Kang left Taiwan aged 16 and went on to study cello and piano at USC

Taiwan News
Date; 2018/07/13
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – While Canadian pop superstar Celine Dion attracts

full public attention with her first-ever performances in Taiwan this week, Taiwanese-American cellist Judy Kang (康瑋倫) has been sharing the spotlight.

Kang was born in Taiwan, started studying music at an early age, and emigrated with her family to the United States when she was 16. She was the first to graduate from the University of Southern California with both piano and cello as chief subjects, the Central News Agency reported.

On her 27th birthday, she was invited to audition for Celine Dion’s orchestra, which involved a drive from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, and she was chosen out of a hundred candidates, she told a news conference in Taipei Friday. Since then, she has been playing the cello with the pop diva for four years.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/07/13
By: Yang Ming-chu and Lee Hsin-Yin

Tokyo, July 13 (CNA) The Taiwanese government donated 20 million

Japanese yen (US$$181,000) to Japan on Thursday in the wake of heavy rain, flooding and landslides that have caused at least 200 deaths.

Taiwan made the donation to demonstrate its concern over the disaster and assist with the rebuilding of flooded areas, said Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), Taiwan’s envoy to Japan.

Hsieh made the remarks as he gave details of the donation to Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association President Yasuaki Tanizaki in Tokyo, adding that he hoped Japanese victims of the flooding will be able to resume their lives and flooded areas return to normal as soon as possible.

He said Taiwan and Japan are prone to natural disasters, noting that the two sides extend a helping hand when the other needs assistance.
[FULL  STORY]

ArtForum
Date: July 12, 2018

The Taipei Fine Arts Museum announced that artist Shu Lea Cheang has been chosen to represent Taiwan at the Fifty-Eighth Venice Biennale, which will take place in May 2019. She is the first woman to exhibit in Taiwan’s pavilion since it began holding single-artist presentations.

“In recent years Taiwanese artists and art institutions have elevated their participation in the global art community, generating a more refined and complex network of connections,” Ping Lin, director of the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, said in a statement. “For this reason, the nominating committee employed a greater level of strategic thinking, coloring their artist recommendations with stronger overtones of global strategy. Shu Lea Cheang, a pioneer of net art, not only in Taiwan but around the world, emerged as the first choice.”

Best known for her net art installations, films, and art actions, which rethink the middle ground between technology and humanity, Cheang considers herself a “digital nomad.” While Cheang was born in Taiwan in 1954, she launched her career as an artist while living in New York in the 1980s. She has also lived and worked in Japan, Holland, the United Kingdom, and France.

A cofounder of Kingdom of Piracy, an online work space that promotes the free sharing of digital content and ideas as an art form, Cheang often reimagines how the internet can be used in service of art and utilizes technology to break down barriers surrounding assumptions about gender and sexuality.     [FULL  STORY]

EuroNews
Date: 12/07/2018
By: Reuters

OUAGADOUGOU (Reuters) – China opened an embassy in Burkina Faso on Thursday, two months after the poor, landlocked West African country cut diplomatic ties with Taiwan.

The move to sever relations with Taiwan in May followed Chinese pressure on African countries to break with what it regards as a wayward province — all of which have now done so except the kingdom of Swaziland.

“The government (of China) attaches great importance to this relationship and intends to be a privileged partner for the development of Burkina Faso,” visiting Chinese Vice Premier Hu Chunhua said at a ceremony to mark the opening.

China has launched a determined campaign over the past two years to lure Taiwan’s last few diplomatic allies away, as it seeks to prevent President Tsai Ing-wen from pushing for the island’s formal independence.
[FULL  STORY]

Council of Indigenous People and 7 universities to create language centers to train teachers of Taiwan’s indigenous languages

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/07/12
By: Scott Morgan, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The Council of Indigenous People and seven

Taiwanese universities will collaborate in the creation of indigenous language centers to train teachers of Taiwan’s indigenous languages, with the goal of training 210 language teachers, reported CNA.

The language centers will be dotted across Taiwan and will provide an opportunity for the public to undertake language courses to improve their language ability.

The decision to collaborate on a new training program came about in response to the decline in language ability by indigenous youth.

Icyang Parod, Minister of Council of Indigenous Peoples told CNA that the language proficiency of indigenous people under the age of 40 is alarming.  [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/07/12
By: Chiu Po-shen, Ko Lin and Wang Szu-chi

Taipei, July 12 (CNA) More than 30 percent of Taiwanese in their thirties don’t have steady jobs while the majority of people in that age group are heavy in debt, according to a poll released Thursday by the 1111 Job Bank.

The poll conducted between June 26 and July 10 among 1,146 people between the ages of 18 to 39 found 32.72 percent of Taiwanese in their thirties don’t have steady jobs, including 24.6 percent who are unemployed and 8.12 percent who are freelancing. The survey also showed that their first monthly salary is only NT$25,930 (US$849.92) on average.

According to the poll, nearly 53 percent of Taiwanese in their thirties are heavy in debt. They need to pay NT$12,150 (US$398.25) per month in debt on average. In other words, 41.76 percent of their salary is used for the payment of debts.

Ho Chi-sheng (何啟聖), vice president of the job bank, said unemployment, low pay and working poverty have been the bane among the 30 somethings.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 13, 2018
By: Staff writer, with CNA

Former vice president Lien Chan (連戰) yesterday departed for a nine-day

visit to China during which he is to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) at the head of a 50-member delegation.

Lien promised reporters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport that he would report on the details of the visit upon his return to Taiwan.

On the day of his arrival, Lien was slated to meet with China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Minister Liu Jieyi (劉結一) for dinner yesterday evening.

He is scheduled to meet with Xi in Beijing today, after which he is to deliver a speech at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, where a cross-strait peace foundation affiliated with Lien’s office and a research center that studies cross-strait relations are to jointly hold a forum.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-07-11

The government’s disaster response center has held a meeting as Typhoon

Maria leaves Taiwan. The meeting focused on continuing danger from the storm as well as work to restore power to homes.

Though the worst of Typhoon Maria was over on Taiwan by Wednesday morning, parts of the country continued to see high winds and heavy rain. Meanwhile, the storm had also moved on to threaten the outlying Matsu islands.

With the danger not yet over, the Central Disaster Emergency Operation Center held a meeting to take stock of the situation. The meeting included a video conference with the county head in charge of the Matsu islands.
[FULL  STORY]