We present the highlights of the 1996-1998 Taiwan IMAGES program,describing the objectives and some of the preliminary results from the thirdcruise in the western Pacific and the South China Sea(IMAGES Ⅲ/MD106-IPHIS Cruise).This cruise was successfully completed in June,1997,withthe cooperation of scientists from six countries.Specifically,we introducethe primary goals of the studies conducted in the South China Sea,whichwere mainly proposed and designed by scientists from Taiwan to furtherenhance our understanding of Quaternary variability in the East Asia monsoon,the Kuroshio Current,and the western Pacific warm pool systems.We also briefly describe the cores obtained from the South China Sea duringthis cruise and the preliminary scientific results drawn from shipboardmeasurements of the cores.