AEI calls on US to ‘reinvigorate the spirit of the Taiwan Relations Act’ ahead of 40th anniversary on April 10

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/04/09
By: Duncan DeAeth, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A position paper from the U.S. think tank, the American

Enterprise Institute (AEI), published on April 8, just days ahead of the 40th anniversary of the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA) on April 10, calls for strengthened diplomatic and military ties between the U.S. and Taiwan.

The AEI position paper, entitled “The Taiwan Relations Act at 40: It’s time to deepen ties” calls for updating the TRA “in a way that reflects the deep historical ties” between the two nations.

The paper outlines the history of U.S. Taiwan relations and the circumstances of the TRA’s adoption under the Carter Administration, followed by the “Six Assurances” later introduced during the Reagan Administration.

Recognizing China’s military build-up and its increasingly aggressive campaign to suppress Taiwan’s presence internationally, the article calls for the Trump Administration, the Pentagon, and Congress to do their part to not only honor the TRA and Six assurances, but to actively strengthen U.S.-Taiwan ties, with respect to the unique and important relationship that the two countries have developed over the past 50 plus years.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/04/09
By William Yen

Taipei, April 9 (CNA) Test results conducted on a pig carcass discovered on the coast of the offshore county of Lienchiang (Matsu) last week have returned positive for African swine fever (ASF), Taiwan’s Central Emergency Operation Center for ASF said Tuesday.

Samples taken from the carcass April 4 were found to contain sequences of gene fragments 100 percent identical to those of the ASF virus strain in China, the center said.

Photo courtesy of Taiwan’s Central Emergency Operation Center for ASF

It was the fourth ASF case detected in pig carcasses that have washed ashore on Taiwan’s outlying islands, the center noted.

In the latest case, the location on the shoreline in Matsu’s Nangan Township where the carcass was found is approximately 25 kilometers from the Chinese coastal province of Fujian.    [FULL  STORY]

AGREE TO DISAGREE: Asked about a proposal to end subsidies on the online public participation forum, the minister said people having different views is inevitable

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 10, 2019
By: Shelley Shan  /  Staff reporter

Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) yesterday

defended the government’s provision of a spring travel subsidy, saying that it facilitates the process of placemaking and encourages young people to explore small towns.

Lin made the remark at a media conference organized by the Tourism Bureau to mark the beginning of the Small Town Ramble campaign, through which the bureau is promoting tours to 40 carefully selected “charismatic” towns nationwide.

While the bureau is using the campaign and the spring travel subsidy program to boost domestic tourism, some people have proposed suspending the subsidies on the government’s online public policy participation platform.

Asked about the proposal, Lin said that Taiwan is a society with diverse public opinions, and it is inevitable for people to have different views on the matter.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International 
Date: 08 April, 2019
By: Natalie Tso

Taiwan’s biggest religious procession took off in the early hours of Monday morning with 10,000 worshippers participating in a pilgrimage in honor of the goddess of the sea, Mazu.

At 1:20 in the morning, 10,000 worshippers gather at Baishatun Gongtian Temple in Miaoli County to kick off the annual Mazu pilgramage, one of the biggest religious processions in the world.

Former Premier William Lai, who’s vying for the ruling party presidential nomination, helps bring the Mazu idol out of the temple to her palanquin.

She and her worshippers will travel down south over the next ten days, making stops at over 60 temples along the way in four different counties. Worshippers bow as they see the procession approach, and Mazu stops to give blessings to her followers. Mazu is worshipped by fishing communities and believers throughout Asia. Processions like this one have been held in Taiwan for over 200 years.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan escalating efforts to attract foreign English teachers to make Taiwan a bilingual country by 2030

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/04/08
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan is intensifying its efforts to attract foreign English

teachers in anticipation of greatly increased demand as the government continues to strive to reach the goals set out in its “bilingual country” policy.

To achieve former Premier William Lai’s (賴清德) plan to make Taiwan a Chinese-English bilingual country by the year 2030, the Ministry of Education (MOE) is planning to train 5,000 elementary and junior high school English teachers by 2030. The MOE estimates that 2,000 teachers should complete training by 2022.

In addition to stepping up the promotion of “all-English teacher training” to train bilingual teachers, the government is also considering relaxing the requirements for overseas compatriots and foreign college graduates to teach in elementary schools and junior high schools, reported CNA.

In March of last year, the MOE amended the Senior High School Education Act (高級中等教育法) to enable overseas compatriots, foreign students, and Hong Kong and Macau students who have completed teacher training courses to participate in teaching qualification examinations.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/04/08
By: Hung Chien-lun and Ko Lin

Taipei, April 8 (CNA) A virtual reality (VR) art exhibition jointly organized by Taiwan’s

National Palace Museum (NPM) and Taiwan-based HTC Corp. has won honorable mention at the GLAMi Awards, which recognize the most innovative cultural heritage projects.

“A journey inside paintings and calligraphy — VR art exhibition” was a joint effort with HTC’s virtual reality team, HTC VIVE Arts, the NPM said in a statement Monday.

The exhibition, held from Oct. 15 to Dec. 15 last year, featured VR re-creations, including “The Spirit of Autobiography” inspired from Autobiography, the world-famous running script masterpiece produced by Tang dynasty monk Huaisu (懷素).

They also included “Roaming through Fantasy Land,” an adaptation of the late Sung and early Yuan dynasty painter Zhao Mengfu’s (趙孟頫) “Autumn Colors on the Qiao and Hua Mountains.”    [FULL  STORY]

FORCED LABOR: Schools participating in an internship program are required to submit copies of the students’ contracts and salary records to the Ministry of Education

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 09, 2019
By: Wu Po-hsuan  /  Staff reporter

The Ministry of Education has taken measures to prevent universities and colleges from

forcing Southeast Asian students into manual labor, Deputy Minister of Education Lio Mon-chi (劉孟奇) said yesterday.

The ministry had previously given great liberty to schools offering internship programs as part of the government’s New Southbound Policy, but after discovering how the regulations have been abused, it has inspected nine schools and set down new requirements for all institutes participating in the program, Lio said.

He was referring to a series of scandals last year and this year in which Yu Da University of Science and Technology, the University of Kang Ning and Hsing Wu University were accused of collaborating with personnel agencies to trick Southeast Asian students into performing illegal work unrelated to the internship they signed up for.

The internship program is designed to provide training to students who might be hired as middle-level managers by Taiwanese companies after graduation, Liu said.
[FULL  STORY]