Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/08/25
By: Elaine Hou and Shih Hsiu-chuan 

Taipei, Aug. 25 (CNA) The European Union continues to support Taiwan’s participation in international fora in which the country can contribute and hopes that the two sides of the Taiwan Strait will refrain from taking action that will intensify regional tension, EU Representative to Taiwan Madeleine Majorenko said.

The EU strongly believes that “Taiwan should be able to play a useful part in the international community,” Majorenko, head of the European Economic and Trade Office in Taiwan, said in an interview with CNA Friday.

Majorenko made the remarks when she was asked to comment on China’s recent ramped-up efforts to squeeze Taiwan diplomatically.

“It’s important for us that where Taiwan has something to add to the global discussion that Taiwan can be part of that global discussion. And for this reason we have supported Taiwan’s participation in international fora where Taiwan has something to add,” she said.
[FULL  STORY]

Rick Wu will have to pay NT$500,000 within 6 months

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/08/24
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Rick Wu (吳睿軒), the 19-year-old son of entertainer Jacky Wu

(吳宗憲), will have to pay a fine of NT$500,000 (US$16,250) but will have charges of endangering public safety suspended for one year following his threat to bomb the Taipei City Government, the Shilin District Prosecutors Office ruled Friday.

The decision, announced less than a week after the incident, came after prosecutors met with the young man Friday morning.

Rick Wu recently posted a threatening text on his Instagram page. “If my girlfriend’s sickness does not improve, I’m going to make a bomb and bomb Taipei City Hall, all the people will pay for the crime,” he wrote.

The statement caused a storm of indignation, with Jacky Wu coming out publicly to condemn his son’s words and forcing him to announce he would abandon his 23-day-old career in entertainment.

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/08/24
By: Chu Wei-tze and S.C. Chang

Taipei, Aug. 24 (CNA) At least one person has died and 11 people have been injured by

torrential rain that battered southern Taiwan Thursday and Friday and flooded 1,105 locations, according to tallies by the Central Emergency Operation Center late Friday.

The Central Weather Bureau raised its estimate of total rainfall to 1,100 millimeters for Tainan, Kaohsiung and other hard-hit areas, where a total of 5,678 people were evacuated to safe places.

As of 6 p.m. Friday, 802 locations were still flooded and estimates of agricultural losses had risen to NT$53.48 million (US$1.74 million), the center reported.

The Ministry of Education gave an estimated NT$18.06 million in damage to 157 schools around the country caused by the heavy rain.    [FULL  STORY]

ACTION AWAITS? Republican Cory Gardner said that the plan would require a US strategy to engage with governments to support diplomatic recognition of Taiwan

Taipei Times
Date: Aug 25, 2018
By: Reuters, WASHINGTON

A US senator on Thursday said he is preparing legislation to discourage Taiwan’s few

remaining allies from switching their allegiance to China after El Salvador became the third country this year to move toward Beijing.

Republican Senator Cory Gardner, chairman of the US Foreign Relations Committee’s Asia subcommittee, told reporters that within a few days he would introduce a measure encouraging countries to stick with Taipei.

Among other things, he said the measure would authorize the US Department of State to take action such as downgrading relations or altering foreign assistance to discourage decisions seen as adverse for Taiwan.

“The Taipei Act of 2018 would give greater tools and directions to the State Department in making sure we are as strong a voice as possible for Taiwan,” Gardner told reporters in a telephone interview.    [FULL  STORY]

Salvadorans in Taiwan reflect on their president’s decision to switch diplomatic recognition to Beijing.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/08/23
By: James Baron

“This guy is our Trump,” says Yao Lin (林駿堯), resignedly. “Everyone hates him and no one has a clue how he won the seat.”

Mario Argueta goes a step further. “As ignorant as someone can get,” he says. “He didn’t even finish college.”

The most withering assessment of all comes from a Salvadoran former student in Taiwan who spoke on condition of anonymity. “A money-thirsty, corrupt little man who lacks any knowledge of China and Chinese foreign policy,” he says.

They are referring to Salvador Ceren Sanchez in general and, in particular, the Salvadoran president’s announcement on Aug. 20 that his country was to establish ties with China. Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) has cited Taipei’s refusal to fund a port project, which – following a feasibility study – it deemed financially unsound – as the prime mover in San Salvador’s decision. Although the exact details of the project were not mentioned, it was clearly a reference to the La Union port in the southeast of the country.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/08/22
By: Pingdong Ark, Taiwan News, Contributing Writer

The Central American Republic of El Salvador has broken off diplomatic

relations with the Republic of China (i.e. Taiwan). Taiwan’s government used to make an effort to maintain relations with El Salvador, but beginning last year, that country’s ruling party began requesting a considerable amount of funds to support its development. President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration judged the development project to be unfair, as it would threaten Taiwan to fall into debt, so the island nation never agreed to the funding requests.

In addition, El Salvador faces elections with the ruling party performing poorly in the opinion polls, so it also approached China, and Beijing used the opportunity to upset the diplomatic relationship between El Salvador and Taiwan.

Taipei City Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was asked whether he thought China had purposefully provoked the ending of official relations between El Salvador and Taiwan.

Ko said it was only to be expected, the United States had been pressuring China, so China pressured Taiwan. During the interview, Ko called out that “Beijing should adapt its own strategic principles, and should not allow nationalism to rise, cross-strait relations should be considered under the U.S.-China framework.”    [FULL  STORY]