Channel News Asia
Date: 06 Aug 2018 

TAIPEI: Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen said on Monday (Aug 6) she is seeking to ramp

up spending on the armed forces, as relations with China deteriorate.

Her proposal to increase the 2019 defence budget by 5.6 per cent to Tw$346 billion (US$11.3 billion) will go before parliament following the summer recess.

Beijing sees democratic self-ruling Taiwan as part of its territory to be brought back into its fold, by force if necessary.

China has stepped up pressure on Taiwan since Tsai came to power two years ago, as her government refuses to acknowledge the island is part of “one China”.

It has staged a string of air and naval exercises, including a live-fire drill in the Taiwan Strait in April, which Chinese officials said were aimed at Taiwan’s “independence forces”.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News  
Date: 2018/08/06
By:  Agencies

Students in Jordan will soon enjoy improved access to water thanks to a project run by TaiwanICDF and U.S.-based Mercy Corps. (Courtesy of TaiwanICDF)
Taiwan Today–Schoolchildren in Jordan will soon be getting better access to water under a new project by the International Cooperation and Development Fund (TaiwanICDF) and U.S.-based Mercy Corps.

TaiwanICDF said Aug. 3 that it is working with the nongovernmental organization to install and repair rainwater harvesting systems in 11 public schools and community centers in the northwest of the Middle Eastern country where many Syrian refugees have fled.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/08/06
By: Chang Chien-chung and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, Aug. 6 (CNA) A computer virus that hit Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.

(TSMC) was not caused by a hacker or an employee with a grudge, the company’s CEO said Monday, responding to rumors that TSMC was hit by a cyberattack.

The virus outbreak was a “mistake by TSMC itself,” said CEO C.C. Wei (魏哲家), who is also the vice chairman of the world’s largest contract chipmaker, at a press briefing.

It occurred when a new tool was connected to the company’s computer network without having been isolated first to be checked for viruses as a precaution, Wei said.

Having installed more than 10,000 fab tools in the past, TSMC “very much regretted” that such negligence would happen, he said.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Aug 07, 2018
By: Ann Maxon  /  Staff reporter

A coalition of groups opposed to forced evictions yesterday rallied outside the Control

Yuan to call for an investigation into two demonstrations at which protesters were allegedly beaten up and confined to designated areas by police.

At demonstrations on Thursday and Friday by residents of New Taipei City’s Daguan (大觀) community, police abused their power by taking unnecessarily violent measures and restricting protesters’ freedom, Taiwan Association for Human Rights policy director Shih Yi-hsiang (施逸翔) said.

During Thursday’s demonstration outside the National Housing and Regeneration Center in Taipei, where President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) attended a ceremony, protesters were violently dragged 200m to an area bordered by barricades and police officers after being told once to disperse, the protesters’ letter to the Control Yuan said.

They were forced to stay in the barricaded area, which the police described as a “protest zone,” and prevented from going to the restroom for two hours, the letter said.
[FULL  STORY]

FOREIGN MINISTER WILFRED ELRINGTON SPEAKS TO REPORTERS ABOUT MARITIME AREAS ACT

LoveFM Radio
Date: Aug 4, 2018
By Jose Sanchez

Minister of Foreign Affairs Wilfred Elrington echoed the responses of CEO Andrews in

that the funds are being channeled through the United Nations Development Program. The Minister of Foreign Affairs spoke of the upcoming visit of the President of Taiwan, Tsai Ing-Wen who will be arriving in Belize on August sixteenth to eighteenth.  This has caused a deep diplomatic frown by mainland China which has advised airlines not to allow Taiwan’s president access on the trip. China has a claim on Taiwan much as Guatemala has an unfounded claim on Belize. The relationship Belize has with Taiwan is at stake as China has been using dollar diplomacy to strip away Taiwan’s allies in the Caribbean and South America. We asked Minister Elrington if China is knocking at our doors.

Jose Sanchez: Belize is currently being courted by China to adapt the One China policy. Has any diplomatic or any sort of chance being used to contact the government of Belize to implement projects whether it’s in infrastructure, towards humanitarian efforts that will benefit our country. Is anything be offered?

Minister of Foreign Affairs Wilfred Elrington: By the mainland Chinese no. No I am not aware of any offer being made and I would imagine certainly not through official channels. No we are not aware of anything like that.    [FULL  STORY]

Chile’s Easter Island and Lanyu Township in Taitung County signed a memorandum of understanding in Lanyu Friday

Taiwan News  
Date: 2018/08/04
By:  Central News Agency

TAIPEI (CNA) — Chile’s Easter Island and Lanyu Township in Taitung County forged sisterhood relations Friday through the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in Lanyu Friday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said Saturday.

Easter Island Mayor Pedro Pablo Edmunds Paoa signed the MOU with Lanyu Township Mayor Chiaman Chialamu to cement bilateral cooperation in the development and academic studies of the Rapa Nui and Yami peoples, the indigenous Austronesian peoples living on the two islands.

It is the first time that Taiwan’s indigenous peoples have signed an MOU with indigenous peoples in a foreign country, according to a statement from the MOFA.

In addition to the signing of the MOU, Pedro Pablo Edmunds Paoa, the tribal leader of the Rapa Nui people, was invited to attend the 2018 Austronesian Forum in Taipei Aug. 2, the MOFA statement said.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/08/04
By: Shih Hsiu-chuan 

Taipei, Aug. 4 (CNA) The fifth Taiwan Literature Awards for Migrants were announced Saturday, with eight migrant workers from the Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam depicting such themes in their works as longing for family, stories of migration and how they observe their host societies.

The eight winning pieces were chosen from among a total of 553 entries, of which 230 were written in Tagalog, 165 in Indonesian, 92 in Vietnamese and 66 in Thai, said Chang Cheng (張正), owner of the Southeast Asian bookstore Brilliant Time.

Chang, who initiated the awards in 2014, said that this year’s competition has received the highest number of submissions because eligibility for entry was expanded to include immigrants and migrant workers in Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore and Malaysia, in addition to Taiwan.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Aug 05, 2018
By: Lee I-chia  /  Staff reporter

Taiwanese dislike candidates using public fear and hatred as an election campaign

strategy, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said yesterday, in response to remarks by the pan-blue and pan-green camps about cross-strait relations.

Taiwanese actress Vivian Sung (宋芸樺) on Thursday posted an apology on her Sina Weibo microblog, saying: “Taiwan is my hometown, China is my home country,” after Chinese netizens labeled her as a Taiwanese independence advocate, after she said her favorite country was Taiwan in a 2015 interview.

Taiwanese and Chinese netizens have debated the issue, while political figures have also weighed in on it, making remarks about cross-strait relations.

At a Democratic Progressive Party campaign event promoting the party’s Taipei mayoral candidate Pasuya Yao (姚文智) and city councilor candidates on Friday evening, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said China’s suppression of Taiwan aims to crush Taiwanese’s self-confidence, and Taiwanese should be free to say that “Taiwan is their favorite country.”    [FULL  STORY]

This goes beyond dislike for the DPP – it’s a long-term strategy from Beijing.

The Diplomat
Date: August 03, 2018
By: Chih-Cheng Chang

Since the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), led by Tsai Ing-wen, won Taiwan’s presidential and legislative elections in January 2016, China has taken a series of steps to isolate the self-governing island from the international community. These steps have included prevailing upon four countries – Panama, Sao Tome and Principe, Burkina Faso, and the Dominican Republic – to sever their long-term diplomatic relationships with Taiwan, as well as depriving Taiwan of its observer status at the World Health Assembly. In the most recent such incident, China successfully pressured 44 airlines from around the world, including four based in the United States, to remove “Taiwan” as keyword from their booking systems. At the same time, China moved to deprive Taichung City in central Taiwan of its host-city status for the upcoming 2019 East Asian Youth Games, which it had been awarded in 2012.

Why is China continuing to bully Taiwan? Many analyses fail to look beyond the communist mainland’s reflexive dislike for democratic Taiwan’s new pro-independence regime. If that is indeed China’s motivation, these moves are counterproductive. China’s intimidation against the DPP regime will only serve to make China and the Kuomintang (the KMT), with its anti-independence stance, even less popular among the Taiwanese people. Indeed, in the wake of the aforementioned incidents involving international airlines and the East Asian Youth Games, some Taiwanese media and commentators have been making more sanguine predictions about the DPP’s likely performance in the November 2018 local elections. In other words, China’s intimidation of Taiwan may indeed only add to the electoral woes of the ever-weakening KMT.

Nevertheless, China’s recent coercive actions must be recognized as elements of a precisely calibrated strategy on the part of Chinese cross-strait policymakers. The logic of this strategy is not to win over the hearts of the Taiwanese population, but rather to weaken the authority of the government of Taiwan, due to the latter’s strong opposition to the “one China” principle.    [FULL  STORY]