Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/09/14
By: Elaine Hou, Liu Shih-i and Ko Lin

Taipei, Sept. 14 (CNA) Deputy Justice Minister Tsai Pi-chung (蔡碧仲) will take the post

of acting magistrate of Hualien County, replacing Fu Kun-chi (傅崐萁), who has been sentenced to an eight- month prison term for stock speculation, Cabinet spokeswoman Kolas Yotaka (谷辣斯.尤達卡) said Friday.

Earlier this week, the Supreme Court rejected an appeal by Fu against the eight-month term, ruling that the case is now closed and that Fu must serve his term.

Fu was relieved of his post that same day, under the Local Government Act stipulating that heads of local governments be removed from their posts if they have been convicted of a crime and sentenced to terms of imprisonment.

In a statement, Kolas said Tsai will resign from his current position to officially assume his role in Hualien, effective Sept. 17.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 15, 2018
By: Stacy Hsu  /  Staff reporter

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday submitted a petition to the Control Yuan

asking it to investigate the alleged bias of five Transitional Justice Commission staff embroiled in a scandal that on Tuesday resulted in the resignation of commission deputy chairman Chang Tien-chin (張天欽).

“After the news broke that Chang was attempting to target a certain individual, he was the only one forced to step down, while commission Secretary-General Hsu Chun-ju (許君如), two commission researchers and one associate researcher, who were also implicated, have been allowed to remain in their posts,” KMT Culture and Communications Committee deputy director-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) told a news conference outside the Control Yuan in Taipei.

The failure of those five people to adhere to the principle of administrative neutrality poses a dire threat to the properties of the nation’s civil associations, he said.

“That is why we call on Control Yuan members to launch an investigation and exercise their power of corrective measures to suspend those who have breached the principle of neutrality,” Hung said.    [FULL  STORY]

CNN
Date: September 13, 2018
By Ryan Browne, CNN

Washington (CNN)The Pentagon has rejected a State Department request to deploy a detachment of US Marines to Taiwan to help safeguard the de facto American embassy there, three US officials tell CNN.

The decision to deny the request was made by Secretary of Defense James Mattis last month, according to two of the officials.

One defense official told CNN that prior to the request being rejected, military planners had anticipated the Marines arriving in Taiwan as early as next month.

Asked about the decision, a State Department official told CNN “we do not discuss specific security matters concerning the protection of our facilities or personnel.”
[FULL  STORY]

Taiwan was handed a ‘yellow card’ in 2015 for insufficient effort to fight illegal fishing

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/09/13
By: Huang Tzu-ti, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The Executive Yuan of Taiwan passed an amendment Sept. 13 proposing stricter regulations for fishing that will see violators given fines of up to NT$2.5 million (US$80,475)  for importing illegal fishery products.

The amendment for the Act for Distant Water Fisheries (遠洋漁業條例), pending approval by the Legislative Yuan, was made to demonstrate Taiwan’s determination in combating “illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing (IUU)” and to seek Taiwan’s removal from the “yellow card” watch list where it has been listed by European Union.

Illegal fishing threatens the sustainability of marine fisheries, jeopardizes the marine ecosystem and biodiversity, causes unfair competition, and affects the livelihoods of fishermen, according to the Council of Agriculture.

The amendment includes restrictions on the import of fish products associated with IUU and revised information concerning those products’ categorization, transportation, and related fishing techniques. The authorities may also declare nations or certain fisheries as prohibited barring imports of catches from designated areas.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/09/13
By: Wu Jui-chi and Ko Lin 

Taipei, Sept. 13 (CNA) Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport (TTIA) received third place in the “Best Airport By Size: over 40 million passengers per year” category in 2017 at a ceremony in Halifax, Canada, on Wednesday.

The award was accepted by Hung Yu-fen (洪玉芬), senior vice president of Taoyuan International Airport Corporation, which oversees the country’s main gateway, the company said in a statement.

The event was part of the annual Airport Service Quality (ASQ) Awards organized by the Airports Council International (ACI), it noted.

First place was a tie between Delhi and Mumbai airports, while second place was also a tie between Beijing and Shanghai Pudong airports, the ACI report showed.
[FULL  STORY]

HUALIEN OVERHAUL: The Executive Yuan said it does not have a replacement for Fu Kun-chi, but would choose someone soon, as Typhoon Mangkhut is approaching

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 14, 2018
By: Wang Chin-yi, Hua Meng-ching and Jake Chung  /  Staff reporters, with staff writer

Hundreds of people yesterday gathered in front of the Hualien County Government’s

auditorium to protest the Executive Yuan’s decision on Wednesday to dismiss Fu Kun-chi as county commissioner.

Addressing the protest, Fu said that the ruling was “unjust and illegal,” and called on his supporters and county residents to band together and help elect Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) commissioner candidate Hsu Chen-wei (徐榛蔚), who is his wife, in November.

Fu accused the judge and clerk at the Taiwan High Court’s Taichung branch of altering his affidavit and failing to observe proper court procedure by neglecting to state the basis on which the court found him guilty during his oral argument.

The Control Yuan last month censured the court after if found that there was a discrepancy between the court transcript and the court recording, Fu said.
[FULL  STORY]

Your daily bulletin of Taiwan news, courtesy of ICRT.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/09/12
By: International Community Radio Taipei (ICRT)

The Central Weather Bureau says the affects of Super Typhoon Mangkhut are likely to be felt by Friday, as the storm moves closer to Taiwan.

Mangkhut, upgraded yesterday to a Super Typhoon, is now a Category 4 storm and is expected to be upgraded to a Category 5 by tomorrow. The weather bureau says if Mangkhut continues on its current path its outer rim will threaten Hualien, Taitung and the Hengchun Peninsula.

The storm, which has a radius of 250 kilometers, is currently located some 1,900 kilometers east-southeast of Eluanbi at the island’s southern most tip and is moving in a westerly direction at 22 kilometers an hour. It is packing maximum sustained wind speeds of 190 kilometers an hour, with gusts of up to 234 kilometers an hour.    [FULL  STORY]

The 25th Taiwan-France Industrial Cooperation Consultation Meeting was held on Sept. 11

Taiwan News  
Date: 2018/09/13
By:  Central News Agency
The ICCM is jointly chaired by IDB Director General Leu Jang-hwa and Thomas Courbe, head of the Directorate General for Enterprises of France (Source:
Taiwan and France on Tuesday talked about strengthening cooperation in areas such as the Internet of Things, circular economy and photovoltaics, at an industrial cooperation consultation meeting in Paris, according to the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA).

In a statement issued Wednesday, the MOEA’s Industrial Development Bureau (IDB) said the meeting discussed cooperation opportunities for integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) with IoT, and the two sides agreed that the application of AI is important for their economic transformation and growth.

In terms of circular economy and photovoltaics, the IDB said Taiwan may learn from France’s energy transformation and circular economy experience and will promote a management mechanism for metal and solar panel recycling.

Meanwhile, as Taiwan has a comprehensive photovoltaics industry chain, it can be one of the best partners for the French market, the IDB said.    [FULL  STORY]