GERMANY
Scholz warns China
Chancellor Olaf Scholz yesterday told parliament that he had warned China during talks earlier this week against using force to achieve territorial changes, particularly against Taiwan. Scholz this week hosted a large Chinese delegation led by Chinese Premier Li Qiang (李強) in the first face-to-face summit since the COVID-19 pandemic, at a time of rising geopolitical tensions between the West and China. “We firmly reject all unilateral attempts to change the status quo in the East and South China seas by force or coercion. This is especially true for Taiwan,” Scholz said, according to prepared remarks. “We are also concerned about the human rights situation and the state of the rule of law in China,” he added.
EDUCATION
Bristol students to arrive
Thirty undergraduate students from the University of Bristol are to study Mandarin in Kaohsiung next month as part of the Turing Scheme, marking the first time the British government-funded program has supported Mandarin learning in Taiwan. The group is to arrive on Friday next week and start taking Mandarin courses on weekdays from July 3 to 28. The curriculum is to include windsurfing and maritime education field trips, local cultural experiences and visits to historic sites, the Education Division of Taiwan’s representative office in the UK said. The British government set up the Turing Scheme after dropping out of the EU’s Erasmus program following the UK’s exit from the EU in 2020. The scheme, named after mathematician Alan Turing, funds students of occupational education, college students and pupils from other educational institutes to study in foreign countries and receive professional training. The university said that the scheme would help students gain basic Mandarin skills, immerse themselves in Taiwanese culture and develop intercultural skills.
DIPLOMACY
Resignation approved
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has approved the resignation of Representative to Thailand Chuang Suo-hang (莊碩漢), the Presidential Office said late on Wednesday, less than a year since he assumed the post in Bangkok. Chuang resigned due to family reasons, a source speaking on condition of anonymity said. Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Jeff Liu (劉永健) said Chuang offered his resignation in the middle of this month “over personal reasons,” a decision the ministry respects. Neither the Presidential Office nor them ministry announced a replacement for the envoy. Before assuming the post in Thailand, Chuang served as vice chairman of the Taiwan External Trade Development Council. He previously served as a Cabinet spokesman, a deputy minister of the Overseas Community Affairs Council and a Democratic Progressive Party legislator from 2005 to 2008 when the party was in opposition.
MEDIA
New CNA head announced
Minister Without Portfolio Lee Yung-te (李永得) has been appointed chairman of the Central News Agency (CNA), the Ministry of Culture said on Wednesday. Minister of Culture Shih Che (史哲) said Lee would be an ideal leader, as the national news agency prepares to mark its centenary next year. Lee served as culture minister from May 2020 until January, during which he oversaw the launch of TaiwanPlus, the nation’s first English-only video news and programming platform for an international audience.
Staff writer, with agencies
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
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