Taipei Times
Date: May 26, 2018
By: Staff writer, with CNA

Taiwan yesterday closely monitored a long-range military drill staged by China, during

which Xian H-6K strategic bombers flew over the Bashi Channel, the Air Force Command Headquarters of the Ministry of National Defense said.

Two Chinese aircraft flew over the Bashi Channel, the waterway to the south of Taiwan, at about 4am yesterday and entered the Miyako Strait, which lies between the Japanese islands of Miyako and Okinawa, the air force said in a statement.

The two Xian H-6K strategic bombers were on a long-range air exercise and the air force scrambled F-16 fighter jets to observe them, the statement said.

The air force said it has installed an early warning system that shows every move the Chinese military makes in the region and enables it to respond accordingly.
[FULL  STORY]

Kaohsiung is constructing monuments to progress, but basic quality-of-life improvements are needed to make the city truly livable.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/05/24
Date: Eryk Smith

This October, the planet’s largest concert venue under one roof officially opens in Kaohsiung, built on the site of an old military base.

It’s an impressive building. Impressive, too, is what’s planned for the new Kaohsiung Main Train Station, a gorgeous open, green and friendly complex that will make the Taipei Main Station look downright Stalinist.

I love my adopted hometown of Kaohsiung and bristle at expat bloggers or friends who rag on this city. I’ve seen what was – with only slight use of hyperbole – an industrial wasteland, transform into what I consider one of the most livable cities on the island. Watching electric buses silently glide along relatively clean streets or solar-powered tour boats on the Love River fills me with pride. Other changes to the waterfront and various beautification projects are likewise inspiring.    [FULL  STORY]

The runaway councilor was allegedly involved in illegal drugs trade and possession of firearms

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/05/24
By: Sophia Yang, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – After ten months in hiding, a city councilor of the Philippine

municipality of Ozamiz has been arrested in a residential complex in Donggang Township, Pingtung County.

Ozamiz City Councilor Ricardo Parojinog was allegedly involved in the illegal drug trade and possessed illegal firearms, and whose older brother Ozamiz Mayor Reynaldo Parojinog was killed in a police raid in July, 2017. In October of the same year, Ricardo reportedly bought a fishing vessel off a local fisherman to flee to Taiwan.

The Philippine police tipped their Taiwanese counterparts of his whereabouts on April 30, 2018. Taiwan’ Criminal Investigation Bureau then found that Ricardo’s wife and a daughter flew to Taiwan twice to meet him, and tracked him down to a residential complex in Donggang Township, Pingtung County, on Tuesday, May 22.

The runaway councilor was arrested in a raid by Taiwanese police when he was out for dinner at around 6 p.m. on Wednesday, May 23. The bureau said in a statement that the police are stilling working to find his accomplices in Taiwan.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/05/24
By: Miao Tsong-han and S.C. Chang

Taipei, May 24 (CNA) The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), Taiwan’s China policy planner, said Thursday night it will more rigorously screen applications by Chinese officials to visit Taiwan and will step up measures to counter Chinese moves to divide society and create social discord.

The MAC made the announcement hours after Burkina Faso ended 24 years of diplomatic ties with Taiwan, apparently switching to Beijing, the second country to do so in less than a month. Taiwan now has only 18 diplomatic allies.

China has resorted to military and diplomatic threats to coerce Taiwan into accepting its “one China” principle, an approach that shows Beijing is frightened by Taiwan’s democracy, according to MAC.

The more hostility it shows, the more it will force Taiwan to “go its own way” as Taiwan will never kneel before China, MAC stressed.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: May 25, 2018
By: Jason Pan  /  Staff reporter

Minister of Education Wu Maw-kuen (吳茂昆) yesterday faced a barrage of criticism from

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers in the Legislative Yuan over judicial investigations of high school and university officials.

Wu was asked to present the ministry’s policy and budget reports, and to answer questions at a meeting of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee, but the session got off to a raucous start.

KMT lawmakers surrounded Wu to protest probes by the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office and the Ministry of Justice’s Investigation Bureau (MJIB) into several school officials.

The investigations reportedly focus on the controversy over the election process for National Taiwan University (NTU) president and on high-school principals who have helped students apply for admission to Chinese universities.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-05-23

The Army has opened a training session of its paratrooper unit to members of the press.

After the ground signal is set, the paratroopers carry out their training and jump out of a

C-130 transport aircraft. Their every move is closely monitored by ground staff who help guide their fall.

The Army has opened its doors to the press to demonstrate the quality of its training after a paratrooper accident during the recent Han Kuang military exercises.

During their training session, the paratroopers are seen following instructions and performing a series of landing drills. The Army has also showcased the procedure to securely fold and verify each parachute.

Military officials stressed that there is a strict safety procedure in place to ensure that all parachutes are prepared to the same standard. The officials said they consider it their top priority to protect the lives of paratroopers.    [FULL  STORY]

The country’s infamous telecom scammers operate on the margins of international society, target rich Chinese merchants and hide their ill-gotten gains in the ‘renegade province.’

The news Lens
Date: 2018/05/23
By: Jules Quartly 

About 10 years ago an American friend in Taipei received a call from a pleasant-sounding woman who warned him to act quickly to prevent his bank account from being hacked. Pressured into transferring funds through his ATM, it took him a fraught half hour to lose his money to the scammers.

It was unfortunate that he was fluent in Chinese, or he would not have been targeted. He reported the crime, but there was little or no likelihood of any real investigation, let alone a prosecution. Since he voluntarily transferred the funds, there was nothing his bank could do about the situation. It was an easy and low-risk money-making strategy for the scammers and the penalty, if caught, was a smack on the wrist and a token fine.

Since then the scam has gone global and evolved to accommodate rampant social media use, spreading to messaging apps like WeChat and QQ. In addition, fraudsters use the latest telemarketing and political party tech, making automated telephone calls or “robocalls” to phish for victims.

Taiwan has even become infamous for producing scammers expert in this field. So much so that if you do a quick google you will find a Quora thread titled, “Why do many Chinese call Taiwan ‘The Island of Swindlers?’”    [FULL  STORY]

Two new cases of enterovirus infection with severe complications have been confirmed in Taiwan, according to a press release of Taiwan CDC on Tuesday

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/05/23
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News)–Two new cases of enterovirus infection with severe complications have been confirmed in Taiwan, according to a press release of the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (Taiwan CDC) on Tuesday.

As the weather is turning warmer, enterovirus activity is expected to increase. Taiwan CDC urged the public to wash hands with soap and water frequently, rest at home when sick, and clean and sanitize their household with bleach regularly. The agency added that pregnant women, newborns and children are advised to avoid contact with infected individuals to prevent contracting enterovirus.

The two new enterovirus cases respectively are a newborn baby boy and a 3-year-old girl who both reside in northern Taiwan, the agency said.

“The newborn baby was confirmed to have contracted echovirus 11 and developed severe complications. As of now, the case is still hospitalized for treatment,” Taiwan CDC said.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/05/23

Taipei, May 23 (CNA) While Taiwanese youths seem to be losing interest in classical

Chinese texts, American youth have found “healing power” in such venerable Chinese writers as Tao Yuan-ming, a leading American Sinologist said recently.

Tao Yuan-ming was a disenchanted fourth-century recluse whose works show a spirit of rising above things to find peace and harmony, and that message and the ideas of other Chinese literary figures are resonating with young people today as they have in the past, said Kang-i Sun Chang of Yale University in an interview with CNA.

Sun Chang was in Taiwan in part to promote the biennial Tang Prize, an Asian version of the Nobel Prize that awards achievement in Sinology and three other fields, and spoke to CNA on May 17 about the renewed significance of Sinology to people around the world today.    [FULL  STORY]