‘DEEPEST GRATITUDE’: Tsai said military personnel, civil servants and public-school teachers are pillars of society who have shown their unwavering support for Taiwan

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 22, 2018
By: Su Yung-yao and Jonathan Chin  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer

With pension reform plans to go into effect next month, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英

文) yesterday apologized to military personnel, public servants and public-school teachers for cutting their pensions.

Tsai made the remarks at a news conference at the Presidential Office in Taipei held after the passage of an amendment to the Act of Military Service for Officers and Noncommissioned Officers of the Armed Forces (陸海空軍軍官士官服役條例) late on Wednesday.

The amendment was the last piece of legislation in the Tsai administration’s agenda to overhaul the pension systems for the nation’s military personnel, civil servants and public-school teachers.    [FULL  STORY]

COUNTERMEASURES: The tit-for-tat US-China tariffs would not directly affect Taiwan, but could make waves in financial markets and lead to protectionism, a NSC report said

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 21, 2018
By: Su Yung-yao and Jake Chung  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer

President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday called a meeting of the National Security

Council (NSC) to discuss possible actions and contingency plans should the escalating trade war between the US and China affect Taiwan.

Premier William Lai (賴清德), NSC Secretary-General David Lee (李大維) and Presidential Office Secretary-General Chen Chu (陳菊) were among those who attended the meeting.

The US tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum implemented in March was of great concern to Tsai, who ordered the council to establish a task force to monitor the issue, analyze its possible effects on Taiwan and develop contingencies, Presidential Office spokesperson Alex Huang (黃重諺) said.

Local businesses and Taiwanese firms in China should not be affected by the 25 percent tariffs imposed on Chinese goods per Article 301 of the US Trade Act, Huang said.    [FULL  STORY]

Kaohsiung – One of two tankers that ran aground off Kaohsiung, Taiwan last week, split in two in the morning hours of June 18. According to Taiwan’s Maritime and Port Bureau (MOTC), the tankers were not loaded with cargo at the time

The MediTelegraph
Date: June 20, 2018

Kaohsiung – One of two tankers that ran aground off Kaohsiung, Taiwan last week, split in two in the morning hours of June 18. According to Taiwan’s Maritime and Port Bureau (MOTC), the tankers were not loaded with cargo at the time, however, they jointly had around 200 metric meters of oil on board. The tankers “Shine Luck” and “Winner 19” ran aground due to a tropical low that had almost reached typhoon strength off Taiwan on June 14. The ships’ 32 crewmembers were safely evacuated from the units, the country’s Ocean Affairs Council informed. “Shine Luck” was blown against concrete wave-breaks near the entrance of a fishing port, while the Winner 19 ran aground on the Kaohsiung beach.

The authorities decided to extract the oil from the 5,357 dwt tanker “Shine Luck” in order to prevent a possible oil spill. The oil removal operations were concluded on June 17 and the 1992-built tanker broke in two the next day. Local media informed that the ship’s bow section was immediately towed to Kaohsiung Port Intercontinental Container Terminal, while the stern section is expected to be removed when weather conditions improve.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-06-20

President Tsai Ing-wen says that pressure from Beijing only strengthens Taiwan’s

determination to participate in international affairs.

Tsai was speaking Wednesday while meeting with participants in the foreign ministry’s Mosaic Taiwan youth program. The program brings future leaders from the US and Canada as a way of strengthening Taiwan’s ties with North America.

Tsai said that despite Beijing’s opposition and Taiwan’s difficult international position, the global community cannot and will not pass Taiwan by. She cited Taiwan’s past economic transformation and path to democracy as examples for the world. She also said that in addition to pursuing industrial restructuring, Taiwan is also facing up to its authoritarian past through a process of transitional justice.

Tsai said that Taiwan is willing to share its strengths and its experience with the world. She also said that despite diplomatic difficulties, Taiwan has recently received support from several friendly nations that share the country’s values.    [SOURCE]

CCP pressure on Taiwan forms an interlocking web of coercion that demands pushback from the international community.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/06/20
By: Russell Hsiao

China has significantly ramped up pressure on Taiwan since Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) was democratically-elected as the country’s president in January 2016. As Beijing’s external pressure on Taiwan grows, pressure for action is building on the Tsai administration, both from the opposition as well as from within her own party. The confluence of these factors will make it harder for the Tsai to sustain her administration’s pragmatic efforts to maintain the “status quo” in cross-Strait relations without greater international support.

As the United States and its partners weigh their response to Beijing’s intimidation and coercion, it is important to unpack Beijing’s intensifying pressure campaign and examine its constituent parts, if only to appreciate the astonishing range of ways Beijing has sought to pressure Taiwan following Tsai’s ascension to the presidency. Most analyses focus only on one or several aspects; but they must be considered in the aggregate, to better formulate a proportionate response.

China’s pressure campaign on Taiwan includes 10 elements which are, generally speaking, meant to interact with and reinforce each other. Some are new, some are not. Most of those that are not new have seen intensified application in the past two years. These elements are: poaching Taiwan’s diplomatic allies; military coercion; economic coercion; excluding Taiwan from international organizations; pressuring foreign corporations; pressuring Taiwan’s non-diplomatic allies; economic incentives; political warfare; cyber espionage; and traditional espionage.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/06/20
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News)—According to a Taipei’s Animal Protection Office (APO) press

release on Monday, Taipei topped Taiwan’s six municipalities in fines imposed on pet abandonment between 2015 and May 2018, doling out fines totaling NT$ 1,955,000 on 64 confirmed pet abandonment cases during the period.

The APO said the penalty for owners confirmed to have abandoned their pet is NT$30,000 or higher, adding that severe cases may be slapped with a penalty of at least NT$50,000 and may be banned from keeping pets for life.

The agency said many of the owners who have abandoned pets are financially strapped. As of the end of April 2018, among the 50 offenders with outstanding fines, 46 of them had annual income less than NT$50,000. The minimum monetary penalties were usually imposed to this group of offenders, the APO said, adding that even so the agency would resort to compulsory implementation and conduct regular property inspections to heighten enforcement.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/06/20
By: Liao Han-yuan and William Yen

Taipei, June 20 (CNA) Taiwan’s economy has become over-reliant on China, which

has been offering economic incentives as part of a policy to create addictive subsidies that serve its political agenda, former President Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) said in an interview published in the New York Times Chinese-language website Wednesday.

Lee, who was president of the Republic of China (Taiwan) from 1988 to 2000, said China’s agenda is to make Taiwan’s economy less competitive.

However, he did not specify which of China’s economic incentives were most likely to blunt Taiwan’s competitive edge.

While people in Taiwan have political freedom, they would lose economic freedom and economic autonomy if Taiwan becomes more reliant on China, Lee said in the interview.    [FULL  STORY]

Axios
Date: June 19, 2018
By: Erica Pandey

Last week, the United States unveiled a $255 million new home for the American Institute of Taiwan — Washington’s de facto embassy in Taipei. While the move angered Beijing, it was an outlier. Outside of Washington, President Xi Jinping’s hardline approach to Taiwan is getting results.

The big picture: China is chipping away at Taipei’s legitimacy on the international stage by pressuring companies and foreign countries to stop treating the self-governing island as a sovereign nation — and Beijing has the economic leverage to pull it off.    [FULL STORY]

A 24-year-old experimental school in Taipei exemplifies Taiwan’s role as a leading advocate of alternative education.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/06/19
By: Siok Hui Leong

It was a sweltering late May afternoon when a bunch of first and second graders,

ages six to eight, bounced into Secret (秘密) class at The Seedling Experimental School in Wulai District, New Taipei City.

Teacher Huang Wei Ning’s (黃瑋寧) lesson plan was to uncover the ‘secret’ of tooth anatomy with her students. But the kids chimed: “It’s so hot! Can we go to the creek instead?” The weather forecast predicted an afternoon downpour. After deliberating with the kids, Huang led them to the creek, a stone’s throw from school.

For two class periods, the kids splashed and waded in the crystal-clear water, caught and released fishes and frogs, tasted the first drops of rain and smelled the scent of earth fresh from a summer downpour.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/06/19
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News)—The family of a Chiayi City junior high school student

surnamed Hsieh who went missing on June 1 reported the missing to police on June 4, fearing for the safety of their loved one amidst frequent cases of murders and dismemberment of the victims’ bodies by their perpetrators in recent days, according to media reports.

Hsieh transferred to her school in Chiayi City from Xinying District, Tainan City in the third year of her study in junior high school, the reports said. Hsieh has not been heard of since she went missing on June 1, according to the reports. Today (June 19) is the graduation day, and her teachers and classmates all hoped she can come home safely, the reports said.

Hsieh’s mother said she took her daughter home from school on June 1 and then went out to take her son home, but when she returned home, her daughter was nowhere to be seen, according to the reports. As of today, Hsieh has gone missing for 19 days and her family members are very worried about her safety, the reports said.
[FULL  STORY]