Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/03/31
By: Ozzy Yin, Chiang Chin-yeh and Kuan-lin Liu

New York, March 30 (CNA) The parents of a Taiwanese student who was arrested in the

United States on Wednesday for making a terroristic threat arrived in New York late Friday en route to Pennsylvania where their son is being held.

The two Taiwanese celebrities, actor Sun Peng (孫鵬) and opera singer Di Ying (狄鶯), were seen making their way through the arrival area at John F. Kennedy International Airport late at night after the arrival of an EVA Airlines flight from Taiwan.

The couple was picked up by two friends in a black van and left without making any comments to reporters about their 18-year-old son An Tso Sun (孫安佐). According to international media reports, the student is being held at Delaware County Prison in lieu of US$100,000 bail, and a preliminary hearing of his case is scheduled for April 11.

An Tso Sun was arrested Wednesday in Pennsylvania for allegedly making a threat on May 1 to “shoot up” the Bonner and Prendergast Catholic High School, which he attends.
[FULL  STORY]

DEVIATION: Chen Ching-shih said his laboratory staff had ‘beautified’ data to make their research look better, while the Ohio State University has retracted his papers

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 01, 2018
By: Lin Chia-nan, Rachel Lin and Jennifer Huang  /  Staff Reporters, with CNA

Academia Sinica yesterday approved the resignation of distinguished research fellow

Chen Ching-shih (陳慶士) after news of research misconduct in eight of his published papers was made public by the Ohio State University, where he previously served as a cancer researcher.

Academia Sinica said in a statement that it is sorry to hear about the incident, but added that Chen’s misconduct occurred before he became head of Academia Sinica’s Institute of Biological Chemistry in August 2014.

The institution’s Research Ethics Committee would still look into work he performed while serving at the academy, the statement added.

Chen’s resignation from the Academia Sinica comes after academic journal Science and the university issued separate reports on Friday regarding the findings of research misconduct that led to his resignation as a cancer researcher from the university last year.
[FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-03-30

President Tsai Ing-wen has nominated Chiang Hui-ming, a veteran

prosecutor and former deputy justice minister, as prosecutor-general of the Supreme Prosecutors Office.

If approved by the legislature, Chiang will replace Yen Da-ho who is set to step down in early May. By law, prosecutor-generals serve one four-year term only.

Chiang is currently chief prosecutor of the Taichung branch of the Taiwan High Prosecutors Office.

Presidential Office spokesperson Alex Huang said Friday that Chiang has worked in law enforcement for nearly 37 years. Chiang is involved with the government’s push for judicial reform and was in charge of setting up the Agency Against Corruption in 2011.    [FULL  STORY]

China is adept at feeding a media narrative that casts Taiwan as a cause of friction rather than a blameless victim of aggression from across the Strait.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/03/30
By: Michael Turton

On Sept. 26, 2017, the new premier of Taiwan’s government, William

Lai (賴清德), remarked during a question-and-answer session with the legislature that his policy of “showing an affinity toward China while loving Taiwan” does not conflict with President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) policy of maintaining the “status quo.”

Lai re-affirmed his support for Taiwan independence and said that Taiwan and China are independent of each other, with Taiwan being an independent sovereign state carrying the designation the Republic of China.    [FULL  STORY]

Trip to Philadelphia expected to take about 17 hours
 
Taiwan News
Date: 2018/03/30
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Entertainers Sun Peng (孫鵬) and Di Ying (狄

鶯) left on a flight to New York Friday evening in an effort to help their only son, who has been arrested after making threats of violence against his school in Pennsylvania.

An Tso Sun (孫安佐), 18, reportedly told a schoolmate to stay away from the Monsignor Bonner and Archbishop Prendergast Catholic High School on May 1 because he was going to “shoot it up,” reports said.

As a result, he was arrested, and a search of his living quarters turned up a garrote, a crossbow, a ballistic vest and ammunition, but no gun. Police said he had been searching online for information on how to buy an AK-47 assault rifle or an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle. [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/03/30 
By: Justin Su, Huang Ya-chuan and Ko Lin

Taipei, March 30 (CNA) There is no definite timetable as to when the No. 2 reactor at Taiwan’s Second Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City will be reactivated, Premier Lai Ching-te (賴清德) said on Friday in response to the reactor’s automatic shutdown one day after it was put into operation.

Lai told a legislative hearing that safety will not be sacrificed in the rush to meet electricity demands.

In order for a restart to be authorized, a review must be assessed based on the highest safety standards, he said.

On Wednesday, the nuclear power plant’s No. 2 reactor automatically shut down, a day after it resumed operations following a suspension of nearly two years.    [FULL  STORY]

TANK-BUSTERS: The sale is part of an arms package announced by the US in December 2015, originally for 769 missiles along with training equipment and support systems

Taipei Times
Date: Mar 31, 2018
By: Lo Tien-pin and Jake Chung  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer

Taiwan and the US have sealed a NT$3.8 billion (US$130.5 million)

deal for 460 TOW-2B Aero radio frequency (RF)-controlled anti-tank missiles, which are to be delivered to Taiwan annually starting this year, with the final batch to be received by June 2024, a Ministry of National Defense source said yesterday.

The TOW-2B missiles are superior to the TOW-2A missiles the military currently uses in that they are wirelessly controlled rather than wire-guided, the source said.

The RF capability allows the missiles to more easily damage or paralyze enemy tanks by attacking them at more vulnerable points, the source said.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-03-29

Premier William Lai said the increasing tensions in US-China trade could affect the global

economy and financial markets. At the legislature on Thursday, the National Development Association reported on how Taiwan can respond to tensions in US-China trade.

Premier Lai has asked officials to negotiate with the US on behalf of Taiwan’s interests. Cabinet spokesperson Hsu Kuo-yung explains.

“We are asking the economics ministry to help the industry clarify which steel and aluminum businesses are linked to China. We are asking Minister without Portfolio John Deng, Executive Yuan trade negotations office and the economics ministry to continue to negotiate with the US. They should go to the US to ask to be exempted from additional tariffs so that our nation’s economic interests can be protected,” said Hsu.

The premier has also asked relevant government ministries to help businesses upgrade technology, innovation, production of key parts and protect their intellectual property.
[SOURCE]

Taiwan must improve its data curation and transparency if the Ministry of Culture is to succeed in its ambition to emulate the success of the Korean Wave.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/03/29
By: David Green

Whatever happened to the good old days?

It’s a question Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) likely asked her underlings at the

Ministry of Culture (MoC) shortly after coming to power.

Back then, in January 2016, Tsai gave an interview to Yonhap News in which she praised the “South Korean government’s cultural policy and insight” in propelling the Korean Wave global.

The comments tacitly acknowledged that the so-called Hallyu (Korean Wave) had eclipsed its Taiwanese counterpart while indicating that the new administration was poised to take a leaf out of Seoul’s book in its attempts to push Taiwan’s creative content producers to renewed success on the global stage.

A recent flurry of news related to what Taiwan calls the “cultural and creative industries” (CCI) — TV, movies, computer games, books and related content like animation and comics – suggest the plan is coming together.    [FULL  STORY]

The teen has been imprisoned on US$100,000 bail

Focus Taiwan  
Date: 2018/03/29
By: Juvina Lai,Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — After the news broke about an 18-year old Taiwanese named An

Tso Sun (孫安佐) being arrested by the US Upper Darby Police Department for allegedly threatening to attack his school, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said it would offer assistance to help and protect the suspect’s legal rights.

Andrew Lee (李憲章), a spokesperson for MOFA, told local media that Taiwan’s representative office in New York has contacted the family after he was charged with making a terrorist threat and first-degree misdemeanor as the local police found a military ballistic vest, military-style ski mask, a backpack with ammo pouches, a crossbow complete with scope and light, and a garrote in his possession.

Lee also said the office has initiated contact with both the local police and Sun’s attorney. The department will be sending officials to visit Sun in the US and also mentioned its willingness to assist Sun’s parents should they wish to visit their son, as reported by Central News Agency.     [FULL  STORY]