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The top story from this past week involved the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. President Ma Ying-jeou is calling on China to use prudence and peaceful means to handle the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. Ma was speaking on Monday at the opening ceremony of the World Taiwanese Chambers of Commerce.
Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Hong Kong last Sunday to call for fair and direct elections of its chief executive. Thousands of protesters were still blocking the streets a week later and the standoff between riot police and democracy activists has intensified.
Ma said Taiwan fully understands and is supportive of the call, as democracy would be a win-win situation for both Hong Kong and China.
In an earlier interview with Al Jazeera English, the president said he hoped that China would be able to keep its promise to allow Hong Kong residents to rule the former British colony themselves.
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Also this past week, Taiwan won ten gold medals at the Asian Games, which concluded on Saturday in Incheon, South Korea. The tenth and final gold was in karate; the medalist, Ku Tsui-ping, won 8-3 over her rival from Kazakhstan, Yekaterina Khupovets in the women's under-50kg karate final.
As the games wrapped up in Incheon on Saturday evening, Taiwan was ranked 7th out of 45 participating nations in the total medal count, with 10 gold, 18 silver and 23 bronze medals.
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And finally this past week, a report by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has shown that Taiwan saw a 26.7% increase in international tourist visits during the first half of 2014.
This was the highest level of growth in the world during the first half of the year. Runner up Japan saw a 26.4% increase in tourist arrivals, while number three on the report’s list, Mexico, saw an increase of 19.8%.
So far, 2014 has been a good year for the tourism industry in Northeast Asia, with strong growth in Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, and Hong Kong. Growth in the region as a whole reached 5.4% in the first half of the year. Only China, which has seen negative growth of 2%, has bucked this trend.