Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/06/11
By: Wang Cheng-chung and S.C. Chang

Taipei, June 11 (CNA) The Central Weather Bureau warned Thursday of excessive or even dangerous levels of ultraviolet rays amid clear sky and high temperatures that are forecast for Friday.

Temperatures for northern Taiwan will likely reach 35 degrees Celsius while those for central, southern and eastern Taiwan will be around 34 or 35 degrees, affected by the Pacific high pressure system, the bureau said.

They reminded members of the public not to expose themselves under the hot sun, and remember to drink enough water to avoid heatstroke.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-06-11
By: CNA and Staff Reporter

Hung Hsiu-chu, the deputy speaker of Taiwan’s Legislature and a candidate for the ruling

Kuomintang’s presidential nomination, stressed Wednesday her will to lead the KMT to victory in next year’s election and said that “her strategy for winning is to unite the party on the right path.”

The party of the unpopular Ma Ying-jeou administration is at present so riven by factions and paralyzed by its defeat in last year’s local elections that Hung is the only candidate to have put herself forward, with all the party’s chief heavyweights declining to register for the primary.

In the only campaign presentation arranged by the KMT Central Standing Committee, the only candidate qualified to run in the KMT’s presidential primary also said that if elected, she would sign a cross-strait peace agreement.

If elected, Hung said, she would make the care of the underprivileged one of her main pillars. She said she would follow the “four gives” — giving people confidence, happiness, hope and convenience.     [FULL  STORY]

LEST WE FORGET:At the rehearsal the audience were urged to remember the sacrifices of the nation’s soldiers, and to remember peace depends on a strong military

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 12, 2015
By: Jason Pan  /  Staff reporter

The armed forces held a rehearsal yesterday for exhibiting advanced weapons systems and

troop combat strength of troops at the scheduled main event next month to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II.

Held at the Hukou Army Base in Hsinchu County, the rehearsal was inspected by Chief of the General Staff General Yen Te-fa (嚴德發), who was joined by senior military officers, government officials, army reserve units and selected members of the public.

Taiwan’s upgrading of its air defense in recent years was in evidence, with newly acquired US-made III MIM-104F Patriot PAC III missiles and their mobile launcher vehicles joining the parade for the first time.

Also on public view for the first time were the two Taiwan’s most advanced domestically produced missile systems — the Hsiung Feng-3 (“Brave Wind”) and the Tien Kung III (“Sky Bow”).     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/06/10
By: Tseng Chung-sheng and Lillian Lin

Taipei, June 10 (CNA) Two retired Air Force pilots in their 90s, one from the Republic of China and the other from the U.S., regaled guests at recent dinner party at Twin Oaks Villa in Washington with stories of their combat action during the Second World War.

The party was hosted on May 19 by Shen Lyushun (沈呂巡), Taiwan’s representative to the U.S., in honor of the two wartime heroes, Richard Cole and Chen Hung-chuan (陳鴻銓), a spokesman of the representative office said.

Cole, now 99, was the co-pilot who flew with Gen. Jimmy Doolittle, commander of the 1942 Tokyo Raid. Cole recalled that crew was rescued by Chinese civilians when the plane mistakenly landed behind enemy lines in an eastern coastal region of mainland China after a bombing mission.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/06/10
By: Wang Shu-fen & Bear Lee

Taipei, June 10 (CNA) About 30,000 Taiwanese travelers have canceled their trips to South Korea as an outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) continues to spread in that country, according to Taiwan’s Tourism Bureau.

On Tuesday, Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) extended its yellow travel advisory for Seoul to the whole of South Korea, amid an increase in the reported number of MERS infections and deaths in that country.

As of Wednesday, South Korea had reported 108 MERS infections and nine deaths, the largest MERS outbreak outside the Middle East region.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-06-10
By: CNA

Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a yellow travel advisory, the second out of its

four-color alert system, for the whole of South Korea on Tuesday, amid a rapid spread of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in the country.

The ministry also urged Taiwanese nationals in South Korea to refrain from visiting hospitals and other medical institutions except for necessary medical care.

The ministry had previously issued a yellow alert for Seoul only on June 3, with other areas in the country under the less-serious gray alert. According to the ministry’s latest travel advisory for South Korea announced late Tuesday, a yellow level alert is now in place for the whole of the country.

In view of the close exchanges between Taiwan and South Korea and the closure of more than 2,100 schools so far amid the MERS scare, the ministry expanded the travel alert out of safety concerns.     [FULL  STORY]

PROTEST PREPARATIONS:National Taichung First Senior High School’s Apple Tree Commune Club said that it was making plans to put more pressure on the minister

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 11, 2015
By: Su Meng-chuan  /  Staff reporter

Students yesterday urged Minister of Education Wu Se-hwa (吳思華) to answer questions

about controversial curriculum guidelines for textbooks “sincerely,” or risk seeing students take to the streets in protest.

The first of four planned meetings on campuses for students to communicate with the ministry over the proposed guidelines — to be implemented in August — was held at National Taichung First Senior High School on Tuesday night.

It ended in chaos at about 8pm at an entrance to the campus, where several dozen students stood hand-in-hand to block the car carrying Wu from leaving after the two-hour meeting.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-06-10
By: CNA

Intelligence officers found to have engaged in espionage will face more severe punishment than in the past, according to an amendment to Taiwan’s National Intelligence Services Act that cleared the Legislature Tuesday.

The amended law stipulates that intelligence officers caught divulging the nation’s intelligence information will have their sentences increased by 50%.

The stiffer penalty will also apply to intelligence officers who engage in espionage within one year of their retirement or departure from their posts.

Meanwhile, non-military personnel who divulge or pass on the source or channel of their information, or the organization of intelligence or information related to the identity and actions of intelligence officers or communications security controls will now face prison terms of between three and 10 years.     [FULL  STORY]