AS WE WALK down the streets of the bustling Raohe Street Night Market, the air is filled with the aromatic mix of spices, meat, soy sauce and the shouts of hawkers selling their wares.

Express
Date: Mar 9, 2019
By: Chloe Kerr

Clouds of smoke and neon lights beckon customers to stalls and tables laden down with dumplings, noodles and – for the more adventurous – chicken heads, pig’s blood cake and the appropriately named stinky tofu. Taiwan has an incredible buzzing night market scene and some of the most incredible street food in Asia. With little space to cook at home, the Taiwanese head out into the streets and visit the heaving markets across the city, in lively street markets or in clusters. Taiwanese cuisine really is a “melting pot” of cultures. Colonized by the Dutch in the 17th century and then the Spanish, Japan took over the island in 1895 before the Republic of China took it back in 1945. Its cultural heritage, and cuisine, is a delicate blend of Taiwanese, traditional Chinese and Japanese. As well as street food dinners, breakfast is an in institution in Taipei.

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To eat like a local, head to The Wanhua District and try one of the many cafes. The speciality is soymilk (or a peanut soy if you have a sweet tooth) with local flat bread. These cafes are social hubs for locals, so grab a seat at one of the long tables and get stuck in.    [FULL  STORY]

Mayor will attend a smart cities forum: MOFA

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/03/09 
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The new mayor of the Czech capital Prague, Zdeněk Hřib, will visit Taiwan later this month to look at smart healthcare, transportation and energy on the island, reports said Saturday.

Hřib, 37, a physician who was elected mayor last year as a candidate for the Pirate Party, is no stranger to Taiwan as he spent a month in 2005 as an intern at the Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in Linkou, New Taipei City.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taipei
Date: 2019/03/09
By: Chung Yu-chen 

Taipei, March 9 (CNA) Taipei was listed 8th in terms of its number of mega-rich residents, individuals worth a minimum of US$30 million, according to Knight Frank’s 2019 Wealth Report released this week.

According to Knight Frank, a real estate consultancy, the top spot in 2018 was taken by London (4,944), followed by Tokyo (3,732), Singapore (3,598), New York (3,378), Beijing (1,673), Paris (1,667), Seoul (1,594), Taipei (1,519), Zurich (1,507) and Sao Paulo (1,352).

Despite Brexit, London is listed as the biggest hub for billionaires, including members of the billionaire Rausing family, who own packaging company Tetra Laval, and Chelsea neighborhood landowner Charles Cadogan, the report said.

“Hard Brexit, no Brexit, Brexit-lite: whatever the outcome, London will remain the leading global wealth centre in 2019,” it added.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Mar 10, 2019
By: Hu Hui-ning  /  Staff reporter in London

A red wine developed by Taiwanese farmers won gold at the 25th Vinalies Internationales in France

this week.

The Vino Formosa Rosso is produced by Hung Chi-pei (洪吉倍), who runs Shu-sheng Leisure Domaine in Taichung’s Waipu District (外埔).

The concours, which lasted from March 1 to Tuesday, saw 126 tasters from 35 countries review 3,340 wines.

Regarded as one of the strictest wine competitions, the contest follows the standards of the International Organization of Vine and Wine.

Seventy percent of entrants are eliminated before the reviewers start grading.

National Kaohsiung University of Hospitality and Tourism assistant professor Chen Chien-hao (陳千浩), who accepted the award in Paris on Wednesday, yesterday said that it is not an easy competition and the result shows that Taiwanese grapes can be used to make world-class wines featuring local flavors.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International 
Date: 08 March, 2019
By: John Van Trieste

Taiwan’s temples are home to some truly gigantic turtles, turtles that can weigh up to several metric tons. Temple devotees eat them as a dessert. These aren’t the kinds of turtles you can find in nature, though.

Across Taiwan, there’s a tradition of building giant edible turtles using ingredients like glutinous rice and sugar. They’re known as “peace turtles” in Chinese, and are often commissioned by temple goers as a thank you to the gods for a prayer that’s been answered.

Taiwan has seen plenty of these turtles over the years. But none have ever been quite like a real whopper recently built at a temple in Nantou County.

The turtle weighs in at over 13,000kg. Some are calling this turtle Taiwan’s heaviest.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan’s immigration agency confirmed that migrant workers in temporary detention centers are expected to use their own money to pay for meals. Rights groups are outraged.

The News Lens
Date: 2019/03/08
By: Nick Aspinwall

Taiwan’s National Immigration Agency (NIA) has stated that migrant workers in temporary detention centers are expected to use their own money to pay for food, but it denied claims by rights groups that migrant workers were being starved in the centers when they could not afford meals.

The policy, as stated by the NIA, violates global standards of humane treatment of temporary detainees and prisoners. The United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners state the following: “Every prisoner shall be provided by the prison administration at the usual hours with food of nutritional value adequate for health and strength, of wholesome quality and well prepared and served.”

These minimum standards are not always met globally, but most countries do provide at least three basic meals to detainees every day. For instance, immigration detention centers and prisons in the United States, which have been harshly criticized for serving inadequate and inedible food, serve three daily meals for free and make additional food available at personal cost.

Taiwan fails to meet this standard, according to a NIA statement released on Wednesday. Hsu Yun (徐昀), deputy head of the agency’s International Affairs and Law Enforcement Division, admitted that migrant workers must pay for their own food while they are being detained. Those who cannot pay can borrow money from a government employment security fund, she said, but the expenses are expected to be paid back.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan and Japan finished the talks in Tokyo with a pledge to ‘uphold the spirit of reciprocal cooperation’
 
Taiwan News
Date: 2019/03/08
By: Duncan Deaeth, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – After two days of dialogue, the eighth annual bilateral Taiwan-Japan Fisheries Commission talks wrapped up on Thursday, March 7.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement on Friday on that after discussing agreements regarding the mutual use of fisheries, both sides agreed to “uphold the spirit of reciprocal cooperation.”

There were no amendments made to the 2013 Taiwan-Japan Fisheries Pact at this year’s talks, however the MOFA release states that negotiations on certain aspects of the pact will continue after the 2019 fishing season.

Topics discussed at the meeting included legal enforcement of ships using their Automatic Identification Systems (AIS), as well as the liability of ship owners in instances where vessels violate the fishery agreements.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International 
Date: 07 March, 2019
By: Shirley Lin

Foreign Minister Joseph Wu has been invited to speak in the US on Taiwan’s possible role in the US

Indo-Pacific strategy. That was the word from the foreign ministry on Wednesday.

Wu will be speaking at the Los Angeles World Affairs Council on Monday on the topic “Taiwan: An Enduring Partner with the US in the Free and Open Indo-Pacific”.

Wu will discuss Taiwan’s calls for like-minded countries to work together in safeguarding democracy and freedom.

He will speak about Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy, which aims at strengthening Taiwan’s economic and cultural ties with South Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. He will also cover the Taiwan Relations Act, enacted 40 years ago this year. The act forms the basis of Taiwan’s relationship with the US in the absence of formal diplomatic ties.    [FULL  STORY]