Page Two

Taiwan not negotiable for US

NO BARGAINING CHIP:Former AIT chair Richard Bush said that if China is waiting for the KMT to return to power, it would be a bad idea to suppress Taiwan

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 13, 2017
By: Staff writer, with CNA

A meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jingping (習

Former American Institute in Taiwan Chairman Richard Bush on Monday speaks during an interview in Washington.  Photo: CNA

近平) set to take place in Beijing next month should not have any major effect on Taiwan, former American Institute in Taiwan chairman Richard Bush said on Monday.

Bush, who serves as codirector of the Brookings Institution’s Center for East Asia Policy Studies, said in an interview with the Central News Agency in Washington that Taiwan would not be a bargaining chip in the Trump-Xi discussions.

It would not be a good idea for the US to use Taiwan as a bargaining chip, nor would it serve US interests, Bush said, adding that he was not very concerned about the impact that the Trump-Xi summit could have on Taiwan.    [FULL  STORY]

President Tsai gives guidelines to APEC delegation

The China Post
Date: October 12, 2017
By: Yeh Su-ping, Liu Kuan-ting, Wang Cheng-chung and Kuan-lin Liu

TAIPEI (CNA) – President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Thursday laid out three main

President Tsai gives guidelines to her special envoy to the upcoming APEC summit, James Soong, during an event held in Taipei on Oct. 12, 2017. (CNA)

concepts that she would like the Taiwan delegation to focus on at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC) summit in Vietnam next month.

At a press conference, Tsai said her special envoy to the summit, James Soong (宋楚瑜), should make clear Taiwan’s commitment to the theme and mission of this year’s APEC summit of “Creating New Dynamism, Fostering a Shared Future.”

Soong should also convey that Taiwan has the ability to contribute in the areas of talent development, food security, and sustainable development in a digital age, alongside other APEC member economies, Tsai said.    [FULL  STORY]

US State Dept. encourages constructive cross-strait dialogue

Radio Taiwan
Date: 2017-10-11

The US State Department says it continues to encourage constructive cross-strait dialogue. That’s according to Grace Choi, a spokesperson for the State Department’s East Asian and Pacific Affairs Bureau.

Choi was speaking with a reporter for Taiwan’s Central News Agency Tuesday. She was responding to a question about Washington’s take on President Tsai Ing-wen’s National Day address.

In her remarks on cross-strait ties, Tsai called on leaders from both sides to work together and search for a new mode of cross-strait interaction. Tsai also said Taiwan will uphold the cross-strait status quo. She said that Taiwan will not bring cross-strait ties back to a hostile state, but that it will not give in to cross-strait pressure either.
[FULL  STORY]

Chen Che-nan released on parole

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/10/11
By: Wang Shu-fen and S.C. Chang

Taipei, Oct. 11 (CNA) Chen Che-nan (陳哲男), a senior aide during the administration

Chen Che-nan (陳哲男)/CNA file photo

of former President Chen Shui-bian, was released on parole Wednesday after serving three years of a seven-year sentence.

On the release of the 77-year-old former official, his son Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁), a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmaker, said his father was suffering from heart disease and needed rest and care.

A Presidential Office deputy secretary-general from 2000 to 2004, Chen Che-nan was sentenced by the Supreme Court to seven years in prison in November 2014 and deprived of his civil rights for five years on charges of bribery and influence peddling.
[FULL  STORY]

‘1992 consensus’ may have lost its relevance: academic

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 12, 2017
By: Jonathan Chin  /  Staff writer

The absence of any references to the so-called “1992 consensus” in China’s response

Mainland Affairs Council Minister Katharine Chang speaks at a Chunghwa Post Co exhibition in Taipei marking 30 years of cross-strait exchanges yesterday.  Photo courtesy of Chunghwa Post Co

to President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) Double Ten National Day speech has led to speculation over its significance to the cross-strait narrative, a Taiwan-China relations researcher said.

In response to Tsai’s speech, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) spokesman Ma Xiaoguang (馬曉光) on Tuesday said the peaceful development of cross-strait relations depends on the “one China” principle and expressed opposition to Taiwanese independence, but made no reference to the “1992 consensus.”

The “1992 consensus,” a term former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) in 2006 admitted making up in 2000, refers to a tacit understanding between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese government that both sides of the Taiwan Strait acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.   [FULL  STORY]

Heavy rain warning issued for five areas

The China Post
Date: October 11, 20170
By: Flor Wang

TAIPEI (CNA) – A heavy rain warning was issued for five cities and counties across

Pedestrians with umbrellas cross a Taipei street in the rain in this undated file photo. The Central Weather Bureau issued a heavy rain warning for five cities and counties across Taiwan on Wednesday due to strengthening northeasterly winds and a convective cloud system. (NOWnews file photo)

Taiwan on Wednesday due to strengthening northeasterly winds and a convective cloud system, according to the Central Weather Bureau.

People in New Taipei, Taipei’s Wenshan District, the northeast coastal area around Keelung, Yilan and Hualien counties in eastern Taiwan, and the Hengchun Peninsula in Pingtung County should be alert to strong precipitation, thunder and gusty winds, the bureau said.

Areas south of Hsinchu County will see sunny to cloudy skies, with brief thundershowers in the afternoon in mountainous areas, it said.

The day’s high in areas north of Taoyuan and eastern Taiwan will reach 30-33 degrees Celsius, while the weather in central and southern Taiwan will be muggy and hot, with the mercury likely to climb to 34-35 degrees, according to the bureau.
[FULL STORY]

Lawmakers react to Tsai’s National Day speech

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-10-10

Lawmakers representing each of Taiwan’s main political parties weighed in Tuesday on President Tsai Ing-wen’s National Day speech.

In her speech, Tsai said that Taiwan will not return to a confrontational stance when it comes to cross-strait ties. She said, though, that Taiwan will not give in to cross-strait pressure either. Tsai called for both sides of the Taiwan Strait to treasure the results of 30 years of interaction.

A lawmaker from the president’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Liu Chao-hao, praised the speech. He said it was a speech befitting of a head of state. Liu said that cross-strait ties must proceed along equal, mutually beneficial, and respectful lines. He also said that Taiwan has shown goodwill toward Beijing, and that Beijing must respond in kind before there can be a breakthrough in the cross-strait deadlock.
[FULL  STORY]

Taiwan sculptor Ju Ming awarded US$3.98 million in copyright case

Collector had 222 items illegally copied in China

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/10/10
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Three people who copied 222 typical pieces of sculptor Ju

Ju Ming work at the Academia Sinica in Taipei (photo courtesy of Hsuan Shih-sheng 玄史生) (By Wikimedia Commons)

Ming (朱銘) will have to pay him NT$120.9 million (US$3.98 million), the Shilin District Court ruled Tuesday.

Ju, 79, is a world-famous sculptor whose typical sculptures are on view around the world, but especially at the Juming Museum in the hills of Jinshan, close to Taiwan’s northern coast in New Taipei City.

A prominent art collector named as Yeh Jung-chia (葉榮嘉) needed to auction off his collection of famous taichi works by Ju for financial reasons, but because he wanted to hold on to the masterpieces, he colluded with two businessmen to copy the works, the court said.
[FULL  STORY]

Taiwan to continue to increase imports from Honduras: president

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/10/10
By: Yeh Su-ping and William Yen

Taipei, Oct. 10 (CNA) Taiwan will continue to increase its imports of agricultural

President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文, right) and Honduras Vice President Ava Rossana Guevara Pinto (left)

products from Honduras, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said Tuesday.

Tsai made the remark when she received Honduras Vice President Ava Rossana Guevara Pinto at the Presidential Office that day.

In addition to beef and coffee, this year’s imports from the Central American diplomatic ally might also include melons and in the future, avocados, said Tsai.
[FULL  STORY]

ROC flag issue causes discord

PAN-BLUE EVENT:The national flag was prominently displayed during a KMT-hosted ceremony, at which the party’s leaders criticized the government for ‘hiding the flag’

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 11, 2017
By: Shelley Shan  /  Staff reporter

A Double Ten National Day celebration yesterday organized by the Chinese Nationalist

A man waves a huge Republic of China flag in front of the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in Taipei yesterday during an event organized by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to commemorate Double Ten National Day.  Photo: CNA

Party (KMT) highlighted the significance and widespread presence of the national flag, and affirmed the existence of the Republic of China (ROC).

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government has been accused by critics of deliberately minimizing imagery associated with China by removing the ROC flag from the invitations for the official Double Ten National Day ceremony and dinner, as well as not mentioning the ROC.

However, Legislative Speaker Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全), whose job includes the role of National Day Celebration Organizing Committee chairman, said the national flag “lives in our hearts,” adding that the flags were displayed at the ceremony and dinner.

The invitation to a celebration hosted by the KMT at Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in Taipei featured a national flag on one side and the portraits of Sun Yat-sen (孫中山) and Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) on the other.    [FULL  STORY]