She was photographed at a hospital and the gossip magazine claimed she is preparing for artificial insemination

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/08/20
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Representatives of Taiwan supermodel Lin Chi-ling (林志玲) issued a

statement on Tuesday (Aug. 20), accusing a celebrity gossip magazine of violating her privacy.

The Mirror Media magazine carried a story on July 31 reporting Lin had visited National Taiwan University Hospital to prepare for in vitro fertilization, Liberty Times reported on Tuesday (Aug. 20).

Lin’s representatives accused a Mirror Media paparazzo of taking pictures of Lin’s driver, who was delivering an item containing personal information to a hospital staff member. This personal information was said to have been reported in the July 31 article claiming Lin wanted artificial insemination.

The hospital staff member was identified by Mirror Media as a member of NTU Hospital’s artificial reproduction team. Lin, who recently married Japanese boy band member Akira, has spoken publicly about wanting twins.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/08/20
By: Emerson Lim

Taipei, Aug. 20 (CNA) The developments in Hong Kong in recent months have shown that democracy

and authoritarianism cannot exist side by side, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said Tuesday.

That is why Taiwan rejects the "one country, two systems" model proposed by Beijing as a solution to cross-Taiwan Strait issues, Tsai said during the 2019 Asia-Pacific Security Dialogue in Taipei.

"Yet, China refuses to renounce the use of force against Taiwan, and continues to seek to impose its 'one country, two systems' model on us," she said. "But I want to be very clear: Hong Kong's example has proven once and for all that democracy and authoritarianism cannot coexist."

The "one country, two systems" system of government, introduced in the 1980s by then-Chinese Communist leader Deng Xiaoping (鄧小平), has been in effect in Hong Kong since it was handed back to China by the United Kingdom in 1997.    [FULL  STORY]

‘ABUSE’: The Environment and Animal Society of Taiwan said that the practice, which aims to honor militias that died serving the Qing Dynasty, disgraced their memory

Taipei Times
Date: Aug 21, 2019
By: Huang Mei-chu and Jake Chung  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer

Animal rights advocates yesterday staged a silent protest in Hsinchu County’s Sinpu Township (新

埔) against what they called the inhumane treatment of “divine pigs,” usually the center-stage attraction for the Yimin Festival (義民祭).

The protest was launched after a petition by the Environment and Animal Society of Taiwan failed to convince the Hsinchu County Government to ban the competition, in which pigs are fattened and skinned for the ritual.

“Our protest is not targeting specific ethnic groups or temples, but the competition itself,” group deputy executive director Chen Yu-min (陳玉敏) said.

The Yimin Festival, a major Hakka cultural event, has been tarnished by the divine pig competition, which has been continued by multiple temples on the grounds that it is an “integral part of Hakka culture,” the group said, adding that a 2016 Ministry of Culture report found that the competition does not contribute to the festival being an important part of Hakka culture and heritage.
[FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan Internatinal
Date: 19 August, 2019
By: Paula Chao

President Tsai Ing-wen is calling on the Hong Kong government to talk to its people. Tsai was speaking Monday while meeting with visiting former Australian defense minister Christopher Pyne on Monday.

Tsai said the pro-democracy demonstrations in Hong Kong have caught international attention. Tsai said while Taiwan supports Hong Kong people’s pursuit of freedom and democracy, it will not intervene in Hong Kong affairs.

Tsai also said she is concerned that the situation in the former British could get worse.
[FULL  STORY]

Metro News
Date: August 19, 2019
By: Metro Reporter

CHINA lashed out at Taiwan after its president offered asylum to Hong Kong protesters.

Tsai Ing-wen made the offer to pro-democracy protesters last month but it is unclear if any requests have been received as the country does not have a formal asylum procedure.

Ma Xiaoguang, spokesman for the Chinese cabinet’s Taiwan affairs office, said the offer would ‘cover up the crimes of a small group of violent militants’ and encourage their ‘audacity’ and turn Taiwan into a ‘heaven for ducking the law’.    [FULL  STORY]

Ju will perform in Canada's Taiwan Fest

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/08/19
By: Lyla Liu, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan's Ju Percussion Group (朱宗慶打擊樂團) will go on its first tour of Canada with quintet and 10-piece performances scheduled for Aug. 23, 24, and 31.

To commemorate its 35th anniversary, Ju Percussion Group will launch a tour across Canada. The tour will begin in Montréal on Aug. 23, followed by stops in Toronto on Aug 24 and Vancouver on Aug. 31.

Ju Percussion Group said in a press release that Canada's Sixtrum Percussion Ensemble and the Montréal branch of the Overseas Chinese Association invited them to bring its quintet performance "Beats of Hearts," to Montréal's Amphitheatre of Gesù, a historic site in the French-Canadian city.

"Beats of Hearts" is a fusion of traditional, modern, Western and Eastern cultures. It is also a collaboration between younger and older members of the group.    [FUILL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/08/19
By: Yang Su-min and Joseph Yeh

Taipei, Aug. 19 (CNA) Farmers have suffered at least NT$31 million (US$991,774) in losses following heavy rains in central and southern Taiwan, with Kaohsiung the hardest hit area with an estimated NT$22 million in losses, the Council of Agriculture (COA) said Monday.

Among other areas inundated by the heavy rain, Yunlin County suffered losses of at least NT$3.6 million, followed by losses of NT$1.7 million in Nantou County and NT$930,000 in losses in Pingtung County, the COA said in a statement.

The COA updates the numbers daily as more farmers report damage to crops, land and buildings on their land from the downpours that began on Aug. 12 and have persisted on and off into this week.

Among the estimated NT$31 million in losses reported so far, NT$23.7 million were to crops, with papayas, peanuts, bananas and watermelons the most heavily affected, according to the COA.
[FULL  STORY]

The Globe and Mail
Date: August 18, 2019
By: Hugh Stephens, special to the Globe and Mail

Given the difficult situation between Canada and China since the arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou, and China’s retaliation by detaining two Canadians and blocking or impeding the entry into China of several Canadian exports, commentators have suggested ways Canada could push back. Among them is a reassessment of our relations with Taiwan.

This is the right policy proposal – but we must be careful not to do it for the wrong reasons. We shouldn’t seek to do more with Taiwan to strike back at China. We should do it because it is in Canada’s interests to engage more fully with Taiwan, which we can do within the existing confines of our one-China policy. For too long, we have trodden very cautiously in developing relations with Taiwan lest we annoy China and imperil Canadian economic prospects in its market. Now is the time to take a more balanced approach, one that has the added benefit of being consistent with Canada’s self-proclaimed “progressive” values. Encouraging Taiwan’s accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) would be one element of this strategy.

While Taiwan is a member of the World Trade Organization (membership is not contingent on being a sovereign state), most of the trade liberalization initiative these days resides with bilateral or plurilateral negotiations that allow participants to remove trade barriers selectively, bilaterally or within a regional agreement. However, Taiwan has found it difficult to reach such agreements because of China’s opposition, despite the fact that China has its own economic partnership with Taiwan.
[FULL  STORY]

Epoch Times
Date: August 18, 2019
By: Chriss Street

Taiwan’s acquisition of over 60 Lockheed Block 70 F-16C/D Vipers fighter jets will delay the risk of a successful invasion by the Peoples’ Republic of China for up to a decade.

Taiwan’s Air Force on August 16 posted a Facebook infographic declaring the United States will sell Taiwan its fourth generation advanced F-16V fighters in “Minguo 108,” or 2019 under Taiwan’s calendar marking the 1912 founding of the Republic of China.

Reports quickly followed that the Trump administration had submitted the fighter sale to Congressional leaders that had already given bipartisan support. The Trump initiative comes after the People’s Republic of China declared the sale would cross a “red line.”

Under the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, United States has sold Taiwan $15 billion of military equipment since 2010. The Trump administration submitted a request to Congress in mid-July to sell $2.2 billion in M1 Abrams tanks, FIM-92 Stinger short-range surface-to-air missiles, and various hardware, ammunition and services to Taiwan.    [FULL  STORY]