Ill-Gotten Assets Body Targets KMT HQ The Ill-gotten Assets Settlement Committee under Chairman Wellington Koo announced that the KMT must transfer its shares of Central Investment Co. and its subsidiary Hsinyutai Co. to the government after it was determined that these companies were illegally obtained assets. The Committee acts under legislation that aims to return…
An international tribunal’s recent ruling on the South China Sea leaves Taiwan in a sensitive position. In September last year, President Tsai Ing-wen, then the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate, told a diplomatic reception: “A future DPP administration will be committed to following…the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)…
Domestic ATM Heist At First Bank An international crime ring made up of Eastern European and Russian nationals made off with NT$83 million (equivalent to US$$2.6 million) removed from 34 of the First Commercial Bank’s automatic teller machines around Taiwan on July 9 and 10. The heist was carried out by using malware to make…
Tsai Makes First Overseas Trip President Tsai’s first diplomatic trip since taking office took place in June with visits to Panama and Paraguay, two important Latin American allies for Taiwan. She began her three days in Panama by attending the opening ceremony of the expanded Panama Canal. After meeting with top officials in the country,…
Taiwan is urged to take early action in resolving outstanding trade issues. Despite continuing uncertainty about the ultimate fate of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact within the U.S. political process, AmCham Taipei’s 2016 “Doorknock” delegation to Washington D.C. heard from many observers inside and outside the U.S. government that Taiwan should take urgent steps…
Kenya Sends Taiwanese Fraudsters to China Kenya’s deportation to China of 45 Taiwanese accused of telephone fraud led to speculation that China was sending a warning message to the incoming administration of Tsai Ing-wen not to rock the boat on cross-Strait affairs. Two groups of Taiwanese nationals seized by Kenyan authorities in two separate cases…
FarGlory Taipei Dome Contract Dissolved The Taipei City government and the Farglory Group agreed to dissolve the contract for the beleaguered Taipei Dome project on April 14, with the details and compensation amounts remaining unspecified. The Taipei Dome, a 40,000-seat indoor arena being constructed near Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall at the intersection of ZhongXiao East…
In the face of persistent pressure from Beijing, foreign aid has helped Taipei bolster formal relations with countries in need. Can that strategy endure? Taiwan has long provided technical and financial assistance to other countries as a means of boosting its limited international profile. Given the relentless efforts of the People’s Republic of China (PRC)…
Teen Singer Waves Flag, Angers China The presidential campaign of Tsai Ing-wen got an unexpected boost when it was revealed that China was picking on little girls. Chou Tzu-yu, a 16-year-old member of the Korean pop band Twice, raised the ire of Chinese nationalists, who called her a Taiwan independence supporter when images of her…
Microsoft’s Digital Crimes Unit (DCU), an investigative consultancy aimed at assisting law enforcement agencies to root out cybercrime, employs a dynamic map that displays locations from which cyberattacks are originating, as well as locations that are being victimized. Until roughly seven years ago, the map showed Taiwan as being the victim of large-scale cybercrime. But…
