Taiwan News
Date: 2016-03-31
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Straits Exchange Foundation Chairman Lin Join-sane cancelled a planned trip to China after the Legislative Yuan passed a motion Thursday forcing him to obtain its approval for such a mission.

The chief of the semi-official body in charge of handling the practical side of relations with China had been planning to start the visit on April 6, and had scheduled an April 11 meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Chen Deming, president of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits.

However, on Thursday, the Legislature’s Internal Administration Committee voted to approve an unexpected proposal in the sense that Lin would need the approval of the committee before he could set off. The budget for the trip would also be frozen unless the committee agreed with the trip.

After a discussion inside the SEF, Lin decided to cancel his travel plans, a spokesman said. ARATS had been notified and had replied it would maintain contacts with the SEF.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan Today
Date: March 31, 2016

ROC President Ma Ying-jeou met with President-elect Tsai Ing-wen at Taipei Guest House

President Ma Ying-jeou (left) greets President-elect Tsai Ing-wen ahead of their meeting March 30 in Taipei City. (Courtesy of Presidential Office)

March 30 in Taipei City, reaffirming bipartisan cooperation in the lead up to the latter’s May 20 inauguration.

“It is an honor to have served the people during the past eight years, fulfilling my duty entrusted by the ROC Constitution,” Ma said. “I will do my best to ensure a seamless transfer of power, setting an example for our successors to follow.”

These sentiments were echoed by Tsai, who viewed the meeting as significant in terms of democracy, responsibility and cooperation.

“With democracy as our society’s core value, we are witnessing the presidency changing party control for the third time,” she said.

“It is our common responsibility to maintain stability and establish a mechanism for government transition to proceed without a hitch. We will let people see that political leaders can rise above differences, opening up opportunities for further cooperation.”     [FULL  STORY]

WHITE SUN:A woman who visited the Taipei Representative Office in the UK said that an officer threatened not to return her passport if she did not remove a sticker

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 01, 2016
By: Stacy Hsu / Staff reporter

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday refuted a Taiwanese woman’s claims that her

Department of North American Affairs Deputy Director-General Yao Chin-hsiang, right, speaks during a question-and-answer session at the legislature in Taipei yesterday as Minister of Foreign Affairs David Lin, second left, looks on. Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei

passport was temporarily confiscated by the Taipei Representative Office in the UK on Wednesday for covering the national emblem on her passport with a sticker.

The woman, surnamed Pang, posted an article on Wednesday night on a Facebook page called “Taiwanese in Europe,” saying that an official at the representative office threatened to seize her passport if she refused to remove a sticker on the cover of her passport.

“I just went to the Taipei Representative Office in the UK to apply for the authentication of my marriage certificate. I was asked to tear the sticker covering the ‘party emblem’ [of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)]’ — which the official said is our national emblem — off my passport, or my application would be denied,” Pang said.

Both the emblems of the Republic of China (ROC) and the KMT feature a white sun on a blue background. The difference is that the rays of the sun on the KMT party emblem are longer than those on the ROC emblem.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/03/31
By: Christie Chen

Taipei, March 31 (CNA) People in Taiwan on Thursday highlighted the importance of love and education as they visited a funeral home in Taipei to pay their respects to a young girl who was killed in a gruesome knife attack Monday.

Office workers, parents, students and other people from all walks of life took the time to visit Lungyen funeral home, across from Taipei’s bustling Xingtian Temple, to pay silent tribute to the 4-year-old child, who was known affectionately as “Little Light Bulb.”

They offered prayers, presented flowers and wrote notes of blessing and sympathy, which were displayed in a visitation area that has been decorated with photos of the child, flowers, pink drapes, and her favorite Winnie-the-Pooh dolls and balloons.

“May the little angel fly freely,” one of the notes read.

“Thank you for bringing love to this world and for reminding parents to give their babies a good hug,” read another.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/03/31
By: Yang Sz-ruei and Y.F. Low

Taipei, March 31 (CNA) Police have seized nearly 60,000 fake NT$50 coins with a total value of NT$3 million (US$93,341) in a raid in Tainan, southern Taiwan.

[The counterfeit (left) and a real coin]

Tainan police said they had been investigating the case since last April after receiving complaints from local business owners that they had been given many counterfeit NT$50 coins.

The investigation eventually led to a man surnamed Huang, the police said.

An assault rifle, a shotgun, bullets and drugs were found in a raid on a residence rented by Huang in the city’s Anping District on Wednesday, according to police.     [FULL  STORY]

The mother tried to wrestle the attacker off her daughter, but he was too strong

Time
By: Mark Rivett-Carnac @mrivettcarnac

l was snatched from her bike by a knife-wielding man and beheaded in front of her mother on Monday in Taiwan’s capital Taipei, according to police.

The mother and daughter were on their way to a metro station to meet family when the 33-year-old suspect, surnamed Wang, overwhelmed the mother and decapitated the child, reports local newspaper Taipei Times. Police have launched an investigation into the apparent random killing.

The mother tried to wrestle the attacker off her daughter, but he was too strong. The child “died on the spot,” the police statement reads, according to Agence France-Presse.

Pedestrians subdued the suspect before police arrived and arrested him at the scene. When officers tried to transport the suspect from the precinct for further questioning, an angry mob descended, reportedly shouting, “kill him.”     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-03-30
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

A draft law amendment bill that if passed would make child killers face either death penalty or life sentence will be introduced in Taiwan’s Legislature on Thursday, three days after a four-year-old girl was beheaded by a male stranger in Taipei City, which has caused widespread public outcry.

The Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee will review the bill that aims to amend Article 271-1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and make it a death penalty or life in prison for any defendant convicted of murder of any child who is 12 years of age or younger without any reasons.

The life sentence would be given to cases of killing offspring out of poverty or because they are suffering from long term illnesses and conditions.

On Monday evening the committee decided to change its agenda to include the bill proposing death penalty for child murdering after the murder of the little girl in the morning.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/03/30
By: Christie Chen and Yu Kai-hsiang

Taipei, March 30 (CNA) The family of “Little Light Bulb” said Wednesday that they are holding a visitation at a funeral home in Taipei for the public to pay their respects to the 4-year-old child, who was killed in a gruesome knife attack in Taipei Monday.

The visitation room is decorated with photos of the girl, flowers, pink drapes, her favorite carrot-shaped pillow and a Winnie-the-Pooh balloon that represents her favorite character.

“Little Light Bulb believed in the beauty of the world all her life … She came into the world with love and I hope she will leave with love,” the girl’s mother Claire Wang said in a statement.

“People can express their grief, their emotions, and think about her in this room, but I really hope there will be no criticisms, no hate, no anger,” Wang said. “I really hope that at the very end, her heart was filled only with beautiful memories of the world.”     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/03/29
By: You Kai-hsiang, Wang Hung-kuo and Y.F. Low

Taipei, March 29 (CNA) In the wake of the shocking decapitation of a 4-year-old girl in a random attack in Taipei on Monday, many people have laid flowers, dolls, candies and cards at the scene to mourn the victim.

The items presented by the mourners extended more than 10 meters as of 9 a.m. Tuesday.

“Although Taipei has been sunny for two days in a row, everyone is feeling sad inside,” a mourner surnamed Liao said.

The killing occurred at Section 1 of Huanshan Road in Neihu District. As well as its heinous nature, the crime is particularly shocking, given the age of the victim and the circumstances in which it happened.     [FULL  STORY]