Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/06/19
By: Emerson Lim, Kuo Chih-hsuan and S.C. Chang

Manila, June 19 (CNA) Two Filipino fishermen who were found drifting at sea were rescued by a Taiwanese fishing boat and later handed over to Filipino coast guard officers, a military spokesman said Tuesday.

The two Filipinos, aged 17 and 18, left Camiguin Island June 11 on their fishing boat, which developed an engine problem and began to drift, according to a press release from Isagani Nato, spokesman of the Northern Luzon Military Region.

The two were picked up by Pingtung-based fishing boat the Jiun Fwu Shing June 17 near Yami Island, which is also known as Mavulis Island.

The fishing boat requested assistance from the Taiwan Coast Guard, which sent a patrol vessel to the site, about 88 nautical miles off Batan Island in the Philippines province of Batanes, according to a June 17 CNA report.     [FULL  STORY]

SECURITY COOPERATION: The US Senate’s bill calls on Washington to support Taiwan’s acquisition of defensive weapons, especially those for asymmetric and undersea warfare

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 20, 2018
By: Stacy Hsu  /  Staff reporter

The Taiwanese government yesterday welcomed the US Senate’s passage of its

annual defense spending bill, which includes a provision calling on Washington to strengthen defense and security cooperation with Taiwan.

The US Senate on Monday passed its version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal year 2019 with a vote of 85 to 10.

Under Section 1243 of the draft bill published by the US Senate, the US Department of Defense is urged to strengthen defense and security cooperation with Taiwan “to support the development of capable, ready and modern defense forces necessary for Taiwan to maintain a sufficient self-defense capability.”

The section also calls on Washington to support the acquisition of defensive weapons by Taiwan in accordance with the Taiwan Relations Act, particularly those needed for asymmetric warfare and undersea warfare, as well as to promptly review and respond to Taiwan’s requests for defense equipment.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-06-18

President Tsai Ing-wen has expressed her concern following a 6.1 magnitude

earthquake, which rattled Osaka, Japan at just before 8:00 am on Monday morning, local time.

So far, three people are confirmed dead following the quake, and at least 73 injured.

The presidential office in Taipei said on Monday that Tsai hopes that the Japanese people are safe, and that quake damage can be kept to a minimum.

Also on Monday, Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said Taiwan is willing to offer Japan assistance.

The government said Taiwan’s rescue team is ready to leave for Japan as soon as they are needed.

So far, there have been no reports of Taiwanese expatriates, students or travelers affected by the quake.    [FULL  STORY]

Creative resistance allows residents to make their cities work for them in surprising ways.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/06/17
By: Leora Joy

“We should try to construct practices of vocation that can begin to address the deficit of felt powerlessness and to chip away at our capacity to interiorise power relations, to delimit by ourselves the realm of the possible.” — Nigel Thrift “Non-Representational Theory” (2007)

Two-thirds of the world’s population will live in cities by 2050, according to the United Nations.

But what makes a city? With longer lifespans than the people inhabiting them, cities seem everlasting: filled with cement and steel structures, high-rise towers and thousands of apartment blocks housing private lives.

They give the impression of being forever: permanent testaments to the public that make them home, monuments to people and their lives. But, make no mistake, despite their ubiquity, not all cities are as permanent as we think they are. Nor are they created equally, divvied up fairly, or even utilized as they were intended to be.
[FULL  STORY]

Flag catcher flops into water as dragon boat head drops off

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/06/18
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A video posted on social media early this morning (June 18), shows the head of a dragon boat suddenly snap off, tossing the flag catcher riding it into the river, just seconds after taking third place in a dragon boat race in New Taipei City.

In the video, which was posted at 7:33 a.m. today on Breaking News Commune (爆料公社), the first and second place finishers can be seen making a mad dash to the finish line, with their flag catchers desperately lunging try to capture the banner in their lane before their rivals. Next, comes the boat in third place, with all of its crew furiously paddling to beat their rivals to the third place slot.

Normally, when a dragon boat is 20 meters within a flag, a designated flag catcher from the crew scrambles forward and leans on the dragon head to extend their body as far forward as possible to snatch the flag as quickly as they can.

In this case, when the boat got in range of the yellow flag in its lane, the flag catcher swiftly snatched the banner and casually tossed it in the air. However, the brave flag catcher barely has five seconds to celebrate his team’s achievement before the dragon head he is leaning on starts to buckle and completely snaps clean off the vessel.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/06/18
By: Ko Lin

Taipei, June 18 (CNA) Taiwan has planned measures to counter Beijing’s pressure on

airlines to describe Taiwan as a part of China, including pursuing legal action and encouraging a boycott of the carriers that comply, according to a Financial Times report Monday.

“We will tell our people: ‘Those are the airlines that caved in to China, it is your choice [whether to use them],'” David Lee (李大維), secretary-general of Taiwan’s National Security Council, was quoted by the newspaper as saying.

Lee said initiatives to fight Beijing’s “excessive” aggressiveness could also include legal action against companies that labeled Taiwan as part of China, according to the report published Monday.

The security official said pursuing legal action against the companies involved would be a complex process and “may take two to three years” to obtain a ruling, the Financial Times reported.    [FULL  STORY]]

LONG-TERM POLICY: Taiwan should consider delaying its transition to a nuclear-free country to allow time for the development of green energy, an academician said

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 19, 2018
By: Lin Chia-nan  /  Staff reporter

Two leading experts on climate change studies, James Edward Hansen and

Veerabhadran Ramanathan, have won the third Tang Prize in Sustainable Development, the Tang Prize Foundation said yesterday.

Academia Sinica academician Liu Chao-han (劉兆漢) made the announcement at a news conference in Taipei, which was hosted by foundation chief executive Chern Jenn-chuan (陳振川).

With their seminal studies on climate science, Hansen and Ramanathan have had great effects on global academia as well as human society, Liu said.

Hansen developed one of the world’s first two global three-dimensional climate models and was the first to compile temperature records from around the world, Academia Sinica academician Shaw Liu (劉紹臣) said when explaining Hansen’s contributions to climate change science.

Born in Iowa in the US in 1941, Hansen directs the Program on Climate Science, Awareness and Solutions at the Earth Institute of Columbia University and headed the Goddard Institute for Space Studies at NASA from 1981 to 2013.    [FULL  STORY]

Fierce political rivals find common ground on historical accounts that say the sea’s scattered islands are Chinese territory

Asia Times
Date: June 17, 2018
By: Bertil Lintner

If there’s anything China and Taiwan can agree on, it’s that the contested scattered islands in the South China Sea are Chinese territory. But while China flexes its muscles to assert authority over the islands, making the maritime region into a geo-strategic hotspot, Taiwan has no such ambitions.

When the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled in July 2016 in favor of the Philippines against China’s claims, the Office of Taiwan’s president rejected the verdict in terms similar to Beijing.

The court found that China has no “historical right” based on its so-called nine-dash line map that encompasses nearly 90% of the South China Sea, including most of the maritime region’s islands.

China responded by saying it would not abide by the ruling, which it hasn’t judging by its recent moves to militarize the various features it claims in the area.
[FULL  STORY]

Creative resistance allows residents to make their cities work for them in surprising ways.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/06/17
By: Leora Joy

“We should try to construct practices of vocation that can begin to address the deficit of felt powerlessness and to chip away at our capacity to interiorise power relations, to delimit by ourselves the realm of the possible.” — Nigel Thrift “Non-Representational Theory” (2007)

Two-thirds of the world’s population will live in cities by 2050, according to the United Nations.

But what makes a city? With longer lifespans than the people inhabiting them, cities seem everlasting: filled with cement and steel structures, high-rise towers and thousands of apartment blocks housing private lives.

They give the impression of being forever: permanent testaments to the public that make them home, monuments to people and their lives. But, make no mistake, despite their ubiquity, not all cities are as permanent as we think they are. Nor are they created equally, divvied up fairly, or even utilized as they were intended to be.
[FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/06/17
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan)—A family of five, including a baby, got the best out of the worst situation they could have encountered on Sunday when they escaped death after their SUV was hit and badly crushed by a massive falling rock on a mountain road in central Taiwan.

Taichung City Government stated in a news release today (June 17) that it received a report at 12:54 p.m. that a SUV was hit by a huge falling rock on a temporary construction side road off the Central Cross- Island Highway, and there were people trapped inside the car. Taichung Fire Bureau, upon receiving the report, dispatched six ambulances and 16 personnel to rescue the victims, the city government said.

Rescuers said that the witness who reported the incident found a SUV hit by a rock weighing about 500 kilograms on the mountainous road below the Deji Reservoir and there was a family of five in the car, according to the city government. Of the five, the driver surnamed Lin, who suffered only minor injuries, helped the three on the backseat, including a six-month-old baby in a child safety seat, get out of the car, but his wife was pinned in the distorted passenger seat, the city government said.
[FULL  STORY]