Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/07/01
By: Joseph Yeh 

Taipei, July 1 (CNA) As he prepares to leave Taiwan in July after serving for more than three years as de facto United States ambassador, Kin Moy (梅健華) told CNA that he and his family will always remember the kindness and thoughtfulness of local people.

Speaking to CNA on Friday, the director of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), said he has been moved by the reaction of people here to what AIT is doing to enhance U.S.-Taiwan ties.

AIT represents U.S. interests in Taiwan in the absence of official diplomatic relations.

Since he took office in June, 2015, Moy said he and his family have traveling extensively in Taiwan with exception of the islands of Penghu and Kinmen.
[FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-06-29

President Tsai Ing-wen attended a graduation ceremony at the ROC Army Academy

on Friday and said defense reforms in the last two years have borne results. The ROC or Republic of China is Taiwan’s official name.

Tsai acknowledged the military’s performance, especially in developing Taiwan’s own military hardware. She also encouraged the new graduates to keep working hard to prepare for more complex threats in the future.

Tsai also reiterated the results of defense reform during her two years in office.

“[The military] is working hard on the upgrading barracks. The new barracks will provide an unprecedented level of comfort and will also provide ample space for study. We are also pushing our cadets to develop secondary skills by providing training in different skills and languages. This will allow them to have a specialty to fall back on [when they return to] civilian life,” said Tsai.     [FULL  STORY]

A Filipino fugitive awaits deportation in Taipei on drug charges, illustrating how the Tsai administration’s New Southbound Policy’s fails to consider human rights.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/06/30
By: Nick Aspinwall

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who celebrates two years in power today,

recently insisted that police and the military remained free to kill suspected drug users without due process.

His words may have chilled Filipino fugitive Ricardo “Ardot” Parojinog if they reached his prison cell in Taipei, where he awaits a deportation decision that will test the relationship between Taiwan and its southern neighbor.

Last Monday, the director of commercial affairs for the Philippines’ de facto embassy in Taipei, Michael Alfred Ignacio, said his country can become “Taiwan’s gateway to Southeast Asia,” touting the expansion of two-way economic and educational exchanges under President Tsai Ing-wen’ (蔡英文)’s New Southbound Policy (NSP).

The NSP has been called a purely “economic” plan by its first director, James Huang (黃志芳), but the policy – a large-scale effort to deepen ties with neighboring states, including the Philippines and a keystone of the Tsai administration’s foreign policy – has come under criticism for its failure to work human rights standards into its agreements with partner countries.    [FULL  STORY]

Tropical Storm Prapiroon threatens air traffic between Taiwan and Japan’s holiday island

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/06/30
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – As Tropical Storm Prapiroon prepares to hit Okinawa, Taiwanese airlines have already decided to cancel several flights scheduled for Sunday.

EVA Air announced by text message it was canceling four flights between Taipei and Okinawa, namely BR112, BR113, BR185 and BR186, the Central News Agency reported.

China Airlines canceled flights CI120, CI121, CI122 and CI123 between Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and Okinawa scheduled for Sunday, according to cable station TVBS.

Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan said it was cancelling flights IT232, IT233, IT2232 and IT2233 between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, and flights IT288 and IT289 between Kaohsiung and the Japanese island, CNA reported.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/06/30
By: Elaine Hou, Matt Yu and Y.F. Low

Taipei, June 30 (CNA) The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) on Saturday would not

confirm a report that the U.S. State Department has requested that U.S. Marines be posted at the AIT’s new complex in Taipei’s Neihu District.

“As is the practice at our current location, a small number of American personnel detailed to AIT along with a larger number of locally-hired employees will provide security for the new office building in cooperation with the local authorities,” an unnamed AIT official said in a text message to CNA.

According to a CNN report on Friday, which cited two unnamed U.S. officials, the request for a Marine security guard was received several weeks ago, but it has not been formally approved and coordination about its deployment is ongoing between the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service and the Marines.

When asked about the matter at a news conference that same day, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang (陸慷) reiterated that the “one China principle” is the political foundation of China-U.S. relations and that Washington should abide by its “one China” pledge and refrain from developing any official ties or having military exchanges with Taiwan.    [FULL  STORY]

SHIFTING THE BLAME: Hou You-yi said that dorms leased by Chinese Culture University belong to his wife’s family and denied it is strange that each dorm has a door plate

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 01, 2018
By: Lai Hsiao-tung and Jake Chung  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer

After days of controversy, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) New Taipei City mayoral

candidate Hou You-yi (侯友宜) yesterday finally commented on a controversy about dorms at Chinese Culture University registered under his wife’s name.

The legality of using the building majority-owned by Hou’s wife, Jen Mei-ling (任美鈴), as dorms has been questioned, and they have been described as expensive, badly operated and of poor quality.

Hou yesterday held a press conference at the KMT’s New Taipei City chapter, flanked by his campaign office director, Hsieh Cheng-ta (謝政達), and Youyu Co lawyer Chen Chia-yao (陳佳瑤).

Youyu Co leases out the building and a 5 percent increase in rent this year was in line with market practice, Chen said.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan’s restrictions on organic food imports are draconian.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/06/29
By Sophia Cai, Taiwan Business TOPICS Magazine

Rising food safety awareness and health consciousness among consumers around the world have made the consumption of organic foods a popular trend. In the United States, it is the fastest growing section of the food industry, with organic products accounting for over 5 percent of all food sold, totaling US$49.4 billion in sales in 2017, according to the Washington DC-based Organic Trade Association (OTA).

Taiwan, with less than 0.1 percent of global category sales in 2017, falls behind global and regional markets in its consumption of organic foods. Driven largely by the demand for locally grown organic rice, organic sales in Taiwan will see moderate year-on-year growth of close to 5 percent in 2018, according to the Global Organic Trade Guide. This is much slower than the rest of the Asia Pacific region, which will experience approximately 13 percent year-on-year growth in 2018.

The lack of available organic products on the market in Taiwan can be explained in part by the range of rigorous regulations placed on imported food and agricultural products. In the 2018 “Taiwan White Paper”, the Retail Committee of the American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei makes several suggestions aimed at improving industry-government collaboration in the realm of food and commodity safety.

All imports of fruit, vegetables, meat, and other food products are subject to a long import process that includes inspection from the Taiwan Food and Drug Administration (TFDA) at the port of entry. Inspectors test for pesticides, animal drugs, and other contaminants such as heavy metals.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-06-29

Premier William Lai says there is no cause for concern over the supply of electricity

and water. Lai was speaking Friday.

Lai said Taiwan does not have a shortage of electricity; the problem lies in the operating reserve which currently stands at just 6%. Lai said this figure will rise to 10% next year when new capacity from power plants in New Taipei, Taoyuan, Miaoli and Kaohsiung are added to the national grid.

As for water, Lai said Taiwan has seen a drop in rainfall this year, a situation which he called “relatively severe in recent years.” However, the premier said the supply of water for agricultural and industrial use remains steady, and water shortages are not a problem.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan expected to endure above average instances of extreme weather over the next 5 months

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/06/29
By: Scott Morgan, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taiwan is expected to endure more wild weather than the

norm, with three to five more tropical storms expected to hit Taiwan before the end of the year, reported CNA.

The storms are likely to be stronger than previous years, as a possible El Niño weather pattern is developing.

Higher than average rain could also be expected during July, followed by lower than average rain for August and September, according to the Central Weather Bureau (CWB).

The prediction was laid out by the CWB during a press conference about Taiwan’s upcoming typhoon season, which traditionally runs from July to September.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/06/29
By: Chiang Chin-yeh and Y.F. Low

Washington, June 28 (CNA) Taiwan has obtained a top-tier ranking for the ninth consecutive year in the annual Trafficking in Persons Report released by the U.S. State Department on Thursday.

Taiwan was listed in the Tier 1 category because its authorities fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, the 2018 report said.

It said that in the past year, Taiwan continued to demonstrate serious and sustained efforts such as sharply increasing the number of trafficking prosecutions, identifying a significantly higher number of victims and providing improved service for such persons compared with previous years.

However, the report said, the separation of purview between the Ministry of Labor and the Fisheries Agency continued to impede efforts to address forced labor on Taiwan-flagged and -owned fishing vessels in the highly vulnerable distant water fleet.
[FULL  STORY]