Page Three

Latest survey finds President Tsai’s popularity is slumping

Formosa News
Date: 2018/06/17

President Tsai Ing-wen’s popularity has dropped roughly 5% between May and June, the latest survey from the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation has revealed. The poll also found that Premier Lai and his Cabinet were also facing diving popularity ratings, and after two diplomatic allies ruptured their ties in May, roughly two thirds of the public said they have no confidence in the government’s ability to safeguard Taiwan’s freedom to move around at the international level.

Halfway into 2018, the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation conducted a new survey of the public’s approval of the president and her Cabinet.     [FULL  STORY]

Owners protest restrictions on two-stroke vehicles

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/06/17
By: Central News Agency

Taipei, June 17 (CNA) Over 1,000 owners of two-stroke scooters rallied on Ketagalan

(By Central News Agency)

Boulevard in Taipei on Sunday to protest the government’s plan to ban such vehicles on certain designated roads.

A draft amendment to the Air Pollution Control Act, which would ban two-stroke scooters, passed its first reading at the Legislative Yuan earlier this month.

Under the amendment, the Environmental Protection Administration will authorize city and county governments to designate air quality protection areas and prohibit old two-stroke scooters that emit black exhaust fumes from entering those areas.

Lo Yi, a spokesman for an alliance against the ban on two-stroke scooters, said during the protest that the government has repeatedly placed restrictions on old scooters, including tightening emission standards and limiting the right of the scooters’ owners to drive them.    [FULL  STORY]

China has higher favorable than unfavorable rating in Taiwan: poll

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/06/17
By: Yeh Su-ping and Evelyn Kao

Image taken from Pixabay

Taipei, June 17 (CNA) More Taiwanese see China in a favorable than unfavorable light, but nearly 80 percent of the public disapprove of China’s recent actions, including enticing Burkina Faso to cut formal ties with Taiwan, according to a survey released Sunday.

The survey, conducted by the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation, found China with a 48.8 percent favorability rating among respondents and a 43.9 percent unfavorability rating, the first time a majority of respondents in the annual poll saw China favorably.

Foundation Chairman You Ying-lung (游盈隆) said he was surprised and even stunned by the results, given that nearly 80 percent of respondents in a separate survey released by the foundation expressed disapproval of China’s hostile moves toward Taiwan recently.

They included luring away Burkina Faso, which switched allegiance to China last month, and demanding that international airlines list Taiwan as a part of China.
[FULL  STORY]

Cyberattacks by China ever more sneaky: source

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 18, 2018
By: Jess Macy Yu  /  Reuters, TAIPEI

Cyberattacks from China on government computers are becoming more difficult to detect, as hackers increasingly use online platforms, such as search engines, to break into systems, a source close to government discussions said.

While the frequency of attacks by China’s cyberarmy has declined, the success rate of such incursions is rising, the source said.

“Taiwan’s official departments suffer from hundreds of successful Internet attacks each year, more than half of which come from assaults by China’s cyberarmy,” said the person, who is not authorized to speak to the media and declined to be identified.

China has denied accusations of engaging in cyberwarfare or hacking and has said that it is itself one of the world’s biggest victims of such incidents.    [FULL  STORY]

More rain forecast in central, southern Taiwan this holiday weekend

ICRT Radio News
Date: 2018-06-16 15:43:13

Heavy rainfall is again expected in central and southern Taiwan starting
late today due to abundant moisture brought in by a stationary front and
southwesterly currents.

The Central Weather Bureau said following the departure of a tropical
depression that dumped a huge amount of rain in southern Taiwan over the
past two days, we’re getting a brief break from the wet weather during the
day today.

However, forecasters say a stationary front and southwesterly currents will
hit southern Taiwan late today, bringing heavy rain, before gradually
spreading to central Taiwan.

The rain is forecast to continue until the Dragon Boat Festival on Monday
and begin to ease on Tuesday.

The tropical depression, meanwhile, was upgraded to a tropical storm, at 2
a.m. today, moving in a northeasterly direction toward Japan.    [SOURCE]

US report says Beijing heightening engagement with Taiwan’s allies in South Pacific

Formosa NNews
Date: 2018/06/15

China is stepping up its engagement with Pacific Island countries, according to a report by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. The report, which was prepared for the U.S. Congress, said that China is courting the Pacific Islands region with its “One Belt, One Road” infrastructure plan. Beijing’s campaign is a cause for concern, because the region is home to one-third of Taiwan’s 18 remaining allies.

Kalani Kaneko
Marshall Islands health minister
… include the government and the people of Taiwan within the WHA.

At the World Health Assembly, Taiwan’s handful of South Pacific allies spoke out for Taiwan in a show of solidarity. A recent US report indicates that Beijing could be ready to squeeze Taiwan’s diplomatic space even further.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan tycoon out of jail for Dragon Boat holiday

Jack Sun entered jail for 3 years last September

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/06/16
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Tycoon Jack Sun (孫道存) left prison Saturday to spend the

Jack Sun on a visit to the judiciary last year. (By Central News Agency)

Dragon Boat Festival at home despite only having started a three-year prison sentence for embezzlement last September.

The former chairman of Pacific Electric Wire and Cable (PEWC, 太平洋電信電纜公司) is better known as the father of leading Taiwanese socialite Aimee Sun (Yunyun Sun, 孫芸芸), who plays a key role at her husband’s Breeze Center shopping malls.

Last September, Jack Sun, 68, entered jail following his sentencing to three years for his involvement in the embezzlement of NT$20 billion (US$663 million) from his company.

However, at 3:40 p.m. Saturday, he was seen walking freely, wearing a baseball cap and a surgical mask, out of a detention facility in Taoyuan City, the Apple Daily reported. A friend in a modest Toyota picked him up, and there was no sign of his daughters or of his 32-year-old woman friend, the newspaper noted.  [FULL  STORY]

Tariffs in U.S.-China trade spat used as bargaining chips: scholar

Focus Taiwann
Date: 2018/06/16
By: Chen Chia-lun and Ko Lin

Taipei, June 16 (CNA) The recent exchange of punitive tariffs by the United States

CNA file photo

and China is simply a tactic employed by each side to increase their respective bargaining chips, a Taiwanese scholar said Saturday.

Liu Meng-chun (劉孟俊), director of the first research division of Taiwan’s Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research, said there is still room for negotiation between the two sides, even if the U.S. is ready to impose tariffs on US$50 billion worth of Chinese goods.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Friday that his administration will impose an additional 25 percent tariff on up to US$50 billion worth of Chinese goods, including machinery, robotics, aerospace items, information technology devices and auto products.

Liu said he believes the U.S. is not targeting consumer electronics products such as smartphones and TV sets even though they are the main drivers of the U.S. trade deficit because Trump is looking for a quid pro quo with China, as occurred in the ZTE case.    [FULL  STORY]

Group seeks 2019 independence referendum

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 17, 2018
By: Staff writer, with CNA

The Formosa Alliance (喜樂島聯盟) yesterday in Taichung held the first meeting of its full organization, calling on its supporters to demand a referendum on formally declaring independence on April 6 next year.

Formosa TV chairman Kuo Pei-hung (郭倍宏) said the group plans to first push the legislature to amend the Referendum Act (公民投票法) before Aug. 31, then hold an independence referendum next year.

The referendum would hopefully help Taiwan achieve its goals of becoming a “normalized” nation and gaining international recognition, Kuo said, adding: “We want to become a normalized country.”

Kuo’s plan acknowledged that the referendum would not be allowed under current law, as the act does not allow questions on constitutional matters.    [FULL  STORY]

Tsai meets Paraguay’s commerce minister

Radio Taiwan Innternational
Date: 2018-06-15

President Tsai Ing-wen on Friday met a delegation from Paraguay led by the country’s

President Tsai Ing-wen on Friday met a delegation from Paraguay led by the country’s minister for industry and commerce, Gustavo Leite. (CNA photo)

minister for industry and commerce, Gustavo Leite. Paraguay is Taiwan’s only diplomatic ally in South America.

Tsai said Taiwan and Paraguay share the same values of freedom and democracy and have cooperated in many areas for many years. The president noted that trade between Taiwan and Paraguay has seen a marked increase in recent years. Taiwan now imports over 10,000 tonnes of Paraguayan beef every year. An economic cooperation agreement between the two sides also came into force in February this year.

The minister’s delegation is in Taiwan to introduce his country’s investment environment and opportunities to local businesses. The president said she hopes Paraguay can be a base for Taiwan’s companies to develop internationally, with benefits for both sides.   [FULL  STORY]]