Taiwan’s President portrays herself as the only reliable choice against an assertive China.

The Interpreter
Date: 29 Apr 2019
By: Stuart Lau

With presidential elections set for January 2020, the race for Taiwan’s top job is getting under way, and incumbent President Tsai Ing-wen is feeling the heat.

Confronted by low popularity and primary challengers from within her own Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Tsai has resorted to playing the China card, portraying herself as the only reliable choice when it comes to safeguarding Taiwan’s interests against an increasingly assertive Beijing.

In order to do so, she is consolidating Taiwan’s – as well as her own – ties with the US, with a particular emphasis on the self-ruling island’s role in the Trump administration’s “Free and Open Indo-Pacific” strategy.

“Taiwan, the United States and other countries pursuing a similar policy really share the same core objectives in the region. That is to promote economic linkages, prosperity and enhance our sense of shared security, while staying true to our values and interests,” Tsai said during a video call with US think tanks last week.    [FULL  STORY]

The Mainichi
Date: April 28, 2019

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen on Saturday reaffirmed her opposition to nuclear power before marching with anti-nuclear protesters, reviving an issue that has proven politically divisive in the past.

Tsai said at a news conference that her administration was taking efforts to promote renewable energy and reduce the need for nuclear power.

“In the past, people often said we won’t have electricity without nuclear power, or that Taiwan does not have the conditions to develop renewable energy, or even that renewable and green energy are too expensive,” Tsai said. “But after the efforts we have made since taking office, such talk has dissipated.”

She also vowed to reach her targets in reducing emissions from thermal power plants and to retire current nuclear power plants, though without giving any timeline.
[FULL  STORY]

City government first demands residents move ancestral tombs and then asks for cultural heritage evaluation

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/04/28
By: Iris Hsu, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Nantun District residents in Taichung have been left in limbo after the city government issued conflicting orders, first telling them to move family tombs and then saying they could not move them if the tombs are old, according to DPP Taichung City Councilor Ho Wen-hai (何文海).

The city government cited urban planning reasons before issuing a notice asking tomb owners to relocate their deceased relatives’ remains. But their efforts to find suitable plots were suddenly halted when they received a notice from the city’s Mortuary Services Office, prohibiting tombs older than 50 years from being relocated without a cultural heritage preservation evaluation, according to Liberty Times.

Councilor Ho told Liberty Times the city government failed to explain why these tombs fell under the purview of the Cultural Heritage Preservation Act. Also, it did not provide support for its measures.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/04/28
By: Wu Hsin-yun and William Yen 
Taipei, April 28 (CNA) Hundreds of migrant workers took to the streets of Taipei Sunday, calling on the central government to abolish the private foreign worker brokerage system and replace it with a direct government-to-government hiring system.

The 200-plus migrant workers, led by the Migrant Empowerment Network in Taiwan (MENT), staged the demonstration in front of the Ministry of Labor (MOL), ahead of May 1, International Workers’ Day.

Traffic in Taipei’s main administrative area was diverted as the workers spread a large quilt on the road, while their demands for the abolition of the private brokerage system were blared from loudspeakers on a truck.

“Government-to-government direct hiring,” was the call on the loudspeakers, a demand that accompanied the call for the abolishment of broker fees written on the quilt.
[FULL  STORY]

‘Frontline’ was the term Tang heard the most during her stay

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/04/27
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Minister without Portfolio Audrey Tang (唐鳳) said that during

a week-long visit to the United States, she met government officials much more senior than she had expected to meet.

The most frequent term the minister heard during the trip was “frontline,” she said, adding that it meant both that Taiwan was finding itself in a difficult situation but also that it had lots of friends, the Central News Agency reported.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/04/27
By: Elaine Hou, Shih Hsiu-chuan and Ko Lin

Taipei and Jakarta, April 27 (CNA) Taiwan currently has no plans to evacuate its nationals in the Solomon Islands but is closely monitoring the public protests in the capital in the wake of the general elections there, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) in Taipei said Saturday.

Police in Honiara have arrested some 30 people in connection with the unrest, but authorities there have said the situation is now under control, MOFA spokesman Andrew Lee (李憲章) told CNA.

Lee said riots broke out in Honiara earlier in the week because some people were unhappy with veteran politician Manasseh Sogavare’s victory in Wednesday’s election.

Following an inconclusive April 3 election in which no one party emerged with a majority, Sogavare won the backing of 34 of the Solomon Islands’ 50 parliamentarians in a controversial run-off, although his opponents boycotted the vote.  [FULL  STORY]

THE AGE FACTOR: Ministry of Health and Welfare statistics showed that 148 people younger than 30 were treated for myocardial infarction last year

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 28, 2019
By: Lin Hui-chin, Wu Liang-yi and Jake Chung  /  Staff reporters, with staff writer

Over the past five years, National Health Insurance spending has increased to NT$4.8

billion (US$155.3 million), while the number of people treated for myocardial infarction has risen 38 percent and the age of patients has decreased, demonstrating that the condition is no longer limited to the elderly.

Ministry of Health and Welfare statistics showed that 48,639 people last year visited medical establishments complaining of myocardial infarction, commonly known as a heart attack.

Men comprised 77 percent of the visits.

While nearly half, or 24,247 people, were aged 50 to 69, 13.1 percent, or 6,384 people, were younger than 49, while 148 were younger than 30, the statistics showed.

Mackay Memorial Hospital deputy superintendent Yeh Hung-yi (葉宏一) yesterday said that an increasing number of younger patients have been treated for myocardial infarction.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International 
Date:26 April, 2019
By: Natalie Tso

A spectacular natural phenomenon usually happens on the lunar birthday of the goddess of the sea, Mazu:  coral spawning in Kenting.

Senior deep sea diving coach Tsai Yung-tsun took photos of over 20 coral spurting their eggs and shared the pictures on his Facebook page Friday morning. Many local media have picked up the photos of the beautiful sight.    [FULL  STORY]