Democracy in the region is facing an unprecedented set of challenges.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/06/27
By: David Green

Democracy in East Asia is facing unprecedented challenges.

From “online martial law” aimed at critics of the government in the Philippines, to

religious exclusivism in Indonesia and pro-China groups peppering Taiwanese social media with disinformation, democracy is under pressure across the region.

In a bid to address these challenges, the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy (TFD) yesterday convened the 2018 East Asia Democracy Forum (EADF), which since its founding in 2013 has sought to advance democratic progress in Asia.

The forum invited speakers from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Taiwan under the imperative: “Prevent Democratic Backsliding”, a title that reflects the urgency of addressing the pervasive threats facing democracies, both fragile and stable, in East Asia.

As conference opening speaker and TFD President Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) suggested, authoritarian regimes are successfully propagating the narrative that democratic governments are “inefficient, chaotic and sluggish” while their one-party counterparts are “productive, effective and efficient.”    [FULL  STORY]

American NTUE master’s student creates humourous video titled ‘Things to do in Taipei’

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/06/27
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — An American master’s student currently living in Taipei has

created a humorous video introducing many of the major sights and sounds of Taiwan’s capital city.

Andrew DeBell, 28, who has been studying his Master’s in Learning and Instruction at National Taipei University of Education for a year now, said that he created the song and accompanying video as a “unique way to share the amazing wonders of Taipei with travelers from abroad.” DeBell said that because he feels Taiwan is a greatly underrated travel destination, he thought it would be a good way to encourage more people from around the world to come and visit.

The video is the latest installment of a series of “musical travel guides” DeBell has created to be a “fun blend of entertainment and cultural learning that I hope inspires others to try new things.”    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/06/27
By: Scarlett Chai and S.C. Chang

Taipei, June 27 (CNA) The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said Wednesday that while

it supports press freedom for Chinese journalists based in Taiwan, it will not allow those who spread false rumors and report “fake news” to work here.

The MAC was referring to a case in which a Chinese reporter falsely reported in February that Japanese rescuers who had just arrived at a collapsed building after an earthquake in Hualien refused to “go into the building on a search and rescue mission because of their fear of danger.”

The fact is they were waiting outside the building, listening to a briefing by local rescue team leaders, MAC said, adding that international rescue teams are required to follow the instructions of local teams.

Ye Qinglin, the China Southeast TV reporter who filed the story on the Japanese rescue team’s response to the briefing, went on to say that if they were mainland Chinese rescuers, they would have rushed into the tilted building to save lives.
[FULL  STORY]

ALONE: The government is concerned that the nation will be left of the network of regional trade agreements, which would be disadvantageous to the nation’s firms

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 28, 2018
By: Staff writer, with CNA in WASHINGTON

Taiwan hopes to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-

Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) as soon as possible, Minister Without Portfolio John Deng (鄧振中), Taiwan’s top negotiator, said in an interview.

In an interview published on Tuesday by US trade publication Inside US Trade, Deng said he believes Taiwan can live up to the agreement’s standards and market access commitments.

“We think we are there, we can meet all the standards,” Deng said. “We think we can also achieve that high level of liberalization and market access.”

Taiwan is seeking the support of existing members of the agreement to become a signatory in the deal.    [FULL  STORY]

Academic autonomy is viewed as a bulwark of Taiwan’s democracy.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/06/26
By: Jasmine Su

Taiwanese university students took to the streets on May 4 in response to the Ministry

of Education (MoE)’s rejection of Kuan Chung-ming (管中閔), the newly elected president of National Taiwan University (NTU), the country’s most Taiwan’s most prestigious university.

In a controversy that spanned the last six months, NTU operated without a president as students and faculty members debated the legality of his removal, the meaning of academic autonomy, and how Taiwan’s authoritarian past affects the present.

“Chaotic” is one of the most common characterizations of Taiwan’s contemporary political scene. Photos and memes of Taiwanese legislators physically fighting each other in parliament are commonplace on the internet.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/06/26
By: Shih Hsiu-chuan 

Taipei, June 26 (CNA) Young pro-democracy activists from East Asian countries on Tuesday shared their experiences in combating authoritarianism, religious extremism, the spread of fake and misleading news and misuse of democratic institutions at a forum in Taipei focused on how to prevent democratic backsliding.

“Maybe online martial law is happening in the Philippines” because some of the Facebook accounts of people critical of Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration have magically disappeared, Anthony Esguerra, a multimedia reporter with INQUIRER.net, the online arm of the Philippines Daily Inquirer, said.

Esguerra continued, asking “Are Facebook and social media really an extension of democratic spaces when they are actually censoring some people?”

Esguerra made the remarks during a talk about the suppression of Filipino civil society since Duterte came to office in 2016, at the fifth East Asia Democracy Forum hosted annually by Taiwan Foundation for Democracy since 2014.   [FULL  STORY]

Soft-spoken and naturally shy, Taiwan’s first female leader President Tsai Ing-wen was not an obvious trailblazer.
image:

Channel News Asia
Date: 25 Jun 2018

TAIPEI: Soft-spoken and naturally shy, Taiwan’s first female leader President Tsai Ing-

wen was not an obvious trailblazer.

But after taking over a party once seen as chauvinist and defying sexist critics, she calls on other women to shrug off self-doubt and be “brave” in the #MeToo era.

In an exclusive interview with AFP, Tsai, 61, described the difficulties she faced in countering “traditional” attitudes among voters and party members who did not believe she was up to the job because of her gender.

“This is, in a way, a very traditional society,” Tsai told AFP at her residence in central Taipei, two years after her election as president.

“People think that women tend to be weaker, tend to be less resilient, and people usually have this question of whether a woman can exercise leadership like a man.”

The former law professor worked as an international trade negotiator before taking on her first major public role in 2000, when she headed the body that deals with Taiwan’s relations with Beijing.    [FULL  STORY]