Israeli-American murder suspect extradited back to Taiwan to face justice

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/09/17
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Israeli-American suspect who was wanted for the murder of a Canadian English teacher in New Taipei City last month was extradited from the Philippines tonight to face justice in Taiwan.

The 37-year-old Israeli-American tattoo artist named Oren Shlomo Mayer, also known as “Oz Diamond,” who is suspected of murdering 43-year-old Canadian English teacher Ryan Sanjay Ramgahan in August was arrested in the Philippines on Sept. 5. After nearly two weeks of processing his extradition from the Philippines to Taiwan, Mayer arrived at the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 7 p,m. under the guard of Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) officers.

Mayer will first undergo questioning by CIB police before being transferred to the New Taipei City Prosecutor’s Office to face charges for the murder of Ramgahan.

The extradition by Mayer tonight means that the Israeli Foreign Ministry had decided to not become involved in the handling of his case, despite a request from his family to intervene.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/09/17
By: Lu Hsiu-hui and Shih Hsiu-chuan

Taipei, Sept. 17 (CNA) The Presidential Office hit back Monday at Beijing over Chinese media accusations that Taiwanese intelligence agents have been recruiting Chinese students studying in Taiwan to spy for China, saying the reports are misinformation aimed at undermining relations across the Taiwan Strait.

China’s state television broadcaster CCTV, along with other media outlets, have carried reports since Sept. 15 about what they claim to be Taiwanese espionage operations against China, including cases involving three officials with the Military Intelligence Bureau under the Ministry of National Defense.    [FULL  STORY]

PUBLIC GAFFE: That the president stood in an armored vehicle and waved at victims in the wake of flooding in Chiayi last month weighed on her ratings, a pollster said

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 18, 2018
By: Shelley Shan  /  Staff reporter

President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) approval rating dropped from 33.3 percent last month

to 31.2 percent this month, her second-lowest score since taking office in May 2016, a Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation poll showed yesterday.

Tsai’s visit to flood victims in Chiayi last month — during which she stood in an armored vehicle, smiled and waved before she was asked to step out of the vehicle — and Taiwan’s severance of diplomatic ties with El Salvador affected her approval rating, the foundation said.

Fifty-five percent of respondents said they disapproved of Tsai’s performance, while 31.2 percent approved — the largest discrepancy in the past two years, the poll showed.

The poll results show that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration is facing a worsening predicament, foundation chairman Michael You (游盈隆) said.
[FULL  STORY]

The report says that as English is not the native language of Taiwanese people, the difficulty level of promoting English as an official language should be carefully assessed

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/09/16
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News)—Taiwan’s Legislative Research Bureau, which is an agency under Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan, suggested in a report that Taiwan should be cautious about making English the second official language of Taiwan, saying that all countries where English is an official language have a historical background of being once a colony of an English speaking country.

In an interview with Economic Daily News in August, Taiwan Premier William Lai (賴清德) said that next year the government will implement a new “bilingual country” policy in which Mandarin and English will both be used in an official capacity in Taiwan to strengthen its international competitiveness.

However, the Legislative Research Bureau report says Taiwan should have specific legislation to deal with the issue of making English Taiwan’ s second official language. By doing so, English will be prioritized over other ethnic languages, which does’nt conform to the purpose of the National Languages Development Act draft bill, which is being reviewed in the Legislative Yuan, the report says, urging authorities to think the policy over.

The report also points out that all of the countries in the world whose official language is English have a history of being colonized by the U.K. or the USA and that English has existed in their societies as a basic communication tool for a certain period of time. The report says that as English is not the native language of Taiwanese people, the difficulty level of promoting English as an official language should be carefully assessed.
[FULL  STORY]

I refer to the article, “Is Taiwan becoming a surveillance state? Privacy advocates sound alarm”(September 9). Privacy is slowly becoming a controversial issue worldwide along with the inexorable advance of technology.

South China Morning Post 
Date: Sunday, 16 September, 2018

In the drive to protect digital and personal security, people have no privacy any more. As the report said, Big Brother is everywhere.

The government says it needs our personal information for safety reasons. However, being under surveillance online is a bigger cause for concern, as people indulge in the freedom to say whatever they want on the internet and especially on social media.

It is worrying to learn that the Taiwanese police is planning to spend US$16.2 million on developing a special app to enhance its power to monitor digital communications and that, according to former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden’s book, Taiwan had accepted US$200,000 from Washington in 2012 to buy and develop advanced surveillance technologies able to tap private communications. This raises fears about thought policing and the violation of digital human rights.    [FULL  STORY]

The US should work with Taiwan and Taiwan’s neighbors the same way it works with NATO at the operational level

Asia Times
Date: September 16, 2018
By: Stephen Bryen 

The US has to take dramatic steps to reset its relationship with Taiwan in order to provide deterrence not only for Taiwan but for the region. If a conflict breaks out between China and Taiwan it will impact not only Taiwan but also Japan and Korea and other democratic governments in East Asia.

The current way potential US intervention is seen as grossly inadequate in light of China’s military buildup and her increasingly aggressive interventions toward Taiwan and Japan, and militarization of some of the South China Sea islands and reefs.

Speaking at a conference at the Hudson Institute, I put on the table a number of proposals that could greatly improve regional stability through deterrence. The panel of experts at Hudson included Dr Parris Chang, former deputy director of Taiwan’s National Security Council and professor emeritus of political science at Pennsylvania State University, Mr Michael Tsai, former Taiwan Defense Minister, and Richard Fisher, a senior fellow at the International Assessment and Strategy Center and member of the Advisory Board of the Global Taiwan Institute.

The idea that the US could “rescue” Taiwan if trouble brewed, as it did in the missile crisis of 1996 (where I was present with former CIA director James Woolsey) is obsolete in light of China’s military buildup.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/09/16
By: Chen Wei-ting and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, Sept. 16 (CNA) The spread of dengue fever in Taiwan has started to show signs

of slowing down, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said Sunday, but he warned that it could pick again due to the recent heavy rains in some parts of the country.

Five new confirmed cases of indigenous dengue fever were reported over the past three days in Taiwan — three in Taichung and one each in New Taipei and Kaohsiung — bringing the total number this year to 117 as of Saturday, according to the CDC’s latest statistics on the mosquito-borne disease.

Of the 117 confirmed cases so far this year, 65 were reported in Taichung, 33 in New Taipei, seven in Kaohsiung, six in Changhua, two each in Taipei and Chiayi, and one each in Taoyuan and Tainan, according to the statistics, which were released Sunday.

Chuang said five new cases over a three-day period indicated a slowdown compared with five to 10 new cases per day in early September.    [FULL  STORY]

Government will dangle incentives, but return has its complications

Nikkei Asian Review
Date: September 15, 2018
By: Kensaku Ihra, Nikkei staff writer

TAIPEI — Taiwan is rolling out the welcome mat for its companies operating on the Chinese mainland, hoping that they will come back now that the Sino-American trade spat has made doing so more appealing.

President Tsai Ing-wen’s administration is considering incentives like tax breaks and assistance securing land for factories, and it plans to submit a bill incorporating such measures to the legislative branch as early as this month, Nikkei learned from a top official.

The administration has been aiming to reduce Taiwan’s dependence on the mainland, and the growing trade friction between China and the U.S. provides added impetus. But it will need to address a number of issues, including the stable supply of electric power, to see this plan through.

According to the official, the government will gear the support measures toward Taiwanese manufacturers that are already operating in China and are considering moving factories to Taiwan.    [FULL  STORY]