The hina Post
Date: April 9, 2016
By: CNA

TAIPEI — Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) vowed Friday to listen to the

voices of the people, a city government spokesman said, after a new opinion poll showed the number of Ko’s detractors exceeding his backers for the first time.

The mayor said he “will listen to the voices of residents, make improvements on things that have not been done well and step up communications with the people,” according to spokesman Sidney Lin (林鶴明) in response to the poll.

Lin said the latest poll showed Taipei residents responding positively to traffic improvements, and promised that the city will humbly deal with other issues on which residents expressed dissatisfaction.

TVBS’s most recent poll conducted in the first few days of April showed 38 percent of respondents expressing satisfaction with Ko’s performance against 42 percent who expressed dissatisfaction and 20 percent who had no opinion.     [FULL  STORY]

The News Lens
Date: 2016/04/08
Translated and compiled by Shin-wei Chang

Cheng Chieh, a 21-year-old who went on a killing spree on the MRT leaving four dead and 22 injured last May, was sentenced to the death penalty in both the first and second instance respectively by a district court and the Taiwan High Court.

The decision of the Supreme Court would determine Cheng Chieh’s sentence, so the court held an appeal hearing for him to examine his opinions on April 7. This is the first case for a defendant to attend an appeal hearing.

Cheng’s three-point statement

In the debate, Cheng first apologized twice to the victims and their families. He said that he would not forgive the murderer if he were the family of the victims, so he did not expect to be forgiven.

Following his apology, Cheng expressed his appreciation for the Supreme Court giving him the chance to speak out. He said he wants to be executed as soon as possible, but he chose to cooperate because his lawyer has been working very hard for his case.

Finally, Cheng criticized the Agency of Corrections for being an “agency of punishment,” and expressed his dissatisfaction with the prison system. Cheng said that most criminals are discriminated by the society, and fail to find jobs after being released.     [FULL  STORY]

Kaohsiung mayor calls for pardon

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-04-08
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Vice President-elect Chen Chien-jen visited ex-President Chen Shui-bian Friday afternoon after Kaohsiung City Mayor Chen Chu called for a pardon for the former head of state, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for corruption.

The retired president, who ran the country from 2000 to 2008, left prison on medical parole in January last year after six years in detention and has since been living in Kaohsiung with his family. The new vice president, who will take office on May 20, visited him at home for an hour in the company of the mayor, reports said.

While the three politicians happen to share the same surname, they are not related.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/04/07
By: Yang Ssu-jui and S.C. Chang

Taipei, April 7 (CNA) Prosecutors indicted five private builders of a housing

complex in Tainan Thursday on charges of “genocide through professional negligence” after 115 residents of their jerry-built houses died in a magnitude 6.3 earthquake on Feb. 6.

Family members of the victims from the collapsed building complained that the maximum punishment for such a fatal crime would be just 5 years behind bars, with one saying she could not forgive the unconscionable builders and irresponsible officials — none of whom were charged — and hoped they would be jailed for the rest of their lives.

After investigating the causes of the deadly incident, chief prosecutor Chen Chien-hung (陳建弘) of Tainan District Prosecutors Office said Lin Ming-hui (林明輝), the owner of Weiguan Corporation which built the Weiguan Jinlong housing complex in 1993, and four others responsible for designing and building the housing units, were suspected of professional negligence leading to death and injury.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-04-07
By: Chia Lee, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

The Director said that this is his second time visiting the city, during which he hoped he could focus on Kaohsiung’s industrial development, and touch upon the possibility of more cooperation between the United States and Kaohsiung.
American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Kin Moy on Thursday visited Kaohsiung and met with Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu. The two were seen exchanging opinions on trade and industrial development, and discussing the possibilities of potential cooperation between the two sides.

The director said that this is his second time visiting the city, during which he hoped he could focus on Kaohsiung’s industrial development, and touch upon the possibility of more cooperation between the United States and Kaohsiung.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/04/07
By: Yang Su-min and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, April 7 (CNA) The average wholesale price of vegetables in Taipei is expected to fall to below NT$30 (US$0.93) per kilogram around April 10 due mainly to sufficient market supply as the lingering good weather seen recently has resulted in a rich harvest, an Agriculture and Food Agency (農糧署) official said Thursday.

Due to a short of supply of vegetables as poor weather over past months had affected production, the average trading price of vegetables at the Taipei Fruits & Vegetables Wholesale Market (台北果菜市場) hit a record high of NT$56.1 per kilo on March 29, according to Su Mao-shiang (蘇茂祥), secretary general of the agency under the Cabinet-level Council of Agriculture.

However, the average wholesale price at the Taipei market dropped sharply to NT$32 per kilo on Thursday due to an increase in supply as the result of the bright sunny days recently that helped boost the vegetable harvest, Su said.     [FULL  STORY]

EXPERIENCED TEAM:The premier-designate said that all of the confirmed Cabinet members have served in government positions and he has worked well with them

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 08, 2016
By: Loa Iok-sin / Staff reporter

Premier-designate Lin Chuan (林全) yesterday introduced eight future

Cabinet members, including the vice premier, the Cabinet spokesman, four ministers without portfolio and the future minister of health and welfare, to the media.

Speaking at a news conference yesterday afternoon, Lin introduced the first eight members of his future Cabinet, including future vice premier Lin Hsi-yao (林錫耀), future minister of health and welfare Lin Tzou-yien (林奏延), ministers without portfolio Lin Mei-chu (林美珠), Chang Ching-sen (張景森), Shih Jun-ji (施俊吉) and Hsu Chang-yao (許璋瑤), and future Cabinet spokesman Tung Chen-yuan (童振源) — who did not appear at the press conference as he is currently in the US as a visiting professor.

Lin Chuan said that all of the confirmed Cabinet members have served in government positions at different levels, and that he had worked well with all of them previously.     [FULL  STORY]

The News Lens
Date: 2016/04/07
Translated and compiled by Yuan-ling Liang

Rand Corporation, an analysis think tank supported by the Pentagon, recently

issued a report, “Air Defense Options for Taiwan,” suggesting that Taiwan should reduce its budget on military aircrafts and emphasize more on missiles.

The preface of the report points out that Taiwan’s relationship and geographic condition with China lead to one of the most complicated air defense problems in the world. Since China has built systems that threaten Taiwan’s military aircrafts, the level of PLA’s (People’s Liberation Army) defense facilities surpasses that in Taiwan. If a military conflict takes place, Taiwan’s aircrafts would be completely destroyed.

According to the report, Taiwan’s fighter force is less capable than China’s and even outnumbered in the air. The island’s ground force is also by far too vulnerable.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-04-07
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Academia Sinica president Wong Chi-huey said he sold OBI Pharma shares for her daughter at the suggestion of an account operator and that his comments on OBI Pharma following the discouraging result of the company’s flagship clinical trial for a new breast cancer drug were made from a scientific perspective and not intended to prop the company up.

Since the revelation of the clinical result, OBI Pharma shares have plummeted from this year’s high of NT$718 on Feb. 19.

Wong Chi-huey, who is currently in the U.S., has been called upon by legislators and the public to return to Taiwan to explain the suspicions of insider trading over the incident.

On Thursday morning Wong Chi-huey submitted a statement to the Legislature’s Education and Culture Committee. He said in the statement that when his daughter opened a stock account in Taiwan, she authorized her parents to handle all affairs related to the account.     [FULL  STORY]