The court ruled a magazine and TV station lied about Amanda Lee by implicating her in a national health insurance fraud

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/10/21
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan’s Supreme Court ruled on Monday (Oct. 21) that Want Weekly (周

刊王) and Chinese Television System (CTS) must pay, respectively, NT$300,000 (US$9,700) and NT$200,000, in damages to Amanda Lee (李晶玉), a former TV talk show hostess, for falsely claiming she was a suspect in a national health insurance fraud case, Liberty Times reported.

The magazine reported in its March 30, 2016, issue that Lee was among the female socialites suspected of involvement in defrauding the government of National Health Insurance (NHI) fees by going to the U.S. to give birth, adding that Lee was among those who were waiting to be questioned by police, according to the Liberty Times report. The magazine included photos of Lee and her son in its report.

Based on the magazine report, CTS repeated the slander. Lee accused the magazine and the TV station of not fact-checking and damaging her reputation by making readers and viewers believe she was a criminal suspect.

Lee filed a lawsuit against the two media outlets, seeking damages for emotional distress and asked for a printed public apology.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/10/21
By: William Yen

Taipei, Oct. 21 (CNA) Internationally renowned American actor Will Smith on Monday hailed Taipei as

the place that fulfilled his lifelong wish to work with Taiwan-born Oscar winning film director Ang Lee.

"Ang Lee has been on my list for most of my adult life (as) someone that I wanted to work with. So Taipei made the dream come true," Smith said at a press conference Monday at a Taipei hotel promoting his new action thriller Gemini Man.

Smith was referring to when he expressed his desire to work with Lee at a press conference in Taipei six years ago, held to promote his 2013 action adventure movie After Earth that he starred in with his son Jaden.

The highly successful "Bad Boys" action star said at that 2013 event that he wanted to work with Lee and asked people to tell the Taiwanese-American director.    [FULL  STORY]

The examples of Venezuela and Hong Kong

Dissident Voice
Date: October 20th, 2019
By: John V. Walsh

The summer of 2019 has seen a series of events in Hong Kong beginning with two massive demonstrations that called for the withdrawal of the Extradition Bill to Macao, Taiwan and Mainland China. The demonstrations were peaceful and the bill was quickly “suspended” and labeled “dead” by the Hong Kong government and then withdrawn by summer’s end, meeting the demand of the demonstrations.

But that was not the end of the matter. Over the summer and to this day smaller demonstrations, of hundreds or at most a few thousand, broke out, mainly taking the form of marauding with Molotov cocktails and attacks on police stations, subway stations, police themselves and even on bystanders. Another four demands were added to the original demand to bury the extradition bill. Some, not the majority, called for the secession of Hong Kong from China of which it is legally a part.

But these events did not simply evolve internally in Hong Kong and the rest of China. Although internal forces were at work, the US government had a hand in these events.1 Unfortunately, this readily accessible material has barely been mentioned, if mentioned at all, in the US mainstream media. The most recent and in some ways most blatant examples of interference in the internal affairs of Hong Kong takes the form of the bipartisan “Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act (HKHRD Act)” (H.R. 3289 and S. 1838, an identical bill in the Senate). On September 15 H.R. 3289 was passed in the House by a voice vote. By threat of sanctions and other economic and political measures, the HKHRD Act seeks to determine which laws the Chinese city of Hong Kong will legislate and which not. This is clearly interventionism on the part of the U.S. How would the US react to such threats from another country? How would the U.S. react if China informed us that it was going to put sanctions in place against the U.S. if we would did not change our laws that result in mass incarceration which is clearly racist in character?    [FULL  STORY]

The Fresno Bee
Date: October 20, 2019
By: Joe Mathews

When it comes to fast trains, a California consensus has hardened: High-speed rail is beyond us.

We may be the world’s high-tech capital, but high-speed rail is just too technically challenging for us. We may have one of the planet’s richest economies, but high-speed rail is too expensive. We are a sprawling state of 40 million, but we’re too small to construct even one high-speed rail line.

But if we’re right about powerlessness to deliver high-speed rail, then how do we explain Taiwan?
[FULL  STORY]

About 100 antique cars dating back to the 1930s will be on display

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/10/20
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The second annual Classic Cars and Road Safety Festival will take place on the square in front of HSR Taoyuan Station on Oct. 26 and 27 from 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., according to a press release on Tauyuan Travel.

On display at the exhibition will be about 100 classic and antique cars built by a variety of automakers, including Mercdes-Benz and Volkswagon, and dating as far back as the 1930s, allowing car enthusiasts to admire the lasting charm of these classic automobiles.

The car show will be coupled with a road safety education initiative aimed at getting the public to "slow down, watch, and stop at intersections." It will also allow them to experience the difference of radii between the inner and outer wheels and the dangers posed by blind spots when buses or trucks are making turns.

In addition, a POLI Bonny Rescue Heroes-themed fan event will take place on Oct. 27. There will also be a challenge, where anyone who completes three games will receive a gift on top of knowledge about traffic safety, the release says.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/10/19
By: Chen Chih-chung and Matthew Mazzetta

Taipei, Oct. 19 (CNA) The Ministry of Education (MOE) sent a letter to Taiwanese universities last

week, urging them to remind Chinese students that acts of vandalism or violence could lead to the cancellation of their entry permits, an official told CNA.

The letter follows a spate of recent incidents at campus Lennon Walls, where messages of support for Hong Kong have led to political conflict, often pitting students from Taiwan and Hong Kong against students and tourists from China.

In an interview with CNA, Chu Chun-chang (朱俊章), director of the ministry's Department of Higher Education, said the decision to send the letter was made following the Oct. 8 deportation of a Chinese tourist who was filmed tearing down messages at a Lennon Wall at National Taiwan University.

The purpose of the letter was to create awareness on the part of Chinese students studying in Taiwan, and avoid a situation where a student's ignorance of Taiwanese law could jeopardize their academic standing, Chu said.    [FULL  STORY]

President Tsai should reach a national consensus on political reforms during her 2nd term: Lee

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/10/19
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – At his first public appearance in a long time, former President Lee Teng-hui

(李登輝) said he supported President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) re-election bid because 2020 marked a crucial moment in Taiwan’s quest to become a normal country, reports said Saturday (October 19).

The 96-year old former leader, who served as president from 1988 to 2000, appeared in a wheelchair at a fund-raising dinner for his Lee Teng-hui Foundation.

In a speech read by his daughter, Lee slammed those in Taiwan who spoke well of China and persistently criticized the island nation’s democratically elected administration.

While Taiwan at present was situated in “a very dark place,” there were signs of hope, with a turning point possible to steer the island toward the status of a normal country, Lee said.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/10/19
By: Elaine Hou and Ko Lin

Taipei, Oct. 19 (CNA) Six of Taiwan's diplomatic allies have spoken out in support of the country at the just concluded general assembly of the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) held in Chile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said Saturday.

Interpol hosted its 88th General Assembly in the South American country from Tuesday through Friday. Taiwan, which is currently not a member of the international police organization, had asked to participate as an observer, but the request was ignored.

In a statement, MOFA said the six countries that spoke during the general assembly in support of Taiwan included Belize, eSwatini, Guatemala, Honduras, Paraguay, St. Kitts and Nevis.

Meanwhile, 11 allies also separately sent letters to Interpol President Kim Jong-yang asking the organization to arrange for Taiwan's participation in the run up to Interpol's 88th General Assembly, the ministry said.    [FULL  STORY]