Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/07/02
By: Wang Shu-fen and S.C. Chang

Taipei, July 2 (CNA) The Taiwan Navigation Company (TNC) announced Sunday that due to an

approaching tropical storm, ferry services between Koahsiung and Makung in offshore Penghu County will be suspended the following day.

Tropical Storm Nanmadol, the third of this year’s typhoon season, is moving in a northwesterly direction at 34 kilometers per hour and is expected to approach waters off Taiwan’s eastern coast by Sunday evening or Monday morning, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said.

Although the CWB forecast that the tropical storm will only pass through the periphery of eastern Taiwan’s waters before heading toward Okinawa, an NTC executive said his company was suspending the ferry service, as the storm is likely to generate winds of 13.9-17.1 meters per second.

The vessel’s captain can decide whether to sail on schedule, and as long as gusts of 13.9 meters per second are likely to hit, or when the port authorities ban traffic, the ferry services will be suspended for safety’s sake, said Hsu Chi-ming (許啟明), general manager of the TNC’s Kaohsiung branch.
[FULL  STORY]

SPHERE OF INFLUENCE:The new destroyers are likely aimed at achieving Beijing’s long-term goal of projecting naval power at the Strait of Malacca, a DPP lawmaker said

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 03, 2017
By: Aaron Tu and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writer

The launch of China’s first Type 055 guided missile destroyer on Wednesday marks a significant

increase in the threat to Taiwan posed by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN), observers in Taiwan said.

At 10,000 tonnes, the destroyers have a large displacement and are believed to possess advanced air defenses, as well anti-submarine and cruise-missile capabilities, they said.

Although it is unlikely that the warships were developed to fight the Taiwanese military, they expose the nation’s east coast — which is studded with military bases — to missile strikes, they added.

The destroyers are to be the mainstay of the PLAN’s carrier escort fleets. The Soviet-built Liaoning is China’s sole operational carrier, as the PLAN has yet to declare its sister ship, which was launched in April, operational.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan Intwernational
Date: 2017-06-30

President Tsai Ing-wen has told a graduating class of ROC military academies to stay united and fight

for the country’s survival and development. The ROC (Republic of China) is Taiwan’s official name.

Tsai was speaking at a joint graduation ceremony of the country’s six military academies. She told the new graduates to carry on the academies’ tradition and unite with their peers to defend the nation’s peace and sovereignty.

A large group of protesters awaited Tsai outside the ceremony to show their opposition to the president’s pension reforms. Parts of the proposal aim to slash pensions for military personnel, teachers, and civil servants.

Tsai addressed the issue during her speech. She said the goal of the reform is to keep the nation’s retirement structure sustainable in the long term. She said the defense ministry and the Veterans Affairs Council are working hard to come up with a new pension structure to ensure personnel can have a comfortable retirement.    [SOURCE]

Appeals are still possible

Taiwan News
Daqte3: 2017/06/30
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The Taipei District Court on Friday sentenced the man thought responsible for

the death of a 21-year-old woman after a drug party at the W Hotel in Taipei to 10 years in prison. Appeals were still possible.

Andy Chu (朱家龍), 29, was found guilty of having supplied the drugs that led to the death of the woman, named Kuo (郭). Because he also owns a Canadian passport, a court deemed him a flight risk and allowed him to be detained last March. He was not in court for Friday’s verdict.

Investigators found that Kuo had died after having consumed at least eight different types of narcotics. When she fell ill, Chu allegedly tried to cover up the drug party, had Kuo injected with a substance to play down her overdose, and had the hotel room cleaned up.

Two men at the party took the model by taxi to a hospital, but due to her deteriorating condition, she was transferred to another hospital, where she died later that day, in December last year.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/06/30
By: Elaine Hou and Su Mu-chun

Taipei, June 30 (CNA) Two members of the National Airborne Service Corps under the Ministry of the Interior accidentally fell into the sea during a search-and-rescue training mission with a UH-60M Black Hawk helicopter Friday off the coast of Taichung.

They were rushed to a hospital after being rescued by Taiwan’s Coast Guard and were both in stable condition, said the ministry’s National Fire Agency.

It said the cause of the accident is under investigation.

The Black Hawk helicopter carrying the corps members departed its base at Ching Chuan Kang Airport earlier Friday to conduct search-and-rescue training about one nautical mile from Taichung harbor.
[FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: June 30, 2017
By: The China Post

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Just days after 22 doctors at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital’s Linkou branch tendered their resignations, a doctor in the hospital system said the number had risen to 41 across three branches.

On Wednesday, the Linkou branch said 22 emergency room physicians had resigned after two department heads were stripped of their posts for violating hospital regulations.

Hospital management was ordered to try to retain all 22 physicians, with results to be announced next week.

The Chinese-language Apple Daily reported Friday that none of the 22 doctors had agreed to stay on board, and that the hospital’s branches in Taipei and Keelung had also received resignation notices from their doctors.    [FULL  STORY]

Cause unknown, phone initially reported as HTC model

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/06/28
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A young man’s left hand was injured when his smartphone, initially reported as

an HTC model, exploded as he was traveling on a Taipei Mass Rapid Transit train, reports said Wednesday.

The cause of the explosion was still being investigated, according to officials. Previous smartphone explosions across the world during the past years were most frequently linked to South Korean phone giant Samsung.

The man named Chen and believed to be in his early twenties, was a passenger on a train traveling through Nanjing Songjiang MRT Station during the evening rush hour, around 6 p.m.

For an unexplained reason, the phone he was holding in his hand exploded, with glass shards injuring his hand and causing him to bleed profusely, reports said.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/06/28
By: Yiu Kai-hsiang and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, June 28 (CNA) Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) will lead a delegation of city councilors and staff

that will depart July 1 for a Taipei-Shanghai forum in Shanghai the following day, the Taipei City government announced Wednesday.

The delegation will be composed of Deputy Mayor Deng Chia-chi (鄧家基), 58 city employees and 10 city councilors.

Among the city staff will be Lin Chung-chieh (林崇傑), director of the Department of Economic Development; Huang Shier-chieg (黃世傑), the head of the Department of Health; Hsu Li-min (許立民), director of the Department of Social Welfare; Department of Environmental Protection Director Liu Ming-lung (劉銘龍); Department of Culture Director Chung Yong-feng (鍾永豐); Department of Information Technology Director Lee Wei-bin (李維斌); and Department of Legal Affairs Director Yuan Hsiu-hui (袁秀慧).

The 10 city councilors include seven from the opposition Kuomintang, two from the New Party and one from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party.    [FULL  STORY]