Focus Taiwan
Date: 06/07/2020
By: Yu Hsiang and Chiang Yi-ching

Taipei, June 7 (CNA) Once seen as an ascendant political figure, Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) has instead become a "fallen star," as the city that propelled him to stardom in 2018 voted overwhelmingly to recall him on Saturday.

Han, described as a "fallen star of the Kuomintang (KMT)" by Bloomberg News, is the first municipality leader in Taiwan's history to be recalled, having served as Kaohsiung mayor for only 528 days.

The final results of the election showed 939,090 votes (97.4 percent) in favor of the recall and 25,051 (2.6 percent) against, with 42.14 percent turnout, according to the Kaohsiung City Election Commission.

Under Taiwan's law, the recall of a municipality leader requires a turnout of at least 25 percent of eligible voters — 574,996 in Kaohsiung's case — and a majority vote in favor of the recall.
[FULL  STORY]

The Hill
Date: 06/05/20
By: Jeffrey W. Hornung and Scott W. Harod, Opinion contributors

Experts believe COVID-19 will likely lead to permanent shifts in political and economic power around the world. Through its actions during the pandemic, China has made clear it is striving to expand its influence at the expense of the liberal international order. While Beijing appears to be using the pandemic to spread its influence and threaten its neighbors on virtually every front, according to the U.S. Department of State, Taiwan has demonstrated that it is a “vibrant democracy and a force for good” with both its domestic efforts against the pandemic as well as its assistance to other nations. 

The contrasts in behavior between Taiwan and China during the COVID outbreak show why it could be critical that U.S. policymakers consider advancing U.S.-Taiwan cooperation to enhance Taiwan’s security, protect U.S. interests and preserve peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific. 

Taiwan’s success in tackling COVID-19 has been exemplary. To prevent a major outbreak, Taiwan reacted promptly. Instead of trusting in China to respond effectively to contain the virus, Taiwan quickly adopted travel restrictions, mask-wearing and social distancing; put together a track-and-trace approach to breaking transmission chains; and communicated clear, science-based advice to the public. Its leaders also worked with the media to send out positive messages urging Taiwan to pull together and counter efforts to divide society. As a result, its 24 million residents have not faced a lockdown, and the island has suffered a total of just 441 cases and 7 deaths. Little wonder COVID-19 has strengthened Taiwan’s already strong sense of distinct identity and engendered an all-time high public approval for President Tsai Ing-wen.    [FULL  STORY]

Soompi
Date: Jun 6, 2020
By: isms

Taiwan’s drama industry has been producing some more BL dramas! For example, the “HIStory” series in particular recently released a third installment!

In regards to China’s drama industry, censorship on homosexual relationships still applies, so even if the drama is based on a novel of BL genre it technically can only make it to air if it relegates the series to a bromance/friendship genre. While these adaptations can’t be completely true to its novel counterparts, there are dramas that do justice to the original works and provide compelling and deep relationships between the characters on an emotional level. With that said, here are some Taiwanese BL dramas and Chinese bromance dramas adapted from BL novels to check out!   [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan's Kuo Yen-fu is presenting a new series of athlete-themed paintings at a Taichung gallery

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/06/06
By: Lyla Liu, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taiwan artist Kuo Yen-fu (郭彥甫) launched his latest athlete-themed art exhibition on Saturday (Jun 6) at Estyle Gallery, Taichung.

The solo exhibition, titled "Starting Point" (起點), reprises his first show on the same topic, in 2016. Kuo, whose works have been shown at the Louvre Museum in Paris, was a former athlete himself.

The new series of oil on canvas paintings express the energy and rhythm of sportsmanship with bright colors and flowing lines. They also convey the artist and athlete's pursuit of excellence.

"Athletes crave excellence, such as to run faster or jump higher. This is human nature and can be traced back to our ancestors because we all want to survive," said Kuo. "I find this innate instinct very charming and the idea that life is always finding a way out."    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 06/06/2020
By: Matt Yu and Ko Lin

Taipei, June 6 (CNA) Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) on Saturday said it welcomed a planned visit by the Czech Republic's Senate President Miloš Vystrčil to the country.

Its response came following a recent report by Czech weekly magazine Reflex that cited Vystrčil's firm decision to visit Taiwan, despite facing strong opposition from China.

Vystrčil is expected to hold a press event on June 9 to announce his upcoming trip this autumn, including details of his itinerary, the report said.

According to Reflex, the Czech official only became more determined to come and forge stronger ties with Taiwan after Beijing repeatedly threatened former Senate President Jaroslav Kubera with repercussions for Czech businesses if he visited Taiwan.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 07, 2020
By: Rachel Lin / Staff reporter

Several universities yesterday held their graduation ceremonies, which were smaller and incorporated videoconferencing due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

At National Taiwan University’s (NTU) event, students wore masks while speakers participated via videoconference.

The scaled-down ceremony, with attendees sitting apart to maintain social distancing, was attended by 523 students and 675 parents, compared with about 2,700 of each last year.

“We are apart in distance, put on masks and avoid contact with others. Such distancing can lead to alienation, as well as to more apprehension and misgivings, but we should reduce the psychological distance between people so that our society can maintain its intimate connections,” NTU president Kuan Chung-ming (管中閔) said in his address.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 05 June, 2020
By: Shirley Lin

The Director-General of Food and Drug Administration, Wu Shou-mei, says her office will continue strict enforcement of Taiwan’s food safety regulations. That’s in the run-up to World Food Safety Day, which falls on Sunday.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan Insight
Date: 5 June 2020
By: Gunter Schubert.

Since its electoral defeat in the presidential and legislative elections in January, the KMT has entered a period of soul-searching. For many observers, Taiwan’s largest opposition party, which governed the country almost exclusively since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949, is struggling for political survival. As well as having lost power, the KMT has been stripped of many of its assets in the name of ‘transitional justice.’ The pending investigations are an attempt by the DPP government to clarify whether those assets were illegally acquired during the authoritarian era and must, therefore, be transferred to the state. Although this impacts on the daily running of party affairs, it is the altered political environment in Taiwan which is costing the KMT most dearly.

As the current narrative among many observers goes, the KMT has lost touch with Taiwan’s younger generation and thus faces a bleak future as it is the young people who increasingly determine electoral outcomes. Internal strife and bickering between party factions, steered by the vested interests of an unholy alliance of KMT heavyweights and capitalists with a keen interest in the Chinese market, has further alienated the KMT politically. The KMT is widely seen as an ‘old man’s party’ with non-existent vertical mobility for young talent, undemocratic and corrupt party bodies, and an elitist and conservative mindset at the top – which matches its ossified Leninist party structure. There is no cohesion among party leaders to fight for a common goal, as they are too busy rallying support for the next intra-party nomination for whatever political post stands for election. Finally, and probably most damaging, the KMT is seen as unable to respond to the death of the ‘1992 consensus’. This was  killed by Xi Jinping’s January 2019 speech in which he declared that Taiwan cannot expect more than and must accept the ‘one country, two systems’ model.   [FULL  STORY]

All people born on July 1, 2001 and after will receive free entrance in July and August: reports

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/06/05
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The government was planning to allow children up to 19 years of age enter 22 amusement parks free of charge in July and August, reports said Friday (June 5).

The Ministry of Transportation, which oversees the tourism sector, was preparing to announce next week that all children up to the age of 19, including those graduating from senior high school this year, would be allowed to visit the parks an unlimited number of times, CNA reported. The scheme was part of the government’s efforts to boost the travel sector after the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Previous projects only covered children 12 years or younger, partly because those would have to be accompanied by adults paying the full fare, but Transportation Minister Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) reportedly insisted that high school students should also benefit from free tickets this time.

Due to the coronavirus, many school trips and other outdoor activities were canceled, so the students should be allowed to make up for it by receiving the opportunity to visit amusement parks free of charge, the minister reportedly argued.    [FULL  STORY]