Protestors have been moved to ‘clear the road’ more than two months into a sit-in by indigenous groups.

The News Lens
Date: 2017/05/02
By: ZiQing Low

Police in Taipei today disrupted a sit-in by indigenous protesters from Ketagalan

Boulevard, near Taiwan’s Presidential Office, more than two months after the protest started.

The police moved a small group of protesters, who have camped out on Ketagalan Boulevard since Feb. 23, to the adjacent sidewalk and erected barricades around them. Police also removed indigenous artwork and rocks from the protester’s tribal areas that were part of the protest.

Several indigenous groups in Taiwan are opposed to the government’s planned return of land in eastern Taiwan, where most of Taiwan’s indigenous people live.
[FULL  STORY]

Lee Ming-che has been detained for more than 40 days

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/05/02
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – More than 40 days after his detention in China, the wife of

Taiwanese human rights activist Lee Ming-che (李明哲) stands by her campaign to focus international attention on his plight, she said in an interview with the BBC’s Chinese-language service published Tuesday.

Lee disappeared on March 19, the day he crossed from Macau into the Chinese city of Zhuhai, apparently on a trip to pave the way for his mother-in-law to receive medical treatment there.

It took ten days before China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) admitted that he had been detained, supposedly because he was being investigated for “activities harmful to national security.” China prevented his wife, Lee Ching-yu (李凈瑜), from boarding a flight to Beijing to look for him by canceling her travel document.   [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/05/02
By: Emerson Lim and Lilian Wu

Taipei, May 2 (CNA) Taiwan has advised its nationals travelling to the Philippines to watch out for their safety after reports that a terrorist group in the southern Philippines could be eyeing Palawan in the western Philippines as a target.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a gray alert for the Philippines Tuesday, reminding travelers to pay attention to their safety.

Under the ministry’s four-color travel advisory system, the lowest level is gray, followed by yellow, then orange and finally red.

The ministry said Abu Sayyaf, a terrorist group traditionally active in the southwest of the country, could be planning to target Palawan and Coron in the west.
[FULL  STORY]

‘FRIVOLOUS’:The legislative speaker questioned the KMT’s move as lawmakers had already agreed to restart reviews of the infrastructure development bill today

Taipei Times
Date: May 03, 2017
By: Alison Hsiao / Staff reporter

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers yesterday again occupied the legislative

speaker’s podium as they urged their colleagues to retract a bill to implement the Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Plan.

With the Economics Committee scheduled to lead a second joint-committee review of the bill today, the KMT caucus staged a protest against what it called the NT$880 billion (US$29.3 billion) “money-pit bill,” demanding a redrafting of the bill to reduce the expenditure and shorten its target period from eight years to four.

KMT caucus secretary-general Alicia Wang (王育敏) said the plan is “unreasonable and unjust” and that, as a responsible opposition party, the KMT is obliged to block a bill that is “destined to accrue a great debt that will be shouldered by our children.”
[FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: May 3, 2017
By: CNA

TAIPEI — A Taiwanese trekker who went missing for 47 days in the Himalayas and

saw his girlfriend die there returned to Taiwan on Tuesday after recovering in a hospital in Nepal.

Liang Sheng-yue (梁聖岳) appeared weak and tired on arrival at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and did not respond to questions from reporters.

The 21-year-old and his girlfriend, Liu Chen-chun (劉宸君), 18, arrived in Nepal from India in late February and began their trek in early March.

According to Liang, the couple encountered heavy snow on the third day of their journey, and they fell off a cliff while trying to get down the mountain to find shelter and were unable to climb up again.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-05-01

Foreign Minister David Lee said he wants to work towards a bilateral trade

agreement with the United States. He was speaking at the legislature on Monday, outlining new strategies for US-Taiwan relations. That’s in light of the new US administration’s decision to back out of plans to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

Lee said Taiwan would continue to engage the US through the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) and the Digital Economic Forum (DEF). It would also send delegations to the United States to try to forge a bilateral trade agreement.    [FULL  STORY]

Old Taiwanese gangster threatens to blow up police forces with MK2 grenade during 3-hour standoff in night market area in New Taipei City

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/05/01
By: Judy Lin, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News)—Liu Pang-cheng (劉邦誠), the suspected leader of drug ring

and chapter head of the Celestial Way (天道盟) triad in Taiwan, threatened to detonate a military-grade MK2 grenade during a three-hour standoff with police in a bustling night market area in New Taipei City, Sunday.

Liu, who is past his 60s has been coined by Chinese-language media UDN, as “the world’s toughest old man.”

Police were pursuing Liu and his younger accomplice at the same time, and thought the older man was an easier target to apprehend.

To their surprise, Liu was well equipped with weapons and a MK2 grenade, police exchanged at least 35 gunshots with Liu during the gunfight that broke out at Zhonghe District Xingnan Night Market (中和興南夜市) on Sunday morning.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/05/01
By: Hsieh Chia-chen and Lilian Wu

Taipei, May 1 (CNA) A five-day stretch of computer-aided war games that will

simulate a Chinese attack on Taiwan in 2025 opened the annual Han Kuang military exercises on Monday.

The computerized war games were staged at the Ministry of National Defense’s (MND’s) command center, with National Defense University playing the role of an attacker and the military following rules of engagement related to anti-air defenses, interception and defense of the country’s territory.

The MND said the scenario simulates a Chinese deployment of three aircraft carriers with stealth fighters and new missiles.    [FULL  STORY]

NORTH AND SOUTH:Protesters outside the Presidential Southern Office listed five demands to improve workers’ rights and threatened to hold more demonstrations

Taipei Times
Date: May 02, 2017
By: Abraham Gerber / Staff reporter

About 10,000 union members and others yesterday marched through Taipei to

protest against exploitation and demanding minimum pension guarantees, while a smaller protest was held in Kaohsiung.

The march in Taipei began after a rally on Ketagalan Boulevard, organized by the “2017 May 1 Action Alliance.”

At the marchers’ final stop — the headquarters of the Chinese National Federation of Industries — angry protesters threw empty water bottles at placards bearing images of prominent industrial leaders such as Far Eastern Group (遠東集團) chairman Douglas Hsu (徐旭東), calling them “spoiled bosses” responsible for the erosion of labor rights.

The General Chamber of Commerce’s building was also targeted.    [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: May 2, 2017
By: The China Post news staff

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Foreign Minister David Lee (李大維) said that international news

agency Reuters issued “regrets and apologies” over its latest news coverage, which the Presidential Office said had misrepresented President Tsai Ing-wen.

The international news agency published two stories in two days last week, respectively headlined “Taiwan president says phone call with Trump can take place again” and “Trump spurns Taiwan president’s suggestion of another phone call.”

Tsai was quoted as saying “we don’t exclude the opportunity to call President Trump himself, but it depends on the needs of the situation and the U.S. government’s consideration of regional affairs.”    [FULL  STORY]