Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-11-21

President Tsai Ing-wen says that more direct flights between Taiwan and Palau will make

exchanges between the two allied nations easier.

Tsai was speaking Tuesday during a meeting with a Palauan delegation led by the speaker of the country’s House of Delegates, Sabino Anastacio. Tsai said that Palau is a popular vacation spot for Taiwanese tourists. She said the additional direct flights, scheduled to begin next year, will make it easier for people from each country to visit the other.

During the meeting, Tsai also thanked Anastacio and Palauan President Tommy Remengesau for their support of Taiwan. She also spoke about medical exchanges between Taiwan and Palau. Tsai said that in addition to sending medical personnel to Palau, Taiwan also welcomes nearly 500 Palauan nationals seeking medical treatment each year.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Rose Garden in the Xinsheng Park (新生公園) area of the Taipei EXPO Park is showcasing over 700 varieties of roses from November 18 through December 1.

Taiwan News 
Date: 2017/11/21
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News)—Taipei Rose Garden in the Xinsheng Park (新生公園) area of the

Taipei EXPO Park (花博公園) is showcasing over 700 varieties of roses from November 18 through December 1.

Parks and Street Lights Office (PSLO ) Director Huang Li-yuan (黃立遠) said that the city government has invested much effort in transforming Taipei Rose Garden into a venue boasting great diversity of roses through soil preparation and test cultivation of various rose species since 2010. High temperatures and typhoons in the summer have also posed challenges to the maintenance of the garden, he added.

After seven years of hard work, the garden is now home to a collection of miniature roses, shrub roses, climbing roses, floribunda roses, and hybrid tea roses, attracting rose enthusiasts from far and near.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/11/21
By: Emmanuel Tzeng and Flor Wang

Paris, Nov. 20 (CNA) The 21st Taiwan-France Cultural Awards were presented in Paris

on Monday to the Vienna Center for Taiwan Studies and Patrice Martinet, founder of the Paris Quartier d’ Ete.

In a joint presentation ceremony, Jean-Robert Pitte, permanent secretary-general of the school of political science and humanities under the Institute of France, said the awards serve an encouragement to the many academicians, artists and cultural professionals who are dedicated to cultural exchanges between Taiwan and Europe.

“Their efforts have dispersed the foggy veil that prevented Europeans from getting a glimpse of Taiwan,” he said.

Taiwan’s Deputy Minister of Culture Yang Tzu-pao (楊子葆), the other presenter of the awards, said the European spirit of “passive tranquil” power was broader and more open-minded than the American-style “soft power.”    [FULL  STORY]

With President Xi Jinping having consolidated his power at the 19th Party Congress, and the United States increasingly distracted at home, it may seem like a given

Date: Nov 18, 2017
By: Zachary Keck

With President Xi Jinping having consolidated his power at the 19th Party Congress, and

the United States increasingly distracted at home, it may seem like a given that China will reestablish its predominance over the Asia-Pacific region. A new study casts doubt on this, however, arguing that Beijing doesn’t have the military power to defeat its neighbors. In fact, it probably can’t even conquer Taiwan.

The new study by Michael Beckley, an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Tufts University, was published [3] in the academic journal International Security. In the article, Beckley argues that China’s neighbors could thwart Chinese military aggression through anti-access/area denial strategies with only minimal U.S. assistance [4].

“My main finding is that there is a budding balance of military power in East Asia, which the United States can reinforce at moderate risk to U.S. forces,” Beckley writes in the article. “Furthermore, this balance of power will remain stable for years to come, because China cannot afford the power-projection capabilities it would need to overcome the A2/AD forces of its neighbors. The main reasons are that power projection forces are more expensive than A2/AD forces by an order of magnitude.”    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-11-19

This month marks the 40th anniversary of one of Taiwan’s earliest and largest pro-

democracy protests – the Chungli Incident — which took place in what is now known as the Chungli District of Taoyuan City.

The incident occurred on November 19, 1977, as local residents went to the polls to elect the county magistrate of what was then called Taoyuan County. It was the largest election since Taiwan’s then-authoritarian government began implementing local elections. But after word got out about a possible election fraud on the part of the ruling Kuomintang, some 10,000 people took to the streets, turning over military vehicles and burning down the local police station.

One of the top figures of the incident was Hsu Hsin-liang, an opposition figure who would eventually be elected Taoyuan County Magistrate and later Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairperson. His election marked the first transfer of party rule in Taoyuan and is considered a watershed moment in the nation’s democracy movement.
[FULL  STORY]

No country should be excluded from global climate talks

Taiwan News 
Date: 2017/11/19
By: Teng Pei-ju, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Minister of Taiwan’s Environmental Protection Administration

Lee Ying-yuan (李應元) urged countries to support Taiwan’s participation in the United Nations climate summit in an interview with TV Berlin on Saturday.

Earlier on November 13, the Central News Agency reported that Lee, as a Taiwanese envoy, was refused entry to the side events held around the 23th United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP23) in Bonn, Germany due to Chinese pressure.

Lee said even though Taiwan is not a signatory state in the United Nations, the country has been committed to energy transformations and is willing to share its experience in tackling problems resulted from climate change.    [FULL  STORY

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/11/19
By: Phoenix Hsu and Ko Lin

Taipei, Nov. 19 (CNA) As many as 78.4 percent of Taiwanese children said they had

witnessed their parents have emotional outbursts, according to a survey by the Child Welfare League Foundation.

The Taipei-based non-profit organization published the results of the survey on Sunday showing that of those 78.4 percent, roughly 33 percent revealed that witnessing such outbursts led to them being hit or verbally abused.

Furthermore, 39.4 percent of children polled said their parents got angry over small matters, or for no reason.

Foundation Executive Director Chen Li-ju (陳麗如) said the main stressors for parent’s emotional outbursts are children misbehaving, work related stress and/or spousal argument.

In addition, children can be easily hurt, or abused, by these uncontrollable outbursts, Chen said.    [FULL  STORY]