Monthly Archives: April 2016

Rain expected in coming week as weather front approaches

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/04/24
By: Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, April 24 (CNA) Most parts of Taiwan will experience afternoon thunder

(CNA file photo)

(CNA file photo)

showers in the coming week as several weather fronts approach the island, a Central Weather Bureau forecaster said Sunday.

Rain fell around most of Taiwan on Sunday because of a weather front, said Chang Hsin-hua (張心華), who predicted the wet weather will last until April 26, when the sun should reappear.

Another front is expect to hit Taiwan on April 27 and bring thunder showers to the island, and the unstable weather pattern will continue until April 29, Chang was cited as saying by the Apple Daily.

A third weather front could affect Taiwan beginning on April 30, continuing the pattern of thunder showers seen previously during the week, Chang predicted.     [FULL  STORY]

KMT may resort to grand justices on assets: Huang

LONG ROAD AHEAD:The KMT’s ties with corporations and transferral of assets to third parties mean that even if the act passes, it could take decades to resolve the problem

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 25, 2016
By: Stacy Hsu / Staff reporter

New Power Party (NPP) Legislator Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) yesterday said that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) might use any government agencies it can influence, including the Council of Grand Justices, to obstruct legislation on ill-gotten party assets.

Huang made the remarks at the second and last day of the “Transitional Justice and Law” symposium held in Taipei by the Taiwan Association of University Professors, during which academics discussed the impediments to transitional justice.

“Given the KMT’s response to the relatively harmless draft presidential transition act, the party is expected to bring its ‘A game’ and turn to all the government agencies it can control, such as the grand justices, to boycott the draft bill on ill-gotten party assets,” said Huang, who presided over a session on how to deal with the KMT’s ill-gotten assets.

Huang said the KMT succeeded in exempting President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration from the draft presidential transition act by demanding that it be referred to party negotiations on Tuesday last week, which froze the proposal for a month.

Huang Shih-hsin (黃世鑫), an honorary professor at National Taipei University’s Department of Public Finance, compared the KMT to East Germany’s Socialist Unity Party (SED), saying both parties had been marred by controversial assets accrued during their one-party rules.     [FULL  STORY]

Academia Sinica president to meet Ma over OBI case

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 25, 2016
By: Staff writer, with CNA

Academia Sinica President Wong Chi-huey (翁啟惠), who has been barred from leaving the nation on suspicion of insider trading and corruption, is to meet President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) today to explain his dealings with biotech firm OBI Pharma Inc.

Presidential Office sources yesterday said that Wong is set to apologize to Ma for having been involved in a stock scandal, but as to whether he would offer to resign, one source said: “He did not bring it up in the telephone call asking for the appointment.”

Wong on Thursday was listed as a possible suspect in the case and barred from leaving the nation by prosecutors probing insider trading allegations involving the Taipei-based company.

He could face charges of corruption and breach of trust after being questioned by prosecutors on Wednesday along with 10 others, including OBI Pharma chairman Michael Chang (張念慈), also was listed as a potential suspect.     [FULL STORY]

Anniversary of key Falun Gong protest remembered

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 25, 2016 – Page 3　
By: Loa Iok-sin / Staff reporter

About 1,000 Falun Gong practitioners yesterday gathered in front of Taipei City

Taiwanese Falun Gong members meditate to protest against China’s persecution beside Taipei 101 in Taipei yesterday. Photo: DAVID CHANG, EPA

Taiwanese Falun Gong members meditate to protest against China’s persecution beside Taipei 101 in Taipei yesterday. Photo: DAVID CHANG, EPA

Hall to commemorate the 17th anniversary of a peaceful demonstration by more than 10,000 people in Beijing.

The group called on Taiwanese to give more support to their campaign against human rights abuses in China.

Several Falun Gong practitioners held a banner reading “Commemorating the 17th anniversary of the peaceful petition on April 25 of Chinese Falun Gong practitioners,” while others, in yellow uniforms and yellow caps, sat in meditation postures.

“We are commemorating the April 25 peaceful demonstration here today, because though it was a campaign by Falun Gong practitioners in China, it carries very significant meaning for Taiwan as well,” Taiwan Falun Dafa Association president Chang Chin-hwa (張錦華) said.     [FULL  STORY]

Mixed feelings expressed on ‘metro police bureau’

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-04-24
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Mixed feelings have been expressed on a lawmaker’s proposal to set up a 6750223central-government controlled “metro police bureau.”

Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wu Chi-ming has proposed a motion that aims to establish a police bureau that is responsible for maintaining security and order in the country’s metro systems.

A female Taipei City resident surnamed Hung said that she welcomes the proposal because the establishment of a metro police bureau at the central government’s level would make travelers feel safer while riding a metro in Taiwan.

However, a New Taipei City resident surnamed Chang opposes the proposal, saying that the proposed metro police bureau, if becomes reality, would waste taxpayers’ money just like the National Police Agency’s (NPA) Railway Police Bureau, which has hundreds of police officers who have nothing to do on a regular basis. Chang questioned that with very few random killings so far, why waste lots of money on setting up and maintaining a metro police bureau within the NPA?     [FULL  STORY]

Vice president presses Tsai on DPP’s position on pork imports

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/04/24
By: Claudia Liu, Lu Hsin-hui and S.C. Chang

Taipei, April 24 (CNA) Vice President Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) questioned on

Vice President Wu Den-yih. (CNA file photo)

Vice President Wu Den-yih. (CNA file photo)

Sunday President-elect Tsai Ing-wen’s position on importing American meat containing leanness-promoting drugs and accused her of “not attaching importance to public health.”

As people become more familiar with her position on importing beef and pork containing traces of ractopamine from the United States, “they will hold her accountable” for establishing an import policy that accounts for health risks to consumers, Wu said.

Tsai’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which defeated Wu’s Kuomintang (KMT) in both the presidential and legislative elections in January and will take power next month, dismissed Wu’s accusations.

“The general public has stereotyped Wu as a man with a glib tongue whose statements are often ‘wrong to the point of being ridiculous.’ So we will simply not respond to his latest remarks,” said DPP spokesman Yang Chia-liang (楊家俍).     [FULL  STORY]

Ministry let fraudster escape: legislator

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 25, 2016
By: Su Fang-ho and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writer

The Ministry of Justice “abetted the escape” of Tseng Chao-jung (曾昭榮), who

Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Karen Yu, right, listens as a defrauded investor speaks at a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times

Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Karen Yu, right, listens as a defrauded investor speaks at a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times

was indicted for allegedly scamming NT$12.2 billion (US$377.4 million at current exchange rates) from investors, by setting his bail at NT$1 million, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Karen Yu (余宛如) said yesterday.

Yu, accompanied at a news conference in Taipei by a dozen investors who said they had been defrauded by Tseng’s “cabal of con artists,” characterized the ministry’s handling of the case as a “dereliction of duty” and accused the government of leaving the victims “high and dry.”

From 2011 to 2014, Tseng and his cohorts allegedly sold through his corporations Tebao Co (德寶公司) and Shuanying Co (雙盈公司) what he claimed were unlisted shares of Eslite Spectrum Corp (誠品生活) and Taiwan Taxi Co (台灣大車隊) to more than 3,000 people for a total of NT$12.2 billion, Yu said.

Yu said that the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office wrongfully acquiesced to Tseng’s request for bail on Feb. 24, 2014, allowing him to flee and leaving no assets behind with which to compensate victims.     [FULL  STORY]

Pure Youth victory forces championship finals to sixth game

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 24, 2016
By: Paul Huang / Contributing reporter

Top-seeded Pure Youth Construction yesterday forced the championship finals

Taiwan Beer’s Patrick O’Bryant, left, yesterday shoots in their SBL championship final game against Pure Youth Construction at the Sinjhuang Sports Complex in New Taipei City. Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times

Taiwan Beer’s Patrick O’Bryant, left, yesterday shoots in their SBL championship final game against Pure Youth Construction at the Sinjhuang Sports Complex in New Taipei City. Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times

into a sixth game with a 75-61 win over second-seeded Taiwan Beer in Game 5 at the Sinjhuang Sports Complex in New Taipei City, still trailing the Brew Crew by 2-3 in the best-of-seven series.

Close plays dominated the early stages of the match, with both teams trading leads by less than five points in the first 10 minutes of play, with Darian Townes and Patrick O’Bryant leading the way for the Builders and the Brew Crew on offense with four and nine points, respectively.

Despite six turnovers in the first quarter, Taiwan Beer managed to claim a 14-12 lead after 10 minutes of play, with Pure Youth failing to cash in on their extra ball possessions. However, their small lead lasted less than two minutes as the four-time defending champions quickly poured in 23 points in the second quarter, highlighted by eight from Chen Chien-en to close out the first half with a 35-31 cushion.

That set up an inside attack by Pure Youth with Townes racking up eight points and six rebounds, three off the offensive glass in the third to put the Builders ahead by as many as 10. The hired gun from the US finished with a game-high 18 on a night that was “do-or-die” for his team.

“We knew our backs were against the wall, so we had to come out a little more aggressive,” Townes said after the game.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan’s industrial output drops 3.57% in March

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-04-23
By: Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Industrial production in Taiwan continued to drop on a yearly basis in March 6749968amid weak global demand, marking the 11th consecutive monthly decline. The official attributed the slow drop to the restored production after a powerful magnitude-7.0 quake in February.

According to an announcement by the statistical service department under the MOEA, the local industrial production index for March fell 3.57 percent from a year earlier, while the fall was the smallest since July 2015.

The narrowing decline in local industrial production came after many manufacturers were gearing up to raise their production to make up a shortfall following an interruption caused by a strong earthquake that rocked southern Taiwan in early February.

Major high-tech firms, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., which operates a 12-inch wafer plant in southern Taiwan, suffered a short delay in their production caused by the quake.     [FULL  STORY]

Investors urged to use TWSE’s market information platform

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/04/23
By: Tien Yu-pin and Frances Huang

Taipei, April 23 (CNA) Investors here are being urged by the Taiwan Stock 201604230017t0001Exchange (TWSE) to make better use of the exchange’s Market Observation Post System (MOPS) to get information about listed companies.

The TWSE, which operates the country’s main board, said there is always a certain amount of speculation in the market, and investors would be well-served by visiting the exchange’s MOPS, where listed companies are required to disclose material information, before deciding on an investment.

Listed companies are required by law to post several types of information on the system, including their monthly sales and quarterly earnings, changes in the holdings of major shareholders and sensitive information that could move share prices.     [FULL  STORY]