Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/03/23
By: Yu Hsiang, Yeh Su-ping and Lee Hsin-Yin

Taipei, March 23 (CNA) The ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) will postpone its

process for nominating a presidential candidate by a week because President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), who intends to run for re-election, is currently on an overseas trip.

Tsai, who has fared poorly in recent opinion polls when matched against potential 2020 election opponents, is being challenged for the DPP nomination by former Premier Lai Ching-te (賴清德).

DPP Secretary-General Lo Wen-jia (羅文嘉) said Saturday that if a solution to settle the issue through negotiations is not found by April 12, a primary based on opinion polls will be initiated.

Lo said a policy platform presentation could be broadcast on TV on either on April 13 or 14 and opinion polls would be conducted between April 15 and 17, meaning that the results could be available April 17-18 and a nominee could be decided by April 24.
[FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International 
Date: 22 March, 2019
By: Paula Chao

President Tsai Ing-wen has told the UK-based Monocle Magazine that beefing up Taiwan’s defense capabilities is a priority for her government.

Tsai said Taiwan has no plans to provoke China. However, she said Taiwan must increase its military strength and defense capabilities in the face of large-scale Chinese military investment.

Tsai also said that Taiwan has promised to maintain the status quo in the Taiwan Strait. However, she emphasized the need to maintain a power balance between the two sides as the region changes.

Asked whether she will rule out holding an independence referendum if she wins a second term next year, the president said that Taiwan is a democracy and it’s not up to her to make a decision.    [FULL  STORY]

Straits Times
Date: Mar 22, 2019

TAIPEI (BLOOMBERG) – For officials in Beijing looking for a Taiwanese presidential

candidate who improves the island’s fraught ties with the mainland, Mr Han Kuo-yu is saying all the right things. The question is whether he runs.

The new mayor of the southern city of Kaohsiung last month described Taiwan and China as partners in an “arranged marriage” who had fallen “madly in love”.

He has also said that peace talks were “inevitable” between the democratically run Taiwan and the Communist Party-ruled mainland.

Such blunt talk contrasts with Taiwan’s current president, Ms Tsai Ing-wen, a cautious critic of China who’s bracing for a tough re-election fight after bruising policy battles and an isolation campaign by Beijing.    [FULL  STORY]

Bonnie Glaser challenges Taipei Mayor Ko’s stance on cross-straits policy

Taiwan News   
Date: 2019/03/22 
By: Huang Tzu-ti, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – An approach to the tri-lateral relationship between Taiwan,

China, the United States suggested by Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) in an address delivered at the Heritage Foundation in Washington D.C. on March 20, has been criticized by a senior U.S. expert on Taiwan issues as being ambiguous and implicit, reports said.

In a speech titled “The Present Situation and Prospects for Taiwan,” Mayor Ko proposed an alternative for Taiwan’s cross-strait relations, arguing for closer ties with the U.S. while pursuing friendly relations with China.

The proposition was considered equivocal by Bonnie Glaser, a senior adviser for Asia at the Washington-based think tank, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), who expressed her opinion about Ko’s address in an interview with Financial Times.

According to Glaser, a swing in attitude and an inclination towards vagueness don’t bode well for the tri-lateral relationship, based on what she has observed over the past decade. “Scars remain for the U.S. government” left by the Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) administration, noted Glaser.   [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/03/22
By: Wen Kuei-hsiang and Chung Yu-chen 

Koror, Palau, March 22 (CNA) China Airlines (CAL), one of Taiwan’s major carriers, will offer an additional direct flight to Palau from June 1, bringing the total number of weekly flights to four, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) told Palau President Tommy E. Remengesau, Jr. during a meeting Friday.

Tsai, who is currently in Palau on the first leg of a visit to three Pacific island allies, said she delivered the good news to Remengesau, hoping it would prompt more Taiwanese to visit the Pacific nation.

CAL, which is partly state owned, currently offers three direct flights a week between Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and Palau.

The Taiwanese airline began providing charter flights between Taiwan and Palau in 2008 and offering scheduled services in 2009. The average passenger load on the regular flights have reached around 80 percent over the past year, the airline said earlier this year.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International 
Date: 21 March, 2019
By: Paula Chao

Taiwan has been removed from the EU’s list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions, ending

the threat of EU economic sanctions.

Premier Su Tseng-chang said on Thursday that Taiwan’s removal from the list will help raise its international image and better protect the rights of Taiwanese businesses with investments in EU member countries.

Su said that over the past year or so, government agencies and Taiwan’s offices in the EU and Belgium have worked to present Taiwan’s case for removal.    [FULL  STORY]