Taiwan News
Date: 2018/07/23
By: Abby Huang

Taiwan’s daily electricity consumption in May repeatedly hit record highs. Could

power be in short supply this summer? Who is sucking up all the power, and could new initiatives encourage them to cough it back up?

On July 4, after nearly 40 years of controversy and debate, the first batch of nuclear fuel rods was removed from Nuclear Power Plant No.4 (NPP4) and shipped to the United States for safe storage. The remaining fuel rods are all expected to be shipped abroad in smaller batches by 2020. This marked the decommissioning of NPP4, a move which raised some doubts around Taiwan.

Former President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) expressed his belief that this was a big mistake. The American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei also showed concern in its Taiwan White Paper, emphasizing the importance of an entity like NPP4 in case of emergency.

With the loss of NPP4, could Taiwan find itself in a power shortage era in the near future?    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/07/23
By: George Liao,Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News)—Is that a cruise ship grounded on a Yilan beach? It looks like it, but it is actually an illegal farmhouse, or rather a beach house, which the county government has ordered to be demolished within three months.

Yilan County has been notorious for illegal farmhouses springing up from paddy fields like bamboo shoots. Now new illegal farmhouses even take the shape of a cruise ship and a giant airplane.

Not long ago members of the public found a giant ship 45 meters long and 30 meters wide grounded on the land of Yongzhen Beach in Zhuangwei Township while scouting Google satellite maps, a CNA report said.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/07/23
By: Joseph Yeh

Taipei, July 23 (CNA) Taiwan needs the United States’ continuous support in the

face of China’s growing military threat or it will be vulnerable to being taken over by force by Beijing, Foreign Minister Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) told CNN during an interview aired Monday.

Asked if the U.S.’s continuous military support for Taiwan would increase the potential risk of military confrontation with China, Wu told CNN that the reality is quite the opposite.

“What we are concerned about is that the U.S. does not support Taiwan anymore,” he said.

“If the security ties between Taiwan and the U.S. are getting stronger and strengthening our ties, then that would become a barrier for the Chinese to think about future military scenarios against Taiwan,” Wu said.    [FULL  STORY]

SELF-RELIANT? In response to a local media report, President Tsai Ing-wen said that a strong national defense and self-defense capabilities are ‘our’ responsibility

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 24, 2018 
By: Lu Yi-hsuan and Sherry Hsiao  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer and CNA

Without continuing US military support, Taiwan would be vulnerable to an armed

takeover from Beijing, Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said in an interview with CNN that aired yesterday.

CNN correspondent Matt Rivers asked Wu: “If the United States continues to increase its support — militarily — for Taiwan as you foresee, does that not increase the potential risk of confrontation — militarily — with China?”

“No, the opposite is true,” Wu said.

Stronger Taiwan-US security ties would “become a barrier for the Chinese to think about the future military scenarios against Taiwan,” Wu said.

The Chinese government says it wants to “win the hearts and minds of the Taiwanese people,” Wu said. “However, what they are doing … is to create hatred among the regular Taiwanese people toward the Chinese government.”
[FULL  STORY]

Polls show only a minority of Americans would favour US soldiers fighting to defend Taiwan, but a decision by Washington not to intervene in a Taiwan Strait conflict would represent a dramatic shift in US strategy

South China Morning Post
Date: 22 Jul 2018
By: Denny Roy

US defence secretary Jim Mattis meets Xu Qiliang, China’s vice-chairman of the

Central Military Commission, in Beijing last month. Photo: AFP
Despite the perception that Beijing may be committed to politically reunifying Taiwan – by force if necessary – before Xi Jinping retires as paramount leader, US analysts continue to see an attempted invasion of Taiwan as prohibitively risky for China.

As China’s soft power proves ineffective, Beijing relies more heavily on coercion to force political unification on Taipei. China will continue in the coming years to enlarge the gap between its total military power and that of Taiwan, but this observation does not get at the heart of the problem Beijing faces.

Are the US and China headed for war over Taiwan?
Beijing might attempt unification through military means other than invading Taiwan, such as capturing smaller islands claimed by Taipei, imposing a blockade of its ports and main airport, launching cyberattacks against its information and communications infrastructure, and cratering parts of the island with missile attacks.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan English News
Date: July 22, 2018 
By: Phillip Charlier

Two Vietnamese foreign workers died after they were hit by a car while riding an electric bicycle in Taichung City late last night, July 21.

At around 11:00pm, a 30 year-old woman was riding the bicycle carrying a 26 year-old male passenger on Jiahou Road in Houli District. While on a bridge that crosses Freeway 1, they were hit from behind by a car.

A motorist who witnessed the accident pulled over and immediately called 119. Paramedics rushed the couple to hospital but both were declared dead after efforts to resuscitate them failed.

The driver who hit the couple, a 32 year-old man named Chen, told police that he did not see the bicycle. An alcohol breath test showed that Chen had not consumed alcohol before the accident.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/07/22
By: Central News Agency

Taipei, July 22 (CNA) The body of a man was recovered from Sun Moon Lake on Sunday, one day after a 37-year-old visitor to the scenic area was reported missing.

The body was found on the bed of the lake at depth of 4 meters, not far from the spot where the missing man was last seen, the Nantou County Fire Department said.

The search was launched by emergency crews on Saturday morning after friends of a 37-year-old man surnamed Chen reported that he had jumped into the water at Zhaowu Pier and had not resurfaced, according to Tsai.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/07/22
By: Edward Tsao and Joseph Yeh

Los Angeles, July 21 (CNA) National Taiwan University (NTU) president-elect Kuan Chung-ming (管中閔) said Saturday in California that he will continue to fight against the education ministry’s decision not to confirm his appointment and will not give way to political pressure.

During a speech at the NTU Alumni Association of Southern California (NTUAASC) in Los Angeles, Kuan said he has been tempted several times to give up, since the Ministry of Education (MOE) failed to confirm him in the post following his election on Jan. 5.

However, Kuan said, amid the pressure over the past few months, former NTU President Chen Wei-jao’s (陳維昭) has been encouraging him to stand firm.

Chen has made the point that the people coming out in support of Kuan’s appointment are actually protesting against the government’s attempts to undermine university autonomy, Kuan said.   [FULL  STORY]

WALKOUT: A group split off from the California NTU alumni association for inviting the university’s president-elect, while an alliance of 4,000 in Taiwan demanded his approval

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 23, 2018
By: Ann Maxon  /  Staff reporter, with CNA

Academia Sinica academician and NTU president-elect Kuan Chung-ming (管中閔)

yesterday reiterated that he will not back down from what he called a fight for National Taiwan University’s (NTU) autonomy against government intervention, in a speech at an annual gala held by the Southern California National Taiwan University Alumni Association in Los Angeles.

Kuan was on Jan. 5 elected NTU president, but the Ministry of Education in April refused to appoint him amid allegations of plagiarism and a conflict of interest, as well as a flawed selection process.

Since then, three administrative appeals have been filed — by NTU students, by the university and by Kuan himself — requesting that the ministry honor the election results and appoint him.

When asked by the audience about his plans to tackle the controversy, Kuan said that he had considered giving up, but former NTU president Chen Wei-jao (陳維昭) changed his mind by telling him that the fight is less about who should be president and more about the university’s autonomy.    [FULL  STORY]

Love FM
Date: July 21, 2018
By Dalila Ical

A local Marimba group is on its way to the Republic of China on Taiwan. The group, Los Hijos del West from Benque Viejo Del Carmen traveled today to Taiwan to take part in the Yilan International Children’s Folklore and Folkgames Festival. Los Hijosdel West has been playing marimba music since 2013. They will be performing Mayan Cultural, contemporary and popular music during their stay in Taiwan. Ian Yacab, Director and Founder, says this is their very first international trip, and the group is excited.

Ian Yacab, Director: “We have been working a lot for this opportunity that has been given to us and we have been practicing for two months until now and we have been raising funds as well, doing our party and NICH has been giving us funds as well so NICH has done their part and we have been doing our part as well. What we are going to be doing there is a cultural exchange where we are going to be playing a lot of our traditional original music from Benque Viejo and we will be playing Garifuna music and Kriol music as well from Belize so it’s a variety of music from our country that we are taking.”

Christian Archila, Member: “I feel honored and privileged to be doing this. I will be representing our country and especially we will be performing with the Marimba which is something that makes our town really proud.”

Emil Hernandez, Member: “This trip is very with mixed emotions because we are going for a month, we won’t be able to see our family, well we will because of the technology but to interact with them face to face but most of all I have to say that we are confident of what we are going to present because the Marimba is not an instrument that is seen daily and it is something that would be new.”
[FULL  STORY]