Page Three

ART REVIEW: Loaded Guns in ‘The Flying Land’

‘Vase of an Anti-Aircraft Gun’ is Japanese artist Tatzu Nishi’s first large-scale installation in Taiwan. Juxtaposing an ordinary living room with a weapon of war, the work speaks to issues of displacement, curatorial conflict of interest, and power.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/11/24
By: Leora Joy Jones & John Stephenson

Credit: Jut Art Museum

Two anti-aircraft gun barrels penetrate up through floorboards, piercing the small coffee table, and – posing as vases – hold two large bouquets of lilies. The space features a comfortable sofa, and a large television looping news reports from 24-hour Taiwanese news channels. There are bookshelves to peruse, magazines strewn across a coffee table, paintings on the wall, and a calendar with the days marked off. But, it’s not a normal space. The room is built on scaffolding. The flowers are in gun barrels. It’s so easy to forget this – seated on a sofa, with the news on, rain mutely hitting the roof. This is “Vase of an Anti-Aircraft Gun,” Japanese artist Tatzu Nishi’s first large-scale installation in Taiwan.

A must-see work
This is a striking and well curated show. Put together by Huang Shan-shan (黃姍姍) at the Jut Art Museum, “The Flying Land” is an inquiry into contemporary living in globalized urban spaces, and constitutes a powerful examination of ideas of “temporary lodging” and the “migratory” nature of the modern world.

Nishi’s installation is the exhibition’s centerpiece, and his playful style ricochets off every aspect. Once inside, however, the viewer reels from sudden cognitive dissonance. Nishi has created an illusion that reveals both the real and non-real nature of the private spaces we wrap around ourselves. There may be no cannon in our living rooms, but the dangers and dominance of power exists as an ever-present reality. This uneasy feeling of displacement pervades “Vase of Anti-Aircraft Gun.” Any attempt to reconcile the discomfort by sitting on the sofa and leafing through a magazine is shattered by the presence of the ‘vases’. The scene recalls Chekhov’s Gun in its theatrical arrangement – the artillery part of an ex machina plot that is bound to play out regardless of our involvement or consent.    [FULL  STORY]

Push to use name ‘Taiwan’ instead of ‘Chinese Taipei’ at Tokyo Olympics falters

Number of voters stays just under the required 25 %, while opponents outnumber supporters

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/11/24
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Voters lining up Saturday. (By Central News Agency)

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A referendum in favor of using the name ‘Taiwan’ instead of the current ‘Chinese Taipei’ to participate in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics looks to be faltering Saturday, not only because more voters opposed the proposal, but also because it looked like not enough voters had cast ballots.

The result of a referendum is only valid if 25 percent of eligible voters have cast their ballot, and if more are in favor of it than oppose it.

However, by 11:30 p.m. Saturday, only 24.3 percent of eligible voters had cast their ballot on the issue, according to provisional figures from the Central Election Commission.

Even if the total eventually exceeded 25 percent, the question still received more negative answers than positive ones. A total of 4,122,738 voters agreed that Taiwan should drop the name ‘Chinese Taipei’ and just use ‘Taiwan’ at international sports events, and specifically at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.    [FULL  STORY]

Japan regrets Taiwanese vote to maintain food import ban

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/11/25
By: Elaine Hou and Elizabeth Hsu

Image taken from Pixabay

Taipei, Nov. 25 (CNA) Japan expressed regret that Taiwan’s public voted on Saturday to back a referendum to maintain the ban on imports of agricultural products and food from areas in Japan affected by the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant disaster on March 11, 2011.

Officials at the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association, the organization that represents the interests of Japan in Taiwan, voiced their regret when asked by CNA about the result of Saturday’s referendum.

The referendum asked voters if they agree the government should maintain the ban on imports of agricultural products and food from areas in Japan affected by the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant disaster on March 11, 2011, including Fukushima, Ibaraki, Gunma, Tochigi and Chiba prefectures.

Taiwanese voters supported the measure by a 78-22 percent margin among the nearly 10 million valid votes cast.    [FULL  STORY]

2018 ELECTIONS: KMT retains hold on New Taipei City

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 25, 2018 
By Chen Yu-fu and Jake Chung  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer and CNA

People yesterday wait in line to vote at a polling station in Taipei.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times

Taiwanese voted in 10 referendums alongside yesterday’s nine-in-one local elections — the greatest number of referendums held simultaneously since the plebiscite mechanism was implemented in 2004.

The referendums covered a broad range of issues, including the definition of marriage in the Civil Code, the ban on food imports from five Japanese prefectures imposed after the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant disaster in 2011 and changing the national team’s name from “Chinese Taipei” to “Taiwan” for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.

A total of 19,757,067 people were eligible to vote on yesterday’s referendums, the Central Election Commission (CEC) said.

Amendments to the Referendum Act (公民投票法) in December last year lowered the threshold needed to pass a referendum.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan’s weekend vote will be a test for its president, as China looks on

CNBC
Date:  November 23, 2018
By: Kelly Olsen, CNBC

  • Taiwan holds local elections on Saturday that analysts say are a de facto referendum on the midway point of President Tsai Ing-wen’s term.
  • Voters will choose mayors and local councils, as well as cast ballots on same-sex marriage and phasing out nuclear power.
  • Concerns about the economy and relations with China will be on voters’ minds, analysts say.

Taiwan will be holding local elections on Saturday at the mid-point of President Tsai

Ashley Pon | Getty Images
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen waves to the crowd on May 20, 2016 in Taipei, Taiwan.

Ing-wen’s leadership — and the focus will be on the island’s sluggish economy and often fraught relations with China.

While Tsai is not on the ballot, the polls are seen as a chance for the electorate to rate her performance as they vote for mayors, councils and other positions.

Relations across the Taiwan Strait ebb and flow depending on who holds power in Taipei — and tensions with Beijing have risen since Tsai’s independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) swept to power two years ago.

China prefers the Kuomintang (KMT), or Nationalist Party, which eschews talk of going it alone and stresses economic ties with the mainland, from which troops fled in 1949 after defeat in the Chinese Civil War.    [FULL  STORY]

ANALYSIS: Mayoral Races to Watch as KMT Eyes National Return

Apart from Kaohsiung, Taipei, New Taipei and Taichung are the contests to watch for signs of KMT life.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/11/23
By: Courtney Donovan Smith (石東文)

Credit: Reuters / TPG

In the 2014 and 2016 election cycles, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) was devastated in successive overwhelming waves of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) landslide victories. In 2014, they lost all but one of the key “big six” metropolises and most of the nation’s counties, and in 2016 they were decimated in the national Legislative Yuan and lost the presidency by a large margin. The devastation was so complete the party was left without a single politician with national popularity with the general public, and very few popular with the KMT base.

At the beginning of this election cycle the KMT remained largely demoralized. They had some bright spots in some locally popular politicians who might eventually evolve into nationally recognized figures, but overall the party looked most likely to make modest gains with some morale-boosting wins in key battlegrounds on the back of dissatisfaction with the DPP administration of President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), and certain local issues.

That may have changed with the arrival of the so-called “Han wave” of KMT Kaohsiung mayoral challenger Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜). The Kaohsiung race is really the one to watch, and is covered in detail in the sister article to this piece, which you can read here.

This article will also focus on the three other most hotly contested races. Though Tainan isn’t covered, there is an outside chance the three-way race could produce an upset, though it would be a long shot. Taoyuan is considered to be safe for the DPP in this cycle under a highly popular incumbent facing a lackluster KMT challenger.
[FULL  STORY]

Human rights proponents in Taiwan plead for public to vote in favor of equality

Delegates from religious groups and LGBTQ organizations held a joint press conference today

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/11/23
By: Ryan Drillsma, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Human rights proponents from various walks of life at today’s press conference (By Central News Agency)

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Representatives from human rights committees and religious associations appealed to the public to support human rights and make the right decision during tomorrow’s vote in a press conference held today (Nov. 23) at the Legislative Yuan.

Hongshi Buddhist Cultural and Educational Foundation, True Light Gospel Church, Taiwan Hesed Association, Taiwan Tongzhi Hotline Association, and Equal Love Taiwan jointly held the conference entitled, “We are all one family, let’s build a loving Taiwan together” 我們都是一家人．共同打造慈愛台灣.

Ye Dahua (葉大華), a member of the Presidential Office’s Human Rights Consultative Committee and Secretary General of the Taiwan Alliance for Advancement of Youth Rights and Welfare was present and pleaded that we not forget the national commitment to upholding human rights we made, lest Taiwan’s progress on social issues be disrupted.

Turning the language of the anti-LGBT opposition on its head, Ye asked voters to think carefully about how we can create a friendlier environment for future citizens and ensure “the happiness of the next generation” when voting. Happiness of the Next Generation (下一代幸福聯盟) is, conversely, the name of the anti-marriage equality association that proposed the three referendums opposing LGBTQ rights.
[FULL  STORY]

Taiwan poised to receive 11 million visitors this year: minister

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/11/23
By: Chen Wei-ting and Ko Lin 

Taipei, Nov. 23 (CNA) Taiwan’s efforts to attract tourists are expected to help the nation achieve the goal of 11 million visitors this year, Minister without Portfolio Chang Ching-sen (張景森) said Friday.

With the government’s New Southbound Policy bearing fruit, Taiwan is poised to see 11 million visitors this year, Chang said during the opening of the annual Taipei International Travel Fair, which is being held at Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center through Nov. 26.

Taiwan received 10 million visitors for the first time in 2015, and has maintained that level for the last two years.

Hopefully we will be able to achieve 12 million visitors next year, he added.
[FULL  STORY]

Psychiatrist warns over anxiety linked to elections

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 24, 2018
By: Lin Hui-chin and William Hetherington  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer

A psychiatrist has warned about health issues arising from anxiety related to today’s nine-in-one elections, citing a 30-year-old man whose work and relationship were affected.

The man, who was referred to by the alias Hsiao Chen (小陳), argued with his girlfriend — who supported a different candidate — leading to threats of a breakup, and he stayed up late to debate politics on the Internet, psychiatrist Yang Tsung-tsai (楊聰財) said.

The habit caused him to lose sleep and made him tired at work, Yang said.

The number of patients Yang has treated for anxiety has risen by nearly 30 percent in recent weeks, he said, adding that most of them said they were passionate about politics.    [FULL  STORY]

‘Fake news’ rattles Taiwan ahead of elections

Beijing is test-driving propaganda techniques ahead of Taiwan’s largest-ever elections on Saturday , officials say.

Al Jazeera
Date: Nov 22, 2018
By: James Reinl2 hours ago

President Tsai Ing-wen looks through a pair of binoculars during an anti-invasion drill last month [Tyrone Siu/Reuters]

Taipei, Taiwan – China is spreading “fake news” via social media to swing Taiwanese voters away from President Tsai Ing-wen’s party and behind candidates more sympathetic to Beijing ahead of elections, Taiwanese officials said.

Beijing is test-driving its techniques in Taiwan, where it has a big stake in the politics and understands the language and culture, but deployed its cyber-capacities in the United States, Australia and other democracies, the officials said.

“We received propaganda warfare coming from China for years, but this is taking a very different form,” Foreign Minister Joseph Wu, from Tsai’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), told Al Jazeera.

“It’s coming in not from newspapers or their propaganda machine but through our social media, online chat groups, Facebook, the zombie accounts set up, somewhere, by the Chinese government.”    [FULL  STORY]