Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/03/16
By: Yang Shu-min and Elaine Hou

Taipei, March 16 (CNA) A public hearing will be held in Taiwan within the

next few weeks to hear the views of fishermen and international organizations on a proposal to increase the penalties on long-distance fleets that engage in illegal fishing, a lawmaker said Wednesday.

Lin Tai-hua (林岱樺) of the Democratic Progressive Party said the Legislature’s Economics Committee, which she heads, will hold the public hearing in late March or early April before it starts reviewing a bill drafted by the Fisheries Agency.

The draft bill, which requires Cabinet approval before it is sent to the Legislature, is seeking to impose stiffer penalties for illegal fishing by long distance fleets, with the aim of preventing possible trade sanctions by the European Union and bringing domestic laws in line with international rules.

Under the draft bill, violators would be subject to a maximum fine of NT$30 million (US$ 914,176).     [FULL  STORY]

‘CLEAN RECORD’:Presidential Office spokesperson Charles Chen said that President Ma Ying-jeou’s actions during his time as mayor of Taipei would stand up to scrutiny

Taipei Times
Date: Mar 17, 2016
By: Jake Chung / Staff writer, with CNA

Minister of Justice Luo Ying-shay (羅瑩雪) yesterday at a Legislative Yuan

committee inquiry session denied the ministry’s involvement in an ongoing investigation of the Taipei Dome project started when President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was mayor of Taipei.

Luo said the case was being investigated by the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office and she had not asked about it out of respect for the office’s jurisdiction.

According to reports by Storm Media Group, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Te-fu (林德福) — who is also a member of the legislature’s Judicial Committee — asked Luo whether the ministry would reject an investigation request on the grounds that the ministry does not have investigative authority.

The ministry had cited that reason for rejecting an investigation into the Taipei Dome and MeHAS City projects after the Taipei City Government asked that the investigation be turned over to the ministry, the report said.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan Today
Date: March 15, 2016

President Ma Ying-jeou touched down March 14 in Guatemala, the first leg of a

seven-day Central America tour including another ROC diplomatic ally Belize and transit stops in the U.S. cities of Houston and Los Angeles.

Ma, who was warmly received by new Guatemala President James Ernesto Morales Cabrera, is heading a delegation of around 80 senior government officials, legislators and business representatives. While in country he will hold talks with Jose Antonio Alvarado, president of the Central American Parliament (PARLACEN), and address the Guatemala City-based institution.

After arriving in Belize March 17, Ma is to meet with Prime Minister Dean Barrow, as well as the leaders of ROC Caribbean diplomatic allies St. Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Timothy Harris, St. Lucia Prime Minister Kenny Anthony and St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-03-15
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

The Taipei Rapid Transit Corporation (TRTC) said on Tuesday that it’s upgrading the ticket vending and deposit (add value) machines in the Taipei Metro system by adding the Japanese and Korean languages to the operational interface, with the upgrading for all the 337 machines in the system being scheduled to be completed at the end of March.

Taipei Metro’s ticket vending and deposit machines serve an average of 180,000 person-times every day, the TRTC said.

After consulting the nationality breakdown in the statistics on visitor arrivals in Taiwan compiled by the Tourism Bureau, the TRTC decided to add Japanese and Korean languages to the machine’s operational interface, the company said.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/03/15
By: Huang Chiao-wen and Lilian Wu

Taipei, March 15 (CNA) The state-owned Taiwan Power Company (Taipower) announced Tuesday that electricity rates will be cut by 9.56 percent, the largest drop in price ever, starting next month.

The announcement was made following an electricity rate screening committee meeting that was convened by Vice Economic Affairs Minister Shen Jong-chin (沈榮津).

It was decided at the meeting that electricity rates will be cut by 9.56 percent, the biggest cut in the country’s history, with every kilowatt hour cut to NT$2.5488 from NT$2.8181 on average.

Shen noted that the rate reduction mainly reflects a marked drop in international fuel prices.     [FULL  STORY]

THE HUNT:It is true that the proposed bills are targeted, a DPP legislator said, as they targeted illicit assets, adding that the KMT need not worry if it acquired assets legally

Taipei Times
Date: Mar 15, 2016
By: Abraham Gerber / Staff reporter

Legislators yesterday clashed over the fairness of the bills targeting the ill-

gotten assets of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) during the legislature’s first official hearing.

The marathon hearing by the Legislative Yuan’s Internal Administration Committee, Finance Committee and Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee started early in the morning and stretched into the evening, with the conclusion postponed when time ran out with more than 50 legislators yet to speak.

Seventy-five out of the Legislative Yuan’s 113 legislators had registered to question government officials regarding the legislation, which has drawn attention due to the long-standing controversy over KMT assets.

KMT properties and investments dwarf those belonging to all other parties and are alleged to have been accumulated as a result of the party abusing its influence under the authoritarian one-party rule.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/03/14
By: Huang Chiao-wen, Tai Ya-chen, Chen Chun-hua, You Kai-hsiang, Wei Shu and Y.F. Low

Taipei, March 14 (CNA) A government database of some areas in Taiwan that are prone to soil liquefaction officially went online Monday.

The database, located at http://www.moeacgs.gov.tw/2016.htm, covers Taipei, New Taipei, Yilan County, Hsinchu County, Hsinchu City, Tainan, Kaohsiung and Pingtung County.

Residents in these areas can access the site via computer or smartphone and then key in their address to check if their homes are in soil liquefaction-prone areas that are likely to suffer serious damage in a major earthquake.

Different colors are used to represent different levels of vulnerability, with green representing low vulnerability, yellow representing medium vulnerability and red representing high vulnerability.     [FULL  STORY]