Washington and its allies of undermining global stability.

Releasing the document on Wednesday, officials of the People's Liberation Army repeatedly warned that Beijing would be willing to deploy military force to assert its claims over Taiwan. The self-ruled island has pulled closer to the Trump administration and agreed this month to buy $2.2 billion in weapons, including M1A2T Abrams tanks and Stinger missiles.

Taiwan's incumbent Democratic Progressive Party favors declaring formal independence from China, a move that could spark confrontation in the Taiwan Strait, one of the world's most heavily militarized flash points. China's navy this month sailed its sole aircraft carrier into the strait in a show of force reminiscent of similar U.S. operations two decades ago that showcased American military dominance in Asia.    [FULL  STORY]

Case is 'abusive libel suit:' RSF

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/07/24
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The recent lawsuit brought by the Want Want China Times Group against the Financial Times and its Taiwan correspondent was a pure case of abuse of the law, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said Wednesday (July 24).

Financial Times reporter Kathrin Hille wrote an article about Chinese influence in Taiwanese politics and media, where she also quoted reporters that Chinese government officials phoned editors of the Taiwanese media group on an almost daily basis, influencing its headlines and content about China.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/07/24
By: Ku Chuan, Matt Yu and Joseph Yeh

Taipei, July 24 (CNA) The head of Taiwan's Veterans Affairs Council Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) has

been named as the nation's new top intelligence chief after his predecessor resigned from the post Monday over a over a cigarette-smuggling scandal.

Chiu, 66, has been named by the president as the new National Security Bureau (NSB) director-general to take over the vacancy left by the resignation of Peng Sheng-chu (彭勝竹), the Presidential Office announced.

Chiu previously served as commander of the 6th Army Corps and as deputy defense minister, among other posts.

He retired from the military in April 2017 and became veteran affairs minister in February 2018.
[FULL  STORY]

TIP-OFF: The county has revoked the dealer’s import permit and is investigating whether the drugs have been sold to animal farms in central and southern Taiwan

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 25, 2019
By:Lin Chia-nan  /  Staff reporter

Nearly 6,000kg of illegally imported veterinary drugs were seized in Pingtung County, some allegedly

from China and India, the Council of Agriculture said yesterday, adding that it is tracing their whereabouts and would recall them from the market.

It is likely the biggest case of illegal veterinary drug imports, the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine said.

The Pingtung Animal Disease Control Center, in collaboration with the Kaohsiung Police Department and the Coast Guard Administration, on May 29 searched a veterinary medicine dealer’s office in Sinpi Township (新埤) and warehouse on a farmland in Chaojhou Township (潮州) after being tipped off about the illegal operation.

Investigators seized more than 40 types of illegally imported medicines — including pharmaceutical ingredients for making antibiotics such as amoxicillin and cephalosporin, as well as nitrofuran and roxarsone, which are banned in the nation, the bureau said.  [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 23 July, 2019
By: Shirley Lin

Taiwan has successfully come up with its own version of wagyu beef that’s best known in Japan.

The Kinmen County Livestock Research Institute researched creating cattle feed that uses grass and Kinmen’s own kaoliang liquor. The beef from the Kinmen cattle that were fed the new feed has come out tasting just as juicy as wagyu beef.  The new Kinmen beef also has a lower fat content than other beef.

Kaohsiung’s Hi Lai Hotel is holding a beef festival promoting the tasty Kinmen beef along with beef from Australia, Japan and the US from July 24 to August 31.    [SOURCE]

A Taiwanese American reader reflects on American-Taiwanese relations in the age of Trump.

The Atalantic
Date: Jul 22, 2019

Taiwan’s Status Is a Geopolitical Absurdity

As tensions between Washington and Beijing worsen, Chris Horton wrote earlier this month, it is important to understand Taiwan’s strategic importance to both governments. While the United States does not recognize Taiwan as an independent country, the island’s location, economy, and security are seen as essential to American interests; in recent years, Taiwan has been one of the rare issues on Capitol Hill with bipartisan agreement. And Donald Trump is heading a markedly pro-Taiwan White House.

In the coming months, Horton concluded, as Taiwan prepares for presidential and legislative elections, Americans should expect Congress and Trump-administration officials to cultivate a relationship with Taiwan that is more like one between official diplomatic allies.

The Trump administration and Trump himself pose a serious dilemma to my political beliefs as a Taiwanese American citizen. I cannot support a misogynistic, racist, and immoral president whose domestic policies I believe are harming my country; however, I have to acknowledge that he is the most pro-Taiwan president the United States has seen in decades (or maybe ever).

I grew up in a fiercely pro-independence Taiwanese family and, having spent most of my life abroad (in Europe and then in the U.S.), I have always been acutely conscious of how invisible Taiwan is politically. Awareness about Taiwan as a travel destination may have increased in recent years (spotting a subway train covered in “Visit Taiwan” ads in New York City made me very happy), but there is still very little coverage in Western media about the continued exclusion of Taiwan from the international geopolitical scene. The reality is, I live every day with the fear that my home country as I know it might disappear one day, swallowed by a military superpower very few countries would be willing to oppose.    [FULL  STORY]