Taiwan listed as 2nd most likely place where WW III could break out in 2018, according to The National Interest writer

Taiwan News 
Date: 2017/12/20
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan is listed second out of five places where World War III could break out in 2018 by a scholar and contributor to The National Interest in an article published on Dec. 15.

In the article, titled “5 Places World War III Could Start in 2018,” the author, Robert Farley, lists Taiwan second on the list, right after North Korea, and ahead of Ukraine, the southern flank of NATO, and the Gulf.

Farley, a Senior Lecturer at the Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce at the University of Kentucky, observes that aggressive statements by Chinese officials, such as a threat by a Chinese diplomat to attack Taiwan if a U.S. Navy ship docks in Kaohsiung, indicates that some in Beijing believe that the military balance has tipped in its favor. Though Farley says that such a presumption of military superiority is likely premature, it makes the situation more volatile.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/12/20
By: Joseph Ye

Taipei, Dec. 20 (CNA) Taiwan and Japan on Wednesday signed an agreement to facilitate maritime emergency and rescue operations on the open sea as a second bilateral meeting on maritime affairs cooperation concluded in Taipei.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed by Chiou I-jen (邱義仁), head of the Taiwan-Japan Relations Association (TJRA), and Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association (JTEA) Chairman Mitsuo Ohashi (大橋光夫).

TJRA and JTEA handle bilateral affairs in the absence of diplomatic ties on behalf of Taiwanese and Japanese governments.

In their addresses, Chiou and Ohashi praised the achievements made during the two-day-meeting, saying that it is another step in forging closer bilateral relations.    [FULL  STORY]

Newsweek
Date: 12/19/17
By: Christina Zhao

A military expert claimed on Monday that recent increases in Chinese military exercises

focused near Taiwan suggest that the mainland is preparing itself to take over the self-ruled island by force.

In October, The Washington Free Beacon reported that newly disclosed internal military documents proved China has secret plans to invade Taiwan by 2020.

And it appears that the plans have already been set in motion. Over a week ago, China’s air force sent fighter jets, bombers and surveillance aircrafts to conduct “encirclement patrols” around Taiwan airspace. And on Sunday, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) released a video of an H-6K bomber accompanied by two Su-30 fighter jets performing similar exercises around the self-governed island.

“The recent ‘island encirclement’ patrols are very unusual,” Macau-based military observer Antony Wong Dong told the South China Morning Post (SCMP). “The air force is conducting very practical and well-planned patrols near Taiwan to collect up-to-date military intelligence.”    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Rapid Transit Corporation announced that a range of activities will take place at Taipei Arena, Taipei Children’s Amusement Park, and other places from December 22 through January 1 for Christmas fun.

Taiwan News 
Date: 2017/12/19
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News)–Taipei Rapid Transit Corporation (TRTC) announced that a range of

activities will take place at Taipei Arena, Taipei Children’s Amusement Park, National Taiwan Science Education Center, and Taipei Astronomical Museum from December 22 through January 1 for Christmas fun.

Taipei Arena Ice Land
The rarely seen Winter Olympics sport of “curling” is coming to Taipei Arena. Come and try out the sport on December 22 (from 2:20 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.), December 23, and December 24 (from 12:20 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.). Santa Claus will join visitors in playing curling on an ice rink decorated with Christmas trees and snowman. Participants who successfully slide stones towards a target area will receive special prizes. The higher the score, the better the prize.

Taipei Children’s Amusement Park, National Taiwan Science Education Center, and Taipei Astronomical Museum.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/12/19
By: Chen Chih-chung and Elizabeth Hsu 

Taipei, Dec. 19 (CNA) Pastor Simon Man-wo Lau (劉民和) from Hong Kong was presented in Taipei Tuesday with a contribution award and a cash reward of NT$30 million (US$1 million) for his three decades of devotion to helping drug addicts in Taiwan.

Lau, chief executive of Operation Dawn Taiwan, was picked by a nine-member selection committee from among 222 individuals and groups as winner of the first Y.L. Lin Taiwan Contribution Award, Taiwan’s most valuable “non-academic” award.

The award was set up in September this year by the Y.L. Lin Hung Tai Education Foundation, a public welfare organization established by Lin Yu-lin (林堉璘), founder of the Taipei-based property developer Hung Tai Group, with the aim of helping Taiwan cultivate talent and awarding those who have made contributions to the country.    [FULL  STORY]

‘WHITE TERROR’: A party member likened Investigation Bureau officers to Gestapo, because they made a mess of Chen Ssu-chun’s belongings when searching his home

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 20, 2017
By: Sean Lin  /  Staff reporter

The New Party yesterday decried what it said was the Democratic Progressive Party’s

(DPP) “barbaric arrest” of four of its members for alleged violations of the National Security Act (國家安全法).

Investigation Bureau officers at about 6:30am yesterday raided the homes of New Party spokesman Wang Ping-chung (王炳忠) and party members Hou Han-ting (侯漢廷), Lin Ming-cheng (林明正) and Chen Ssu-chun (陳斯俊) in Taipei and New Taipei City, seizing documents, computers and cellphones, and taking the four to the bureau for questioning on the grounds that they allegedly collected and provided intelligence to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

“What intelligence could they possibly collect and provide? What have they done other than openly oppose [Taiwanese] independence and advocate unification” between Taiwan and China, New Party Deputy Chairman Lee Sheng-feng (李勝峰) told a news conference in Taipei.

Wang, Hou and Lin are household names for their anti-independence, pro-unification remarks in the media, and by targeting the three most well-known young members of the party, the DPP is attempting to silence the New Party, Lee said.    [FULL  STORY]

The News Lens
Date: 2017/12/18
By: David Green

The pace of change in the legislative yuan is breathtaking and illustrative of a vibrant young

democracy, but changes to referendum laws open a Pandora’s box.

The UK and Taiwan are remarkably similar. Both are islands currently estranged from the massive trading blocs just visible across the water from their coasts. Both have issues with immigration, the former having voted for Brexit amid an atmosphere of toxic anti-immigration sentiment stoked by the UK Independence Party and their adherents, the latter struggling to attract global talent to counter a massive and paralyzing brain drain. Both are fond of seeing in the evening with a pot of tea. And both are vibrant democracies.

There is though a marked difference in the pace with which the pair are enacting legislation. The deeply divided government of UK Prime Minister Theresa May is struggling to deal with the overwhelming legislative and bureaucratic avalanche that is Brexit, not least the business dictated by the Great Repeal Bill that will see the UK place about 1,000 European Union laws on its books via statutory instrument.    [FULL  STORY]