Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/08/21
By: Chang Jung-hsiang and S.C. Chang

Taipei, Aug. 21 (CNA) National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), which has

four students from El Salvador, said Tuesday that all assistance will be offered to help them continue their studies in Taiwan, despite their government’s decision to switch official recognition to China.

Huang Cheng-hung (黃正弘), vice president of the university, said his school will do all it can to help them complete their studies by seeking outside financial sources, providing NCKU scholarships or giving them jobs on campus, should they decide to stay.    [FULL  STORY]

‘UTTER FAILURE’: El Salvador’s switch to China just one day after President Tsai Ing-wen returned from state visits attests to the government’s policy failure, the KMT said

Taipei Times
Date: Aug 22, 2018
By: Stacy Hsu and Lee I-chia  /  Staff reporters, with CNA

The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday strongly condemned China

for its attempts to press Taiwan into submitting to its political stance, after a long-time diplomatic ally announced that it was establishing ties with Beijing.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) earlier in the day announced that Taiwan was cutting diplomatic relations with El Salvador after the Central American nation asked for an “astronomical sum” of financial assistance for a port development project.

The council accused Beijing of ignoring Taipei’s goodwill and requests for dialogue on peace in the Taiwan Strait, and said China’s actions would only draw Taiwanese more firmly together.

Taiwan has stern faith in its capability to defend itself to protect its democratic system against communist China’s “brutish practices,” the council said.    [FULL  STORY]

United States has not officially recognized Taiwan since 1979 but relations between Washington and Taipei appear to be strengthening

Independent
Date: Aug 20, 2018
By: Chris Horton 

President Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan visited Houston over the weekend, her second brief stop in the United States in one week, a sign of efforts to deepen relations between Washington and Taipeidespite vehement opposition from China.

Ms Tsai stopped in Los Angeles last Monday, on her way to Paraguay and Belize, and then in Houston on Saturday on her way back home. During the earlier stop, she met with three California lawmakers, including one, Rep. Brad Sherman, a Democrat, who called on the United States to formally invite her to Washington, which would break with decades of American practice.

The United States has not officially recognised Taiwan since 1979, when it shifted to recognising China’s communist government. China hopes to absorb the self-governed, democratic island, which it has never controlled, and has campaigned to erase any recognition by other countries or corporations of Taiwan’s sovereignty.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News  
Date: 2018/08/20
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News)–A man got nailed for catching yellow-margined box

turtles by using baited traps in eastern Taiwan on August 15 and referred to prosecutors for an alleged violation of the country’s wildlife conservation law faces grim consequences, according to a news release issued by Forestry Bureau on August 16.

The agency said in the release that forest patrols of Hualien Forest District Office had recently found several traps for catching yellow-margined box turtles in the Liyu (Carp) Mountain area, and therefore they installed micro video cameras at the sites to collect evidence. As the forest patrols were checking the sites, they found the man surnamed Wu was “harvesting” ensnared turtles and reported him to police, according to the agency.

The man was brought back by the police for questioning and later referred to prosecutors for allegedly violating the Wildlife Conservation Act, the agency said.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/08/20
By: Lee Hsin-Yin

Taipei, Aug. 20 (CNA) The transport ministry and labor ministry are working to reconcile different labor standards with the aim of resolving disputes between airlines and pilots over the issue of overwork, officials have said amid ongoing strike threats by China Airlines (CAL) and EVA Airways pilots.

Ever since the Pilots Taoyuan Union, which represents 70 percent of CAL’s pilots and 50 percent of EVA Air’s pilots, voted Aug. 7 in favor of a strike, Minister of Transportation and Communications Wu Hong-mo (吳宏謀) has pledged several times to review the two sets of rules governing pilots’ working hours.    [FULL  STORY]

TIME TO SWITCH? Sixty-five percent of respondents favor the nation’s team using ‘Taiwan’ at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation said

Taipei Times
Date: Aug 21, 2018
By: Lin Chia-nan  /  Staff reporter

More than half of the respondents to a poll last week said they do not like

the nation being referred to as “Chinese Taipei,” and even more said they support using “Taiwan” for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics team, the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation announced yesterday.

Asked how they feel about Taiwan being called “Chinese Taipei” in global events, 51.9 percent of respondents said they do not like it, while 37.4 percent said they did like it, the poll found.

As for the idea of using “Taiwan” at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, 65 percent of respondents voiced support, while 26.4 percent did not, the poll showed.

Asked about President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) performance, 33.3 percent of the respondents said they agree with her handling of national affairs, foundation chairman You Ying-lung (游盈隆) told a news conference in Taipei, adding that the numbers were basically unchanged from previous surveys.    [FULL  STORY]

An effective ban on tour groups to Palau is taking its toll on the island nation, which still retains its diplomatic links to Taipei

South China Morning Post 
Date: 19 August, 2018
By: Reuters
Empty hotel rooms, idle tour boats and closed travel agencies reveal widening fissures in the tiny Pacific nation of Palau, which is caught in an escalating diplomatic tug of war between mainland China and Taiwan.

Late last year, Beijing year effectively banned tour groups from visiting the idyllic tropical archipelago, branding it an illegal destination due to its lack of diplomatic status.

As China extends its influence across the Pacific, Palau is one of Taipei’s 18 remaining allies worldwide and is under pressure to switch allegiance, officials and businesspeople there say.

“There is an ongoing discussion about China weaponising tourism,” said Jeffrey Barabe, owner of Palau Central Hotel and Palau Carolines Resort in Koror. “Some believe that the dollars were allowed to flow in and now they are pulling it back to try and get Palau to establish ties diplomatically.”

In the commercial centre of Koror, the Chinese pullback is obvious. Hotel blocks and restaurants stand empty, travel agencies are boarded and boats which take tourists to Palau’s green, mushroom shaped Rock Islands are docked at the piers.    [FULL  STORY]

Business Insider
Date: August 19, 2018
By: Farah Master, Reuters

• China believes Taiwan is part of China and wants the world to agree.
• China is putting pressure on Taiwan’s 18 diplomatic allies to turn their back on the island nation.
• Beijing last year banned Chinese people from visiting the Pacific island of Palau, one of Taiwan’s allies.
• The ban has led to a steep drop off in Chinese business and investment in Palau.

KOROR, Palau (Reuters) – Empty hotel rooms, idle tour boats, and shuttered travel agencies reveal widening fissures in the tiny Pacific nation of Palau, which is caught in an escalating diplomatic tug-of-war between China and Taiwan.

Late last year, China effectively banned tour groups to the idyllic tropical archipelago, branding it an illegal destination due to its lack of diplomatic status.

As China extends its influence across the Pacific, Palau is one of Taipei’s 18 remaining allies worldwide and is under pressure to switch allegiances, officials and business people there say.    [FULL  STORY]

The de facto Japanese embassy in Taiwan says the statue runs counter to the country’s ‘sincere efforts to redress the issue’

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/08/19
By: Duncan DeAeth, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – After a statue dedicated to the Taiwanese “comfort women” of World War 2 was unveiled in Tainan on Tuesday, Aug. 14, the de facto Japanese Embassy in Taiwan has reportedly asked the Kuomintang party to consider removing the statue.

Following the unveiling, the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association has asked the KMT to take “appropriate” measures to deal with the statue, which was created by the Tainan Association for Comfort Women’s Rights.

The statue is located on KMT property in the southern Taiwan city, and the Tainan Association for Comfort Women’s Rights reportedly operates with KMT support.

The head of the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association, Mikio Numata, reportedly met with former President Ma Ying-jeou and KMT chair Wu Den-yih on Wednesday, Aug. 15 to discuss the issue, according to the Japan Times.    [FULL  STORY]