Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Pope Francis announced that the Vatican is to enter into “high-level talks” with the People’s Republic of China. Whether this would lead to the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two and whether Taiwan’s sovereignty and international status could sustain yet another blow is being hotly debated in Taiwan. Many people fear that this could set off a domino effect that would place Taiwan on the sidelines of global society as an “international orphan.”

However, an online search for “Taiwan” and “same-sex marriage” turns up millions of hits, including on the Web sites of major international media outlets such as the BBC, CNN, the Guardian, Time and the Washington Post. The media have reported the event as headline news, praising Taiwan for being the first Asian country to recognize same-sex marriage and saying that the move will have a far-reaching effect on marriage equality in other Asian states.

The government is to ban Chinese human rights violators from entering the nation following hostile behavior by Beijing and the sentencing of Taiwanese democracy advocate Lee Ming-che (李明哲) for subversion of state power by a Chinese court, sources have said.

In a bid to uphold human rights, a committee of members of the National Immigration Agency (NIA), Mainland Affairs Council and other government agencies has denied entry to at least three Chinese nationals and groups that were found to have persecuted Falun Gong practitioners in China, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.