Xi Jinping and Tsai Ing-wen have set the parameters for a conflict that may not end anytime soon.

The News Lens
Date: 2019/01/29
By: Dongtao Qi, Asia Dialogue

The dynamics of the cross-Strait relations in 2019 have been revealed by Taiwan and China’s top leaders’ speeches in the first two days of 2019. In her New Year speech on Jan. 1, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) emphasized her determination and clarified her administration’s strategies for defending Taiwan from China’s increasing efforts for unification. On the next day, Jan. 2, Chinese President Xi Jinping expressed his confidence and eagerness, and meanwhile, proposed various strategies, for promoting unification with Taiwan in his speech commemorating the 40th anniversary of issuing the Message to Compatriots in Taiwan.

Several hours later Tsai responded to Xi’s speech in a press conference by completely rejecting his proposals including the “1992 consensus,” or more essentially, the one China principle, as the political foundation for current cross-Strait official relations, and the one country, two systems as the model for future unification. It has been clear from this indirect conversation between the two leaders that the 2019 cross-Strait relations will be mainly characterized by the conflicts between China’s promoting and Taiwan’s rejecting unification. Two impending factors, Taiwan’s presidential and legislative elections in January 2020 and the American Trump administration’s rising efforts to contain China, will complicate these conflicts and bring more uncertainties to the cross-Strait relations in 2019.

The changing public opinion in Taiwan, through declining of Taiwanese nationalism, the rising independent voters and increasingly more realistic public perception of Taiwan’s democracy, are partly a result of these new trends. The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)’s electoral debacle in the 2018 nine-in-one local elections, are the most relevant context for us to better understand the two leaders’ speeches. Having been encouraged by these favorable factors, Xi seems to believe that China’s carrot and stick strategy has been effective in dividing Taiwan, which put China in a rarely advantageous position to not only repress the pro-independence force but also promote pro-unification activities. His speech may be viewed as an announcement for the advent of the new pro-unification era, which means the Chinese government will more proactively and significantly push the cross-Strait relations toward unification.

The most important pro-unification strategy implied in his speech is the clarification/re-definition of the “1992 consensus.” Previously, the Chinese government’s official definition of the consensus was the one-China principle, and Taiwan’s Kuomintang (KMT)’s definition is “one China, different interpretations”. Because both of them accept “one China” as the common ground, they can maintain good relations. But the Chinese government has gradually realized that the KMT had been taking advantage of the consensus by gaining benefits from the good cross-Strait relations without working for unification. Xi’s speech clarifies that the consensus is not only about the one China principle, but also that the two sides need to dedicate themselves to unification. In other words, accepting the consensus means, on the one hand, to affirm that China and Taiwan belong to one China, and on the other, to work with China for unification. This is a preemptive strategy mainly aiming at Taiwan’s next party in power after the 2020 presidential election.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan warned to remain vigilant in Yomiuri Shimbun op-ed

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/01/29
By: Ryan Drillsma, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Under increasing pressure from the Chinese government, Taiwan’s plight has continued to draw the attention of international media, with scholars and foreign policy experts continually delivering criticisms of China’s behavior and commentaries on Taiwan’s cross-strait strategies.

An op-ed in Japanese newspaper The Yomiuri Shimbun says that China has suppressed dissenting voices from Taiwan for so long that even if its “One County, Two Systems” arrangement is achieved, it will never obtain credibility internationally.

Xi Jinping promised that China would implement the arrangement for its “Taiwan compatriots” following a “peaceful unification” in his new year address on Jan. 2 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of a message delivered to the R.O.C. about recommencing relations.

The article warns Xi’s promise of a “peaceful unification” should not be taken at face value, and as the totalitarian nature of Beijing’s governance grows, so does the likelihood the Communist Party leader would deviate from his promise. It cites the current suppression of democracy and freedom of speech in Hong Kong as an example.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/01/29
By: Chiang Chin-ye and Evelyn Kao 

Washington, Jan. 28 (CNA) The Taiwan Strait is international waters and U.S. warships have the right to pass through the waterway, Chief U.S. Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. John Richardson reaffirmed on Monday.

Richardson was responding to questions at a forum held by Washington-based think tank Brookings Institution about how the United States interacted with China when two U.S. naval ships passed through the strait last week.

He said that when U.S. naval ships pass through the strait, all parties concerned will respond professionally and that “there is no concern there.”

Asked about whether the U.S. would send aircraft carriers to sail through the strait in the future, Richardson sidestepped the question, saying only that the Taiwan Strait is international waters and anything that can be done in international waters applies to the strait.    [FULL  STORY]

BLAME CULTURE: The meeting fueled rumors and caused great stress for the flight attendant, who was later diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 30, 2019
By: Ann Maxon  /  Staff reporter

An EVA Airways flight attendant yesterday said that the airline grilled her for three hours

over a false rumor that she was in a pornographic video posted on the Internet and asked her to provide personal information to prove her innocence.

She was repeatedly asked to confirm whether she was the woman in the video and forced to write a statement saying that she would never do anything to “hurt the company’s reputation,” the woman said a news conference outside the Taoyuan City Government, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The incident, which occurred the same day another flight attendant was forced to wipe a passenger’s behind in a plane lavatory, underscored the airline’s culture of “always blaming its employees,” EVA Air Union member Chao Chieh-huan (趙婕歡) said.

“They are very slow at solving problems, but quick to blame victims,” she said, adding that the firm’s management style is “ruthless and inhumane.”    [FULL  STORY]

A daily breakdown of Taiwan’s top stories and why they matter.

The News Lens
Date: 2019/01/29
By: TNL Daily News

Lee Ching-yu (李凈瑜), the wife of Taiwanese democracy advocate Lee Ming-che (李明哲), has been disallowed from visiting her husband in a Chinese prison for three months after the prison accused her of distorting facts following a Dec. 18 visit, the Taiwan Association for Human Rights (TACHR) said on Monday.

According to CNA, the notice from Chishan Prison in Hunan province, where her husband is being held, reads: “Your distortion of the facts has disrupted the practice of normal legal affairs in the prison and has hampered the reform work on Lee Ming-che.”

The notice said Lee Ching-yu would be barred from meeting her husband between Jan. 23 and Apr. 22, according to TACHR.

After Lee Ching-yu’s previous visit, she held a Dec. 24 news conference in which she accused Chishan Prison of treating her husband inhumanely and freezing his bank account.    [FULL  STORY]

Chen Yun-Ying, the wife of an army officer wanted for desertion, was approved for a visit to Hualien’s National Dong Hwa University last week

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/01/28
By: Duncan DeAeth, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A member of China’s National People’s Congress, and the wife of a fellow Taiwanese defector has reportedly traveled on several occasions between Taiwan and China, and was in Hualien this past week at the invitation of Taiwan’s National Dong Hwa University.

Chen Yun-ying (陳雲英) is a prominent Taiwanese defector within the Chinese government, who claims to represent the people of Taiwan as a member of China’s People’s Political Consultative Conference, the National People’s Congress, and as the President of the Taiwan Alumni Association, as well as the Vice President of the National Taiwan Association, in China.

Her trip to Taiwan last week has attracted attention of the public and media, with Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), and the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau, actively monitoring her whereabouts and meetings.

The MAC released a statement that Chen was in Taiwan for “academic exchange activities” from Jan. 21 to Jan. 27. She reportedly applied for the proper permit and was granted permission for the visit provided she did not engage in any activities outside the purview of “academic exchanges.” She was likewise barred from visiting any government offices.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/01/28
By: Matt Yu and Shih Hsiu-chuan

Taipei, Jan. 28 (CNA) Taiwan expects to work hand in hand with Paraguay to advance bilateral trade and investment and develop public infrastructure to create a win-win situation for both countries, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said Monday.

Tsai made the pledge while welcoming a visiting delegation led by Silvio Ovelar, president of the Chamber of Senators of Paraguay, Taiwan’s only diplomatic ally in South America.

The visits to Taiwan by Ovelar, the delegates, and other Paraguayan friends of Taiwan over the years have contributed to deepening the friendship between the two countries that has lasted for 61 years, Tsai said.    [FULL  STORY]

‘HEART-WRENCHING’: Animal Rescue Team Taiwan called for amendments to more effectively seize traps as incidents of animals being mutilated by traps persist

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 29, 2019
By: Chen Wen-chan and William Hetherington  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer

Members of the Animal Rescue Team Taiwan are calling for better enforcement of laws

prohibiting the use of animal traps, after three dogs in Kaohsiung lost their legs to the devices last week.

One of the injured dogs, which lost a front leg, was nursing a litter when it was found, the team said.

Laws should be amended to allow the city’s Animal Protection Office to more effectively seize traps to prevent a recurrence of such “heart-wrenching” incidents, they added.

Last week, the team was called to rescue three dogs in the city’s Liouguei (六龜) and Tianliao (田寮) districts, and Singda Harbor (興達港), and rushed the dogs to surgery to save their lives, the team said.

Article 14-2 of the Animal Protection Act (動物保護法) prohibits the manufacture, sale, import, export and display of animal traps unless authorized by the central government.    [FULL  STORY]

Hong Kong Free Press
Date: 27 January 2019
By: Suzanne Pepper

Hong Kong is learning what it means to live with mainland definitions of free speech and

all its derivatives.

Introducing the proposed new national anthem law, Secretary for Constitutional Affairs Patrick Nip told critical questioners they could still exercise their right to say whatever they want. It’s just that they will have to find some other format because renditions of the national anthem will soon be off limits.

The maximum sentence possible under the new law will be a three-year prison term and a HK$50,000 fine for intentionally insulting, distorting, or otherwise disrespecting the national anthem.

This is to be played at all the usual times and places, with one addition. It must also be played while officials, legislators, and judges are taking their oaths-of-office.
[FULL  STORY]