Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/03/14
By: Yang Shu-min and William Yen

Taipei, March 14 (CNA) Test results conducted on a pig carcass discovered on a beach in the offshore county of Kinmen a day earlier came back positive for African swine fever (ASF), according to Taiwan’s Central Emergency Operation Center for ASF Thursday.

Samples taken from the carcass were found to contain sequences of gene fragments 100 percent identical to those of the ASF virus strain in China, the center said.

This is the third ASF case detected in pig carcasses washed ashore in Taiwan’s offshore islands.

In the latest case, the carcass was found on a beach in Kinmen’s Lieyu Township, approximately six kilometers from the Chinese city of Xiamen and close to the Jiulong River estuary in China, the center said in a statement.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International 
Date: 13 March, 2019
By: Paula Chao

President Tsai Ing-wen is calling on a review committee to select four new justices in a fair and open manner. Tsai was speaking Wednesday as committee members held their first meeting at the Presidential Office.

Taiwan currently has 15 justices. Four of these justices’ terms are set to end in September. The president is required by law to nominate new justices, whose nominations must be approved by the legislature.

Tsai said the picks are crucial to Taiwan’s new system of constitutional interpretation, which will be put in place in three years’ time. Under the new system, the way justices handle cases will be transformed.    [FULL  STORY]

The News Lens
Date: 2019/03/13
By: Amy Gunia

US diplomat Sam Brownback has spoken out against religious persecution of Muslims and Christians in China.

U.S. diplomat Samuel Brownback denounced China’s treatment of the Uyghur minority during a teleconference call Tuesday. Uyghurs, a predominantly Muslim ethnic group, make up roughly 40 percent of the population of the northwestern province of Xinjiang. According to the U.N., an estimated 1 million Uyghurs are being held in internment camps in Xinjiang.

“We have been putting out very clearly that this is a horrific situation that’s taking place in Xinjiang,” said Brownback, the U.S. Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom.

Brownback was speaking Tuesday from Taipei, the capital of Taiwan, where he is leading a regional conference on religious freedom to raise awareness of the issue.

In response to a question submitted by TIME, Brownback said that international pressure on China over their treatment of Uyghurs is causing Beijing to change their approach.
[FULL  STORY]

The website is found to promote Beijing’s incentive measures for Taiwanese people

Taiwan News   
Date: 2019/03/13 
By: Huang Tzu-ti, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taiwan’s telecommunication regulator will take action to address the issue surrounding a website registered in Taiwan to further China’s propaganda purpose, at the request of national security authorities, reports said Wednesday.

The website in question, www.31t.tw, is dedicated to the dissemination of information regarding the “31 Incentives,” a program launched by China last February seeking to lure Taiwanese to work or study in the country.

As the website’s content apparently bears much similarity to that of a newly-released mobile phone app developed by the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council of China, it has raised fears that Beijing is taking advantage of democracy of Taiwan to use the website as a propaganda tool, wrote Liberty Times.

Lawmakers have voiced concern the operation of the website could jeopardize Taiwan’s national security, and urged the government to shut it down. The National Communications Commission (NCC) in response noted that it will cooperate with the Taiwan Network Information Center (TWNIC) to tackle the issue and adopt necessary measures, said NCC spokesperson Wong Po-tsung (翁柏宗).    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/03/13
By: Wang Shu-fen and Evelyn Kao)

Taipei, March 13 (CNA) Transportation Minister Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said Wednesday

that the punishments recommended by a government committee against the people deemed responsible for a fatal train crash last year were inadequate.

Lin, who took office as transportation minster on Jan. 14, said he has returned the report to the committee and asked for a revised one, mainly because the recommended penalties were too light.

Once the causes of the Puyuma Express train accident have been investigated and it has been determined who was responsible, appropriate punishment should be meted out, he said.

For sake of the families of the 18 people who died in the crash, the 200 who were injured and the public, the blame should not be placed only on the shoulders of the train driver, Lin said.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International 
Date: 12 March, 2019
By: Shirley Lin

Taiwanese director Ho Chao-ti has won the Best Director award at the 2019 CinemAsia Film Festival in the Netherlands. The announcement was made by the Taiwan’s representative office in the Netherlands on Monday.

Ho won the award for her documentary “Turning 18”. It is a coming-of-age story that addresses the issues of poverty in rural Taiwan as well as LGBTQ rights and sexual abuse. Ho has received acclaim for her series on marginalized communities and socio-economic issues.

The CinemAsia Film Festival is a leading Asian film festival in Europe. Six Taiwanese films received recognition at this year’s festival.    [FULL  STORY]

Defense News
Date: March 12, 2019
By: Mike Yeo

MELBOURNE, Australia — Taiwan has requested a fleet of new fighters from the United States, but it didn’t specify a type, leaving it up to the U.S. to recommend an option, according to defense officials.

Taiwanese Deputy Minister of National Defense Shen Yi-ming told reporters that the request for new fighters had been submitted, with the U.S to advise on the type and number of fighter jets that would be required to meet the country’s operational needs.

Speaking at a separate event, the head of the Taiwanese Air Force Command
Headquarter’s Planning Division, Maj. Gen. Tang Hung-an, confirmed this, citing for reporters the recently submitted letter of request to the U.S. to buy a batch of fighter jets.

He was quoted by news outlet Focus Taiwan as saying that “the F-15, F-18, F-16 and even the F-35 are all among our options, as long as the jets help to strengthen our air defense capabilities.”    [FULL  STORY]

Ambassador-at-large for International Religious Freedom, Sam Brownback, gave an interview with Radio Taiwan International Monday evening

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/03/12
By: Duncan DeAeth, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – U.S. Ambassador-at-large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback gave an interview with Radio Taiwan International (RTI) radio-host Sen Hong Yang (楊憲宏), on the evening of Monday, March 11.

During the interview at RTI, Ambassador Brownback boldly expressed his hope that religious freedom will come to China soon, and also declared the support of the United States for those suffering from persecution under authoritarian regimes like the one in Beijing.

Echoing his statements from previous addresses over the past few days, Brownback expressed his belief that suppression of religion will inevitably lead to a stronger religious identity among those who are persecuted. The ambassador expressed his belief that the war which China wages against religion is a war that the Chinese Communist Party ultimately can not win.

Ambassador Brownback arrived in Taiwan Sunday, March 10, on a three-day trip for the first ever religious freedom forum hosted in the Indo-Pacific with a theme of “Civil Society Dialogue on Securing Religious Freedom in the Indo-Pacific Region,” which began on Monday and will wrap up on Tuesday, March 12.    [FULL  STORY]