April 24, 2012—Taipei, Taiwan

 

Taiwanease.com, a website created for Taiwan’s International Community by a small team of long term foreign residents, has just released the eponymous app “Taiwanease” on the   iTunes App Store.  

The Taiwanease App is an essential tool for international living in Taiwan. Access our massive database of events listings and venue addresses with or without an internet connection. Fast, sleek, and intelligently put together, the Taiwanease App is elegant in its simplicity. Whether it’s Nightlife, Shopping, Dining, Hotels, Art, Theatre, Events, or Addresses and Maps, the Taiwanease iPhone Application puts all you need to know about Taiwan at your fingertips.

Key Features of the Taiwanease App include:

• Up-to-date Event Listings
• Thousands of Directory Listings in dozens of categories, from Restaurants, to Accommodation, to Travel.
• A “Near Me” feature to tell you what’s close by.
• A “Favorites” function that stores all your preferred locations in a handy list.
• Full Screen Taxi Cards that tell your driver exactly where you want to go in Chinese.
• Maps that will pinpoint your current location, even in a moving vehicle, as well as your destination. If your taxi driver is taking “the scenic route”, you’ll be the first to know!
• Up to date contact information for restaurants, including addresses in English AND Chinese, clickable links to websites from within every listing, as well as “one-tap” phone dialing.
• Emergency Numbers, for Police, Fire/Medical, English Directory Assistance, and the Foreign Affairs Police.
• MRT Maps for Taipei and Kaohsiung
• An “Add an Establishment” feature that lets you instantly submit a venue to our directory right from your phone!

The Taiwanease App is available on the  iTunes App Store now, for only $2.99.

2012.04.24, 台北, 台灣

Taiwanease.com 一個由一群在台落地生根的外國客，所創立的台灣國際社群，就在剛剛於 iTunes 線上商店中推出同名應用程式 - Taiwanease。

Taiwanease 英文應用程式是在台灣生活的您必備的實用工具！  龐大資料庫中有最新的活動訊息及眾多的商家資訊，下載後就算在沒有網路訊號的地方也能使用。 快速、敏捷的高機能設計，Taiwanease 英文應用程式展現出優雅的簡單哲學。

Taiwanease 英文應用程式的主要功能有：

• 最新的活動訊息列表
• 龐大的工商資料庫，內含幾十組類別，從餐廳、住宿到旅行，內容包羅萬象
• “離我最近” 功能告訴您附近有什麼
• “我的最愛” 功能，一份可以儲存您最喜愛商家的清單
• 全螢幕計程車卡，以正確的中文資料，告知計程車司機您想抵達的確實地點
• 一份能正確標示出您所在點及目標點的地圖；就算您在移動的車輛中，也能看到自己的移動，您的司機若是繞遠路，您也能馬上發現
• 最新的餐廳聯絡資訊，包括中、英文地址；並可從資料頁中直接連結到該商家網站裡，或是點擊電話馬上為您撥號至該商家
• 緊急連絡電話：從警察局、消防局、救護車、英語查號台到外交部和外事警察局，全都在這裡！ 
• 台北及高雄捷運地圖，讓您暢行無阻
• “建立新商家” 功能，您能即時利用手機，新增商家到資料庫中

Taiwanease 英文應用程式即刻起在 iTunes線上商店開始販售，只要美金$2.99元，您就能馬上擁有 Taiwanease 英文應用程式！

Democratizing Taiwan

Presentation by and discussion

with the author :

Prof. J. Bruce Jacobs   

20 April (Friday) 14:30

B202 RCHSS Academia Sinica

Taiwan—together with India, Japan and South Korea —is one of only four consolidated Asian democracies. Democratizing Taiwan provides the most comprehensive analysis of Taiwan 's peaceful democratization including its past violent authoritarian experiences, leadership both within and outside government, popular protest and elections, and constitutional interpretation and amendments. Using extensive field research including the conduct of many interviews with government and party leaders, journalists, academics and a wide variety of citizens over many years as well as substantial research into documents, newspapers and academic research, Professor Jacobs provides many new insights into Taiwan's democratization. He also analyses areas in which Taiwan continues to face difficulties.

J. Bruce Jacobs is Professor of Asian Languages and Studies at Monash University in Melbourne , Australia . He received his PhD from Columbia University in 1975. Professor Jacobs has published numerous works on Taiwan and China over the past forty years.

The seminar will be held in English. The session will be chaired by Dr Paul JOBIN, Director of CEFC Taipei .

Contact: cefc@gate.sinica.edu.tw
French Centre for Research on Contemporary China - Taipei Office
Centre d’Etudes Français sur la Chine contemporaine (CEFC) - Antenne de Taipei
http://www.cefc.com.hk/taipei
Tel : (886-2) 2789-0873 - Fax : (886-2) 2789-0874

Formosan Association for Human Rights (FAHR) condemns the inhuman imprisonment conditions of the wrongfully jailed former President of Taiwan, Chen Shui-bian. Chen, jailed since November 11, 2008, convicted on politically motivated corruption charges, was granted a temporary release from Taipei Prison on March 6, 2012 for a medical checkup at Taoyuan General Hospital because of his frail health. During the checkup, he was diagnosed with acute coronary syndrome and significantly reduced blood flow to the heart, a potentially fatal condition. Taipei Prison had ignored Chen’s repeated requests for a hospital checkup for a month until being pressured by 13 legislators from opposition parties. Even so, the prison had planned to return him back to the prison on the same day after the checkup. Chen is currently in the intensive care unit after undergoing an urgent cardiac catheterization procedure on March 7. A prostate tumor was also found during the checkup, among other undisclosed conditions. 

FAHR urges Taipei Prison, the Ministry of Justice, and Presidential Office of Taiwan to set aside politics and to grant Chen a hospital stay sufficient for a thorough checkup and treatment until a full recovery is made. FAHR also calls on the opposition parties and people of Taiwan not to tolerate such inhuman treatment of the former president by the current Kuomintang government in Taiwan.

After being imprisoned over 1,200 days, Chen’s health has begun to rapidly deteriorate. The doctors at Taoyuan General Hospital attribute his poor health to long-term deprivation of sunlight, lack of exercise, and an inactive life style. Chen’s son, Chen Chih-chung, pointed out that his father has been jailed under an inhuman conditions and was allowed only 30 minutes each day for outdoor activities. Earlier this year, for nine straight days, he was even denied his daily exercise time. Unlike other inmates, who can work eight hours a day in prison factories, his father is essentially confined to a damp and undersized cell of about 70 square feet, 24 hours a day. Chen is not even allowed a desk and is forced to write on the floor. Such conditions are a direct violation of the minimum requirements for prisoners sanctioned by the UN, which requires that “every prisoner who is not employed in outdoor work shall have at least one hour of suitable exercise in the open air daily if the weather permits.” Ironically, the Minister of Justice in Taiwan cited security concerns as well as respect for a former head of state for barring Chen from working in the prison factory. 

It is apparent that these inhuman imprisonment conditions have lead to the rapid deterioration of former President Chen’s health. FAHR condemns such inhuman and unlawful treatment of any prisoner, let alone a former President of Taiwan, twice elected to that office through democratic processes. FAHR also calls for international support for former President Chen’s basic human rights for proper medical treatment and, more importantly, for an appeal of wrongful imprisonment after he regains his health.

Legislative Yuan
KMT 64 seats
DPP 40
TSU 3
PFP 3
Other 3 

News and Updates from the International Committee for Fair Elections in Taiwan Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. International Committee on Fair Elections in Taiwan Press Release January 13, 2012 Head of International Election Observation Mission Expresses Concern at Remarks by Former US Official In an interview with a Taiwanese television station on January 12, Douglas Paal, a former Taipei director of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), made several comments about Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate Tsai Ing-wen’s policies towards China, including describing her “Taiwan consensus” proposal as impractical.   In a press conference today, former US Senator and former Governor of Alaska Frank Murkowski, currently in Taiwan as head of the election observation delegation organized by the International Committee for Free Elections in Taiwan (ICFET), stated that the remarks made by Paal were “inappropriate to say the least.” Senator Murkowski also telephoned current AIT Taipei Director William Stanton to convey his personal concern. At the press conference, he said, “I challenge the credibility of Mr. Paal to speak for me or my government, or for the vast majority of Americans.”   Accompanied by ICFET Chairman Peng Ming-Min and Vice Chairman Wu Li-Pei, Senator Murkowski criticized Paal for coming to Taiwan at the invitation of a KMT-affiliated institute to “observe” the elections and making such comments. He particularly said Paal’s assertion that the opinion leaked to the Financial Times last fall was the “private feeling of senior administration officials generally” is “inappropriate editorializing to say the least.” Senator Murkowski noted that Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell had already clearly denied the Financial Times report.   Senator Murkowski said that, this morning when he read the reports in the Taipei Times and China Post about Paal’s remarks, he was concerned that this would be misinterpreted as reflecting US policy. He stated, “I take strong issue any inference that US policy towards Taiwan favors any candidate or party over the others. AIT Director Stanton, with whom I talked today, has made the AIT’s position clear that the US remains strictly neutral.”   Senator Murkowski concluded, “I speak today solely as a private US citizen, but based on my experience off 22 years in the US Senate and as former Governor of Alaska, I challenge the credibility of Mr. Paal to speak for me or my government, or for the vast majority of Americans who have great admiration for the progress Taiwan has made in advancing its democracy. This election is about the people of Taiwan making a choice of parties or candidates free of any undue influence. It is about the choice between change and the status quo. That is a choice for the people of Taiwan. Whatever they decide, we wish them well.”   ICFET was initiated by former Presidential Advisor Dr. Peng Ming-Min, and members of the Committee include current and former MPs from Canada, the European Union, Japan, and the US, as well as scholars and experts from around the world. ICFET organized a 24-member international observation mission to come to Taiwan for these elections, led by Senator Murkowski. The mission visited campaign headquarters and observed campaign activities from all three major parties in northern, central, and southern Taiwan. On Sunday, January 15, at 10:45 am, the mission will hold a press conference at the Howard Plaza Hotel to announce its preliminary findings.   For further information about ICFET and these elections: http://www.taiwanelections.org/ ======= A few more related links:  Paal endorses ‘1992 consensus’ - Taipei Times, 13 Jan. 2012 EDITORIAL: Politicizing electoral monitors - Taipei Times,13 Jan. 2012 Ex-AIT official's remarks show no respect for Taiwan's people: DPP - Focus Taiwan, 13 Jan. 2012 Comments by Ben Goren at Letters from Taiwan AIT distances itself from Douglas Paal - Taipei Times,14 Jan. 2012 Chief international observer lambasts Paal - Taipei Times, 14 Jan. 2012

APPLY TODAY!  
2012 Ambassador Program

The Formosa Foundation is accepting applications for the 2012 Ambassador Program from now through March 15, 2012. The 2012 Program will take place in Washington , D.C. from June 18 through 29. Up to 30 college/graduate students and young professionals will be selected from the United States and Taiwan to participate in this highly competitive “congressional boot camp.”

Application forms are now available. The U.S. applicants please complete the 2012 U.S. Application Form; Applicants who are currently in Taiwan and/or are Taiwanese national please use the 2012 TW Form.

The Ambassador Program, in its 10th year, has over 250 future leaders graduate and held over a thousand meetings with individual members of Congress and their staff.  With each passing year the program has grown stronger, attracting not only some of the foremost authorities on Taiwan and Asia- Pacific issues from across America , but also garnering the attention of powerful lawmakers as well. The Ambassador Program teaches skills to help change the hearts and minds of our elected leaders and policymakers in Washington on the most critical issues concerning Taiwan . Formosa Foundation ambassadors have received praises as being Capitol Hill's most articulate and effective advocates for the U.S.-Taiwan bilateral relations.

Detailed program description and previous program reports are available on our website.

Sincerely,

Formosa Foundation
www.formosafoundation.org
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About the Ambassador Program

The Formosa Foundation offers three factors critical to social movements: political opportunity, organizational capacity and framing ability. Through its Ambassador Program the Foundation offers the best hands-on training for students to develop grassroots and campaign skills and to become leaders.

The Ambassador Program combines in-house training with on-the-ground activist work. Participants in the Program develop the expertise, analytical framework, and network they need to effectively promote Taiwan . Up-and-coming activists can learn about the issues affecting Taiwan first-hand.

The 2012 Ambassador Program will take place in Washington D.C. June 18- 29. The Formosa Foundation will provide for participants' training, workshops and lodging for the duration of the Program. Participants are responsible for their own meals and travel expenses. See the 2011 Program report and former ambassadors in action here.

BECOME EFFECTIVE ORGANIZERS FOR JUSTICE

The Formosa Foundation seeks to preserve the American values of democracy and human rights through broadened involvement of future leaders in the making of U.S. policy. The Ambassador Program uses U.S. foreign policies on Taiwan and China as case studies to provide participants with opportunities to:

• Understand the intricacies of U.S. foreign policy making and its impact;
• Gain insight from experienced professionals on the art of advocacy;
• Acquire skills to effectively present views to policy makers, media and the public.

MEET FACE TO FACE WITH U.S. LAW MAKERS

The Ambassador Program is a unique training program of its kind.  We recruit students from the United States and Taiwan , who will work together to help develop a closer relationship between the U.S. and Taiwan .  The Program provides opportunities to meet with United States Congressmen and Senators to discuss U.S. policies toward Taiwan . 

DEVELOP GRASSROOTS CAMPAIGN SKILLS AND NETWORKS

The Ambassador Program has demonstrated results from participants that extends beyond the two-week program. The Program prepares tomorrow's leaders towards building a pro-Taiwan community on and beyond the college campus. These congressional visits put Taiwan on the forefront of America 's political agenda, and change the hearts and minds of American policy makers about Taiwan .

QUALIFICATION AND SELECTION

The Program is designed primarily for recent college graduate or current college and/or graduate students who support the advancement of human rights, democracy and the right of self-determination for the people of Taiwan .  Selection criteria include academic excellence, extracurricular activities, participation in community affairs, and interest in promoting U.S.-Taiwan relations. 

Up to 30 applicants will be selected for the 2012 Program, including up to 7 to be recruited from Taiwan . Applicant can be US citizens, permanent residents, or Taiwanese national.

APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS:

Program application package includes the following requirements. See page 4 of application form for mailing instructions.

1. 2012 Application Form (Applicants who are currently studying/residing in Taiwan , use the 2012 TW Form.)
2. 500-word Personal Statement
3. Copy of most recent Transcript
4. Two Letters of Recommendation