The China Post
Date: October 7, 20170
By: Tsai Chia-ling and Kuan-lin Liu

TAIPEI (CNA) – The Ministry of National Defense (MND, 國防部) has drafted a

budget of NT$327.8 billion (US$10.79 billion) for 2018, much of which is dedicated to strengthening Taiwan’s ability to defend itself in potential conflicts in the region, according to a ministry report.

The report said the MND is not ruling out a potential conflict in parts of the Asia-Pacific region due primarily to North Korea’s missile tests that are destabilizing the area.

With tensions in the region escalating, the MND is dedicating most of its budget for next year to building up the country’s military and preparing it for battle.

In particular, the draft budget dedicates NT$53.1 billion to the development and production of weapons, up NT$11.9 billion from this year; NT$31.5 billion to logistics maintenance, up NT$5.5 billion from this year; and NT$2.6 billion to replace the gear used by soldiers, up NT$1.4 billion from this year.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/10/07
By: Wang Shu-fen and Y.F. Low 

Taipei, Oct. 7 (CNA) Heavy rain can be expected in parts of Taipei, New Taipei, Keelung and Yilan Saturday — the first day of the four-day National Day holiday weekend, due to strengthening northeasterly winds and a strong convective system over Taiwan, according to the Central Weather Bureau.

There will also be strong winds, starting Saturday afternoon, in the coastal and open areas of northern and southeastern Taiwan, the Hengchun Peninsula, and the offshore islands of Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu, the bureau said.

Daytime highs on Saturday are forecast at 29-30 degrees Celsius in Taipei, New Taipei, Keelung and Yilan, 32-33 degrees in Taoyuan, Hualien and Taitung, and 34-25 degrees in areas south of Hsinchu, it added.     [SOURCE]

SOCIOECONOMICS:Social welfare benefits are not a guaranteed solution, as young people have complained about soaring housing prices and a lack of well-paying jobs

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 07, 2017
By: Crystal Hsu  /  Staff reporter

The National Development Council (NDC) has added raising the fertility rate to its list

of priorities as the nation’s population continues to age rapidly due to the declining number of births, NDC Minister Chen Mei-ling (陳美伶) said yesterday.

The nation’s top economic policy planner and executor has received the Cabinet’s approval to merge two task forces in charge of the low birth rate and talent recruitment into an upgraded panel that Premier William Lai (賴清德) is to head, she said.

“The council is to approach the matter from a broad perspective encompassing economic, industrial and talent recruitment policies, rather than focus on the introduction of welfare benefits as in the past,” Chen told a news conference.

The gravity of the issue warrants the escalated attention, as the demographic trend could evolve into serious social and economic problems, she said.    [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: October 7, 20170
By: Wang Chao-yu and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei (CNA) – A coach carrying 26 tourists from Vietnam collided with an unladen

container truck on an expressway in northern Taiwan Friday, leaving the driver and 11 passengers injured, although none critically, firefighters at the scene said.

The accident occurred at the 7.1-kilometer mark on the eastbound lanes of Provincial Highway 62, also called the Ruibin Expressway, that connects Keelung and New Taipei’s Ruifang District.

The tour bus, with a total of 28 people aboard, including the Taiwanese driver, hit the truck from behind, smashing the front of the coach and trapping the 53-year-old driver, police and firefighters said.

The Keelung City Fire Department dispatched eight ambulances, three firetrucks and 24 firefighters to the scene. The driver, surnamed Chen (陳), was rescued from his cab and rushed to a nearby hospital.   [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-10-06

Premier William Lai said Friday that talk of China invading Taiwan in the near future

is unhelpful.

Lai was responding to a question from a lawmaker concerning a new book by Ian Easton, an analyst for the US-based 2049 Project Institute. Easton’s book, The Chinese Invasion Threat, claims Beijing has a secret plan to take over Taiwan by force by 2020. The plan includes missile bombardment of strategic targets, a naval and air blockade followed by troop landings.

The premier said talk of an imminent PLA invasion threat is alarmist and unhelpful.

“To talk about this subject brings with it unnecessary worry. At present the cross-strait situation is peaceful and stable. If we raise this topic, sometimes the public get only partial information and may mistakenly believe that war is genuinely about to break out in the Taiwan Strait,” said Lai.    [FULL  STORY]

The Voice of America
October 06, 2017 3:51 AM
By: Ralph Jennings

TAIPEI, TAIWAN — Singapore’s apparent decision this week to sustain a more than

40-year-old military training program with Taiwan, despite pressure from China, is giving Taiwan’s embattled foreign policy a rare win in Asia.

Officials in Taipei said this week Singapore would continue the Project Starlight military training program despite a visit last month to China by the Southeast Asian country’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. China sees self-ruled Taiwan as part of its own territory and discourages other governments from pursuing diplomatic or military relationships.

The two sides started the training program in 1975 under Singapore’s founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and his friend Chiang Ching-kuo, Taiwan’s premier at the time. Chiang went on to become president.    [FULL  STORY]

The Straits Times
October 6, 2017

TAIPEI – Four Singaporean men have been given suspended jail terms by a Taiwan

court for sexually assaulting two women in Taipei last December, Taiwanese media reported on Friday (Oct 6).

The relatively lenient sentence means that the four – undergraduates Lau Wei Seng, Bryan Ong Kun Jun, Tan Juan Yin and Lim Wei Xuan – will not have to serve time behind bars, but live under supervised probation in Taiwan for the next four to five years, the mass-circulation United Daily News and China Times said.

In a press statement, the Shihlin District Court in Taipei was cited as saying that the four men are remorseful and had reached a settlement with the two women, paying them an unspecified sum of compensation.    [FULL  STORY]

The News Lens
Date: 2017/10/06
By: Michael Turton0

Taiwan by China. Instead, it is a thoroughly researched joy of a read that delves deep into the complexities of potential cross-Strait conflict, and comes up suggesting Taiwan remains a tough nut to crack for the PLA.

Suddenly Woundwort spoke.

“Thlayli,” he said, “Why do you want to throw your life away? I can send one fresh rabbit after another into this run if I choose. You’re too good to be killed. Come back to Efrafa. I promise I’ll give you the command of any Mark you like. I give you my word.”

“Silflay hraka, u embleer rah,” replied Bigwig.

— Richard Adams, “Watership Down”

Despite the flurry of recent media accounts, Ian Easton’s new book “The Chinese Invasion Threat: Taiwan’s Defense and American Strategy in Asia” makes no prediction of a 2020 invasion of Taiwan. Ignore the erroneous media hype: Easton offers a brilliant, thick description of China’s invasion plans, Taiwan’s plans to repel an invasion, potential invasion scenarios, and how the U.S. might respond. Throughout the incredible level of detail, and the vast number of plans, locations, weapons systems, operations and doctrines it presents, Easton’s clarity of order and logical presentation keep everything firmly under control. As the father of a son soon to serve in the Taiwan army, I came away from this book with a renewed sense of optimism and pride in the abilities of the Taiwan to handle an invasion from China, and a much better appreciation of how difficult it would be to invade “The Beautiful Island.” In short, do not buy the pessimism, but do buy this book.    [FULL  STORY]

After Taiwanese netizens propose using missiles to destroy Three Gorges Dam, expert says would only make ‘dents’

Taiwan News 
Date: 2017/10/06
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — In response to a suggestion by Taiwanese netizens that

Taiwan’s missiles could be used to destroy the Three Gorges Dam in response to an attack by China, a military expert says they would only cause tiny dents and described those who proposed the idea online as “military idiots would will continue to be mocked by China,” reported Setn.

In response to a report by the Washington Free Beacon claiming that the author of “The Chinese Invasion Threat,” Ian Easton, said in the new book that China has finalized a plan to invade Taiwan by 2020, netizens speculated cruise missiles such as the Hsiung Feng IIE or missiles from F-16 fighter jets could be trained on China’s massive Three Gorges Dam to cause it to burst. If the Three Gorges Dam were to collapse, it would cause massive flooding, earthquakes, thousands to hundreds of thousands dead, and devastating destruction to infrastructure.

Though Easton later told Liberty Times that he never actually stated in the book China would invade Taiwan in 2020, many in Taiwan started to speculate on what actions the country’s military could take in retaliation of such an imminent attack.
[FULL  STORY]

The News Lens
Date: 2017/10/06
By: David Green

Taiwan must be brave and embrace cryptocurrencies, and more importantly, the

distributed ledger and blockchain technologies that underpin them.

Today, at a joint session of parliament and cabinet Kuomintang (KMT) congressman Jason Hsu will petition Taiwan’s Premier William Lai and the chair of Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) to take a firm stance on crypto regulation.

That stance should be an underlying statement in favor of forwarding the development of distributed ledger and blockchain technology. This represents the future of value exchange in all its forms, but the fear is that recent bans of crypto-related activity in China and South Korea will precipitate a knee-jerk reaction that will block the space’s development in Taiwan. While China has clamped down on cryptocurrency, the People’s Bank of China remains broadly in favor of developing blockchain technology, and has issued numerous statements suggesting it is developing its own blockchain-based digital currency. The two are distinguishable, albeit with a degree of difficulty.    [FULL  STORY]