ABS-CBN News
Date: Jul 06 2018
By: Tarra Quismundo, ABS-CBN News

MANILA – It may well be like a typical romance: highs and lows, good times and bad, conflict then reconciliation.

This seems to ring true between the Philippines and Taiwan, long-time friends less than 2 hours apart by plane whose shared ancestry and cultural similarities have made their links indelible, despite occasional irritants.

A recent Taiwan public opinion poll captures this seeming love-hate relationship: while the Taiwanese rated the Philippines as their 2nd most hated country, next only to reclusive North Korea, they also voted the Philippines as “the 9th most-liked country,” the Taiwan Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) clarified to ABS-CBN News on Friday.

TECO did not explain the contradiction, but TECO Director Jerry Chuang said a single survey should not diminish strong ties between Manila and Taipei.   [FULL  STORY]

But what if Beijing has other ideas?

The National Interest
Date: July 6, 2018 
By: Michael Peck

A Pentagon report from 2014 lays out China’s military options for invading Taiwan. And while a huge amphibious assault is one possibility for “reunifying” Taiwan with mainland China, Beijing’s burgeoning arsenal gives it plenty of other options.

The invasion analysis is part of the latest edition of the Pentagon’s annual report on China’s military capabilities and strategy. It doesn’t just reflect an assessment of China’s military options. It also reflects how the U.S.—which could in theory go to war with China in order to stop an invasion of Taiwan—views the advantages and disadvantages of those options.

(This first appeared in WarIsBoring in 2014.)

The report presents four military options in escalating order of force.

Naval blockade:

China could starve out Taiwan, which imports much of its food and fuel. Beijing could compel ships to stop in mainland ports for inspection. Or, the Chinese Communist Party could declare the waters around Taiwan to be live-fire training zones, discouraging ships from entering, just as it did in 1995.    [FULL  STORY]

Most of the group’s financiers had already returned to Taiwan

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/07/06
By: Matthew Strong,Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said Friday it had nabbed

more than 70 people suspected of involvement in a fraud ring based in the Dominican Republic.

One of the suspects arrested was seen as the mastermind of the whole international operation, the Central News Agency reported.

Having identified the fact that a Taiwanese citizen traveled to the Dominican Republic to set up an electronic fraud operation, the police forces of both countries cooperated to fight the ring. A raid on its headquarters last September netted four Taiwanese and one Dominican citizen.

However, most of the organization’s key figures had already left the Caribbean country by then to return to Taiwan, the CIB said.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/07/06
By: Kuo Hsing-yi and William Yen

Taipei, July 6 (CNA) Operators started lowering the power from the second reactor at the

No. 2 nuclear power plant in New Taipei at 8 p.m. Friday ahead of the reactor being taken offline early Saturday for inspections, state-run utility Taiwan Power Co. (Taipower) said.

As of around 10 p.m. Friday, the reactor was generating 273,500 kilowatts and running at just below 28 percent capacity, Taipower data showed.

The inspections are scheduled because the vibration calibration of one of the reactor’s side bearings needs to be adjusted, Taipower said, though it noted the vibrations were still within an allowable range of operation.

The inspections are expected to be completed within a day and the reactor is scheduled to be back online generating power by Saturday evening, Taipower said.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 07, 2018
By: Lin Chia-nan  /  Staff reporter

Former vice president Lien Chan (連戰) is to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近

平) on Friday next week as part of his nine-day trip to China, Lien’s office said yesterday, adding that 50 political, sports and agricultural representatives are to join his delegation.

Leaving for Beijing on Thursday morning next week, Lien is to dine with China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Minister Liu Jieyi (劉結一) on the first night, office spokeswoman Kuo Su-chun (郭素春) told a news conference in Taipei.

The Lien-Xi meeting is to take place in Beijing on the second day, Kuo said, declining to reveal the venue and agenda of the meeting.

Lien is to dine with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Yang (汪洋) on the second night and deliver a speech at a seminar in Beijing, she said.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/07/05
By: Chu Tse-wei and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, July 5 (CNA) The Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) signed a

memorandum of understanding with the U.K.’s leading public funder of environmental science Thursday, to promote exchanges in natural environment research.

The MOU was signed by Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Su Fong-chin (蘇芳慶) and Duncan Wingham, chief executive of the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), at Taiwan’s representative office in London, the ministry said in a statement.

Under the agreement, the two institutions will work together to conduct research into getting benefits from natural resources, restoring damaged environment and managing environmental change, through mutual visits by scientists, research exchanges, equipment sharing and holding seminars or forums, according to the statement.

The natural environment is a global issue, the ministry noted, adding that it requires research by international scientific experts in multiple fields to search for pragmatic solutions.    [FULL  STORY]

PERSONAL VISIT? The KMT said the former vice president would not represent the party during his trip, which a source said was originally to be announced with Beijing

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 06, 2018
By: Shih Hsiao-kuang and Jonathan Chin  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer

Former vice president Lien Chan (連戰) could meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近

平) during an upcoming trip to China, Lien’s office said, adding that details of the trip would be announced after they are finalized.

Rumors of a Lien-Xi meeting have made waves for Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Wu Den-yih (吳敦義), who has been unable to secure an audience with the Chinese president since taking over the party in August last year.

The meeting could happen during Lien’s trip, purportedly to visit his family’s ancestral graves.

Asked about the possible meeting, Lien’s office spokeswoman Kuo Su-chun (郭素春) on Wednesday said that Lien was in contact with Chinese officials regarding his trip.
[FULL  STORY]

The woman was mistaken for an animal during the hunt by her boyfriend

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/07/05
By: Alicia Nguyen, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A Taiwanese woman was accidentally shot and killed by her boyfriend during a night hunt in Miaoli County last night.

At around 11 p.m. on July 4, a man surnamed Chen (62), who is an indigenous Taiwanese from the Amis ethnic group, went hunting at Sanwan township in Miaoli county and was accompanied by a female companion surnamed Lin (62) and a male cousin.

When Chen spotted what he assumed to be the reflective eyes of an animal, he fired a shot at the target. However, his cousin then loudly shouted out: “You just hit a person!” and told the man to come over.

As Chen he came closer, he saw Lin unconscious in the back seat of the van the group had used and noticed a bullet wound on her head. The two men immediately took Lin to the emergency room at Miaoli’s Wei Gong Memorial Hospital.    [FULL  STORY]