Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/01/10
By: Yang Shu-min and Flor Wang 

Taipei, Jan. 10 (CNA) Two more pork products brought by travelers tested positive for African swine fever (ASF) on Thursday, bringing the number of such cases to 12 in Taiwan, according to the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine (BAPHIQ).

The two passengers, one Chinese and one Taiwanese national, were each penalized with a fine of NT$200,000 (US$6,450), the BAPHIQ said.

The two passengers flew into Taiwan from China’s Nanjing and Harbin cities, with the former discovered to have brought in ham and the latter red sausages upon arriving at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Dec. 28.

Samples of their pork products were sent to the BAPHIQ for examination on Monday, and they tested positive for African swine fever, making them the 11th and 12th such cases in Taiwan since Oct. 31, 2018.    [FULL  STORY]

BASIC NEEDS: Many fishing boats have neither toilets nor showers, and the EU has threatened sanctions if Taiwan fails to improve conditions for migrants, Jason Hsu said

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 11, 2019
By: Ann Maxon  /  Staff reporter

Many migrant fishers live in tiny, unclean spaces with no showers, Chinese Nationalist

Party (KMT) Legislator Jason Hsu (許毓仁) and the Yilan Migrant Fishermen Union said yesterday, calling on the Ministry of Labor and the Fisheries Agency to improve their work conditions.

Union secretary-general Allison Lee (李麗華) said that on a recent visit to a fishing boat together with Hsu, she found that the migrant fishers lived in extremely cramped spaces.

“I could not believe what I saw. It could not even meet a person’s most basic needs,” Lee said.

The toilet stall was so small that users could not stand up and there was no shower or hot water, she said.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/01/09
By: Joseph Yeh

Taipei, Jan. 9 (CNA) Taiwan military on Wednesday made public its annual major drill plans for 2019 to boost its combat readiness a week after Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) reasserted China’s right to use force against Taiwan.

Maj. Gen. Yeh Kuo-hui (葉國輝), chief of the Ministry of National Defense’s Operations and Planning Division, said the annual plan is divided into four major parts.

It will begin with a month of combat readiness training in the first quarter; another month-long Han Kuang (漢光) live-fire military exercise in the second quarter; the holding of joint anti-landing operations in the third quarter and a joint anti-airborne exercise in the final quarter of 2019, Yeh said.

He did not give an exact timetable for the plan, however.    [FULL  STORY]

AWARDING CONTRACTS: Prosecutors said that five suspects produced falsified documents and bogus receipts to claim extra medication and other expenses

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 10, 2019
By: Jason Pan and Lee I-chia  /  Staff reporters

Prosecutors have launched an investigation into two Taipei City Hospital executives

over allegations of siphoning off about NT$3 million (US$97,399) of public funds while procuring medicine.

The hospital is administered by the Taipei City Government.

The Taipei Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office and the Ministry of Justice’s Agency Against Corruption on Tuesday raided the hospital’s offices and several other locations, and brought in 15 people for questioning.

Prosecutors have named five suspects, including Chen Li-chi (陳立奇), head of the hospital’s department of pharmacy; a woman also surnamed Chen (陳), who is head of the department’s inventory control section; and a person surnamed Lee (李), who works at the Taiwan Society of Health-System Pharmacists.

Prosecutors yesterday asked a court to detain Chen Li-chi, while the woman surnamed Chen was released on NT$200,000 bail and Lee on NT$50,000 bail.

Prosecutors said that the two Chens as society members from 2015 to 2016 helped the society secure three tender contracts from the Taipei Department of Health to provide long-term care to senior citizens, which included procuring medication and delivering to home-care patients.    [FULL  STORY]

Now is the time for Tsai Ing-wen to leave her mark by driving a renewal of Taiwanese identity.

The News Lens
Date: 2019/01/08
By: By Milo Hsieh, 破土 New Bloom

A fierce confrontation took place between Chinese president Xi Jinping and Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) over the new year. In response to statements by Xi on the 40th anniversary of the “Message to the Compatriots of Taiwan,” which could be described as a threat, Tsai’s quick and immediate response rallied the Taiwanese public and pressured the media and forced politicians across the political spectrum to affirm their stances in response.

This includes the Kuomintang (KMT). Historically, the KMT and its politicians have built a political platform promoting prosperity based on exchanges and closer ties between China and Taiwan. Its members have advocated the recognition of the so-called “1992 Consensus,” a claimed oral agreement made by unofficial diplomatic contact between the Straits Exchange Foundation of Taiwan and Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits that supposedly took place in 1992.

After Tsai’s statements, however, the KMT was forced to clarify its stance to reject Xi’s “One country, two systems” proposal, to be consistent with Tsai’s response in some respects. Two high-profile mayors, the mayors Taipei and Kaohsiung, two most populous cities whose combined population make up about a quarter of Taiwan’s population, have also reoriented their stance in order to accommodate the amount of support Tsai gathered with her response.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan should pursue further integration with the United States, argues Yang Sen-hong

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/01/07
By: Yang Sen-hong 楊憲宏

In the 40 years since the Taiwan Relations Act was enacted by the U.S. Congress, Taiwan-U.S. relations have transcended ordinary bilateral relations to become a ‘special relationship’ similar to ‘family bonds.’ While ordinary relations can wane and break off, the Taiwan-U.S. relationship is enshrined in U.S. law, giving the relationship exceptional stability.

Although Taiwan is separate from the U.S., the relationship between the two is like that of a close family. The U.S. under the Trump administration has enacted new laws in support of Taiwan, like the Taiwan Travel Act and the Asia Reassurance Initiative Act. Other pro-Taiwan legislation, like the Taiwan International Participation Act, submitted by Republican Cory Gardner and Democrat Edward J. Markey, has graced the Senate floor. These laws suggest that the U.S. has an almost jurisdictional interest in Taiwan. That is to say, the U.S. already has capacity to directly govern Taiwan at the national level, which is under the tiger’s mouth.

In the future, Taiwan should formulate its own “U.S. Relations Law” to reflect the special bilateral relationship. Direct dialogue between Taiwan and the U.S. should take place, to clearly explain Taiwan’s position and willingness to collaborate.

Before such a law emerges, Taiwan can do a number of things. First, the U.S. dollar should be declared as legal tender, and could be used in parallel with the new Taiwan dollar. Second, American English should be declared an official language of Taiwan at all levels. Third, every municipality should plan to create special economic areas with a high standard of English to entice foreign investment and international NGOs to set up shop in Taiwan. This will help to permit Taiwan’s participation in the United Nations as an NGO entity.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/01/08
By: Joseph Yeh

Taipei, Jan. 8 (CNA) A senior White House official on Monday called on China to stop

its coercion of Taiwan and resume dialogue with Taiwan’s government after Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) recently reasserted China’s right to use force against Taiwan.

“Beijing should stop its coercion & resume dialog w/ the democratically-elected administration on Taiwan,” Garrett Marquis, spokesperson of the National Security Council under the White House, said in a tweet Monday.

In a previous tweet earlier the same day, Marquis reiterated Washington’s opposition to any threat or use of force to get the people of Taiwan to act against their will.

“Any resolution of Cross-Strait differences must be peaceful and based on the will of the ppl on both sides,” it said.    [FULL  STORY]