Pope Francis and China struck a deal last year about the appointment of bishops

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/04/30
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The flag of Taiwan’s only European ally, the Vatican, appeared at a garden show in China, causing renewed concern about the future of the island nation’s ties to the Catholic city state, reports said Tuesday (April 30).

The International Horticultural Exhibition opened in Beijing on April 28, boasting that 110 countries participated in the event, including the Vatican. Last fall, China and the Vatican signed a “provisional agreement” about the appointment of bishops in the communist country, seen as evidence of warming unofficial relations and as a potential threat to the Church’s Taiwan links.

Pro-Chinese website Duowei News interpreted the appearance of the Vatican’s white-and-yellow flag at the gardening event as a potential shock to viewers in Taiwan, since a break in relations would deliver a blow to the island’s morale.

The Vatican was looking to expand the influence of the Catholic Church, while China wanted to resolve a religious problem, but Taiwan only saw a Chinese attempt at isolating it, Duowei reported, according to the Liberty Times.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/04/30
By: Shih Hsiu-chuan and Evelyn Kao

Jakarta, April 30 (CNA) Taiwan’s government donated an additional US$355,722 to Indonesia Tuesday to help with school reconstruction efforts in the wake of a magnitude 7.5 earthquake that hit the island of Sulawesi Sept. 28, 2018, triggering a tsunami that left about 2,200 people dead.

Taiwan’s representative to Indonesia, Chen Chung (陳忠), made the donation in Jakarta on behalf of Taiwan’s government.

The donation was personally received by Ginandjar Kartasasmita, acting chairman of the Indonesian Red Cross Society, and will be used to aid the rebuilding of two schools in areas affected by the natural disaster.

At least 2,200 people were killed and 10,000 injured as a result of the earthquake and tsunami last year.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International 
Date: 29 April, 2019
By: Paula Chao

A non-native species of bird called the African Sacred Ibis is threatening the local ecology in Taiwan. Over the last 30 years, the ibis population has swelled at the Xucuogang Wetland in the northern county of Taoyuan. The wetland, was originally set aside as a nesting place for migratory birds. But now the African Sacred Ibis is squeezing out the space for indigenous and migratory birds.

This bird with white feathers and slender legs is called the African Sacred Ibis. A symbol of wisdom in ancient Egypt, the alien species is a threat to Xucuogang Wetland in Taoyuan city, and a headache for environmentalists.

The head of the Wild Bird Society of Taoyuan, Wu Yu-chou, said the bird can be spotted in every stream, even in places farther away from rivers, such as Bade and Daxi.

It’s been 30 years since the bird was first introduced to Taiwan. In 1984, six birds escaped from a local zoo. The association says the number has now grown to more than 3,000.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan English News
Date: April 29, 2019 
By: Phillip Charlier

The son of a wealthy businessman was arrested in the early hours of the morning today, after an investigation into a video showing him pretending to perform a sex act on a police officer when the officer bent over to write a speeding ticket.

February 24 this year, Lee Weide (李威德), 25, was traveling with friends in Cheng-gong Township, Taitung County, when he was pulled over by a police officer for speeding.

A video of the incident uploaded to social media showed the male police officer bend over to use the luggage compartment of the car as a table to write the speeding ticket. While the officer is bent over with his head inside the car, Lee stands close behind the officer, pretends to grab the officer by the hips, and makes backwards and forwards thrusting motions with his groin, while making slapping gestures at the police officer’s buttocks.

Screenshot from video Lee uploaded to social media.
Sometime later, Lee uploaded the video to his Instagram account, where he has more than 100, 000 followers, and the video spread across various platforms, gaining the attention of media and the police in mid-April.

CNA
Date: 29 Apr 2019

WASHINGTON: The US military said it sent two Navy warships through the Taiwan Strait on Sunday (Apr 28) as the Pentagon increases the frequency of movement through the strategic waterway despite opposition from China.

The voyage risks further raising tensions with China but will likely be viewed by Taiwan as a sign of support from the Trump administration amid growing friction between Taipei and Beijing.

Taiwan is one of a growing number of flashpoints in the US-China relationship, which also include a trade war, US sanctions and China’s increasingly muscular military posture in the South China Sea, where the United States also conducts freedom-of-navigation patrols.

The two destroyers were identified as the William P. Lawrence and Stethem. The 180km-wide Taiwan Strait separates Taiwan from China.    [FULL  STORY]

Two new routes will enable passengers to ‘travel between transportation hubs and tourist attractions more quickly and conveniently’

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/04/28
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Two Taiwan Tourist Shuttle (台灣好行) routes in Taoyuan will be replaced by new routes starting May 1.

This will enable passengers to “travel between transportation hubs and tourist attractions more quickly and conveniently,” Taoyuan’s Department of Tourism said on Friday (April 26).

The Cihu Route (慈湖線) will be replaced by the “Daxi Express Route”(大溪快線),which travels between Taiwan High Speed Rail (THSR) Taoyuan Station, Daxi, and Cihu, the department said. The bus will travel from the THSR Taoyuan Station to Daxi via an expressway, and a single trip to Cihu takes only about 40 minutes. A 1-day pass costs NT$130.

The Daxi route bus will service stops at Metrowalk Shopping Center, Indigenous Culture Center, Heping Old Street, Daxi Old Street, Daxi Mausoleum, and Cihu. The line, which is a daily service, will be made even friendlier for international passengers with a foreign language environment and an audio guide at visitor attractions, the department said.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/04/28
By: Lee Shien-feng and Emerson Lim 

Taipei, April 28 (CNA) Residents and visitors to Taitung County experienced the striking sight of a solar halo on Sunday, which appeared about an hour before noon in the form of colored rings around the sun.

Thousands of people in the scenic east coast area took pictures of the optical phenomenon, which were posted on social media in creative and funny memes.

One netizen posted a photo of his face in the center of the halo like that of a god. A couple formed a heart with their arms stretched out toward the sun, with the halo as a romantic background.

A solar halo appears when ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere are refracted, resulting in colored or white rings around the sun, the Taitung Weather Station said, adding that it usually happens during spring or summer.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 29, 2019
By: Lee I-chia  /  Staff reporter

Taipei’s eastern shopping area is not in decline, it has only performed relatively weaker

compared with other areas, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said, adding that stores should collaborate on a positioning strategy.

The closure of stores and restaurants in the area has been reported in the past few months, and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei city councilors have criticized the city government over the issue.

In 2017, consumer spending in Taipei was approximately NT$12.5 trillion (US$404.44 billion at the current exchange rate) and grew to NT$13.2 trillion last year, or about 30 percent of the national total, Ko said in a video he posted yesterday on Facebook of a speech he made at the Taipei Business Areas Development and Innovation Forum on Thursday that cited his own report on the eastern shopping area.

Money flow in Taipei grew 5.7 percent last year, while the city had a record 237,523 registered businesses and stores as of the end of last year, up 6 percent from a year earlier, he said.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan can join international organizations if it fights hard enough

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/04/27
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – In the face of China preventing Taiwan from joining

international organizations, the island nation needed to value its own strength more, former Premier William Lai (賴清德) said Saturday (April 27).

The statement indicated his disagreement with a comment by Foxconn Technology Group Chairman and Kuomintang presidential contender Terry Gou (郭台銘) that the key to Taiwan’s role in regional economic development was in Beijing’s hands, the Central News Agency reported.

Gou saw the pressure from China, but Taiwan’s right to live and the aims of its struggle were in the hands of the people of Taiwan, Lai said. Fighting was very important, so if only the Taiwanese stood together and if the direction was right, it would be certainly possible to overcome difficulties, the former premier added.

Lai is in the middle of a campaign to become the ruling Democratic Progressive Party’s presidential candidate in the January 11, 2020 election. The party has formed a five-member mediation panel which is trying to reconcile Lai with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), who wants to run for a second and final term.    [FULL  STORY]