Taiwan English News
May 26, 2019 
By: Phillip Charlier

A team of Japanese researchers will attempt to row a dugout canoe from Taiwan’s east coast to Yonaguni Island, Japan, to try to understand how people migrated from Taiwan to Okinawa more than 30,000 years ago.

This year’s attempt comes after previous experiments using boats made from reeds, and bamboo, failed.

Japan’s National Museum of Science and nature launched the project in 2016, and attempted to sail a boat made of cattail reeds from Iriomote Island to Yonaguni Island.

At the time, project leader Yosuke Kaifu told a Vice reporter, “When we look at the tools from our excavations that our ancestors used, we are able to decide whether they could or couldn’t make things like canoes … For instance, we’ve found no evidence of axes from that period, so we decided that they probably couldn’t carve a log to make a canoe.”
[FULL  STORY]

No detailed content of encounter known ahead of crucial DPP meeting

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/05/28
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and ex-Premier William Lai (賴清德) talked without aides present from 2 to 4 p.m. Tuesday (May 28) at a location in Taipei City’s Yangmingshan area, reports said.

The meeting was unexpected as it came just one day before the ruling Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Central Executive Committee (CEC) had to meet again to find a solution to the dispute about the presidential candidate selection process.

A CEC session last week failed to find a compromise, as Tsai continued to insist on the inclusion of cellphones in the opinion polls planned to determine who will represent the DPP in the January 2020 presidential election.

Lai has called on the party leadership to stick to the existing rules and conduct the polls as soon as possible.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/05/28
By: Joseph Yeh 

Taipei, May 28 (CNA) The issues of network security and new technologies are in the spotlight at an international workshop that opened Tuesday in Taipei under the auspices of the United States, Japan and Taiwan.

Held under the Taiwan-U.S. Global Cooperation Training Framework (GCTF), the three-day workshop has attracted 41 participants from 25 countries, who will discuss major issues in today’s world of technology, said Raymond Greene, deputy head of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT).

In his opening address at the “Network Security and Emerging Technologies” forum, Greene noted the presence of delegates from Mexico and Chile, two countries that are participating in a GCTF workshop for the first time.

He said the U.S. places high importance on network security, especially the 5G issue, which is why it has sent officials from its State Department, Federal Communications Commission, and Homeland Security to the workshop in Taipei.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International 
Date: 27 May, 2019
By: Natalie Tso

The Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall in Taipei just opened a special exhibit on the

Tiananmen Incident to remember the activists on its 30thanniversary. Tiananmen activists spoke at the opening of the exhibit and encouraged Taiwan to shine its light of democracy on China.

Posters calling for democracy and the Goddess of Democracy statue from the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 are part of a special exhibit under way at the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall in Taipei. The display runs until June 4th and is one of many events being held in Taiwan to mark the 30th anniversary of the incident.

On display are historical photos and reports from the tragic suppression of China’s 1989 democracy movement. Deputy Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Chui-cheng says the purpose of the exhibit is to show the truth about what happened during the brutal crackdown on June 4th, 1989, and to honor the courage and ideals of the Tiananmen activists.    [FULL  STORY]

The Hill
Date: 05/27/19
By: Owen Daugherty

China was reportedly angered by a meeting of U.S. and Taiwanese security officials, the

first of its kind in more than 40 years.

Reuters reports Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a daily news briefing that Beijing is “extremely dissatisfied and resolutely opposed” to the meeting.

The response comes after Taiwan’s foreign affairs ministry confirmed a meeting earlier this month between Taiwan’s national security chief, David Lee, and White House national security adviser John Bolton.

Kang added that China is against any type of official exchanges between the U.S. and Taiwan, a country Beijing does not officially recognize.    [FULL  STORY]

Numbers of Chinese students studying in Taiwan have always been an important indicator of the cross-Strait relations

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/05/27
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A total of 1,440 Chinese students successfully enrolled in graduate and doctoral programs in 71 schools across Taiwan for the 2019 school year, reaching a new height in nine years, United Daily News (UDN) reported on Monday.

According to the report, 115 more Chinese students were recruited by Taiwanese universities than last year, and the recruitment rate is 96 percent.

According to statistices compiled by University Entrance Committee for Mainland Chinese Students, National Taiwan University recruited 162 Chinese students this year, which was the most among all schools.

Numbers of Chinese students studying in Taiwan have always been an important indicator of the relations between Taiwan and China.    [FULL  STORY]

The drone was able to conduct seed sowing and reforestation operations at altitudes below 3,000 meters

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/05/27
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taiwan’s Forestry Bureau has revegetated three landslide areas, using a highly mobile unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), along with seeding materials and a variety of sensors, the forestry bureau said on Friday (May 24).

The bureau said it commissioned a UAV team in October 2018 for tasks using a rotary-wing UAV, to drop seeding materials via a remote-controlled dispenser on landslide areas. The tasks were carried out as part of an effort to establish procedures for aerial seed sowing operations.

The seeding materials were developed by National Chung Hsing University, according to the bureau.

The drone was able to conduct seed sowing and reforestation operations at altitudes below 3,000 meters, carrying a payload of 8-10 kilograms of seeding materials, the bureau said. With each flight being able to drop about 700,000 seeds and each trial site receiving at least 30 flights, about 21 million seeds were dropped on each site, the bureau added.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/05/27
By: Yeh Su-ping, Ku Chuan and Evelyn Kao 

Taipei, May 27 (CNA) Vice President Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) announced Monday a list of four nominees for the Council of Grand Justices, the main body of the Judicial Yuan.

Chen was appointed in March to head a committee to select candidates to fill four seats on the Constitutional Court.

The four grand justice nominees are Shieh Ming-yan (謝銘洋), a professor of law at National Taiwan University, Judicial Yuan Secretary-General Lu Tai-lang (呂太郎), Kaohsiung High Administrative Court President Yang Hui-chin (楊惠欽) and Minister of Examination Tsai Tzung-jen (蔡宗珍).

The four positions on the Constitutional Court will become vacant Sept. 30 when incumbent grand justices Chen Be-yue (陳碧玉), Huang Hsi-chun (黃璽君), Lo Chang-fa (羅昌發) and Tang Te-tsung (湯德宗) step down at the end of their eight-year terms.
[FULL  STORY]

CRASH CONCERNS: The Ministry of Transportation and Communications said that driver behavior, frequency of bus use and maintenance are more significant factors

Taipei Times
Date: May 28, 2019
By: Shelley Shan  /  Staff reporter

The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday expressed reservations

about using vehicle age as a standard to remove tour buses from the roads, saying that it is not the only factor affecting transportation safety.

Tour bus safety has become a top concern following fatal incidents involving tour buses, including a Feb. 14, 2017, crash that killed 33 people and injured 11 on the Chiang Wei-shui Memorial Freeway (Freeway No. 5) in Taipei’s Muzha (木柵) area.

At a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee yesterday, lawmakers proposed amendments to the Highway Act (公路法) to enhance tour bus safety.

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator John Wu (吳志揚) said that the ministry should set up a mechanism that looks at vehicle age, mileage, maintenance records and other criteria to determine whether a bus should be removed from service.    [FULL  STORY]