Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/06/27
By: Ku Chuan, Romulo Huang and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, June 27 (CNA) Taiwan will extend its trial period of visa-free privileges to three

Southeast Asian nations by one year until July 31, 2019, Minister without Portfolio Chang Ching-sen (張景森) said Wednesday.

The decision to extend the trial period for another year for the Philippines, Thailand and Brunei was reached at an inter-ministerial meeting earlier this month, Chang said.

He said that in order to better manage the program, however, visitors from the three countries will be granted visa-free stays of no more than 14 days.

Currently, Thai and Brunei citizens are allowed to stay in Taiwan for a maximum 30 days on visa free entry, while Filipinos are given up to 14 days.    [FULL  STORY]

RESTORING JUSTICE: The commission plans to exonerate victims in groups so that family members do not need to wait until the inquiry’s conclusion to receive results

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 27, 2018
By: Chen Yu-fu and Jonathan Chin  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer

The Transitional Justice Commission’s investigative review of victims of political

persecution during the White Terror era would include victims of the 228 Incident, and would be a rehabilitative process that could exonerate up to 13,401 people, commission Deputy Chairman Chang Tien-chin (張天欽) said.

The Transitional Justice Act (促進轉型正義條例) mandates the commission to rehabilitate victims of political persecution, authorizing it to open inquiries into treason trials that were conducted during the White Terror era.

The 228 Incident refers to the then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) regime’s violent military crackdown on popular protests and uprisings that began on Feb. 28, 1947. The massacres, which resulted in up to tens of thousands of dead and missing, marked the beginning of the White Terror era, when a state of emergency was declared and the nation was placed under martial law.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-06-26

President Tsai Ing-wen has given awards to anti-drug campaigners in Taiwan,

including a special award for NBA player Jeremy Lin.

The justice ministry held an annual ceremony on Tuesday recognizing individuals and groups committed to fighting drug abuse in Taiwan. President Tsai Ing-wen spoke at the ceremony and personally presented campaigners with their awards.

The president said the government is determined to combat the damage done to society by drug abuse and she thanked the campaigners for their hard work. Tsai said authorities had stepped up their efforts to crack down on illegal drug production within the country.    [FULL  STORY]

The News Lens
Date: 2018/06/26
By: International Community Radio Taipei (ICRT)

Presidential Office spokesman Alex Huang said Monday that information security

is part of national security and is a key priority for the government.

According to Huang, the government has been focusing on the country’s capabilities in the field of information security since President Tsai Ing-wen took office.

The statement follows publication of a report by the Financial Times that said the number of so-called “high-impact incidents”, or those that target stealing sensitive government data or personal information, tripled between 2015 and 2017. The report also quoted a senior cyber security analyst as saying that malware originating from China is often first tested on Taiwan.

The intensification is part of concerted efforts by Beijing to pressure Taiwan’s government since Tsai’s election in 2016.    [FULL  STORY]

 

Taiwan News  
Date: 2018/06/26
By:  Central News Agency

A counter-amphibious landing operation involving personnel from tri-service forces was held in Taichung Tuesday to test the Armed Forces’ combat readiness.

Staged at the Dajia rivermouth, the live-fire drill began at 8 a.m.

The exercise started with the dispatch of a number of civilian drones to collect intelligence on the invading forces before two Indigenous Defense Fighters (IDFs) from the Air Force and two Kuang Hua VI-class missile boats from the Navy were sent to fend off the imaginary intruders.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/06/26
By: Chiang Chin-yeh and Frances Huang 

Washington, June 25 (CNA) China has sensed it has failed to win over the hearts and minds of people in Taiwan despite Beijing’s economic clout and efforts to woo young Taiwanese talent, a former United States government official said Monday.

“You would think given trends in the region, that mainland China would have reasons to be supremely confident,” said Thomas J. Christensen, former deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs from 2007 to 2008.

But “they realize they have failed miserably in one persistent fashion, and it is that they have failed miserably to win over the hearts and minds of the Taiwan public, despite all the economic interaction, despite all the attraction of places like Shanghai,” he said.

Christensen, who now teaches at Princeton University, was speaking at a seminar held by the Stimson Center in Washington to commemorate the late Alan D. Romberg, an expert in cross-strait relations, who died in March 2018. [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-06-25

Premier William Lai says clean governance is a common global language. The

premier was speaking on Monday at the opening of Transparency International’s four-day regional conference in Taipei.

Lai says that “saying no to corruption” is the most important pledge a government can keep to its people.

“After Transparency International was established in Berlin, Germany in 1993, it has pushed for the cause in countries across the globe for the past 20 years. Its actions to fight corruption have made it the most world-renowned, international anti-graft organization. The indexes published by TI are the most trustworthy ones in the world. To date, clean governance has become a common global language because of efforts made by TI and various countries,” said Lai.

Lai said that over the past two years, the government has taken concrete steps to implement clean governance. That includes passing the United Nations Convention Against Corruption, the push for anti-money laundering laws, the revision of the Company Act, and the drafting of a bill governing non-profit, government-sponsored organizations.    [FULL STORY]

The News Lens
Date: 2018/06/25
By: International Community Radio Taipei (ICRT)

Australia’s de-facto embassy in Taiwan is thanking the government for providing quality medical care to more than 10 international refugees housed at an offshore immigration detention center on Nauru, the island nation in Micronesia, off the northeast coast of Australia.

The Australian Office Taipei said all the refugees agreed to be treated in Taiwan and to return to Nauru once they have been discharged from hospital and Taiwan has won global praise for its quality medical care.

However, some refugees claimed to lawyers in Australia that they had been unable to give informed consent to treatment due to language difficulties.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs says the medical care program has been running under a memorandum of understanding signed with Australia in September of last year. The deal is part of efforts on behalf of Australia’s government to avoid asylum seekers held in detention camps on Nauru from applying for permission to enter Australia on medical grounds.    [FULL  STORY]

Authorities were alerted to the ship after an unscheduled maintenance stop and an anonymous tip-off

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/06/25
By: Scott Morgan, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The Coast Guard found 79,900 contraband cigarettes on a cargo ship that docked in Taichung Harbor (臺中港) for so-called maintenance today, reported CNA.

1,598 cases of Chinese-branded cigarettes were found in four shipping containers.

The goods have a market value of approximately NT$35 million (US$1.15 million), according to authorities.

The Chinese-registered cargo ship named “Yongshun No. 2” (永順2號) was searched by the Coast Guard after both an anonymous tip-off and a report of suspicious activity by port authorities.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/06/25
By: Shih Hsiu-chuan

Taipei, June 25 (CNA) President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) called Monday on like-minded

countries to stand together and take action against anti-democratic forces that have put democracy at the risk of regression, while vowing that Taiwan will never move backward.

“Historical trends do not always favor the forward march of democracy. But in Taiwan, moving backward is not an option,” Tsai said at a forum titled “Global Solidarity of Democracy in Taiwan” hosted by the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy (TFD).

The forum, attended by guests from pro-democracy organizations in countries including Tunisia, India, Japan, South Korea and the United States, was held to mark the 15th anniversary of the TFD, a government-funded institution aimed at promoting democracy around the world.

In her address, Tsai said that the gathering of so many long- time democracy advocates is not just a celebration but also a timely opportunity to reflect on the past, present and future of democracy.    [FULL  STORY]