Malaysian man trapped under rubble after rockfall in eastern Taiwan’s Taroko Gorge

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/04/18
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — After a magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan’s Hualien County, two tourists have been reported injured in Taroko Gorge, including a Malaysian man who is currently still pinned beneath rocks.

A woman surnamed Ma (馬) and a Malaysian man were struck by falling rocks when the earthquake struck. The woman reportedly suffered injuries to her head, while the man’s lower body became pinned beneath the rocks, and rescuers are working on extricating him, reported CNA.

Police said that the site of the rockfall was one kilometer from the starting point of the Lushui Trail. Ma confirmed that the man was a Malaysian national and is still being tended to by rescuers on the scene, reported UDN.

The fire department said that it has already directed rock breakers and power generators to be brought into the area to help with rescue efforts.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/04/18
By: Joseph Yeh

Taipei, April 18 (CNA) The United States will work with whoever wins Taiwan’s 2020

presidential election, American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Chairman James Moriarty reiterated Thursday, a day after Taiwanese tycoon Terry Gou (郭台銘) announced his intention to compete in the opposition Kuomintang’s (KMT) presidential primary.

“We will work with any administration in Taiwan because we believe we share important interests,” Moriarty told CNA in an exclusive interview, when asked to comment on Gou’s decision.

Moriarty said he had an inkling that the Taiwanese tycoon was considering a presidential bid when Gou asked him a particular question at a seminar in Taipei on Monday.

Moriarty was one of the speakers at the conference to mark the 40th anniversary of the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA), while Gou was in the audience.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International 
Date: 17 April, 2019
By: Shirley Lin

The chair of Foxconn Technology Group, Terry Gou, announced Wednesday that he is

throwing his hat into the opposition KMT’s presidential primary.

Gou is the wealthiest person in Taiwan. His company, Foxconn, is the world’s largest provider of electronics manufacturing services and the manufacturer of parts for Apple products.

Gou had said Monday that he would take two days to consider a run. Among his concerns has been the will of the gods.

On Wednesday morning, Gou visited the Ci-Hui Temple in Banqiao and the Wu Sheng Temple in Danshui. Gou said Mazu, the deeply venerated goddess of the sea, has advised him to do more for the people of Taiwan.    [FULL  STORY]

Wondering how Taiwan’s garbage and recycling systems really work? Look no further.

The News Lens
Date: 2019/04/17
By: Stefan Simon

Taiwan has become a global leader in recycling, with one of the highest recycling rates in the world! The country manages to recycle more than 50% of it’s municipal waste and is thereby only a little bit behind the world’s leading nation for recycling, Germany, and much in front of the United states.

For people coming to Taiwan for the first time the garbage collection system might seem to be a bit tricky and difficult to grasp. COLLECTIVE GREEN will help you with this short guide on trash disposal in Taipei and a brief illustration of Taiwan’s garbage collection system. At the same time, I want to call upon all of you to produce as little trash as possible!

Many countries, including Taiwan, have implemented progressive plastic reduction policies in recent years, and many companies are voluntarily creating their own plastic reduction plans. Green News Taiwan reported the success of the implementation of plastic bans in the country, proofing that such measures can certainly reduce the use of plastic bags. I have shared a few ways of how to reduce plastic and I will share more information in the future. Stay tuned and follow me!

First of all you have to know, that you can’t just use any kind of bag to dispose your trash in Taipei. You will need to buy specific trash bags, in different colors, depending on where you live. You can buy these bags in most convenient stores, such as 7-Eleven. For Taipei City these bags are blue, if you live in New Taipei City they are pink. There are different sizes and prices for the designated garbage bags in Taipei City. These bags are only for general trash and their prices help to cover the costs of the waste disposal system, brilliantly participating citizens on public waste disposal and ideally encouraging people to produce less trash (read more about the The 4-in-1 Recycling Program).    [FULL  STORY]

The ‘rainbow track’ in Gao Mei Elementary School is a stark contrast to traditional tracks

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/04/17
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – An elementary school in central Taiwan’s Taichung City has painted its track into a colorful rainbow to celebrate its 100th anniversary, instantly attracting many members of the public to take photos with it, Liberty Times reported on Wednesday.

The “rainbow track” in Gao Mei Elementary School (高美國小) is a stark contrast to traditional tracks, where red is usually the only color. The track, which is 160 meters in length, has made the campus more colorful and lively.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/04/17
By: Wang Cheng-chung and Flor Wang

Taipei, April 17 (CNA) Thanks to the government’s New Southbound Policy, arrivals from countries in Southeast Asia to Taiwan in 2018 set a new high in terms of both visitor numbers and the percentage of the total arrivals, the National Immigration Agency (NIA) said Wednesday.

Last year, 2.42 million people from Southeast Asian countries visited Taiwan, a 13.8 percent year-on-year growth and accounting for 21.89 percent of the total number of arrivals — both new highs for Taiwan, NIA official Lin Yi-chun (林貽俊) said during a regular news conference.

According to Lin, the top five sources of foreign visitors were China, with 2.66 million of its nationals visiting Taiwan in 2018, followed by Japan with 1.96 million, Hong Kong and Macau with 1.53 million, South Korea with 1.01 million and the United States with 550,000.

Those from Southeast Asian countries comprised 21.89 percent of the total number of visitors to Taiwan last year — an annual increase for the ninth consecutive year, Lin said.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan Internatinal 
Date: 16 April, 2019
By: Paula Chao

In Taiwan, a vanity license plate thought to be lucky can command a hefty price. As far as the Department of Motor Vehicles is concerned, this is a win-win situation- the department gets money and the rider gets good fortune.

What exactly makes a license plate “lucky”, though?

This Department of Motor Vehicles office in Banqiao has a selection of vanity license plates waiting for drivers to place a bid on. They all begin with three English letters: E-M-Y. The minimum bidding price has been set at NT$2,000 (US$66). As Taiwanese vanity plates go, that’s not much.     [FULL  STORY]

Han Kuo-yu gained prominence during a successful long-shot mayoral bid. Now he might run for president, and put Taiwan’s democracy at risk.

The Atlantic
Date: April 16, 2019
By: Chris Horton

TAIPEI—The scene is, on the surface, a familiar one. A populist candidate with unexpected momentum captures nonstop media attention and sees a surge of support online, much of it connected to accounts originating from a rival country. Could he become president?

The candidate is not, however, Donald Trump, and the country where the election is taking place is not the United States, or anywhere nearby. Yet the outcome is of crucial importance to Washington and its foreign policy.

Welcome to Taiwan, where Han Kuo-yu, a once–washed-up former legislator, shocked this island of 23 million last year by beating out the early favorite to become the mayor of Kaohsiung—an office that, in American terms, has the same political currency as that of the governor of Texas or Florida. And with a presidential election coming up in January, a growing chorus of voices on the China-friendly side of Taiwan’s political spectrum is calling for this Trumpian figure to enter the fray. Han has not officially said that he will run, but he has already enchanted much of the Taiwanese electorate, and has a good chance of becoming Taiwan’s next president.    [FULL  STORY]