Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/05/18
By: Wang Yang-yu and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, May 18 (CNA) Three foreign defendants in the theft of more than NT$83.27 million (US$2.75 million) from First Bank ATMs last year received lighter penalties from the Taiwan High Court Thursday than were handed down earlier this year by a lower court.

Andrejs Peregudovs from Latvia, Romanian Mihail Colibaba and Moldovan Niklae Penkov were each sentenced to five years in prison and fined NT$600,000 by the Taipei District Court in January for offenses against fraud and computer security. They later filed an appeal.

On Thursday, the high court reduced the penalty to four years and 10 months for Peregudovs, four years and eight months for Colibaba, and four years and six months for Penkov, on the grounds that there is no credible evidence indicating that the suspects were the masterminds behind the fraud.    [FULL  STORY]

FOREIGN RELATIONS:The closure of the Fiji Trade and Tourism Representative Office and Vietnam signing a missive with China highlight President Tsai’s failures

Taipei Times
Date: May 19, 2017
By: Sean Lin / Staff reporter

The National Policy Foundation — a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) think tank —

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Johnny Chiang, left, yesterday criticizes President Tsai Ing-wen for conducting the country’s domestic and foreign policy via social media. Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times

yesterday criticized President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration, saying that it made a U-turn on a pledge to reduce the nation’s economic reliance on China, misrepresented numbers of tourists visiting the nation and suffered diplomatic setbacks in its first year in office.

KMT Legislator Ko Chih-en (柯志恩) told a news conference in Taipei that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) accused the administration of former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) during Ma’s time in office of “leaning toward China and selling out Taiwan” over the nation’s high economic reliance on China, but the trade surplus with China has risen from minus-11.5 percent to 9.4 percent since Tsai took office.

The trade surplus has driven the nation’s economic reliance on China from 37 percent to 40 percent, Ko said.    [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: May 18, 2017
By: CNA

TAIPEI, Taiwan — President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) named National Security Council

Joseph Wu (CNA file photo)

(NSC) Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) as the new Presidential Office secretary-general, the Presidential Office announced on Thursday.

NSC advisor Yen Te-fa (嚴德發), a retired army general and former chief of the General Staff from 2015 to 2016, was named as the new NSC secretary-general.

Wu and Yen are scheduled to assume their posts next week, said Presidential Office spokesman Alex Huang (黃重諺).

Lin Bih-jaw (林碧炤), former secretary-general of the Presidential Office, resigned last October.    [SOURCE]

The Fiji office closure was a question of resources and not related to China – Taiwan officials say.

The News Lens
Date: 2017/05/17
By: By Elaine Hou and Wang Cheng-chung, Central News Agency

The Pacific island country of Fiji has closed its representative office in Taiwan to make

China Not a Factor in Fiji’s Taiwan Office Closure – Officials
Reuters

better use of its resources and not because of pressure from China as one lawmaker claimed, Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Wednesday.

The Fiji Trade and Tourism Representative Office in the Republic of China was shut down on May 10, after Karaisitiani Vuibau – Fiji’s representative at the time – notified the ministry of Fiji’s decision to end the office’s operations in Taiwan, ministry spokeswoman Eleanor Wang (王珮玲) told CNA.

Despite the closure of Fiji’s office in Taiwan, Wang said, Taiwan’s representative office in Fiji will continue to operate.    [FULL  STORY]

After 20 years in Taiwan, Fiji withdraws its de facto embassy in Taipei without much explanation

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/05/17
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — After 20 years, the de facto Fijian embassy in Taiwan, The Fiji

Map of Fiji from Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs website.

Trade and Tourism Representative Office, unceremoniously shut its doors for the last time in Taipei on May 10, without a thorough explanation.

The Fijian office’s representative, Karai Vuibau, notified the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) after he received orders from his government to close down the office. MOFA expressed its understanding of the Fijian government’s decision.

Vuibau said that the government of Fiji had made the decision after a thorough review of its offices around the world.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/05/17
By: Chen Wei-ting and Elaine Hou

Taipei, May 17 (CNA) Health and Welfare Minister Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said Wednesday that he will lead a delegation to Geneva at the time of the World Health Assembly (WHA) meeting and will protest Taiwan’s exclusion from this year’s 10-day conference.

During a legislative committee hearing, Chen said his delegation will depart May 20 and will try to hold bilateral talks with representatives of participating countries and attend technical meetings at the WHA.

Taiwan had hoped to attend this year’s WHA in Geneva from May 22-31 as an observer, as it had done in the past, but did not receive an invitation from the World Health Organization (WHO) due to China’s obstruction. The WHA is the WHO’s decision-making body.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: May 18, 2017
By: Aaron Tu and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writer

The presidential protection battalions of the military police are to receive new uniforms

Military police officers model their new uniforms at a news conference held by the Ministry of National Defense in Taipei. Photo: Tu Chu-min, Taipei Times

on June 1, Military Police Command Chief of Staff Major General Feng Yi (馮毅) said yesterday.

The changes are to apply to the 211th Battalion and the 332nd Battalion that guard the Presidential Office Building and the presidential residence, Feng said.
The new uniforms have been designed to provide better agility, mobility and comfort, Feng said, adding that they are black for the “intimidation factor against wrongdoers.”

The new uniforms replace the existing suits, green shirts and dress shoes which have been used since 2007. Personnel have complained that the suits restricted their mobility and were inconvenient.

The new uniforms are comprised of a cap, sunglasses, shirt, duty vest, utility belt, duty pants and field boots, and they cost NT$4,800 (US$159) per officer or about NT$8.6 million in total.

The vests have a pocket for a radio near the collar and bear the military police’s insignia and its English acronym on the chest, while a tab in Chinese on the back identifies the officer, Feng said.    [FULL  STORY]