Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/03/25
By: Wang Yang-yu and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, March 25 (CNA) Taiwan is willing to work through a mutual legal assistance

mechanism with Hong Kong so that a Hong Kong man suspected of killing his girlfriend in Taiwan can be prosecuted for the crime rather than go free, two Taiwanese judicial officials have said.

Because the alleged crime was committed in Taiwan, Hong Kong does not have jurisdiction in the case unless it can prove the man had planned the crime in Hong Kong.

That means the suspect, who has returned to Hong Kong after allegedly killing his girlfriend in Taiwan in February, will not be “sentenced” for the crime if he is not extradited to Taiwan to stand trial.

Extradition is highly unlikely because Taiwan and Hong Kong have not signed an extradition treaty.    [FULL  STORY]

DELIVERING DEMANDS: The White Rose Social Care Association said that it is tired of judges who are not in touch with the public ‘playing with the justice system’

Taipei Times
Date: Mar 26, 2018
By: Jason Pan  /  Staff reporter

Activist groups yesterday joined the White Rose Social Care Association to stage a sit-in

at the Judicial Yuan, to protest the ruling in a sexual harassment case involving a court judge, and deliver a petition with three key demands for reform in the judiciary.

About 60 activists sat in the plaza in front of the Judicial Yuan, holding up banners with slogans. Each protester held a white rose, a symbol of innocence and purity that was adopted in the original 2010 White Rose Movement, after the courts handed down lenient sentences in two cases involving the rape of underage girls and sparked widespread public anger.

At the peaceful sit-in, the protesters shouted: “Justice is dead” and “Refuse dinosaur judges,” which in Taiwan refers to judges who are regarded as outdated and often give rulings contrary to the public’s expectations.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan International
Date: 2018/03/24
By: Kuan-lin Liu and Elaine Hou

Taipei, March 24 (CNA) U.S. President Donald Trump’s appointment of John Bolton as his

national security advisor could lead to more visits by high-level U.S. officials to Taiwan, former American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Stephen Young said Saturday.

In an interview with CNA, Young said the U.S. government will try to have “more frequent visits and higher level visits” following the passage of the Taiwan Travel Act, which encourages U.S. and Taiwan officials of all levels to visit each other.

Young said that while the Trump administration can implement the act at its discretion, the recent appointment of John Bolton “who knows Taiwan well…could make it easier to get concrete decisions and actions on that score.”

Bolton is considered to be an outspoken supporter of Taiwan, and he has recommended that the U.S. increase arms sales to Taiwan and station troops here.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-03-24

Taiwan’s Presidential Office has announced plans to participate in this year’s Earth Hour

event.

The annual event encourages people around the world to turn off their lights for an hour starting at a given time. This gesture is meant to show support for halting climate change and protecting the environment. Earth Hour was begun by the World Wildlife Fund and is now in its tenth year. This year’s event is set to take place Saturday from 8:30 to 9:30pm in each time zone.

On Saturday, Vice President Chen Chien-jen said that the Presidential Office will participate by shutting off the lights that illuminate the outside of the building. The vice president has taken to Facebook to encourage the public to switch off lights on Saturday evening and to make saving energy into a daily habit.
[FULL  STORY]

The News Lens
Date: 2018/03/24
By: If Lin

Taiwan’s birth rate dipped below its death rate for the second month in two years.

The declining birth rate in Taiwan and the resulting population loss are a major challenge to the country’s economy – we may eventually see a lack of capital, labor and talent due to low fertility.    [FULL  STORY]

Roughly two thirds of the delegates stood in support of the president elect, voting to shelve motions that would have resulted in his ousting 

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/03/24
By: Duncan DeAeth,Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – On March 24, the school affairs council of Taiwan National

University held a conference in order to discuss the allegations against the president-elect, Kuan Chung-Ming, who is awaiting appointment by the Ministry of Education.

Members of the university affairs committee discussed five items on an agenda to determine whether or not the president is fit for office after recent charges of corruption were leveled. Kuan was officially elected Jan. 5, and was set to assume office on Feb. 1, but his appointment has been delayed.

At 3:08 pm, it was announced that the meeting had concluded and that after anonymous votes were tallied, no action would be taken in regards to any of the proposals, Liberty Times reported.    [FULL  STORY]

SUPPLY CHAIN: Minister Without Portfolio John Deng said that talks would continue with Washington on excluding the nation from tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum

Taipei Times
Date: Mar 25, 2018
By: Staff writer, with CNA

Minister Without Portfolio John Deng (鄧振中), the nation’s top trade negotiator, yesterday

said Taiwanese firms’ practice of exporting to the US products made of steel and aluminum from China was the reason that Taiwan has not been exempted from tariffs announced by Washington.

Deng, who is returning to Taiwan after leading a delegation to the US on Sunday last week to seek a tariff exemption, made the remark in a telephone interview with the Central News Agency.

The nation’s unsuccessful attempt to be included in the list of exemptions reflected Washington’s concerns that some Taiwanese firms import steel and aluminum from China and process them into finished goods before selling them to the US market, Deng said.

US President Donald Trump’s tariffs seem to be aimed at curbing alleged dumping of Chinese steel and aluminum products in the US, he said.

Washington might be hoping to work with other nations to stop this situation, he added.
[FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-03-23

The Presidential Office says it welcomes exchanges between Taiwanese and US officials

at all levels.

That’s after the US State Department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs posted a photo ofAssistant Secretary Susan Thornton meeting Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu on its Twitter and Facebook accounts. Chen is currently visiting the United States.

The meeting comes a week after President Donald Trump signed the Taiwan Travel Act into law. The act encourages visits and exchanges between US and Taiwanese officials.

On Friday, Presidential Office spokesperson Alex Huang said that the US and Taiwan have close ties, and that interaction between officials on both sides will benefit the people of the US and Taiwan.    [FULL  STORY]

China’s aircraft carrier is little more than a paper tiger, Euan Graham writes.

OPINION: Taiwan Has No Reason to Fear the Liaoning
The News Lens
Date: 2018/03/23
By:  Euan Graham, The Interpreter

Measured in terms of Chinese rhetoric, the temperature of cross-strait relations has risen sharply this week. Addressing China’s National People’s Congress, President Xi Jinping warned Taiwan that it would be “punished by history” if it declares independence. This comes amid an intensifying pressure campaign by Beijing to isolate Taiwan since President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party administration was elected in late 2016.

Beijing’s ire has been aggravated by a recent step-up in US governmental engagement with Taiwan under the Trump administration. This is codified in the Taiwan Travel Act, which passed Congress last week and “encourages visits between officials of the United States and Taiwan at all levels.” As a pointed manifestation of U.S. engagement, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Alex Wong delivered a speech at the American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei, with President Tsai in attendance.

China’s first aircraft carrier is best regarded as a training ship for carrier operations.
Never to be outdone on nationalistic jingoism, the Global Times has chimed in: “The mainland must also prepare itself for a direct military clash in the Taiwan Straits. It needs to make clear that escalation of U.S.–Taiwan official exchanges will bring serious consequences to Taiwan.”    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan Referendum Association questions timing of city government action

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/03/23
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taipei City police suddenly appeared outside the Legislative

Yuan Friday afternoon to remove tents set up by campaigners for a referendum about independence for Taiwan.

The campaigners, led by an organization named the Taiwan Referendum Alliance (公投護台灣聯盟), had been camping at the same location for years, activists said, yet someone had reported them to the authorities as an illegal structure, the Chinese-language Apple Daily reported.

City workers accompanied by police arrived at the site on Jinan Road around 2:40 p.m., and soon quarrels broke out followed by scuffles, reports said.    [FULL  STORY]