Los Angeles Times
Date: May 20, 2018
By: Ralph Jennings

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen vowed Sunday to step up security as citizens worry

about the growing military and diplomatic strength of China, which resents Tsai for opposing its bid to unify the two sides.

The president gave no details on possible new security measures, but last year she vowed to raise defense spending.

“We will strengthen our work for the whole society’s security and especially look out for these factors from China, whether they affect our Taiwanese society’s security,” Tsai said during an online broadcast on the second anniversary of her inauguration.

Beijing claims sovereignty over self-ruled Taiwan, where the Nationalist government fled after the Chinese civil war of the 1940s. China insists on eventual unification of the two sides under a single China and has not ruled out use of force to unify the two sides.

Government opinion polls show that most Taiwanese prefer autonomy over unification with China.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/05/20
By:  Central News Agency

Taipei, May 20 (CNA) The Taipei Blood Center (TBC) on Sunday called on the public to

donate blood after its blood supply on Saturday fell below the officially designated safe level of seven days.

Chen Ya-wen, a TBC official, said the TBC supplies blood to the cities and counties of Taipei, New Taipei, Keelung, Yilan and Hualien, which need on average of 2,023 bags of blood per day.

That means the designated safe level of seven days of blood is approximately 14,000 bags, but as of Saturday there were only 8,740 bags of blood left, enough for only 4.3 days, Chen said.

There were 3,274 bags of Type O blood, 2,378 bags of Type A blood, 2,310 bags of Type B blood, and 778 bags of Type AB blood, according to data from the Taiwan Blood Services Foundation, which runs the center.

Blood donation sites can be found online at TBC’s website    [SOURCE]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/05/20
By: Ku Chuan and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, May 20 (CNA) A Japanese daily has expressed support in an editorial published Sunday for Taiwan to participate in the annual meeting of the World Health Assembly (WHA) this coming week, a meeting that Taiwan was blocked from attending by China.

The editorial in the Mainichi Shimbun, titled “China’s pressure to exclude Taiwan from the World Health Organization is unreasonable,” argued that Taiwan should be included in this year’s WHA meeting.

“The enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being, without distinction of race, religion, political belief, economic or social condition,” according to the WHO’s Constitution, the editorial said.

It said China sees Taiwan’s people as “compatriots,” but by taking health issues hostage to coerce Taiwan into acknowledging Beijing’s “one China” principle, then isn’t China showing blatant disregard for the human rights of its “compatriots?” the editorial wondered.
[FULL  STORY]

LABOR RIGHTS: Protesters rallied on Ketagalan Boulevard, shouting ‘no more overwork.’ One protester said that President Tsai Ing-wen has rolled back labor conditions 30 years

Taipei Times
Date: May 21, 2018
By: Ann Maxon  /  Staff reporter

A coalition of labor rights groups accused President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) of failing to

deliver on her campaign promises to workers at a protest yesterday morning as Tsai marked the second anniversary of her inauguration.

About 40 protesters rallied outside the Presidential Office Building on Ketagalan Boulevard, holding placards and shouting “no more overwork.”

“We are here today because President Tsai promised workers that she would raise salaries, reduce work hours, encourage the organization of unions, protect non-regular employees, help young and elderly people find jobs, and take care of those with work-related injuries and illnesses,” Taoyuan Confederation of Trade Unions member Wei Yu-ling (魏豫綾) said. “However, in the past two years, she has fulfilled almost none of them.”

To justify its poor labor policies, the government has blamed migrant workers, saying that they are the reason the average monthly salary has not increased, she said, referring to a comment by Vice Premier Shih Jun-ji (施俊吉) on Monday that the nation’s real average wage last year would have been the highest in 18 years if migrant workers’ earnings were not included.    [FULL  STORY]

In a keynote speech, Yen Teh-fa describes continued pressure against separatism as ‘almost useless’, saying the island will not accept its tactics

South China Morning Post
Date: 19 May, 2018
By: Mandy Zuo

Continued pressure from mainland China against the threat of Taiwanese separatism has only resulted in “resentment” from the people of Taiwan, the self-ruled island’s defence minister Yen Teh-fa said on Saturday.

Yen also said Taiwanese would not accept Beijing’s frequent verbal and military threats, according to Taiwan’s Central News Agency.

“This is almost useless,” the minister said, referring to Beijing’s tactics in a keynote speech at an international seminar at Tamkang University.

Beijing considers Taiwan a renegade province subject to eventual unification, by force if necessary. Cross-strait tensions have been rising since President Tsai Ing-wen from the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party came to power two years ago. Beijing suspended official exchanges and talks with Taipei after Tsai refused to accept the “1992 consensus” – an understanding that there is only one China, but each side can have its own interpretation of what that China stands for.    [FULL  STORY]

Corporate culture keeps Taiwan’s products stuck at the back of the global shelf .

The News Lens
Date: 2018/05/19
By: Chris W. Hubbard 

Photo Credit: Deposit Photos / TPG
Examples of well-thought-out brand communications exist in Taiwan, yet much of Taiwan’s international (English) brand communications is appalling. Brand names, website content, advertising, signage, packaging descriptions and social media efforts are often poorly considered.

Take Tricky Taipei’s recent exposure of the dreadful brand communications by the Taiwan Tourism Bureau — barely legible, grossly amateur communications are being shared with the world. The Taiwan Tourism Bureau in New York has since apologized publicly for the “social media fiasco,” but the damage done will be hard to repair. At best, bad brand communications can result in people ignoring messages, and at worst, it can cripple a business – driving consumers elsewhere.

What could cause brand communications to become so bad? In my experience as a communications strategist in Taiwan, there are eight contributing factors:    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/05/19
By:  Central News Agency

TAIPEI (CNA) – Fewer babies were born in Taiwan in 2017 than in any year in the last four

decades except for 2009 and 2010, another sign of Taiwan’s worsening aging problem, according to the latest data from the Ministry of the Interior (MOI).

A total of 193,844 babies were born in Taiwan in 2017, down from 208,440 in 2016. It was the sixth time the figure had fallen below 200,000 since 2008.

Births in Taiwan ranged between about 310,000 to 340,000 from 1986 to 1997, with a crude birth rate of above 15 per 1,000 people, but then started falling precipitously in 1998 to just over 200,000 births and crude birth rates below 10 per 1,000 people by the mid-2000s.

The ministry’s Department of Statistics said that while Taiwan’s total population, reported at 23.57 million at the end of 2017, is still growing, the rate of growth continues to decline, leading to a narrowing gap between Taiwan’s birth and death rates.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/05/19
By: Hu Yu-li and Kuan-lin Liu

Toronto, May 18 (CNA) Douglas Chiang (江文基), president of the Taiwanese-Canadian Association (TCA) has called for a complete boycott of Air Canada, which recently chose to change its designation of Taiwan to “Taiwan, China” on its website.

In an interview with CNA on Friday, Chiang said the TCA has asked members of all Taiwanese associations around the world and their families and friends to boycott the services of the Canadian flag carrier.

The name change, which took place on Monday, came in response to a letter sent by China’s Civil Aviation Administration in late April that pressured 36 American and international airlines to remove references to Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau as countries on their websites and in their marketing materials.

Beijing gave recipients of the letters 30 days to comply or risk facing penalties.
[FULL  STORY]

BICKERING: Ting Shou-chung in 2014 ran a full-page ad against fellow party member Sean Lien after the latter announced his bid for Taipei mayor, something Ting aspired to as well

Taipei Times
Date: May 20, 2018
By: Stacy Hsu  /  Staff reporter

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

mediate between KMT Taipei mayoral candidate Ting Shou-chung (丁守中) and the party’s Central Committee member Sean Lien (連勝文), whose relationship has been plagued by a years-long feud that could cost Ting the support of a prominent KMT family in the Nov. 24 nine-in-one elections.

Wu made the remarks when responding to media queries about whether Ting and Lien have yet to patch things up, given Lien’s refusal on Friday to campaign for the former lawmaker, who on May 9 secured the KMT’s nomination as its Taipei mayoral candidate after four failed attempts since 1994.

“[Lien’s refusal] was inevitable because he is only human. I think [Ting] should try making more visits [to Lien’s family] and let his sincerity change people’s minds,” Wu said on the sidelines of a party event in Taipei, which was also attended by Ting.

Wu said Lien is an outstanding young talent and he believes Lien’s family’s support for Ting “can be expected,” adding that he is willing to mediate, as it is his job as KMT chairman to maintain solidarity within the party.    [FULL  STORY]

The Economic Times
Date: May 18, 2018

WASHINGTON: China will turn Taiwan into a major nuclear and conventional military base, a move which will allow it to project power into the Indian Ocean and consolidate more control over the disputed South China Sea to “isolate” both India and Japan, a US lawmaker has warned.

Expressing concern over China’s growing economic and military power, Richard D Fisher of the International Assessment and Strategy Center told lawmakers yesterday that Beijing had a new strategy for gaining eventual global military access called “debt trap diplomacy”.

“China may be using debt pressure right now to force Djibouti to limit US military access in that strategic base. It recently gained ownership of a new large port in Sri Lanka by debt default. Vanuatu, Pakistan, Thailand and others are vulnerable,” Fisher said.

A good reason to deter a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, which could be perhaps as early as the mid-2020s, was that China will turn Taiwan into a major nuclear and conventional military base, he said.    [FULL  STORY]