Today’s move by Thai authorities was doubly surprising given there have been signs of increasing Chinese interference in Thailand or at least a willingness on the part of the junta-led Thai government to comply to China’s wishes.

The News Lens
Date: 2017/07/26
By: TNL Staff

Thailand bucked a recent when it sent a group of Taiwanese telecommunication fraud

suspects to Taiwan today.

The group of 14 men and four women were arrested in Bangkok after a raid on a residential building, according to local media. Two other suspects, both Chinese women, were also arrested in the raid.

“The raid was carried out based on intelligence provided by Taiwan’s Criminal Investigation Bureau, according to Taiwan’s representative office to Thailand,” Taiwan’s Central News Agency reports.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/07/26
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News)—Since Taipei City’s North Gate regained its splendor as one of

the city’s major monuments following the removal of an overpass that had long overshadowed the historic structure earlier this year, the city government has been putting in effort to make the gate and its surrounding area a more worthwhile place to visit, and the result will soon be revealed.

Taipei’s Public Works Department has been carrying out a project involving the overhaul of the gate’s surrounding landscape and constructions aiming at transforming the surrounding area into a pedestrian plaza. The project is slated for completion on July 29.

On July 25, Deputy Mayor Charles Lin arrived at the site to inspect the ongoing constructions. He hoped that the project can be finished according to schedule.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/07/26
By: Liu Shih-yi and Christie Chen

Taipei, July 26 (CNA) Taiwan was removed from the Asia Pacific Group on Money

Laundering (APG) watchlist last week following its efforts in recent years to beef up money laundering prevention, the Ministry of Justice said Wednesday.

In an interview with Reuters on Wednesday, Deputy Justice Minister Tsai Pi-chung (蔡碧仲) said Taiwan was the only jurisdiction removed from the 10-member watchlist, which also included Afghanistan, Brunei, Laos, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines and Vietnam.

Taiwan was removed from the watchlist on July 20 during an APG meeting in Sri Lanka, after gaining support from other APG members, the ministry said in a statement that day.    [FULL  STORY]

COMMUNIST YOUTH LEAGUE:Taiwanese netizens have found ‘China Times’ intern Han Fu-yu listed as a ‘director’ of the Chinese league’s student committee, a report said

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 27, 2017
By: Sean Lin / Staff reporter

Netizens yesterday challenged the Chinese-language China Times’ claim that its intern,

Han Fu-yu (韓福宇), is not a member of the Communist Youth League of China (CYL).

The league, tasked with the mission to promote communism, has long been regarded as a training ground for promising political talent. Notable members include Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (李克強) and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Committee member Hu Chunhua (胡春華).

The China Times on Tuesday issued a statement defending Han, after the Legislative Yuan pressed charges against the intern for throwing water balloons at Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers during a joint committee review of the budget for the Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Program on Wednesday last week.

Han, a Taiwanese student and recipient of a scholarship from Beijing’s Communication University of China, could not possibly be a CCP spy, as he is not a member of the Communist Youth League, the China Times statement said.    [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: July 26, 2017
By: The China Post

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Tropical Storm Nesat (尼莎) formed at 2 p.m. Wednesday and it’s

forecast to move toward to Taiwan, according to the Central Weather Bureau.

The bureau said it might issue a sea warning as soon as Saturday.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Nesat had a wind speed of 65 kph with gusts of up to 90 kph.

The storm, which is currently moving at a slow 22 kph, is expected to gain strength, the CWB said, adding that it was unclear whether the storm would make landfall in Taiwan.

Nesat is the ninth storm of this typhoon season and is the first one that may impact the island.    [FULL  STORY]

After spate of Chinese patrols, Taiwan says it’s prepared to defend itself.

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/07/25
By: Juvina Lai, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) –A Taiwanese Indigenous Defense Fighter (IDF) monitored a

Chinese Xian H-6 bomber near Taiwan’s air defense identification zone July 20, 2017.

Taiwan’s military defense ministry said on Tuesday that Taiwan is ready to defend itself from China if needed, in a strongly worded response to recent flybys by Chinese warplanes.

According to the ministry, China has flown several fighter aircraft near Taiwan for exercises.

“The People’s Liberation Army has never given up on the idea of resolving problems through the use of military force,” ministry spokesman Chen Chung-chi told a news briefing.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/07/25
By: Yang Shu-min and Elaine Hou

Taipei, July 25 (CNA) The World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) has officially

confirmed that the outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N6 virus — which can be transmitted from birds to humans — in Taiwan has ended, the Council of Agriculture (COA) said Tuesday.

When Taiwan reported its first confirmed case of the H5N6 avian flu virus in February, the COA immediately formed an ad hoc task force and took measures to combat the spread of the strain of bird flu, said Shih Tai-hwa (施泰華), deputy director-general of the COA’s Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine.

The COA also reported that case to OIE, according to Shih.    [FULL  STORY]

ATTACK:The newspaper said Han Fu-yu is not a Chinese spy and the Legislative Yuan should sue lawmakers who threw water balloons first, instead of focusing on a student

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 26, 2017
By: Sean Lin / Staff reporter

The Legislative Yuan yesterday issued a letter to the Chinese-language China Times

asking it to explain an incident on Wednesday last week in which one of its interns hurled water balloons at Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers during a joint committee review of the budget for the Forward-looking Infrastructure Program.

The move came a day after the legislature filed charges against the intern, Han Fu-yu (韓福宇) — with video footage showing him throwing several water balloons at DPP lawmakers while filming himself using a cellphone — on suspicion of violating the Code of Criminal Procedure (刑事訴訟法) and the Social Order Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法).

The legislature asked the China Times’ entertainment section deputy editor-in-chief, Chang Yi-wen (張怡文), who had brought Han and two other interns to the meeting, to give a thorough account of the incident, saying they had breached rules on visits to the legislature, as well as guidelines on the use of interview permits.    [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: July 25, 2017
By: The China Post

Chunghwa Post said Tuesday that it had caught an employee collecting money for

single-payment insurance policies, a product that Chunghwa Post doesn’t offer.

Since 2009, the employee surnamed Chang has allegedly collected lump sum payments for insurance policies from about 300 customers for 800 policies.

Chang used the payments to make monthly payments on insurance policies on his customers’ behalf, according to an internal probe.

The employee is believed to have paid NT$200 million to NT$200 million in monthly installments on their behalf, Chunghwa Post spokeswoman Lan Shu-jhen (藍淑貞) said at a press conference on Tuesday.    [FULL  STORY]