Over 400 people in Southeast Asian nation killed by dengue infection this year

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/07/27
By: Teng Pei-ju, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan issued a travel alert on Friday (July 26) for the Philippines due to the escalation of dengue fever in the Southeast Asian nation.

According to data from Philippine authorities, 456 people have been killed by the disease so far this year. More than 106,000 dengue cases were reported by the end of June, up 85 percent compared to the previous year.

Taiwan’s Bureau of Consular Affairs (BOCA) on Friday issued a caution notice for Taiwanese citizens inhabiting and traveling to the Philippines. Precautions should be taken to prevent dengue infections, especially after the rain, BOCA said.

In addition, BOCA asked people to be cautious about their safety, citing a series of church attacks that have taken place in recent months in Mindanao, Sulu, and Jolo. The attacks were possibly perpetrated by the Islamic State.    [FULL  STORY]

Businessman accused of using Taiwan government money to fund reverse takeover by Chinese firm

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/07/27
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

The complicated structure of a Taiwan-China jeans deal (screenshot from legislator Huang Kuo-chang's Facebook page).

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Jeans maker Chen Shih-hsiu (陳仕修) was freed on bail of NT$5 million (US$160,000) Saturday (July 27) morning amid allegations he took more than NT$1.4 billion (US$47.8 million) in National Development Fund (NDF) money to help a Chinese firm control his own.

The allegations were first made more than a year ago by New Power Party lawmaker Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌).

Chen used the funds to have his company Roo Hsing Co. (如興紡織) take over a Hong Kong-registered affiliate of a Chinese firm, JD United Holdings (玖地), but in reality the opposite was true, with the supposed target company receiving Taiwanese government funds to infiltrate a Taiwanese business, Huang alleged. JD United Holdings was originally five times larger than Roo Hsing, the Liberty Times reported.

The Taiwanese company, founded in 1977, is the largest jeans processing firm in Taiwan.

The money it received from the NDF was the first the body gave under a new support program for industrial innovation in traditional sectors, according to the Liberty Times.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/07/27
By: Tyson Lu and Ko Lin

Taipei, July 27 (CNA) A young Formosan black bear that apparently strayed away from its mother, was rescued by a local farmer in Taitung County Saturday.

Wang Wan-yu (王萬有), the farmer, said he found the cub on a banana plantation at around noon being chased by two large dogs.

There was no sign of its mother nearby, Wang said, adding that he placed the bear in a cage at a nearby fishing pond until authorities arrived to assist in the matter.

Chiu Hsiao-cheng (邱曉徵), an official with the Taitung Forest District Office's Guanshan Station, said judging by the size of the cub it is around a month old and somehow became separated from its mother.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 26 July, 2019
By: John Van Trieste

A landslide on Guishan Island, off Taiwan's northeast coast6[/caption] A recent landslide on a volcanic island popular with tourists has led to some alarm among visitors. But experts say the sudden collapse on a part of the island’s flank is nothing to worry about.

Guishan Island is a small volcanic island off Taiwan’s northeast coast. Tourists in whale watching boats love to circle its steep green slopes, admiring the striking milky blue of its underwater hot spring as they pass by. A few are even permitted to land on its protected shores for guided visits.

But the island can be treacherous. On Tuesday, one of its cliffs buckled, sending a cascade of rocks into the sea. Visitors on boats just off shore at the time were understandably concerned.
[FULL  STORY]

A report alleging that some Taiwanese media outlets receive instructions from Chinese officials has been countered with a libel lawsuit.

The Diplomat
Date: July 27, 2019
By: Nick Aspinwall

Want Want China Times, a Taiwanese media group long rumored to be closely linked to Beijing, is

suing the Financial Times for libel over a report alleging Want Want-owned media outlets take daily editorial orders from China’s Taiwan Affairs Office.

Financial Times reporter Kathrin Hille spoke to journalists with Want Want’s China Times and CtiTV, one of whom said officials from the Taiwan Affairs Office “call every day” for advice on shaping coverage. Want Want has called the report “fake news” and is suing Financial Times, Hille, and Taiwan’s Central News Agency (CNA), which reported on Hille’s story.

The move follows months of speculation that Want Want is closely tied to the Chinese government. Taiwan’s National Communications Commission (NCC), which is analogous to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the United States, has fined Want Want media outlets on several occasions for inaccurate or unbalanced coverage.

An April report by the Chinese-language Apple Daily also alleged that one of Want Want’s companies received direct subsidies from Chinese authorities. Want Want threatened to sue Apple Daily at the time and denied that the funding influences its media outlets – the company itself manufactures snack foods and drinks for the Chinese and Taiwanese markets. However, Want Want’s CEO, Tsai Eng-meng, has said in the past that “unification will happen sooner or later” and has supported Kuomintang (KMT) presidential candidate Han Kuo-yu, the Kaohsiung mayor who favors closer ties with China. Han is challenging incumbent President Tsai Ing-wen of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in next January’s presidential election.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/07/26
By: Lin Chang-shun and Lee Hsin-Yin

Taipei, July 26 (CNA) China Airlines (CAL) on Friday removed two executives involved in a cigarette smuggling scandal from their current positions and put other employees under administrative investigation.

Senior Vice President Lo Ya-mei (羅雅美) was transferred to executive assistant to the chairman, while Chiu Chang-hsin (邱彰信), vice president of the department responsible for duty-free product sales, was reassigned as a senior specialist to the president.

CAL said Lo and Chiu were supervising the latest presidential overseas trip, which was used by National Security Bureau (NSB) officials as cover to allegedly smuggle 9,800 cartons of cigarettes, worth NT$6 million (US$191,418), into Taiwan on July 22.

Tsai flew a China Airlines flight on a 12-day trip that took her to the United States and Taiwan's four Caribbean allies.    [FULL  STORY]

China could also take over Kinmen like Russia occupied Crimea

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/07/26
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – During the 2020s, Taiwan will lose the last of its 17 diplomatic allies while the residents of the island of Kinmen will vote to join China, according to discussions organized by Japan’s Canon Institute for Global Studies (CIGS).

The conclusions were the result of debates between 50 experts including serving government officials, military officers, academics, business people and journalists, reported Japanese newspaper Sankei Shimbun.

The changes regarding Taiwan were listed as one of two major events likely to happen in the region, the other being North Korea abandoning its missile plans in return for the United States dropping its sanctions and withdrawing its military from South Korea within four years.

For Taiwan’s domestic politics, the experts predicted a further polarization between the pro-China and pro-U.S. groups. Even without a vote on Kinmen, it was still possible that China would try and take the island by force in a scenario comparable to the Russian takeover of the Crimea.
[FULL  STORY]

‘UNBELIEVABLE’: Diving coach Wang Ming-hsiang and some of his students found the 23 drums while diving near the Chaojing Bay Conservation Area

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 26, 2019
By: Lin Hsin-han and Jake Chung  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer

The people who dumped 23 oil drums in the ocean outside Chaojing Bay Conservation Area (潮境公

園) would be brought to task using data provided by ships that were nearby, said Tsai Fu-ning (蔡馥嚀), head of the Keelung Department of Economic Affairs’ Marine Affairs division.

The perpetrators would be charged with contravening the Marine Pollution Control Act (海洋污染防治法), which could see them fined NT$300,000 to NT$1.5 million (US$9,651 to US$48,255), Tsai said yesterday.

Scuba diving coach Wang Ming-hsiang (王銘祥) and some of his students found the 23 drums outside the conservation area during a practice session on Wednesday, she said, adding that while Wang and the students removed the containers, 500m of seawater has been heavily contaminat3ed.

The drums were full when dumped in the sea and are suspected of containing motor oil for ships, Tsai said.    [FULL  STORY]