Radio Taiwan International 
Date: 11 March, 2019
By: Natalie Tso

A 92-year old Taiwanese grandma is showing that you’re never too old to learn or to break a record. She recently wowed the crowds with her skills at a cup stacking competition, and walked away with a world record.

Earlier this year, 92-year old Huang Lai Yue broke a world record for her age group in a national contest for cup stacking. Her time was just 4.7 seconds. But unfortunately, she was informed that her time did not qualify due to a technicality. More than half of the logo had worn off the cups. Huang explains why.
[FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/03/11 
By: George Liao,Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A bridegroom arranged a special convoy of six truck tractors to escort his bride from her home to their wedding in a small town in Central Taiwan’s Miaoli County on Sunday, prompting the bride to say, “[I] will never forget this all my life,” Central News Agency (CNA) reported on the same day.

The six truck tractors were decorated with red festoons, heart-shaped wreaths, and pink ribbons. The convoy set out from Sanwan Township in Miaoli County to escort the bride from Miaoli City back for the wedding in Sanwan, attracting much attention from passersby along the way, CNA reported. Many of the bride’s family and friends were impressed by the sight and took photos with the special lineup.

The bridegroom, Lee Guan-ru (李冠儒), a truck driver, said he met his bride, Liang Yun-qing (梁韻晴), during an online shopping transaction several years ago, according to CNA. Lee was buying shoes from over the Internet, and Liang, who was in the online shopping business, was delivering the shoes to Lee when they laid eyes on each other for the first time. For Lee, it was love at the first sight. However, Liang had no feeling for the customer, the news outlet reported.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/03/11
By: Tony Liao and Emerson Lim

Taipei, March 11 (CNA) Several heavyweight members of the United States Congress from different

political parties have appeared in a congratulatory video clip to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA).

The TRA was enacted in 1979 after Washington severed ties with Taipei, with the aim of defining future unofficial relations between the U.S. and Taiwan.

In the video, the lawmakers assured that the U.S. will support Taiwan’s defense capability to resist an invasion by China, while stressing that Taiwan cannot be a bargaining chip.

“It’s not enough to simply mark this milestone. We need to reaffirm our commitment to the six assurances and increase our engagement with Taiwan,” said House Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific and Nonproliferation Chairman Brad Sherman. [FULL  STORY]

Global Times
Date: 2019/3/10

Several members of China’s top political advisory body are preparing to joint propose a high-speed rail link between the city of Beijing and Taiwan island during the two sessions to facilitate cross-Straits communication, according to a report by thepaper.cn on Thursday.

In the proposal, members of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) suggested accelerating the construction of a high-speed rail link from Beijing to Taiwan, building the western section of the underwater tunnel across the Taiwan Straits and completing the construction of an undersea tunnel to an artificial island in the Taiwan Straits from Pingtan county in East China’s Fujian Province.
[FULL  STORY]

The undeveloped, unspoiled hot spring is a god-given gift for all to enjoy

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/03/10
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – If you like hot springs, you should not miss Fanfan Hot Spring (梵梵溫泉), which is an undeveloped outdoor hot spring on the bank of the Fanfan River that flows past Yingshi Village (英士村), Datong Township (大同鄉), Yilan County.

The village is located off Provincial Highway 7, about a couple of kilometers from the eastern entrance of the Northern Cross-Island Highway.

The hot spring is relatively accessible compared to many other natural hot springs that are tucked away in the remote mountains of Taiwan.

Park your car or motorcycle in the parking lot near the Yingshi Elementary School and walk upstream on the Fanfan River embankment beside the school. At the end of the embankment, go down the stairs and walk along a trail on the river bank until reaching a wood bridge. Cross the bridge, continue walking upstream until steam rising from the hot spring area is in sight. It takes about 15 minutes to walk from the parking lot to the hot spring area.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/03/10
By Joseph Yeh

Taipei, March 10 (CNA) A group of Tibetans on Sunday called for more international support to help end decades of Chinese oppression in Tibet during a parade in Taipei to mark the 60th anniversary of an uprising against Chinese rule in 1959.

Citing a statement by Tibetan political leader, Lobsang Sangay, earlier in the day, Dawa Tsering, who represents the Tibetan government in exile in Taiwan, called upon “freedom-loving people of the world to commit to end oppression in Tibet and to commit to fight against impunity.”

“To Tibetan people everywhere, let us continue our commitment to struggle for justice. Let us continue to strengthen our resilience so we can be united with our brothers and sisters in Tibet in freedom,” Dawa Tsering said during his address before the parade began.

Dawa Tsering was quoting the address by Lobsang Sangay, president of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), made earlier in the day in India on the 60th anniversary of a Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule.    [FULL  STORY]

COLLECTIVE MESSAGE: Freddy Lim said that a religious visit by the Dalai Lama would be the best way to show the world that Taiwan is different from China

Taipei Times
Date: Mar 11, 2019
By: Jason Pan  /  Staff reporter

Tibetan advocates yesterday joined New Power Party (NPP) Legislator Freddy Lim (林昶佐) in launching a petition to invite the Dalai Lama to visit Taiwan this year, and urged civic organizations, religious groups and the public to help make it happen.

The initiative was announced at the beginning of a march in Taipei to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Tibetan Uprising.

“This is the best way to show to the world that Taiwan is different from China,” Lim said, adding that he hopes all Taiwanese would join the drive.    [FULL  STORY]

The Straits Times
Date: March 9 2019
By: Ng Huiwen

A Taiwanese woman who has undergone 21 operations in the past three years after she survived the 2015 blaze that ripped through Taipei’s Formosa Fun Coast water park has earned the admiration of social media users for her courage.

Many were touched by 31-year-old Jiang Xinyu’s story on her recovery since she suffered serious burns on 91 per cent of her body in the fire at the Colour Play Asia festival in June 2015.

Her remarkable journey, where she gradually learnt to be comfortable in her own scarred skin, was featured by Apple Daily in Taiwan on Friday (March 8).

The report comes after a photo of Ms Jiang wearing nothing but a rainbow-coloured, feathered pair of wings was shared on a Facebook group for beauty enthusiasts in December last year.
[FULL  STORY]

The 60th anniversary of the 1959 Tibetan Uprising is Sunday

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/03/09 
By: Ryan Drillsma, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council has communicated a message to Beijing, asking authorities to think about their actions and change policy on Tibet prior to the anniversary of the 1959 Uprising.

Sunday marks 60 years since Tibetans revolted against Chinese Communist occupiers, who took control of the region in 1950 after the Chinese Civil War.

MAC asked Beijing to reflect on the incident and implement policies to safeguard the human rights and secure freedom of religious belief for Tibetan people, so that history can avoid repeating itself in the near future.

Despite claims that the Communist Party has “improved the lives” of Tibetans through addressing basic economic and infrastructural needs, the council’s statement said, reports suggest they have been forced into “patriotic re-education,” and are constantly subject to political and religious oppression.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/03/09
By: Chen Ja-fo, Yeh Su-ping and Chung Yu-chen

Taipei, March 9 (CNA) Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) on Saturday apologized for a recent

remark in which he referred to Filipinos as “Marias,” saying the term, considered by many to be a racial slur, was a slip of the tongue.

The mayor said he did not intend to denigrate the Filipino people, according to a statement from Kaohsiung City Government.

Han was sorry for the misunderstanding caused by his misuse of the term and said he looks forward to future cooperation with the Philippines, it added.

Responding to a proposal that Taiwan could hire bilingual Filipino white-collar workers at a conference on Wednesday, the mayor said employing “Marias” as teachers would be a psychological shock for Taiwanese.    [FULL  STORY]