Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-05-31

The head of the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), Katharine Chang, has denied media

reports suggesting that the MAC secretly communicated with its counterpart in Mainland China.

The Apple Daily recently published an article saying that Chang had passed a message to Zhang Zhujun, the head of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office. According to the article, Chang asked her Chinese counterpart to resume cross-strait exchanges because the one-China principle is part of Taiwan’s constitution. But China’s Zhang reportedly turned down the request, insisting that Taiwan recognize the 1992 Consensus.

The 1992 Consensus was long a basis of cross-strait ties. Under the consensus Taiwan and Mainland China agreed that both were part of “one China”, while agreeing to disagree on what “one China” means. President Tsai Ing-wen has not recognized the consensus since she took office in May last year. Beijing has responded by cutting off cross-strait dialogue.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/05/31
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News)–Yilan County Government will demolish one of three illegal

farmhouses that have been on the local government’s radar on Thursday in an effort to crack down on illegal farmhouses that have sprung up across the northeastern Taiwanese county.

Illegal farmhouses, a lot of them look like villas, have mushroomed on the Yilan Plain in recent years, seriously spoiling the view of the plain.

To stop the chaos from continuing to spread, the county government recently decided to deal with the issue with a heavy-handed approach, and targeted the three illegal farmhouses that severely violated the regulations pertaining building farmhouses on agricultural land in the first wave crackdown, according to the local government.

The three farmhouses are located in Jiaoxi, Yuanshan and Wujie townships.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/05/31
By: Scarlette Chai and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, May 31 (CNA) Emirates issued a new directive to its Taiwanese cabin crew

Wednesday, asking them not to wear any flag pins, after they protested against an order by the airline the previous day to use Chinese lapel flag pins.

Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said Wednesday that it had also lodged a protest with the Emirates headquarters in Dubai over the matter, which started with an email from the airline to its Taiwanese cabin crew members to start observing the “one China” policy with immediate effect.

“This means you must remove the Taiwanese flag from your service waistcoat and replace it with the Chinese flag,” the airline said in the email, according to MOFA.

The order was issued at the request of the Chinese government, the airline said.
[FULL  STORY]

PARTY ELECTIONS:A supporter of KMT chief Hung Hsiu-chu accused Wu Den-yih of attempting to ‘wipe out’ Hung’s camp as they fight over nomination rights

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 01, 2017
By: Sean Lin / Staff reporter

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday canceled its weekly Central Standing

Committee (CSC) meeting reportedly due to a new wave of intraparty fighting between outgoing KMT Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) and chairman-elect Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) over the right to nominate Central Committee members.

According to the party’s agenda, Central Committee members are to be nominated by Hung on June 14, with the election of party representatives and Central Standing Committee members to be held on July 7 and July 29 respectively.

This means that Wu, who is scheduled to assume the chairmanship on Aug. 20, when the party’s national congress is also to be held, will not be able to nominate candidates for the elections.    [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
May 31, 2017
By: CNA

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Due to a southwesterly airstream and a lingering weather front,

heavy downpours are forecast across Taiwan over the next five days, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said on Wednesday, advising the public to take precautions.

With the southwesterly airstream strengthening on Wednesday, the CWB said it would be largely cloudy across most of Taiwan for the rest of the day, adding that some central and southern areas would receive occasional showers or thunderstorms.

On Friday and Saturday there will be showers and thunderstorms around the country caused by the southwesterly airstream and frontal system. In some areas the rainfall will be designated extremely heavy or higher, the CWB forecast.

Due to the air front, the wet weather will continue until next Monday, with showers and thunderstorms around the island, while some areas will be hit by heavy rain or extremely heavy rain, the CWB said.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-05-30

President Tsai Ing-wen has met with United States Senator Cory Gardner, and

expressed her hope that the US will continue to sell weapons to Taiwan in the future.

Gardner, the junior senator for Colorado, is visiting in his capacity as the head of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asia. He recently proposed the Asian Reassurance Initiative Act (ARIA). This pushed for a new round of arms sales to Taiwan.

Tsai met Gardner at the Presidential Office on Tuesday and thanked him for the proposal. She said that the relationship between the US and Taiwan is heading in a positive direction and that the two sides are working together on regional security issues.    [FULL  STORY]

Where to buy the next best thing to homemade zongzi in Taipei

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/05/30
By: Hungryintaipei, Taiwan News, Contributing Writer

Every year when Dragon Boat Festival rolls around, I have zongzi, or Chinese rice

tamales as some people dub it, on the brain. Ask most people where their favorite zongzi is and the answer will be “homemade” or “my mom’s” which makes sense, but doesn’t help those who don’t have any skilled relatives to rely on during Dragon Boat Festival.

Luckily, for those of us living in Taipei, we have the next best thing to homemade, which is zongzi made by clans of nimble fingered aunties as fast as they can. I usually also eat homemade zongzi, but this year I did my own zongzi food crawl to find a few options that ended up surprising me. Here are a few places you can hunt down zongzi today, but don’t forget to pick up some sweet chili sauce to complete the experience.

Nanment Market (南門市場)

Nanmen Market is a mecca for zongzi lovers, with 5-6 different shops specializing in zongzi at this traditional market. NanYuan, a 56-year-old shop inside the market, is so popular that they set up an additional pop up area in the courtyard where people wind up and down the stairs waiting to buy zongzi from the grandma who started the business.

While waiting in line, customers can watch them wrap and steam the huge batches of zongzi. Customers who don’t have time to wait can buy from the competitor next door, or from the busy shops inside.

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/05/30
By: Chiu Chun-ching and Christie Chen

Taipei, May 30 (CNA) Families around Taiwan took part Tuesday in a series of egg balancing events, a traditional Chinese activity, to mark the Dragon Boat Festival.

In Taoyuan City, over 300 families tried to balance eggs at an event outside Gloria Outlets.

Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦), who attended the event and left his fingerprints on a 170-centimeter tall egg sculpture, said he hoped the activity would bring a year of good luck to his city.

According to folk culture, a person who succeeds in balancing an egg on its end on Dragon Boat festival day will have one full year of good luck.    [FULL  STORY]

ON THE MEND:The highway authority has drafted short and long-term plans to repair the damaged highway, after using drones to survey and evaluate the road conditions

Taipei Times
Date: May 31, 2017
By: Cheng Wei-chi and Yang Yuan-ting / Staff reporters

The Jiugongli (九宮里) section near the 112.6km milepost of Suhua Highway (蘇花公

路) is to be opened again for guarded two-way traffic today, the Directorate General of Highways (DGH) said yesterday.

One lane will be open to two-way traffic from 4pm to 6pm today, which will be expanded to three times per day starting tomorrow, it said.

The agency made the decision after using unmanned aerial vehicles to evaluate road conditions and generate short and long-term repair plans for the highway, which was closed as a result of multiple rockslides that began on Sunday.

As yesterday was the last day of the four-day Dragon Boat Festival holiday, motorists were worried after many were stuck in Hualien because of the damaged highway, with the Maritime Port Bureau launching extra ferries to shuttle passengers along with their cars.    [FULL  STORY]

It’s wise to start planning inheritance now against spendthrift kids. Here’s how.

The China Post
Date: May 30, 2017
By: The China Post

New tax rules governing inheritance and annual cash gifts took effect on May 20,

replacing the existing 10 percent flat tax rate with a three-level progressive tax. How can you navigate the system to suit your needs?

“To be honest, as I get older, I knew I have to start thinking about property distribution, but the task is really complicated. It’s not just a matter of money. Sometimes when I start thinking about it, I get so frustrated that I just want to stop and do it later,” says 70-year-old Mrs. Chen, a retired civil servant. Mrs. Chen’s husband runs a small business and family finances are pretty good.

New Tax Rates: Top rate of 20% big enough to be felt

Under the new three-tier system, inheritance is taxed at 10 percent for amounts less than NT$50 million, 15 percent for NT$50-100 million and 20 percent for over NT$100 million.    [FULL  STORY]