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New money rules target key politicians

IMPROVED ENFORCEMENT:The period during which the government officials would be subject to regulation after leaving office would depend on their influence

Taipei Times
Date: May 15, 2017
By: Chung Li-hua / Staff reporter

Eighteen categories of government officials, including the president and vice president, would be subjected to strict regulations against money laundering to ensure financial transparency and stability, according to a draft act prepared by the Ministry of Justice.

An amendment to the Money Laundering Control Act (洗錢防制法), which was approved last year and is to take effect on June 28, stipulates that financial institutions and certain non-financial agencies must improve their review of clients who hold key political offices, as well as their relatives and close associates, to assess and manage the risk of money laundering.

Transaction records of the people covered by the act must be preserved, according to the amendment.

The ministry, which has prepared bills pertaining to the amendment following discussions with the financial sector, yesterday announced a draft act to determine the government officials who would be subjected to stringent financial vetting process.
[FULL STORY]

I’ve been infected — now what?

The China Post
Date: May 14, 2017
By: The China Post news staff

TAIPEI, Taiwan — The WannaCry worm has spread astonishingly rapidly, halting

The WannaCry worm has spread astonishingly rapidly, halting services across the globe as it infects government agencies, hospitals, businesses and other organizations. An accidentally discovered “kill switch” is slowly curbing the spread, but it won’t do any good for computers that are already affected.

services across the globe as it infects government agencies, hospitals, businesses and other organizations. An accidentally discovered “kill switch” is slowly curbing the spread, but it won’t do any good for computers that are already affected.

Microsoft, which is regarding the ransomware as a severe threat, advises affected users to run one of three free programs to detect and remove the threat.

Microsoft users with Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 should use Windows Defender, while those with Windows 7 and Windows Vista should use Microsoft Security Essentials. Microsoft Safety Scanner, another free download, can also be a fix for infected PCs.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan should be included in global bodies: EU

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-05-12

The European Union (EU) says Taiwan should be included in global bodies where Taiwan has the requisite skills.

The EU made a statement in an email dated May 11 when asked by Taiwan’s Central News Agency about its stance on Taiwan’s exclusion from the World Health Assembly (WHA). The WHA’s annual meeting is attended by all WHO member countries and focuses on a specific health agenda each year. This year’s meeting opens in Geneva on May 22.

Since 2009, Taiwan has attended the WHA as an observer under the name “Chinese Taipei.” However, the government did not receive a letter of invitation this year. This is understood to be on account of the Chinese government’s boycott of the Tsai Ing-wen administration.    [FULL  STORY]

Ex-military officers, businessman indicted for spying for China

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/05/12
By: Chen Chou-fu and Lee Hsin-Yin

Taipei, May 12 (CNA) Four Taiwanese nationals — three retired noncommissioned

(CNA file photo)

officers and a businessman — were indicted Friday for spying for China, according to the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors Office.

The office, which asked the Criminal Investigation Bureau and military police to arrest the suspects last June, concluded that the four men violated the National Security Act by developing a spy network and providing confidential military information to China.

One of the officers, surnamed Chen (陳), took advantage of his position at the Information and Electronic Warfare Command under the Ministry of National Defense’s General Staff Headquarters to download key information from the Air Force, prosecutors said in explaining how the spy ring worked.  [FULL STORY]

Military personnel will not leave streets

REVISIONS:Retired generals were quoted in a new statement as saying that military personnel cannot deliberately cause unrest due to their vow to protect the nation

Taipei Times
Date: May 13, 2017
By: Alison Hsiao / Staff reporter

The Presidential Office’s pension reform committee has revised a statement that said retired military personnel protesting pension reform had agreed to leave the streets and return to the negotiating table, after the claim was rejected by retired lieutenant general Wu Sz-huai (吳斯懷), one of the spokespeople for the protesters camped outside the Legislative Yuan in Taipei.

The committee released the initial statement yesterday morning, with the title saying that a group of retired military personnel protesting the government’s pension reform proposal “decided to leave the street and return to the meeting table.”

Five retired generals, including Wu — who had been camped outside the Legislative Yuan alongside a group of protesters — on Thursday visited committee deputy convener and chief executive Lin Wan-yi (林萬億) accompanied by Democratic Progressive Party Legislator and Foreign and National Defense Committee convener Wang Ding-yu (王定宇).

Wu told the media that the statement’s title was misleading and it was “extremely inappropriate” for the committee to have reached the conclusion that the protesters agreed to leave the streets.    [FULL  STORY]

Taichung — a jewel of culture

The China Post
Date: May 13, 2017
By: Chris Chang, Supplement Writer

Since the publication of “Why Taichung is the most livable city in Taiwan” on

Every year during the Taichung Mazu International Festival, local performance groups and visitors from Taiwan and abroad come together for a series of festivities around the time of Mazu’s birthday. (Photos: Morgan Lin, The China Post; Courtesy of Cultural Affairs Bureau, Taichung City Government)

CNN.com last year, there has been an ongoing discussion about whether or not the city stands worthy of such a claim. From its weather, famed eateries and slower pace of life to its prolific arts and music scenes, almost all aspects of the city have been put under the spotlight and in turn praised or criticized.

Regardless of the contrasting opinions, the city’s stardom has never been as great as it currently is. Toward the end of this year’s Taichung Mazu International Festival (媽祖國際觀光文化節), we had the pleasure of sitting down with Shih Chun-Fu (施純福), deputy director-general of the Taichung City Government’s Cultural Affairs Bureau (臺中市政府文化局副局長), to get a true insider’s take on the culture and values of Taichung.

Prior to his role at the Cultural Affairs Bureau, Shih, a graduate of Tamkang University’s Graduate School of Education Media Science (淡江大學教育資料科學研究所), spent more than 20 years in the field of library and information science. Shih worked at Taipei Public Library (臺北市立圖書館) in his early years, then later at Kaohsiung Public Library (高雄市立圖書館), where he assisted the Kaohsiung City Government (高雄市政府) in establishing 14 new public libraries and revamping more than 30 old libraries for an all-new improved reading environment for Kaohsiung’s citizens.    [FULL  STORY]

Fighter-Trainers and Submarines: Taiwan’s Defense Industry Turns Inward

Taiwan’s capabilities in software and IT hardware will also likely stand it in good stead when it comes to developing Taiwan’s cyber warfare capabilities.

The News Lens
Date: 2017/05/12
By: Tim Ferry

In the face of China’s rapid military build-up and Beijing’s pressure on other

Photo Credit: WIKI

countries not to sell weaponry to Taiwan, “what can Taiwan do except developing its own defense industry?” asks National Chengchi University professor Arthur Ding (丁樹範), a defense specialist. “It’s the inevitable outcome of China’s interference.”

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has long made national defense a key plank in the party’s platform, and during her election campaign, President Tsai Ing-wen(蔡英文) promised to raise defense spending to at least 3% of GDP.

Taiwan’s defense budget for 2016 comes in at NT$356 billion (US$11.6 billion), just over 2% of GDP, but Defense Minister Feng Shih-kuan recently announced that the defense budget would rise by 50% to reach 3% of GDP in 2018.   [FULL  STORY]

Editorial: Tighten the lid on officers

Taiwan News
Date 2017/05/11
By: Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Once again, investigators raided a Taiwanese citizen’s home and offices searching

Major General Hsieh Chia-kang (second from left in Matsu Daily photo).(By Central News Agency)

for evidence that he passed on secrets about his work to a rival organization.

Scenes like these have occurred frequently over the past year, against a variety of backgrounds.

Some of the suspects were young engineers trying to speed up their career by showing off data from their Taiwanese companies in the high-tech electronics sector to their new employers in China.

Others have been even less innocent, showing that some officers in the military are not afraid of traveling overseas to reveal domestic secrets to representatives of China.    [FULL  STORY]

Gov’t to spend NT$10 billion fighting narcotics over next 4 years

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/05/11
By Ku Chuan and Y.F. Low

Taipei, May 11 (CNA) Premier Lin Chuan (林全) said on Thursday that the government plans to adopt a more human-centric strategy to fight the spread of narcotics and is planning to spend NT$10 billion (US$331.3 million) on such efforts over the next four years.

The planned spending marks a significant increase from the current level of NT$1.2 billion per year, Lin said at a press conference held after a weekly Cabinet meeting.

He said about 60,000 people in Taiwan were arrested for involvement in drug-related cases last year, with 27,000 of those sent to jail.    [FULL  STORY]

Ministry to communicate with US over espionage

EFFECTIVE MEASURES:Ministry of National Defense spokesman Chen Chung-chi said about 90 percent of spy cases were uncovered by its counterintelligence efforts

Taipei Times
Date: May 12, 2017
By: Chen Wei-han / Staff reporter

Following reports that a retired military officer allegedly helped China collect sensitive information about the nation’s missile defense systems when he was in active service 10 years ago, the Ministry of National Defense yesterday reaffirmed its counterintelligence efforts, saying it would communicate with the US about the case.

Retired army major general Hsieh Chia-kang (謝嘉康), the former commander of the Air Defense Missile Command, has been under investigation over allegations he leaked classified information to China.

Hsieh was allegedly approached by retired army colonel Hsin Peng-sheng (辛澎生), who was reportedly recruited by Chinese intelligence operatives as far back as 10 years ago when he was in charge of the missile command.

Hsieh and Hsin were questioned by prosecutors and released on bail earlier this week.    [FULL  STORY]