Want China Times
Date: 2015-09-09
By: CNA and Staff Reporter

The Taiwanese representative office in Manila and Philippine police coordinated Tuesday to

arrest 68 suspects of a fraud ring in Cebu, according to Taiwanese officials.

The officials said that a team of 110, including Philippine and two Taiwanese police officers and staff from the representative office raided nine hideouts of the ring members and arrested 68 people, including 43 Taiwanese citizens and 25 Chinese nationals.

They also confiscated computers, internet equipment and procedure books on how to swindle people.

All the suspects were temporarily detained in Cebu and will be sent back to their home countries pending investigation.      [FULL  STORY]

‘TRAITOR’:The amendment seeks to strip benefits for former leaders deemed to have hurt the nation’s dignity, following Lee Teng-hui’s talk about the war and Japan

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 09, 2015
By: Alison Hsiao  /  Staff reporter

The legislature’s Procedure Committee yesterday placed Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)

Legislator Lu Hsueh-chang’s (呂學樟) proposal to eliminate benefits accorded the nation’s retired leaders if they “offend the nation’s dignity” on the agenda of the legislature’s new plenary session, which opens next week.

Lu’s proposed amendment to the Act of Courtesy for Former Presidents and Vice Presidents (卸任總統副總統禮遇條例) is widely seen as being targeted at former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝).

He was among the KMT lawmakers who last month castigated Lee, labeling him a “traitor to the Han people,” after the former president gave an interview to a Japanese magazine, which quoted him as saying Japan was once his motherland and claiming that there was no war of resistance against Japan in Taiwan during World War II.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2015-09-08
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – In a break with recent custom, Democratic Progressive Party

Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen might attend the Double Ten National Day celebrations on October 10, reports said Tuesday.

The opposition leader boycotted such events over the previous years as relations between President Ma Ying-jeou’s government and the DPP sank to new lows. This year, the final of Ma’s eight National Day events, would be the first to have the DPP leader present.

Tsai said Tuesday she had received an invitation for this year’s event from the organizing committee, which is chaired by Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng. She had checked her itinerary for the month of October and had come to the conclusion that she might rearrange some of her schedule, she told reporters.

“Our aim is still to have an opportunity to go and participate in this year’s national celebrations,” Tsai was quoted as saying.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-09-08
By: Staff Reporter

Philippine and Vietnamese officials have announced that they will sign a strategic partnership

agreement at the end of this year to strengthen defense, political and economic ties between the two countries, including cooperation on the South China Sea issue, according to the Junweichangfeng military affairs blog, hosted on the website of Hong Kong’s Phoenix New Media.

The Philippine secretary of foreign affairs Albert del Rosario told reporters on the evening of Sept. 2 that representatives from the two countries will sign the agreement during the APEC informal leaders meeting set to be held in Manila in November. “As strategic partners, we aim to deliver results… a cooperation at the highest possible level,” he said.

The Vietnamese ambassador to the Philippines Truong Trieu Duong said meanwhile, “We will deepen our cooperation in order to solve all the issues concerning the South China Sea in a most peaceful way in accordance with international law.”     [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 08, 2015
By: Jason Pan  /  Staff reporter

The armed forces began their annual Han Kuang military exercises (漢光演習) yesterday,

drilling troops and weapons mobilization for counter-strikes in the event of an invasion by China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

Among the first day’s main activities was a live-fire drill by the big guns of the 21st Artillery Command of the Republic of China Army’s 6th Corps, which took place at the army’s Kengzikou (坑子口) target practice range in Hsinchu County.

President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) attended the event at the range to observe the firepower of the self-propelled M109 and M110 howitzers, where the troops drilled artillery strikes as part of an anti-amphibious-landing drill.

This week’s Han Kuang exercises last five days, with the Ministry of National Defense overseeing exercises at military installations and airbases across the nation, including on the nation’s outlying islands.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2015-09-07
By: Ko Lin, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Taiwan’s Food and Drug Administration (TFDA) disclosed Monday its proposal

to follow in the footpath of the United States’ complete ban of partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs), or trans fat in its food supply over the next three years.

The official announcement will only be made either by year-end or beginning of next year if the proposed bill is deemed clear of passage after 60 days, according to TFDA’s Division of Food Safety official Tseng Su-hsiang.

On June 16, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ruled that trans fat is not generally recognized as safe for use in human food, health risks that also contribute to heart disease.     [FULL STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/09/07
By: Lu Hsin-hui and Romulo Huang

Taipei, Sept. 7 (CNA) The live-fire drills of Taiwan’s annual Han Kuang military

exercises kicked off Monday, simulating an attack from China.

President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), in his capacity as commander of the Armed Forces of the nation, inspected the soldiers who participated in the second stage of the “Han Kuang 31” series of exercises at a military base in northern Hsinchu County.

The war games, which will run through Sept. 11, are taking place on Taiwan proper and on the country’s outlying islands and will see the Army, Navy and Air Force test their joint operations in the event of war. They follow computer-aided war games held in May.

There will be more drills this year than last year, according to Maj. Gen. Zhong Shu-ming (鍾樹明), director of the Ministry of National Defense’s Joint Operation Division.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-09-07
By: CNA and Staff Reporter

Hung Hsiu-chu, the presidential candidate of Taiwan’s ruling Kuomintang, said

Sunday that the country is really “sick” and that she wants to bring the nation back onto the right path.

Speaking at a news conference after a brief break in her campaign activities to “engage in deep self-reflection,” she pointed out that the country has “so many good aspects,” citing as examples the selfless devotion of the numerous volunteers and people’s warmth toward each other.

But she lamented that “all the goodness seems to evaporate when entering the political sphere.”

Hung said the cause of the illness is in politics and “especially we who are in politics,” because the politicians have set “a very bad example” for the public over the years.

According to Hung, a lot of politicians don’t know what “integrity” means and even deny its existence. “Why can society condone this?” she asked.     [FULL  STORY]