Taiwan Weekly is a newsletter released every week by Fair Winds Foundation, Association of Foreign Relations and Taipei Forum that provides coverage and perspectives into the latest developments in Taiwan.
Public Worry Grows as Taiwan Lifts Restrictions on Fukushima Food Imports
The government announced on February 8 Taiwan would lift the ban on food from five counties and cities around Fukushima, Japan.
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Three Reservations About Lifting Ban on Nuclear-Contaminated Food Imports from Fukushima
The Executive Yuan announced suddenly the lifting of ban on food products from five Japanese prefectures affected by the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, taking effect on February 21.
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To Unify Taiwan Wisely, No Need to Enact a Law
Zhang Nianchi, a renowned mainland Chinese scholar on Taiwan affairs and former director of the Shanghai Institute of East Asian Studies, recently wrote that the mainland urgently needs to enact a “Unification Act” now, covering measures of peaceful unification and forceful unification, because acting by the law could not only coerce the other side but also stabilize its own side, and using law as a weapon could be very powerful.
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In-Depth Implications of the China-Russia Joint Statement
Under American diplomatic boycott, President Vladimir Putin of Russia attended the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics and held talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
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This Week in Taiwan 0206-0213
February 8: The Pentagon announced on February 7 that the United States Department of State has approved the sale of equipment and services worth $100 million to Taiwan to help maintain and improve the Patriot missile system, strengthen Taiwan’s air defense system and surveillance capabilities, and deter regional threats. This is the second arms sales to Taiwan since President Joe Biden took office. The procedure of notifying Congress will take place, and the arms sale is expected to take effect in a month.
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Meeting Lai by "Accident," Harris Keeps Her Distance on Facebook
Vice President William Lai and Vice President Kamala Harris of the United States met by “accident” at the presidential inauguration in Honduras, but a later photo posted on Harris’s Facebook shows only one unidentifiable hand.
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Lai's 30-Second Encounter Reveals True States of U.S.-Taiwan Relations
Vice President William Lai completed his first foreign visit in office and greeted Vice President Kamala Harris of the United States in the same picture, which was rendered as a "30-second historic interaction" and a "big diplomatic breakthrough".
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Start Cycle of Cross Strait Goodwill with the Understanding of the Winter Olympics
After many twists and turns, the Chinese Taipei delegation representing Taiwan appeared without a hitch at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics.
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This Week in Taiwan 0125-0204
January 25: In the case involving the abuse of Legislator Kao Chia-yu by his boyfriend Lin Ping-shu, the New Taipei District Prosecutor's Office concluded that Lin committed domestic violence, threatened to retaliate the victim with intimate photos, found people to frame Kao on the Facebook pages of various elected officials affiliated with the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), and instructed friends to forge bank deposit records. The prosecution charged Lin with intimidation, offense against privacy, and document forgery and asked the judge to impose a serious sentence.
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President Tsai's Praise of Chiang Ching-kuo Creates Noise within Ruling DPP
The opening of the President Chiang Ching-kuo Chi-Hai Cultural Park and the Chiang Ching-kuo Presidential Library on January 22 invited President Tsai Ing-wen to deliver remarks, which lauded that President Chiang's firm stance on protecting Taiwan was undoubtedly the greatest common ground among the people of Taiwan at the present time.
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