Land warning issued Monday night by CWB, means storm is 18 hours away from Taiwan

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/07/10
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Central Weather Bureau (CWB) issued a land warning for Super Typhoon Maria at 11:30 p.m. on Monday evening (July 9) as the periphery of the storm draws within 18 hours of making landfall in the country.

As of 11 p.m. last night, Super Typhoon Maria was located 810 kilometers east of Yilan and moving in a northwesterly direction at a speed of 30 kilometers per hour.

Air pressure at the center of the storm is 920 kilopascals  (kPa) with maximum sustained winds of 191 kilometers per hour and gusts of 234 kilometers per hour.

At 23:00 tonight (July 10), the eye of the storm is expected to be about 100 kilometers northeast of Keelung.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/07/09
By: Lu Hsin-hui and Joseph Yeh

Taipei, July 9 (CNA) Taiwan’s military is planning a budget of NT$30 billion (US$990

million) for the purchase of 108 M1A2 tanks from the U.S. to replace its aging battle tanks, a military source told CNA Monday.

Currently, the R.O.C. Armed Forces have more than 1,000 battle tanks, mostly aging M60A3 and CM-11 tanks.

The defense ministry is set to allocate NT$30 billion in next year’s defense budget to fund an official arms procurement request from the U.S. for the more modern M1A2 Abrams battle tanks, the source said.

The military is also likely to ask Washington to sell Taipei precision ammunition to be used by the tanks, said the source on condition of anonymity because the individual was not authorized to speak publicly on the issue.    [FULL  STORY]

CALL FOR HELP: A coalition of human rights groups declared July 9 Chinese Human Rights Lawyers’ Day and honored two Chinese rights lawyers who have disappeared

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 10, 2018
By: Ann Maxon  /  Staff reporter

A coalition of human rights groups and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator

Yu Mei-nu (尤美女) yesterday called on Beijing to release the lawyers arrested in Beijing’s “709 crackdown” of 2015 as they marked its third anniversary.

While the crackdown is considered the largest ever on the legal profession in China, it was only the beginning of a series of clampdowns.

As of May 17 this year, more than 321 human rights lawyers and civil rights advocates, as well as members of their families, have been arrested, summoned for questioning, banned from leaving the country and placed under surveillance or house arrest, the China Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group said in a statement yesterday.

As part of efforts to raise awareness of the issue, a coalition of human rights groups from around the world last year jointly declared July 9 as Chinese Human Rights Lawyers’ Day, and this year they are honoring Chinese human rights lawyers Wang Quanzhang (王全璋) and Gao Zhisheng (高智晟), Taipei Bar Association director Wang Lung-kuan (王龍寬) told a news conference in Taipei yesterday.    [FULL  STORY]

Mainland’s Taiwan affairs chief says Taiwanese people ‘should clearly understand the real purpose behind these US moves’

South China Morning Post 
Date:  08 July, 2018

Beijing’s top Taiwan affairs official hit out at the United States on Sunday for playing the “Taiwan card” amid heightened tensions over trade, a day after two US warships passed through the Taiwan Strait.

Mainland Chinese analysts said the move could be part of Washington’s broader efforts to contain Beijing.

Liu Jieyi, director of the mainland’s Taiwan Affairs Office and China’s former ambassador to the United Nations, said the US had been using this “card” for some time with a clear purpose, Taiwan’s Central News Agency reported.

“We staunchly oppose any move that harms China’s national interest. We won’t accept that,” Liu was quoted as saying on the sidelines of a forum on cross-strait ties in Hangzhou. “The Taiwanese public should clearly understand the real purpose behind these US moves and not help them to play the ‘Taiwan card’.”    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei fears operations from Beijing after ruling party’s website was hacked

Financial Times
Date: July 98, 2018
By: Edward White

Taiwan is bracing for a surge in Chinese influence operations ahead of upcoming

elections after the ruling party’s website was hacked, in what experts said was the latest sign of Beijing’s willingness to exert power beyond its borders.

The Democratic Progressive party was probing how hackers breached the party’s website on July 3, a party official said. The source of the hack has not been announced but investigators believed it came from China, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The attack comes amid a jump in serious hacking incidents on the government and spreading of disinformation via social media ahead of local elections in November, Taiwan officials said.

The hack also follows allegations Russia used cyber tools to interfere in the 2016 US election and showed Beijing was using cyber operations to undermine the DPP, experts said — the party has traditionally favoured independence for Taiwan.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News  
Date: 2018/07/08
By:  Central News Agency

Taipei, July 8 (CNA) The Ministry of Labor launched a trial program earlier this year to

help stay-at-home women return to the workplace in an effort to boost female labor force participation in Taiwan.

Many women in Taiwan left the workforce for family reasons such as raising their children, caring for the elderly or people with disabilities or illness, according to a United Daily News report published Sunday.

The decline in women’s labor force participation rates have been particularly apparent in two age groups. In the 30-34 age group, the rate was 80 percent at 34 years old, falling from 88.8percent at 30, while in the 50-54 age group, the rate was 56 percent at 54 years old, compared with 69 percent at 50 years old, the report said.

The ministry attributed the falls to more women getting married and having children in the 30-34 age group and more women in the 50-54 age group devoting themselves to caring for their elderly and ill or disabled family members, as well as decreased physical strength of women in the age group.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/07/08
By: Chiang Chin-yeh, Matt Yu, Elaine Hou, and Joseph Yeh

Taipei, July 8 (CNA) U.S. Navy ships have been transiting through the Taiwan Strait for

many years, the U.S. Pacific Fleet confirmed to CNA after Taiwan’s military made a rare announcement Saturday that two U.S. Navy vessels passed through the Taiwan Strait earlier that day.

U.S. Pacific Fleet spokesman Capt. Charlie Brown confirmed the passage of the two vessels.

“Two U.S. Navy ships conducted a routine transit through the international waters of the Taiwan Strait July 7-8 (local time). U.S. Navy ships transit between the South China Sea and the East China Sea via the Taiwan Strait and have done so for many years,” Brown wrote in an email.

In a rare move, Taiwan’s defense ministry announced in a press release that the two U.S. Navy vessels, Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers DDG-89 and DDG-65 moved into the Taiwan Strait from the south that morning and were continuing on a northeasterly course.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 09, 2018 
By: Lee I-chia  /  Staff reporter

The death penalty is supported by the majority of the public in Taiwan and is deeply

rooted in Chinese culture, so there should be a mechanism to implement life imprisonment if the death penalty were to be abolished, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said at a religious event yesterday.

The execution of seven people on death row in Japan last week once again stirred up debate about capital punishment in Taiwan — and with several dismemberment cases that shocked the nation last month, politicians were asked about their thoughts on the death penalty.

“I like to study statistics and there is only one public issue in Taiwan that has overwhelming support from the public: More than 85 percent of the public is in favor of keeping the death penalty,” Ko said.

The death penalty is part of Chinese history, and Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty promised his subjects to put murderers to death when he overthrew the Qin Dynasty, Ko said.    [FULL  STORY]

BONE OF CONTENTION: Members of a southern California alumni association said the university might have urged it to give the controversial president-elect a chance to speak

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 08, 2018
By: Nadia Tsao  /  Staff reporter in WASHINGTON

Nearly 50 National Taiwan University (NTU) alumni residing in California on Friday voiced

opposition to the local alumni association’s decision to invite Kuan Chung-ming (管中閔) as the main speaker at its upcoming annual meeting, which they said Kuan might use to explain away his controversy.

The NTU Alumni Association of Southern California is to hold its 45th annual conference on July 21 at the Pacific Palms Resort in California.

Kuan, an Academia Sinica academician, was elected NTU president on Jan. 5 and would have taken office on Feb. 1, but his appointment was not approved by the Ministry of Education amid allegations of plagiarism, a conflict of interest and a flawed election process.

The election controversy has led to the resignation of education ministers Pan Wen-chung (潘文忠) in April and Wu Maw-kuen (吳茂昆) in May.    [FULL  STORY]

The Star
Date: 7 Jul 2018

TOUTED as the world’s most vibrant event, the 2018 Taiwan Lantern Festival attracted a

large number of tourists and shutterbugs.

The annual festival is one of the main highlights and tourist attractions held at Chiayi city, Taiwan from March 3 to 11.

To go with the theme “2018 Taiwan Lantern Festival in Chiayi”, Taiwan Tourism Bureau Kuala Lumpur Office organised the 2018 Taiwan Lantern Festival photography competition where prizes totalling to RM13,000 was up for grabs.

First prize winner was Star Media Group photo editor Ng Kok Leong for his entry depicting the Tree of Life inspired by hand-dyed Indian tapestry art from the National Palace Museum’s collection.    [FULL  STORY]