NewsWeek
Date: 3/16/18
BY: David Brennan 

Taiwan reaffirmed its continued interest in acquiring U.S.-made F-35 stealth fighter jets,

British and American F-35s fly above the North Sea on July 1, 2016. Taiwan wants access to the platform to defend against possible Chinese aggression.

as it considers how it would fight off a possible Chinese invasion.

Speaking to parliament, Taiwan’s Defense Minister Yen Teh-fa confirmed that the government wants to acquire the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II platform, though did not mention which variant of the jet or how many Taiwan would buy, Defense News reported.

Taiwan is reportedly interested in the U.S.’s F-35B variant, which has vertical take-off and landing capabilities, and was developed for use on U.S. Navy ships. This would allow Taiwanese jets to take off and fight even if its runways were destroyed in a Chinese first strike.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/03/16
By: Lee Hsin-Yin 

Taipei, March 16 (CNA) A rainbow that lasted for about nine hours and was observed from Chinese Culture University in Taipei last year will be officially recognized by Guinness World Records as the longest rainbow ever recorded, the university said Friday.

The rainbow, which lasted from 6:57 a.m. to 3:55 p.m. on Nov. 30, 2017, generated considerable public interest at the time and was reported by local and foreign media.

Chou Kun-hsuan (周昆炫), a professor from the university’s Department of Atmospheric Science, whose team documented the event, launched a campaign to have the rainbow recognized by the Guinness World Records.

Most rainbows last for less than an hour, and the existing Guinness record for the longest-lasting rainbow of six hours was set in 1994 in Wetherby, Yorkshire in the United
Kingdom.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Mar 17, 2018
By: Lin Chia-nan  /  Staff reporter

As air pollution has spiraled into a political issue, upgrading a coal-fired power plant

A graphic mock-up shows Taiwan Power Co’s coal-fired Shenao Power Plant development in New Taipei City’s Rueifang District after reconstruction.  Photo courtesy of Taiwan Power Co

seems to many a retrogressive move for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and an academic researcher yesterday said that the project might result in a backlash from local businesses.

The controversial Shenao (深澳) Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Rueifang District (瑞芳) is expected to start operating again in 2025. Once completed, it would be the third operational power plant in the north of Taiwan, along with the city’s Linkou (林口) Power Plant and Keelung’s Hsieh-ho (協和) Power Plant.

State-run Taiwan Power Co’s (Taipower) plan to upgrade the plant, which stopped operations in 2007, had passed an environmental impact assessment (EIA) in 2006. Due to changes to the project, Taipower filed an environmental impact analysis report with the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) in May last year.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-03-15

Premier William Lai says respecting freedom of expression is the key to cross strait

Cabinet deputy spokesperson Ting Yun-kung spoke on behalf of the premier who said the openness of Taiwan’s arts community is one of its greatest assets. (CNA file photo)

cultural exchanges. He spoke at a Cabinet meeting on Thursday about Taiwanese works of art that have been recognized on the world stage.

He highlighted works such as the film The Great Buddha + that entered the 2018 New Directors/New Films Festival in New York. He also mentioned On Happiness Road, which won the Grand Prize in the featured film category at the Tokyo Anime Award Festival this week. A third work, The Stolen Bicycle, was nominated for the 2018 Man Booker International Prize.

Lai said Taiwan’s history, politics, culture and society are full of stories to tell. He said the more local a work is, the more global it can be. Cabinet deputy spokesperson Ting Yun-kung spoke on behalf of the premier who said the openness of Taiwan’s arts community is one of its greatest assets.    [FULL  STORY]

A video spotlighting Taiwan’s ongoing problems with illegal fishing and human rights abuses aboard its offshore vessels could not have come at a worse time.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/03/15
By: David Green

Taiwan’s Fishing Agency (FA) faces potential embarrassment and the possible imposition

Photo Credit：AP/達志影像

of a “red card” from visiting European Commission (EC) fisheries inspectors amid the release of an eye-opening video on illegal fishing by Taiwanese vessels and the abuse of migrant workers employed on board.

EC officials are in Taiwan for a week to review measures to curb illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing activities following the imposition of a “yellow card” warning for Taiwan in October 2015.

The warning does not affect fisheries trade between Taiwan and the European Union but obliges Taiwan to report on its progress improving illegal fishing monitoring and prevention activities every six months.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/03/15
By: Huang Ya-shih and Evelyn Kao

Vatican City, March 15 (CNA) The Vatican on Thursday bestowed a medal on Republic of

Matthew Lee (李世明, first right)/Photo courtesy of the Embassy of the Republic of China (Taiwan) to the Holy See.

China Ambassador to the Holy See Matthew Lee (李世明), in recognition of his diplomatic work there.

Lee was awarded the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Pius IX, the highest honor given to ambassadors to the Holy See.

The Vatican said Lee was awarded the medal in recognition of his contribution to deepening relations between the Republic of China (Taiwan) and the Holy See and his enthusiastic participation in events held by the Vatican.

Ten other foreign ambassadors to the Holy See also received the same honor Thursday, including those from Argentina, Greece, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, and Burkina Faso.
[FULL  STORY]