Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/07/15
By: Lu Hsin-hui, Yeh Su-ping and Evelyn Kao 

Taipei, July 15 (CNA) President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said Sunday that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has had trouble understanding how to communicate with young people since taking power in May 2016, but the party has not forgotten its promises to them.

Addressing the party’s annual congress at the Grand Hotel in her capacity as party chairperson, Tsai also said ruling a country is not about putting on one performance after another but coming up with solutions to problems one by one.

Tsai said that in her inaugural address two years ago, she emphasized that building a better country for the younger generation was her government’s vital responsibility.

Although some young people feel disappointed in the progress and scale of reforms undertaken by the DPP, and the party has become increasingly unaware how to communicate with young people effectively, Tsai said, adding she has not forgotten the DPP’s promises to youth.
[FULL  STORY]

MOTIVES: The Chinese president discussed finding common ground, but issues with Taiwan could further complicate Beijing’s relationship with the US, an academic said

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 16, 2018
By Chung Li-hua, Huang Chien-hao and Jonathan Chin  /  Staff reporters, with staff writer

If Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) genuinely wants to ease cross-

strait tensions, he should talk directly with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), not through an opposition party figure who has long left public service, Taiwanese academics said.

Former vice president Lien Chan (連戰) met with Xi on Saturday.

Xi said that “as long as the coordinates are correctly set in history, the ship carrying the hope of a peaceful cross-strait unification will eventually sail to the side of victory,” while Lien proposed four ideas to improve cross-strait ties, including that both sides “find common ground on the ‘one China’ principle, while maintaining their different opinions on the meaning of ‘one China.’”

Lin Wen-cheng (林文程), a China and Asia-Pacific regional studies professor at National Sun Yat-sen University, said that despite the rhetoric about providing economic benefits to Taiwanese, Xi must be aware that Bejing’s efforts to strong-arm the country — including poaching Taiwan’s diplomatic allies and forcing airlines to call it a part of China — have angered them.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News  
Date: 2018/07/15
By:  Associated Press
U.S. regulators Friday approved the first treatment for smallpox — a deadly disease that was wiped out four decades ago — in case the virus is used in a terror attack.

Smallpox, which is highly contagious, was eradicated worldwide by 1980 after a huge vaccination campaign.

But people born since then haven’t been vaccinated, and small samples of the smallpox virus were saved for research purposes, leaving the possibility it could be used as a biological weapon.

Maker SIGA Technologies of New York has already delivered 2 million treatments that will be stockpiled by the government, which partially paid for the development of the drug, called TPOXX.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/07/14
By: Lu Kang-chun and Hsu Hsiao-ling

Taipei, July 14 (CNA) A Hsinchu doctor working as a medical volunteer in

Papua New Guinea in early July saved a young woman’s life by removing a large tumor from her ovary, the doctor said in an interview with CNA.

The doctor, named Lin Hsiao-tsu (林孝祖), operated on a local woman whose abdomen was badly swollen at Nonga General Hospital in East New Britain and removed a tumor from the 19-year-old’s ovary that was 30 centimeters in diameter, he said.

It was not immediately known if the tumor is benign or malignant, and it is still being examined, Lin said.

Changhua Christian Hospital, where he used to work, has been sending volunteer medical missions to Papua New Guinea since 2005, Lin said, and early on he himself took part in missions organized by the hospital to other countries.    [FULL  STORY]

UNITING BEHIND MA: All party officials believe former president Ma Ying-jeou to be a man of ethics and integrity, and the KMT would gather evidence in his defense, Wu Den-yih said

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 15, 2018
By: Shih Hsiao-kuang and William Hetherington  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) yesterday

hosted the party’s 22 county commissioner and mayoral nominees for the Nov. 24 local elections at KMT party headquarters in Taipei.

Addressing reporters in the audience, Wu asked the public to give the KMT another chance and promised that the party would strive to achieve an honest and efficient government, a robust economy, a harmonious society, and peaceful and stable cross-strait relations.

The candidates posed for a group photograph with Wu before speaking to reporters at the KMT media center.

Wu, KMT deputy chairman Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) and the candidates signed a mock contract to symbolize their commitment to the four promises.    [FULL  STORY]

Check out life-changing online education technology, life-saving IOT solutions, and life-altering animation tools. 

The News Lens
Date: 2018/07/13
By: David Green

This is part two of the Taiwan Startup Stadium Demo Day roundup from the July 12 show at RISE 2018, for part one featuring UChange2, Screea and frmH30, click here.

Revolutionizing Asian ed-tech

Hahow, which means school in Taiwanese and Cantonese, is Taiwan’s biggest online learning platform, having powered up from four co-founders working out of Taipei’s MakerBar a few years ago to a team of 38 in newly entered offices this summer.

The runaway success is driven by Hahow’s co-founder and CEO Arnold Chiang’s sharp eye for a gap in Taiwan’s education tech market and the savvy to exploit it with a unique proposition.

Cutting a somewhat professorial figure himself, Chiang is fluid when it comes to putting down his pitch: “We’re like Udemy, a consumer-to-consumer online learning platform, plus Kickstarter-style crowdfunding, Chiang says, explaining that teachers on the platform first have to pitch who they are, as well as how and what they’re going to teach, before building a course once the requisite number of students have signed up.
[FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-07-13

The 2018 Taipei International Summer Travel Exhibition is set to kick off

next Friday. The three-day event will be held at the Taipei World Trade Center.

At a press conference on Thursday to promote this year’s Taipei International Summer Travel Exhibition, organizers invited macho men and scantily-dressed women to promote the annual event.

Several tour operators are offering low-priced packages to attract customers. A five-day package deal to Seoul costs just NT$9,900 (US$330). Another good bargain is a 10-day trip to the Czech Republic and Germany. The package costs US$2,600 and is “buy one get one free” if visitors sign up on the spot.    [FULL  STORY]