Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/01/05
By: Jiang Ching-yeh and Frances Huang

Washington, Jan. 4 (CNA) Several American lawmakers have expressed support for Taiwan and called on Beijing to stop its military threats against Taipei, in the wake of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) warning Wednesday that China reserves the right to use force against Taiwan.

In a tweet Friday, U.S. Senator John Kennedy said China’s military threats against Taiwan were “irresponsible, counterproductive and just bad diplomacy.”

He tweeted part of a Reuters report, which said China reserves the right to use force to bring Taiwan under its control.

“China’s provocative approach toward Taiwan risks the stability of the region and displays China’s disrespect of democracies in the world,” the Republican congressman from Louisiana said on Twitter.    [FULL  STORY]

FODDER: Most of Taiwan’s 970,000 tonnes of food waste in 2017 was used as pig feed and firms would have to pay thousands for disposal in case of a ban, the EPA said

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 06, 2019
By: Lin Chia-nan  /  Staff reporter

The Council of Agriculture (COA) yesterday said it would not ban the use of kitchen

waste as pig feed, despite increasing calls from hog farmers and experts for a ban to prevent the transmission of African swine fever.

More than 280 hog farmers on Friday in a joint statement called on the council to prohibit feeding pigs leftovers.

Using leftovers to feed pigs is a backward practice and provides a hotbed for virus transmission, they said, urging the council to protect and upgrade the hog industry.

Instead of imposing an immediate ban, the council is encouraging farmers to switch to commercial fodder by providing subsidies and technical assistance, COA Chief Secretary Chang Chih-sheng (張致盛) told a news conference in Taipei.
[FULL  STORY]

Are the two KMT titans rehashing their epic Sep. 2013 political struggle?

The News Lens
Date: 2019/01/04
By Brian Hioe, New Bloom

The “September Political Struggle” (九月政爭) of 2013 between former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and former majority speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) of the Kuomintang (KMT) is again back in the news. Wang and Ma are publicly trading barbs after the release of a new book by Ma detailing his presidential administration and defending past actions. The reemergence of these tensions perhaps points to major splits within the KMT.

The “September Political Struggle” took place following accusations that then-Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) minority whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) had attempted to seek help from Wang Jin-pyng to clear him of charges of illegal lobbying. This information emerged because Ker’s phone was being wiretapped by the Special Investigation Division as part of investigations into political corruption by Taiwanese law enforcement. But this wiretapping subsequently became the object of public controversy when Ma was seen as wiretapping political opponents in order to undermine them.

In particular, Ma shared information about what should have been a confidential investigation with then-Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) and attempted to use this information to get Wang removed from his position as majority speaker of the KMT and expelled from the party.

Ma and Wang are political rivals within the KMT. Wang is the leader of the comparatively pro-localization “Taiwanese faction” of the KMT, while Ma is the leader of the KMT’s pro-China “Mainlander faction.”    [FULL  STORY]

Pork products from Kinmen not allowed to move off the island for 14 days

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/01/04
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) visited the island of Kinmen Friday, asking for understanding from the local population for a 14-day ban on pork products after a hog carcass tested positive for African swine fever.

The test results on a dead pig which was found on a beach earlier in the week came out on Thursday, immediately triggering new measures. Related meat products will not be allowed to be moved from Kinmen to other parts of Taiwan for 14 days. Health inspectors will also review the island’s 68 hog farms, which house an estimated 11,000 animals.

During her visit Friday, the president asked for understanding and forgiveness, as she knew the ban would inconvenience the public, including shopkeepers selling food products to visitors.

Tsai underlined the dangers of African swine fever, adding that there could be no mistakes made in preventing the disease from reaching Taiwan, the Central News Agency reported.   [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/01/04
By: Sophia Yeh and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, Jan. 4 (CNA) President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) warned people in Taiwan on Friday to be prepared for a long battle against African swine fever (ASF) and called on China be more transparent with information on ASF outbreaks there.

Tsai flew to offshore Kinmen County earlier in the day to check on quarantine measures in place after a dead hog found washed up on a county beach Monday tested positive for the ASF virus.

Quarantine work should performed “as if confronted by a formidable enemy,” Tsai said in Kinmen.

Kinmen’s two main islands are located within 10 kilometers of China’s coast but nearly 200 km from Taiwan, and garbage from Xiamen often washes up on their shores. The case of the dead pig raised alarms because Taiwan is trying to keep the lethal ASF out of the country.    [FULL  STORY]

EAGER TO REPORT: Police were confused, because the man they arrested an hour after the robbery was wearing a red baseball cap, just like the one the actual robber had

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 05, 2019
By: Jason Pan  /  Staff reporter

Taichung police yesterday announced that they had caught a suspect within an hour of

responding to a bank heist, but shortly afterward admitted to arresting the wrong man. Another suspect has since been arrested.

A middle-aged man wearing a red baseball cap and a dark jacket entered Yuanta Commercial Bank’s (元大銀行) branch in Taichung’s Salu District (沙鹿) at about 12:40pm yesterday, eyewitnesses said.

The man, who was wearing a mask and holding a large kitchen knife, shouted that he was robbing the bank as he leaped over the counter and threatened two bank clerks, the witnesses said.

Surveillance camera footage showed the suspect riding a bicycle to the bank and fleeing on the same bicycle.    [FULL  STORY]

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

The News Lens
Date: 19/01/03
By: TNL Staff

Tsai rejects Xi’s ‘one country, two systems’ proposal

President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said Taiwan will “never accept” governance under “one country, two systems” as proposed earlier in the day by Chinese President Xi Jinping, saying on Jan. 2 that most Taiwanese are “staunchly opposed to the concept.”

Tsai urged China to embark on a path towards democracy in order to understand the values of Taiwanese citizens, a firm reiteration of her “Four Musts” framework for improved cross-Strait ties detailed in a Tuesday, Jan. 1 speech.

In his Jan. 2 speech, Xi said cross-Strait ties predicated on the so-called “1992 Consensus” could progress to an eventual goal of a “one country, two systems” framework, mentioning the status of Hong Kong and Macau.

But Tsai responded by saying her administration does not accept the “1992 Consensus” as Beijing interprets it as meaning “one China” and “one country, two systems,” rather than maintaining the status quo between China and Taiwan.
[FULL  STORY]

Transport of pork products from Kinmen to rest of Taiwan banned for 14 days

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/01/03
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – As a dead pig found on a Kinmen beach tested positive for African swine fever, the Council of Agriculture said Thursday it would take measures to protect the island’s 11,000 hogs, as well as ban the transport of pork products from Kinmen to the rest of Taiwan for 14 days.

Kinmen lies close to the Chinese province of Fujian, and it was not possible to determine whether the dead animal had been raised on the island or had drifted ashore from China, the Central News Agency reported.

The pig had been found last Monday, but test results showing it positive for the contagious swine fever only emerged on Thursday, according to the authorities.

The animals at the farm closest to the find had been checked and all tested negative, but the review will now be expanded to include all 68 farms in Kinmen and their total of 11,000 pigs.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/01/03
By: Miao Chung-han and Flor Wang 

Taipei, Jan. 3 (CNA) There has never been a “1992 consensus” between Taiwan and China, and Taiwan must not acknowledge it, to prevent from being castrated by China, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Chairman Chen Ming-tong (陳明通) said on Thursday.

Speaking at a regular news conference one day after Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) speech toward Taiwan, Chen said the two sides have never forged such a consensus, with which Beijing intends to downgrade Taiwan by unifying with the island under a “one country, two systems” model.

Chen called for solidarity among Taiwan’s people in the face of mounting pressure from China.

He said China is pressuring Taiwan to accept the “1992 consensus” under its “one China principle” framework that dictates that there is only one China and Taiwan is a part of it. He noted that “China” usually refers to the People’s Republic of China (PRC), rather than the Republic of China (Taiwan), in the international community.
[FULL  STORY]

CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY: The religious organization confirmed that the victim, who was escorting the attacker off the church’s premises with an older man, was a member

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 04, 2019
By: Staff writer, with CNA

A teenage suspect has been arrested after a Taiwanese national was yesterday fatally stabbed outside the Sydney headquarters of the Church of Scientology, Australian police said.

The incident took place when the 16-year-old suspect was asked to leave the church in Chatswood at midday yesterday, police said.

While being escorted from the premises, the suspect produced a 25cm knife, police said.

“With that knife he stabbed a 24-year-old, what we believed to be a Taiwanese male, in the neck, and he also caused lacerations to an older gentleman also escorting him from the premises,” police said.    [FULL  STORY]