Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/04/15
By: Flor Wang

Taipei, April 15 (CNA) Twenty Taiwanese suspects sent back from Malaysia for their alleged involvement in telecommunications fraud scams in that country were set free late Wednesday after they arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, according to the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB).

The CIB said in a press release that after discussions with Taichung district prosecutors, it was decided that the suspects will only be notified in writing that they are embroiled in fraud schemes and were allowed to go home for “lack of solid evidence of their criminal activities.”

Most of the suspects are residents of central Taiwan’s Taichung City.

The CIB said it will ask mainland authorities to provide information about the illegal activities of these suspects in order to conduct a further investigation into their offenses.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan Today
Date: April 15, 2016

A national musical instrument bank, an innovation by the Ministry of Education,

was launched April 12 as part of efforts to ensure students in Taiwan enjoy equal access to music education.

The bank encourages musical instrument-makers, urban schools and the public to donate instruments for use by educational institutions in remote areas. The donated instruments will be refurbished and fitted with radio frequency tracking tags by the music faculty and students at Taipei City-based Shih Chien University, one of the country’s highest-regarded arts departments.

In addition, a mobile repair service will be provided for large instruments unable to be returned to SCU for repair.

During the program launch, MOE Minister Wu Se-hwa said one his goals since taking over the portfolio in 2014 was expanding educational resources for students in remote areas.     [FULL  STORY]

RUDE AND VIOLENT MEANS:In a rare show of solidarity, the major parties condemned Beijing’s handling of the Kenyan deportees case, saying that it had violated human rights

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 16, 2016
By: Alison Hsiao / Staff reporter

The Legislative Yuan yesterday released a joint statement, endorsed by all

party caucuses, denouncing Beijing’s “forced deportation” of Taiwanese from Kenya to China, which had “seriously infringed upon the basic human rights and the nation’s sovereignty.”

“The government has the responsibility to protect Taiwanese people’s safety and rights, which entail that any judicial procedure [that they are subjected to] should conform to international human rights standards,” the statement said.

“If extraterritorial crimes are involved, the suspects should be deported back to Taiwan for trial; if disputes over jurisdiction occur, negotiation should be the approach and international principles followed for reaching a solution,” it said.

It continued to slam the Chinese government for “forcing Taiwanese to be deported to China with rude and violent means that seriously violated human rights and personal freedom and also unnecessarily damaged China’s image among Taiwanese.”     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-04-15
By: By Tang Pei-chun, Central News Agency

Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) has sent a letter to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in the name of President Ma Ying-jeou to extend sympathy after Japan’s Kumamoto Prefecture was struck by a massive earthquake late Thursday, MOFA said Friday.

The letter was forwarded to the Interchange Association, Japan through Taiwan’s representative office in Tokyo, MOFA said. The Interchange Association, Japan is an office which handles Japan’s unofficial relations with Taiwan on behalf of the Japanese government.

Foreign Minister David Lin has written a similar letter to his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida, according to MOFA.

At least two people were killed and 45 injured in the magnitude-6.5 earthquake that hit the prefecture in Japan’s southern Kyushu Island.     [SOURCE}

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/04/15
By: Tang Pei-chun and Jay Chen

Taipei, April 15 (CNA) The Taiwan government has been working to ensure 52

nationals detained in Malaysia for alleged phone scams are not sent to China, Foreign Minister David Lin (林永樂) said Friday.

The matter took on extra urgency after 45 Taiwanese suspects were sent to China earlier this week by Kenyan police authorities. The suspects were allegedly members of a Chinese-Taiwanese telecommunications fraud ring that had been targeting people in China.

The foreign minister made the comments following a lawmaker’s claim that a Chinese airliner was in Jakarta Friday morning to pick up the 52 Taiwanese and 65 Chinese suspects.

Lin told CNA he did not know whether China intended to pick up the Taiwanese suspects but Taiwan’s representative office in Jakarta had made it clear to Malaysian authorities that the suspects should be deported to Taiwan as has been done in the past.     [FULL  STORY]

OPINIONS:Lee Hsien Loong said that a growing Taiwanese consciousness could be a problem for the DPP and that Taiwan would not have US support in a war with China

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 15, 2016
By: Stacy Hsu / Staff reporter

Minister of Foreign Affairs David Lin (林永樂) yesterday shrugged off Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s (李顯龍) concerns that Taiwan would be left stranded in the event of a cross-strait conflict, saying that there is no such problem.

Lin made the remarks on the sidelines of an international law forum on South China Sea disputes at Soochow University in Taipei, which was attended by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and dozens of academics.

“There is no such problem. We will do our utmost to [promote Taiwan’s] international status,” Lin said when asked to comment on remarks Lee made in an interview with the Wall Street Journal on Mar. 29 during a visit to the US, the transcript of which was shared by the prime minister on Facebook on Wednesday.

Lin said Ma has endeavored to promote Taiwan’s roles as a peacemaker and a provider of humanitarian aid in the international arena and to assuage tensions in the South China Sea.     [FULL  STORY]

The News Lens
Date: 2016/04/14
Translated and compiled by: Yuan-ling Liang

On April 13, the Taichung District Prosecutors Office announced that it had

uncovered the biggest amount of drugs found in a Taiwan narcotic crime.

Two of the suspects, Cheng and Lee, were both arrested. The evidence includes 263 kilograms of ketamine and 1,520 kilograms of cathine (raw material for making amphetamine), adding up to more than NT$1 billion (approximately US$30.8 million).

At the end of March, the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau reported that drugs were found on a container ship from China. The Taichung custom officers then tracked down clues and uncovered a huge amount of drugs that could potentially be supplied to 36 million people.

Apple Daily reports, according to the prosecutors, the drug dealers intentionally imported the narcotics during spring break in Taiwan, when fewer customs officers are on duty. They stuffed the drugs inside large plastic decorations. The rest of the drugs were hidden in green tea and car wax containers. Before sent to Taiwan, the goods were originally shipped from China and loaded in Kowloon, Hong Kong.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/04/14
By: Chen Wei-ting and Kay Liu

Taipei, April 14 (CNA) Starting June 1, people taking the driver’s license test in Taiwan will be required to know about driving safety in snowy conditions, the Directorate General of Highways said Thursday.

A total of six questions related to driving on snowy or icy roads have been added to the existing database of questions, from which random picks are made for the driver’s license written test, highway authorities said.

The decision to include those questions was made after a rare snowfall at lower elevations in Taiwan in January caused problems on icy roads, resulting in at least two deaths, the authorities said.

The highway authorities said that with effect from June, the driver’s license written test will include questions on the use of snow tires and tire chains, the risks of skidding even with snow tires and chains, and the safe distance between vehicles on the road in snowy or icy conditions.     [FULL  STORY]