Radio Taiwan International 
Date: 10 June, 2019
By: Leslie Liao

Massive crowds took to the streets of Hong Kong on Sunday to protest a new Chinese extradition law. It was the largest demonstration the city has seen since its reunification with China in 1997.

Over a million people hit the streets of Hong Kong on Sunday to protest a proposed Chinese extradition law. That figure – an estimate of organizers – represents about one-seventh of the city’s population of 7.5 million.

The protsts began in the afternoon with a 3km march to Hong Kong’s Legislative Council building. The crowd didn’t disperse until the early hours of Monday morning.

At stake was a bill that would allow authorities to extradite suspects from Hong Kong to China. Hong Kong officials say they would have final say over who gets extradited.
[FULL  STORY]

South China Morning Post
Date: 10 Jun, 2019 
By: Lawrence Chung

• Candidates announced in what is being seen as a showdown between the self-ruled island’s pro-independence and pro-unification camps
• Popular Kaohsiung mayor Han Kuo-yu is ahead of other potential contenders – including Tsai Ing-wen – in most opinion polls

Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party and the opposition Kuomintang have begun selecting their presidential candidates, setting the stage for a showdown between the self-ruled island’s pro-independence and pro-unification camps.
The independence-leaning DPP on Monday announced the start of its primaries to choose between President Tsai Ing-wen and former premier William Lai Ching-te
to contest the January election.
“Whoever wins the primaries being held from Monday to Friday will represent the party and run in the 2020 presidential poll,” DPP spokesman Chou Chiang-che said, adding the primaries would be based on public opinion surveys and the results would be announced on June 19.

The mainland-friendly KMT meanwhile announced five candidates for its primaries, based on public opinion surveys to be held between July 5 and July 15, with the results to be made public on July 16.    [FULL  STORY]

1st edition of Taiwan Pattern Design Festival features forty artists’ works

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/06/10
By: Lyla Liu, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News)— The first edition of the Taiwan Pattern Design Festival features forty artists’ works based on the theme “Invisible Peacock” and will kick off tomorrow (June 11) and run through Sept. 22 at Songshan Cultural Park.

The Taiwan Pattern Design Festival is hosted by the Taiwan Design Museum and the curator is the founder of Freedom Men Art Apartments, Andy Yen (顏寧志). The exhibition’s theme is“Invisible Peacock,” which aims to explore the meaning of totems in modern society.

There are seven artists invited to showcase their multi-media works, including the renowned artists Chu Cha-Ray (曲家瑞) from Taiwan, Gongkan form Thailand、Zlism from Hong Kong、Girenhao (紀人豪)、Wu Chi (吳騏57 Art Studio), Eszter Chen (陳純虹), and Lee Chia-Chun(李嘉泉). They will be exhibiting their works at the 05 venue of the Taiwan Design Center (台灣設計館05展區).

Yen stated that the pattern design can be traced back to ancient times when our ancestors created totems to represent the tribes or their faith.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/06/10
By: Elaine Hou and Joseph Yeh

Taipei, June 10 (CNA) Taiwan is expected to extend visa-free treatment to citizens of the

Philippines, Thailand, Brunei, and Russia for another year, Minister without Portfolio Chang Ching-sen (張景森) told CNA Monday.

The visa-free trial program for the four countries was originally set to expire on July 31, 2019.

The program allows foreign nationals from those countries to enjoy visa-free entry to Taiwan for visits of up to 14 days as part of the government’s efforts to boost overseas visitor numbers.

Amid reports that Taiwan is considering an extension, Chang confirmed to CNA that it is indeed the Executive Yuan’s stance to approve the extension.

The decision to approve an extension was made during a recent meeting convened by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and attended by officials from agencies overseeing national security, the police, immigration, investigations, tourism, the economy and trade.
[FULL  STORY]

Midem hosts panels, summits and workshops with aim to boost people’s music knowledge

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/06/09
By: Lyla Liu, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Three Taiwanese singers were invited to perform at the Midem 2019 in France as part of the “Taiwan Beats” portion of the festival on June 5.

Midem 2019 is an international music market and festival held in Palais des Festivals, Cannes, France from June 4 to 7. Three female Taiwanese singers were invited to perform under the “Taiwan Beats” section at June 5.

Midem hosts panels, summits and workshops with an aim to boost people’s music knowledge. At the exhibition, the audience can experience a great number of different genres of music.

The event “Taiwan Beats” (台灣之夜) invited three Taiwanese musicians to perform, including Auli Blubluone, Amuyi and Sonia Calico. Blubluone and Amuyi are aboriginal singers, the former is from Puyuma (卑南族) while the latter is from Atayal (泰雅族).
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/06/09
By: Phoenix Hsu and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, June 9 (CNA) Taiwan and Indonesia have maintained a trial program to encourage

Indonesian junior college graduates to study in two-year institutes of technology in Taiwan, after Jakarta stopped issuing permits for high school graduates to study here, Taiwan’s Ministry of Education (MOE) said Sunday.

Under the trial program, which began in the 2018 academic year that started in September, the Indonesian government provides incentives for students pursuing advanced studies in Taiwan.

They include one-way air tickets and living costs of NT$20,000 (US$637) for the two-year period, according to Yang Yu-hui (楊玉惠), director of the MOE’s Technological and Vocational Education Department.

Meanwhile, however, Indonesia decided to dissuade high school graduates from seeking to study at four-year institutes of technology in Taiwan under an internship-study program, following media reports that some of such students have been forced by education brokers to work illegally in factories.   [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/06/08
By: Chi Jo-yao

Taipei, June 8 (CNA) Kinmen’s summer tourist carnival, featuring the local fauna, natural landscape, battlefield scenery and ceramic industry, will kick off July 1 and introduce new activities every week until the end of August, the Kinmen County government said Friday.

The nine-week summer carnival will start with a birdwatching tour in which tourists will have a chance to observe the migratory blue-tailed bee-eaters on their way south, according to a statement released by the county government.

Tourists observe the migratory blue-tailed bee-eaters.

The carnival will also involve Kinmen’s Jiangong Islet, connected to the main Kinmen island by a walkway that is only accessible at low tide, the county government said.

People can see horseshoe crabs, considered to be living fossils of some 450 million years ago, in the intertidal zone on both sides of the causeway.    [FULL  STORY]