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
STRONG RELATIONSHIPS: China would not blockade Taiwan, because President Xi respects him, and Russia would not have invaded if he were president, he said Former US president and the Republican candidate in next month’s presidential election Donald Trump said he would impose additional tariffs on China if China were to “go into Taiwan,” the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported. “I would say: If you go into Taiwan, I’m sorry to do this, I’m going to tax you, at 150 percent to 200 percent,” Trump was quoted as saying in an interview with the WSJ published on Friday. Asked if he would use military force against a blockade on Taiwan by China, Trump said it would not come to that because Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) respected
The Taipei Department of Transportation discouraged YouBike 2.0E users from taking them on long-distance trips after a Taipei city councilor said that riders often use the new electric bike, YouBike 2.0E, to climb Yangmingshan (陽明山). Taipei earlier this year began offering the first 30 minutes of YouBike 2.0 rentals for free, with Taipei and New Taipei offering the YouBike 2.0E on Aug. 30 to encourage rider usage. For YouBike 2.0, the rate is NT$10 per 30 minutes within the first four hours, NT$20 per 30 minutes for five to eight hours and NT$40 per 30 minutes after eight hours. Meanwhile, for e-bikes,
RESOURCE RICH: Taiwan is located in the Pacific Ring of Fire and has up to 30 gigawatts of the potential energy, of which 10 gigawatts could be economically viable Academia Sinica and CPC Corp yesterday began drilling the nation’s first deep geothermal well in Yilan County’s Yuanshan Township (員山). The 4km-deep well is expected to take 18 months to complete and has an estimated investment of NT$337 million (US$10.54 million), Academia Sinica President James Liao (廖俊智) said. “While Taiwan has up to 30 gigawatts of potential deep geothermal energy, with an estimated 10 gigawatts being economically viable, only by digging wells can we determine the actual amount of commercially viable geothermal energy,” Liao said at the project’s opening ceremony. Data collected during and after the excavation process would be used for future
HACKERS’ MARKET: Chat logs about Taiwan and documents outlining ways to take over online accounts were leaked from a company that sells data from hacks Taiwanese cybersecurity specialists found 577 leaked documents which show that the Chinese Communist Party is engaging in “cognitive warfare” against Taiwan through cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns, a documentary released last month by Japanese public broadcaster NHK showed. The filmmakers behind Tracking China’s Leaked Documents said they spent six months visiting seven countries, including Taiwan, where they interviewed members of TeamT5, a malware research and cybersecurity firm, which found the leaked documents. TeamT5 said they discovered a string of mysterious URLs on the social media platform X, which they suspected could be accounts created by hackers or people who leaked data, which led