Taiwan News
Date: 2016-07-17
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Peregudovs Andrejs, a Latvian national suspected to be involved in a recent automatic teller machine (ATM) theft of over NT$83 million (US$2.6 million), was nabbed in Yilan County Sunday, police said.

Andrejs is believed to be part of the criminal ring of over 16 members that stole the cash from 41 hacked ATMs at several branches of First Bank on July 9 and 10, according to the Taipei City Police Department.

Immigration records show 13 foreign nationals who are identified as suspects in the case have left Taiwan, but no such record existed for Andrejs.

Soong Chun-liang, a Taipei City police officer on vacation in Yilan, spotted a foreign male at a restaurant who looked like the ATM suspect Andrejs in the photos police released through the media, and tipped off local police about the man, local police said.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/07/17
By: Yu Kai-hsiang, Ku Chuan and S.C. Chang

Taipei, July 17 (CNA) Taiwan police announced cracking of an international ring Sunday, arresting

One of the two eastern European suspects in the recent heist of over NT$83 million (US$2.60 million) in Taiwan.

three East European suspects who along with 12 others allegedly stole more than NT$83 million (US$2.6 million) from First Bank ATMs in three cities.

Latvian Andrejs Peregudovs, Romanian Colibaba Mihail, and Moldovan Niklae Penkov were believed to be part of the criminal ring of 15 members from five countries who stole $83.27 million from 51 hacked ATMs at several branches of First Bank in Taipei, New Taipei and Taichung on July 9 and 10, police said.

Police recovered some NT$50 million that was hidden in three suitcases at a hotel in Taipei’s Dazhi area where Mihail and Penkov were staying.

National Police Agency Director General Chen Kuo-en (陳國恩) said police investigators, working with other government officials, have proved Taiwan is not that easy to rob. “Taiwan is not a paradise for foreign criminals,” he declared.     [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: July 18, 2016
By: Stephanie Chao

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) on Sunday decided to further review a motion to abolish

President and Chairwoman of the DPP Tsai Ing-wen is seen voting for members of the Central Standing Committee at the annual party congress on Sunday. (CNA)

the Republic of China (R.O.C.) as well as a motion to abolish the DPP charter’s Taiwan independence clause.

The DPP’s national party congress on Sunday convened for the first time since President Tsai Ing-wen took office.

Tsai, who presided over the meeting in her capacity as president and as DPP chairwoman, heard a motion to strike the “Taiwan independence” clause from the party charter.

DPP representative Hsiao Chieh (蕭杰) and three other representatives suggested that Tsai’s cross-strait relations policy – which calls for maintaining the “status quo”— should replace Article 1 of the DPP charter passed in 1991.

Article 1 states that it is the party’s objective to establish a sovereign and independent Republic of Taiwan.     [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2016-07-17

The first national conference of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) since the party

President Tsai Ing-wen addresses the DPP national congress on Sunday, July 17. (Photo/CNA)

assumed government in May opened on Sunday. President Tsai Ing-wen, who doubles as party chair, stressed that the reforms the party hopes to achieve in government will not happen overnight.

Addressing the conference two months after the DPP assumed the presidency, Tsai spoke of the reforms the government hopes to bring in. These include transitional justice and industrial upgrading. The president said these reforms will not happen all at once but they must nonetheless move forward.

Tsai said the reform process was intended to bring the nation together, not to divide society, as happened under the former DPP administration under Chen Shui-bian. She said the process would not be without pain but she urged party members to shoulder the burden to make the pain of change minimal. She also urged the public to have faith in the new government.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/07/17
By: Yu Kai-hsiang and Kay Liu

Taipei, July 17 (CNA) Andrejs Peregudovs, a Latvian national, and two Romanians suspected to

Police arrest two Romanian nationals in a hotel in Taipei.

be involved in a recent automatic teller machine (ATM) heist of over NT$83 million (US$2.60 million), was captured in Yilan County and Taipei on Sunday, police said.

According to the Taipei City Police Department, Peregudovs was spotted in an eatery along the Provincial Highway No. 9 in the northeastern county by an off-duty policeman who happened to be in the area.

The Latvian, who was on a bicycle, was arrested by policemen called in from the Dong’ao police station across the road.

Peregudovs was wanted as a suspect involving in a criminal ring of over 10 members that stole $83.27 million from 41 hacked ATMs at several branches of First Bank in Taipei and Taichung on July 9 and 10.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/07/16
By: Tang Pei-chun and Frances Huang

Taipei, July 16 (CNA) The Turkish Trade Office in Taipei said Saturday that an attempted coup in

Photo courtesy of Anadolu Agency

its country has ended and that Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan is in charge.

In a statement issued by the Turkish representative office, it said the coup was an “attempt to overthrow the democratically elected government.”

“This attempt was foiled by the Turkish people in unity and solidarity. Our President and Government are in charge,” the statement said.

According to wire service reports, a group within Turkey’s armed forces attempted to seize power by using tanks and attack helicopters after strafing the headquarters of Turkish intelligence and the parliament in Ankara on Friday night.     [FULL  STORY]

What would be the basis of this ‘Outside-UNCLOS’ framework? The starting-point is a recognition that ‘win-win’ is better than a contest with a winner and a loser.

The News Lens
Date: 2016/07/16
By: Stephen Grenville

Wednesday’s South China Sea adjudication demonstrates that the United Nations Convention on

Photo Credit: AP/達志影像

the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) framework is totally unsuited to sorting out the complex conflicting claims in the South China Sea in a way that the relevant parties will accept. By effectively announcing the Philippines as winner and China as loser, the tribunal’s finding is now the basis for empty point-scoring. There is zero chance that China will accept an outcome arrived at in this way.

UNCLOS acknowledges the futility of this sort of process: the over-arching UNCLOS principle is that the parties involved should sort things out by mutual agreement. UNCLOS then blesses whatever they have agreed on, even if it doesn’t fit precisely into UNCLOS norms.

With the South China Sea, a complex multi-party solution will be needed rather than a few general rules-of-thumb and one-sided legal proceedings. The South China Sea disputes can’t be resolved by lawyers in a distant court or some surveyor’s equidistant lines on charts.

Before the disputing parties dig themselves into positions from which retreat is difficult, a different negotiating pathway needs to be opened up. The first step would be to bring all the parties together in a single negotiation forum. The obvious grouping is ASEAN and China (but not Taiwan, as it just raises too many side issues). ASEAN hasn’t had the unity or resolve to do this so far and China has worked to keep its dealings on a bilateral basis. But with Indonesia now feeling pressured by China in the Natuna Sea and China rebuffed in The Hague, there just might be the chance for ASEAN to seize the initiative. If this really is an important issue, the core ASEAN countries can’t let the weak peripheral members dictate continuing irrelevance.

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-07-16
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A TransAsia Airways flight carrying 171 passengers to Japan had to turn back to Taiwan Saturday due to problems with its landing gear, according to the airline.

Flight 606 left Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport around 8 a.m. Saturday for Tokyo’s Narita Airport, but according to a passenger, once over the Taiwan Strait close to Taiwan’s northern tip, the aircraft changed direction several times before landing back at its point of origin.

Ground staff at the airline said there had been a technical problem, and a TransAsia spokesperson later explained the landing gear had needed to be inspected.

Eventually, the airline mobilized another aircraft, an Airbus A330, and left Taoyuan again at 1:30 p.m. The flight arrived in Tokyo without any further problems, reports said.     [FULL  STORY]