Forbes
Date: June 10, 2016
By: Russell Flannery , FORBES STAFF

Taiwan prosecutors on Wednesday arrested a member of Taiwan’s billionaire Koo clan for suspected involvement in illegal transactions at the family-controlled CTBC Financial Holding.

CTBC, founded by the late Jeffrey Koo and formerly known as Chinatrust, is suspected of transferring

$300 million into bank accounts controlled by his son Jeffrey Koo, Jr. and other CTBC staff from 2003 to 2007 for personal investments, while claiming that the money was for overseas investments by its subsidiaries, Taiwan’s Central News Agency reported.

Koo, who has previously faced investigation in Taiwan, was released early Thursday on $3.1 million bail and is barred from traveling abroad. He faces charges of violating the Banking Act and the Securities and Exchange Act, CNA said. Authorities are also looking into other suspected illegal transactions involving CTBC and Gobo Group, a local business.

After being released on Thursday, Koo told reporters there was a “misunderstanding.” Click here for CNA’s report.

The Koos ranked No. 29 on the 2015 Forbes Taiwan Rich List with an estimated fortune worth $1.34 billion. That estimate is separate from the fortune of the Koo family wing connected to Taiwan Cement, one of Asia’s largest cement suppliers.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016-06-10
By: Chen Chih-chung, Huang Chao-ping and CNA intern Brook Hsiao

Taipei, June 10 (CNA) Taiwan bagged 23 gold medals, 31 silver medals and eight special awards, including the Largest Delegation Award, at the 31st Invention and New Product Exposition (INPEX) held June 7-9 in Pittsburgh.

Nearly 700 inventions from 22 countries were showcased at the three-day show, and 74 of them were from Taiwan, which won the most medals of any country represented at the show for the fifth consecutive year.

President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Vice-President Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) and Premier Lin Chuan(林全) sent congratulatory messages to the Taiwanese delegation soon after learning the result.

Hong Wei Technology Group (紅崴) won a gold medal and a special award for Best Invention of the Far East for the GoodARCH Feminine Napkin, for its advanced hygienic properties and permeability.     [FULL  STORY]

‘HIGHLY INAPPROPRIATE’:A TSU spokeswoman said victims of the Chinese Civil War did not come to Taiwan voluntarily and should not be equated with the Chinese government

Taipei Times
Date Jun 11, 2016
By: Abraham Gerber / Staff reporter

The nation’s frequently bickering political parties yesterday united in denouncing a woman who

insulted an elderly waishengren (外省人), a term referring to people who fled to Taiwan with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in 1949 after its defeat in the Chinese Civil War.

The parties issued their condemnation after Hung Su-chu (洪素珠) — a self-styled citizen reporter who has published several videos on Public Television Service’s PeoPo online platform — posted a video on Facebook on Thursday of her confronting a man walking with a cane in Kaohsiung’s 228 Peace Park.

The two-minute-long video starts with Hung asking the man when he came to Taiwan.

The man said he came to Taiwan with his parents in the 1940s, when more than 2 million mainlanders were estimated to have fled to Taiwan from China with the KMT regime.

“You should go back [to China] because Taiwanese cannot take care of you Chinese refugees anymore,” Hung told the man.

“I have contributed to Taiwan for 50 to 60 years,” the man said.    [FULL  STORY]

The News Lens
Date: 2016/06/10
By: Yuan-ling Liang

Why you need to know: Taiwan seems unaware it is moving into the middle of a new Cold War

between the U.S. and China, a local academic says.

Taiwan seems unaware it is moving into the middle of a new Cold War between the U.S. and China, a local academic says.

Professor Chen Ching-chuan (陳清泉), an assistant professor of politics at National Kaohsiung First University of Science and Technology, told The News Lens International this week that the tensions that have emerged between the U.S. and China in the Western Pacific are similar to those seen after World War II between the U.S. and the Soviet Union.

And Taiwan, he says, is moving into the center of a potential war zone.

Today’s two great powers are currently striving to avoid direct conflict while continuing their economic cooperation, Chen says. Still, the “Mini Cold War” will likely have an impact on all Asia Pacific countries, he says, adding that there is an expectation the U.S. will involve itself in the region in order to balance China.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-06-10
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A man from the United States arrested in Australia for vandalizing trains

with graffiti was reportedly also involved in similar acts in Taipei and Kaohsiung, reports said Friday.
Police in Melbourne detained a man who called himself “Ether” but whose real name was Jim Clay Harper last month, though his female partner, who used the moniker “Utah” but was called Danielle Bremner, was missing and believed to have fled to Hong Kong, media reports said. Harper was later sentenced to six months in jail.

The couple reportedly traveled all over Asia, from Turkey to Singapore and Malaysia, and at each stop they painted graffiti on trains, and then sold DVD’s showing their exploits for NT$1,100 (US$34) a piece, reports said.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/06/10
By: Chang Che-fon, Lu Hsin-hui and Kay Liu

Taipei, June 10 (CNA) A video of a woman firing insults at an elderly man who came to Taiwan from

China during the retreat of the Nationalist government seven decades ago has drawn heavy criticism and was condemned by the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

Hung Su-chu (洪素珠), who has published several videos on Public Television Service’s PeoPo online platform opened to the members of the public, posted a video of her speaking to and then yelling at the man in Kaohsiung on her Facebook page Thursday.

The two-minute plus video, stored by online users after Hung pulled it from her Facebook page, started with Hung asking the man when he came to Taiwan.

The man answered 1950 and said he was brought to Taiwan by his parents — one of many people who came to Taiwan after the end of the Chinese civil war and are known here as “mainlanders.”     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-06-09
By: Chia Lee, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Thursday marks the first day of the four-day Dragon Boat Festival holiday. President Tsai Ing-wen

posted on Facebook early Thursday wishing everyone a happy holiday, along with a picture of her celebrating the festival with residents of a community in New Taipei City, making rice dumplings with the elderly.

The fifth year spending the Dragon Boat Festival with the town locals, Tsai on Thursday morning visited New Taipei’s Gongliao Township, along with Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Legislators Lo Chih-cheng, Chen Man-li, the party’s New Taipei City Chapter Chair Yu Tian, and former New Taipei’s Gongliao Township Mayor Chen Shih-nan.

The President later posted on her Facebook page a picture of her making rice dumplings with the community, and wished everyone a happy Dragon Boat Festival.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/06/09
By: Wang Shwu-fen, Huang Li-yun and Kuo Chung-han

Taipei, June 9 (CNA) Some 210 teams with a total of 5,000 people–including those from Argentina,

Australia, Belgium, Malaysia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Thailand — on Thursday participated in the start of a three-day international dragon boat championship in Taipei.

Several local teams also participated in the competition, including one from the Taipei European School, Team-max which is composed of expatriates in Taiwan, a team representing Xiahai City God Temple and Taiwan Provincial City God Temple, one from Shizi Island peninsula, and the Perfect Dragon Boat Team composed of triathlon athletes and TV news anchorwomen.

The opening ceremony was chaired by Taipei Deputy Mayor Chen Chin-chun (陳景峻) in Dajia Riverside Park on Thursday afternoon.

In preparation for hosting Universiade Taipei 2017, an invitation dragon boat race for universities is also being held at the same time. Six teams were invited: the University of Southern California in the U.S., Ehime University of Japan, and local teams from Fu Jen Catholic University, National Taiwan Normal University, University of Taipei and Vanung University.     [FULL  STORY]

FINANCIAL SCANDAL:Koo and other executives are under investigation for insider trading, profiteering on real-estate transactions and illegal transfers of company funds

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 10, 2016
By: Jason Pan / Staff reporter

Jeffrey Koo Jr (辜仲諒), a major shareholder of CTBC Financial Holding Co (中信金), was released

yesterday morning on bail of NT$100 million (US$3.10 million) after being questioned overnight by prosecutors.

A number of CTBC executives and other suspects were also released as a judicial probe into alleged illegal financial dealings involving several of the nation’s leading financial companies and executives continued.

Gobo Group (國寶集團) president Chu Guo-rong (朱國榮), reportedly a major financial backer of the Chinese-language weekly magazine The Journalist (新新聞), remained in custody at press time last night.

The Taipei District Court approved a request by prosecutors that Chu be held incommunicado. Prosecutors said Chu played a major role in the alleged financial irregularities and might tamper with evidence if he is released.     [FULL  STORY]

THE AUSTRALIAN
Date: JUNE 9, 2016
By:  Chris Griffith, Technology reporter

Taiwan is not only home to global technology brands such as Asus, Acer, D-Link, Gigabyte, HTC,

Synology and QNAP. It also is the semiconductor manufacturing king, with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company alone raking in $35.4 billion in net revenue last year.

And Taiwan’s Quanta Computers has been the largest manufacturer of notebooks in the world, usually made under other company’s names. Apple, BlackBerry, Dell, Fujitsu, HP, Lenovo, Sharp, Sony and Toshiba have been among its clients. Despite changes in that industry, consolidated revenue for Quanta last year was a healthy $42.35bn.

So it is apt that Taiwan’s capital, Taipei, is home to Computex, a global computer fair that this year was held under changing conditions. The coming to power of Taiwan’s pro-independence President, Tsai Ing-wen, just 10 days before Computex is food for thought for Taiwan’s tech firms, particularly those trading heavily with China. Taiwan, of course, is where in 1949 Chiang Kai-shek and the Kuomintang fled after their defeat on the mainland by Mao Zedong’s communists.     [FULL  STORY]