Radio Taiwan International
Date: 29 July, 2019
By: Natalie Tso

Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu is now officially the opposition Kuomintang’s (KMT) candidate for president. The announcement was made on Sunday at the KMT’s National Congress. Han is running on the message that he’ll create an economic miracle for Taiwan.

The KMT also announced that in the future, KMT presidents will no longer be able to serve as the party’s chairperson.

These are “Han fans”, or fans of Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu. Many of them have shown fanatical support for the new political star, creating a “Han wave” that has enabled him to become the presidential candidate for one of Taiwan’s biggest parties: the Kuomintang (KMT).

At the KMT’s National Congress on Sunday, Han is dressed in his usual blue button-down shirt. He bows to the crowd and thanks them. The new mayor of Kaohsiung presents himself as a man of the people, and that’s integral to his charisma.    [FULL  STORY]

The next election is cast as a Clinton v Trump-like contest between a breezy populist and “adult in the room”.

The Intyerpreter
Date: 29 Jul 2019
By: Nick Aspinwall

Last week, as Taiwan’s presidential race gradually gathers pace before a ballot next year, opposition Kuomintang candidate Han Kuo-yu climbed a banyan tree.

It was Han’s classically eccentric approach to countering an outbreak of dengue fever in the southern Taiwanese city Kaohsiung where he serves as mayor and to answer to the resulting criticism he has faced for a lax response to the problem. Han, with his customary rolled-up sleeves, yelled down from the tree to onlookers and assembled press that mosquitoes could breed in holes of water, then ordered health personnel to fill them.

Han Kuo-yu has decided in order to show progress on resolving the outbreak of dengue fever in #Kaohsiung (a matter he has shown utter incompetence in) is to climb atop a tree to "check" the outbreak. He is the KMT candidate running for president.

Images of Han in the banyan tree drew adoration from his supporters, ridicule from his critics, and an array of memes (one portrays Han as King Kong climbing the famed skyscraper Taipei 101). It’s a cocktail of attention – nearly equal parts love and scorn – that follows Han everywhere he goes. The populist upstart presidential candidate is the indisputable id of a presidential campaign defined by deepening divides among voters and an external tug-of-war between China and the United States.

To supporters of Han, who recently won a primary battle against Foxconn founder Terry Gou, his promises of prosperity via increased trade with China are the answer to a sluggish economy under President Tsai Ing-wen of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). To supporters of Tsai, Han’s promises are not only empty, they are a Trojan horse for an increased Chinese incursion into Taiwan’s economy and, by association, its sovereignty.    [FULL  STORY]

Photos surface of brawny Taiwan YouTuber undergoing blood treatment prior to cage match with troll

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/07/29
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Two days before buff Taiwan YouTuber Holger Chen (陳之漢) quickly

pummeled an online troll, photos surfaced of the gargantuan man undergoing a medical procedure.

On Saturday (July 27), an internet celebrity named Yu Chao-lin (游兆霖), who goes by the handle Eat S*** Brother (吃屎哥), was beaten to a pulp in a catch match with Chen that was live-streamed that day. After the match, Chen said he accepted the challenge in an effort "fish" for those actually behind Yu.

Lost in the build-up to the fight were photos posted two days prior on Thursday (July 25) showing Chen undergoing medical treatment, but no explanation was included. After the fight, the photos of Chen lying in a hospital bed started to spread on social media.

(Photo from Holger Chen Facebook page 飆捍)

Chen then took to his YouTube channel on Sunday (July 28) to explain that during a health checkup in June, he had discovered that his triglyceride levels were abnormally high. He said that high stress and poor habits had led to his condition, including lack of sleep, unhealthy diet, and smoking.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/07/29
By: Yang Shu-min and Lee Hsin-Yin

Taipei, July 29 (CNA) The Consumers' Foundation said Monday it will meet later this week with local travel agencies and EVA Airways to demand higher compensation for passengers affected by a 20-day strike by EVA Air flight attendants that began in June.

The foundation said it will represent affected consumers to ask for more than what is being offered by the airline — up to US$250 per person for dining and lodging expenses for individuals who were delayed by more than six hours because of the strike.

It was unclear if EVA Air has committed to meeting with foundation representatives.

For many passengers taking long-haul flights, they may have incurred much higher expenses from the flight disruptions, foundation board director You Kai-hsiung (游開雄) told CNA.
[FULL  STORY]

He was on a lobster-hunting night dive in the Chaojing Bay Resource Conservation Area when he was nabbed

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/07/28
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A man surnamed Lee was caught hunting lobsters off the coast of Taiwan’s northern city of Keelung on Friday night (July 26), Taiwan’s Coast Guard said Saturday, according to Central News Agency (CNA).

The Coast Guard said they found Lin when he was on a lobster-hunting night dive in the Chaojing Bay Resource Conservation Area. Lin was caught red-handed with six lobsters and several squids and Blunt locust lobsters.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/07/28
By: Emerson Lim

Taipei, July 28 (CNA) The national congress of the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) approved Sunday a revision to its party charter that separates the positions of the Republic of China president and the party chairperson, previously held concurrently by the same person when the party was in power.

Delegates approved the removal of part of Article 17 of the KMT charter which stated that the president if a party member shall assume the party chairpersonship, until he or she steps down as president.

The KMT held its 20th national congress at Banqiao Stadium in New Taipei Sunday, at which the main focus was the formal nomination of Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) as the party's official candidate for the 2020 presidential election.

Following the amendment, the KMT chairperson will now be chosen through an election with a four-year tenure.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 29, 2019
By: Shelley Shan  /  Staff reporter

Two to three tropical disturbances are likely to develop by Saturday as the nation enters the peak

period for typhoons this week, an academic said.

Simulations from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts and the US National Weather Service show that a monsoon trough is hovering above the area from the South China Sea to the northwest Pacific Ocean, National Central University adjunct associate professor of atmospheric sciences Daniel Wu (吳德榮) said.

“These tropical disturbances would be different in terms of location and intensity, but this shows the peak period for typhoons in the northwest Pacific Ocean is about to start. The phenomenon is also consistent with the climatic average, as most typhoons are formed in August,” he said, adding that determining how the tropical disturbances would develop requires more observations.

Cloudy to sunny skies are forecast from today to Wednesday due to the strengthening of the Pacific high-pressure system, the Central Weather Bureau said yesterday.    [FULL  STORY]

South China Morning Post
Dater: 27 Jul, 2019
By: Lawrence Chung  

• Over 100 prosecuted and tougher penalties planned after false stories such as claim Taiwanese government funded Hong Kong protests
• Justice ministry investigating whether mainland is funding preferred candidates for January’s elections or giving orders to media outlets

Taiwan is taking sweeping action against rampant disinformation and the so-called red media in a bid to curb what it views as Beijing’s efforts to influence the self-ruled island’s politics and the upcoming presidential election.

A 70-year-old woman in New Taipei City was fined NT$30,000 (US$960) last week for spreading fake information, becoming the latest of more than 110 people prosecuted under the island’s social order maintenance law since the authorities decided in December to take tougher action against disinformation.

It comes after hundreds of thousands of Taiwanese people took to the streets last month to protest against what they dubbed the “red media” – funded by Beijing – fearing the harm such misinformation could do to Taiwan’s stability.    [FULL  STORY]