Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-06-05

The Taipei mayor, Ko Wen-je, is calling on local residents to save water. That’s as water

levels continue to fall at reservoirs across the country.

The annual “plum rains”, a rainy period during the spring, failed to arrive this year. As a result, some waterworks in southern Taiwan have begun reducing water pressure during off-peak hours.

Water supplies are tightening in northern Taiwan as well. As of Tuesday, water levels in New Taipei’s Feitsui Reservoir are down to 52% of capacity. Meanwhile, in Taoyuan’s Shihmen Reservoir, water levels are down to around 33% of capacity.    [FULL  STORY]

Trump administration’s pushback over ‘Orwellian nonsense’ adds to Sino-US tensions

Financial Times
Date: June 5, 2018
By: Demetri Sevastopulo in Washington and Jamie Smyth in Sydney

The Trump administration has urged United Airlines and other US carriers to ignore

Chinese demands over how they refer to Taiwan, in the latest example of mounting friction between the US and China.

US officials have asked United, American Airlines and Delta not to comply with a Chinese demand to write “Taiwan, China” instead of Taiwan on their websites and maps, according to five people familiar with the issue. The request came after China ordered 36 foreign airlines to remove any language which implied that Taiwan, a democratically ruled independent island claimed by Beijing, was not part of China.

The White House last month described the Chinese order as “Orwellian nonsense”. Trump administration officials have urged the airlines to push back and to tell China, which has extended the deadline until late June, that the Taiwan issue should be handled by the US and Chinese governments.    [FULL  STORY]

TWG imports will be subject to tighter inspections at the border

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/06/05
By: Sophia Yang, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Six batches of imported tea leaves owned by the luxury tea

brand TWG were found with pesticide residues that exceeded the tolerance levels set by Taiwan’s health authorities. The company said Tuesday the products in question will be destroyed at the border.

The brand as a result will be subject to tighter border inspections of batch-by-batch checks following two violations found this year. The first violation occurred in February when several batches of tea leaves from Vietnam were found with unacceptable levels of pesticide residues. In April, another six batches of tea leaves from Sri Lanka weighing 153.5 kg were found with residues of thiacloprid at levels between 0.07 and 0.14 parts per million (ppm).

A health official said that a higher inspection rate between 20 percent and 50 percent is applied to product importers after a first violation, and a 100 percent inspection rate for those with a second violation.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/06/05
By: Chiang Chin-yeh and Frances Huang

Washington, June 4 (CNA) The new office compound of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), the de facto embassy of the United States in the country, reflects the “enduring friendship” between Washington and Taipei, the U.S. Department of State said Monday.

“The new AIT office complex is a demonstration of the United States’ strong commitment to and enduring friendship with Taiwan,” a State Department spokesperson said in an email reply to a request by CNA for comment on completion of the new facility.

“Through AIT, the United States and Taiwan share values and enjoy close cooperation on a wide range of regional and global issues,” the spokesperson said.

In May, AIT Director Kin Moy (梅健華) said the institute will hold a “dedication ceremony” for the completion of the new compound in the Neihu area in Taipei on June 12, and it will be attended by “good friends of Taiwan” from Washington as a “tangible symbol of U.S.-Taiwan friendship.”    [FULL  STORY]

Channel News Asia
Date: June 04, 2018

TAIPEI: Taiwan’s president Tsai Ing-wen called on China to “face up” to the Tiananmen

Square incident on the 29th anniversary of the tragedy, saying the island’s democratisation is an example of how to move forward from an authoritarian past.

In comments likely to incense Beijing, Tsai called on the government to acknowledge what happened in a message written on her official Facebook page.

“I sincerely believe that if Beijing can face up to the incident and acknowledge state violence in this event, then the unfortunate history of June 4 will become a cornerstone in China’s advancement towards free democracy,” Tsai wrote.

Almost three decades after the Chinese Communist Party sent tanks to crush demonstrations in the Beijing square on Jun 4, 1989, China still forbids open discussion about it and imposes heavy censorship on words related to the incident.
[FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-06-04

President Tsai Ing-wen says the United States has been using concrete actions to help

maintain cross-strait peace. Her remarks came Monday in a meeting with a delegation from a Washington-based think tank, the Center for a New American Security (CNAS).

President Tsai said there is strong bipartisan support in the US for relations between Taipei and Washington. She said she hopes that Taiwan can continue to work closely with the United States to expand mutually-beneficial cooperative efforts.

“Over the past two years, relations between Taiwan and the United States have continued to move in a positive direction. America’s [recent] announcement of new arms sales to Taiwan, reassurances of support for the Taiwan Relations Act, and its granting of a license to allow American firms to sell the country the technology needed to build submarines, indicate its support for Taiwan, and for using concrete actions to help maintain cross-strait peace,” said Tsai.
[FULL  STORY]

Nearly 400 residents and volunteers engaged in beach and harbor cleaning activities in Taiwan’s outlying island of Kinmen on Monday to mark the first World Ocean Day event for the Taiwan region

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/06/04
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News)—Nearly 400 residents and volunteers engaged in beach and

harbor cleaning activities in Taiwan’s outlying island of Kinmen on Monday to mark the first World Ocean Day event for the Taiwan region.

The group cleaned up Cheng Gong Beach, Luocuo Fishing Port in Lieyu Township and the beach near the fishing port.

The official designation of World Oceans Day by the United Nations about 10 years ago is an opportunity to raise global awareness of the benefits humankind derives from the oceans and the current challenges humankind faces to keep the ocean healthy and productive, the UN said.

During the beach cleaning activity, Coast Guard Administration’s Kinmen-Matsu-Penghu Branch minister Liao De-cheng (廖德成) said that the Taiwan region will hold a series of beach cleaning events in the next few days, with Kinmen being the first stop. The coast guards will continue to work hard to protect marine ecology and maintain sustainable marine resources, the minister said.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/06/04
By: Liu Lee-jung and Hsu Hsiao-ling

Taipei, June 4 (CNA) A total of 54,439 couples got divorced in Taiwan in 2017, the

highest number since 2012 and up 589 couples from the previous year, according to the latest statistics from the Ministry of the Interior.

The median length of the marriages of the divorced couples in 2017 was 7.5 years.

A total of 18,454 couples, or 33.9 percent of the total, were divorced in the first five years of their marriage, while 11,737 couples, or 21.56 percent of the total, had been married 5 to 9 years.

The statistics showed that the couples were less likely to divorce when their marriage lasted more than 10 years.

About one out of five couples (19.81 percent) that got divorced in 2017 were marriages between a Taiwanese citizen and a foreign national, the statistics showed.     [SOURCE]