Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/03/12
By: Lu Hsin-hui and Y.F. Low

Taipei, March 12 (CNA) President-elect Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) of the

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) reiterated Saturday that one of her party’s objectives is to phase out nuclear power in Taiwan over the next nine years.

In a Facebook post that coincided with a nationwide anti-nuclear protest, Tsai said the DPP has long advocated that the operations of Taiwan’s three active nuclear power plants should not be extended and that construction of the fourth nuclear power plant should be terminated to make the country nuclear-free by 2025.

To achieve that goal, it is also important to adjust Taiwan’s energy structure and promote energy conservation, Tsai said.

She said the DPP has proposed managing peak-hour electricity use, enhancing the efficiency of electricity distribution, and amending the Electricity Act to encourage the development of renewable energy, so as to move Taiwan step by step toward zero nuclear power.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-03-11
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A total of 14 officers from the chief of the Political Warfare Bureau on down were disciplined for the warrantless search of the home of a man suspected of possessing confidential military documents, the Ministry of National Defense announced Friday.

On February 19, the Taipei Military Police Station visited the home of a man surnamed Wei who owned reputedly confidential documents from the White Terror era many decades ago. The era followed the 1947 uprising and repression known as the 228 Incident.

Wei’s daughter wrote online that the search had occurred without warrant and that her father had been coerced into signing a document agreeing to the incident. Her comments caused a firestorm of indignation about tactics which seemed to date back to Martial Law, the period before 1987.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/03/11
By: Claudia Liu and Lilian Wu

Taipei, March 11 (CNA) President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said Friday that Taiwan’s energy situation is his biggest concern before leaving office on May 20, and he hoped the promotion of a “nuclear power free homeland” would be done gradually.

President-elect Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and her Democratic Progressive Party have said they will move toward making Taiwan nuclear free by 2025.

Ma urged caution, however, on the fifth anniversary of an earthquake and massive tsunami that pummeled Japan and triggered a nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

Like Japan, Taiwan is located in a seismic zone and vulnerable to earthquakes, and many in the country turned against nuclear power after the accident in Japan.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan Today
Date: March 11, 2016

A bill boosting Taiwan’s participation in the International Criminal Police

Organization (Interpol) was passed unanimously March 8 by the U.S. Senate.

Introduced by Sen. Cory Gardner and co-sponsored by Sen. Ben Cardin in December 2015, S 2426 follows HR 1853. The latter was proposed by Rep. Matt Salmon and approved without dissent in November the same year by the U.S. House of Representatives.

In a statement welcoming passage of the Senate bill, the ROC Ministry of Foreign Affairs said March 9 that the U.S. executive branch is also a staunch supporter of Taiwan’s meaningful participation in Interpol. Senior Department of State officials Daniel Russel, Kurt Tong and Susan Thornton have endorsed Taiwan’s observer bid in the organization on several occasions.

“These developments underscore the great importance Washington attaches to Taiwan’s expanded participation in international organizations,” a MOFA official said. “Such long-term bipartisan support also shows that Taiwan-U.S. relations are at their best state in 37 years.”     [FULL  STORY]

PREMIER’S CONDOLENCES:Simon Chang visited the family members of the two dead men, whose helicopter went down ferrying an EPA team to a stricken cargo ship

Taipei Times
Date: Mar 12, 2016
By: Jason Pan / Staff reporter

A pilot and a crew member of a National Airborne Service Corps (NASC)

helicopter died yesterday afternoon after the helicopter crashed into rough seas off Taiwan’s northern coast during post-rescue operations involving a cargo ship.

As of press time last night, the copilot of the AS365 Dauphin helicopter, 46-year-old Chu Yao-chung (朱耀忠), was fighting for his life at Taipei Veterans General Hospital after sustaining serious injuries in the crash.

There were five men on board the helicopter when it crashed into the sea just off the coast of New Taipei City’s Shimen District (石門) in heavy weather at 1:18pm: pilot Lin Chen-hsin (林振興), 47; Chu; aircraft technician Hsu Yi-yang (許翊揚); and two NASC rescue team members, Tsai Tsung-ta (蔡宗達), 34, and Shih Ming-chieh (施銘杰), 33.

A rescue operation was launched immediately, involving Coast Guard Administration units and four NASC helicopters, which were able to retrieve the men within 90 minutes.     [FULL  STORY]

FoxNews.com
Date: March 10, 2016

Religious groups in Taiwan are calling for a boycott of McDonald’s after the

fast food giant premiered a commercial they say promotes “gay issues.”

The minute-and-a-half ad features a boy coming out to his father by writing, “I like boys” on a McCafe coffee cup and sliding it across the table.

The father initially seems upset, and walks away. But he quickly returns with his own coffee cup and writes, “I accept that you like boys.” Music swells and the son cries tears of joy. The spot closes with the tag, “Let there be more warmth in conversations.”

On YouTube the ad has over 6,900 likes and has been viewed 1.6 million times. According to the Shanghaiist, the spot has received “mostly positive” feedback from local viewers.

But the Alliance of Taiwan Religious Groups for the Protection of Family is condemning the ad, saying it promotes homosexual behavior.

“Because McDonald’s is frequented by many children, it is especially important to oppose the promotion of same-sex behavior,” Chang Shou-yi of the Alliance of Taiwan Religious Groups for the Protection of Family, told Taiwanese media. Chang accused McDonald’s of “openly promoting gay issues” and mis-educating children on sexual behavior.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
EDITORIAL
Date: 2016-03-10
By: Taiwan News, Staff Writer

2016 will probably go into history as the year that everything changed in Taiwan. For only the second time, the island’s voters ended a period of Kuomintang government and elected a representative of the Democratic Progressive Party to become president. What is different this time around, is that the DPP also won an absolute majority of seats at the Legislative Yuan, an unprecedented event.

As a result, President Tsai Ing-wen will have the leeway necessary to put her policy proposals into practice, be they related to social reforms, economic recovery, relations with China or government transparency.

One of the topics most often discussed during this period has been “transitional justice,” a term which covers a wide range of topics and issues, including the victims of the 228 Incident and the White Terror, and the contested KMT assets.     [FULL  STORY]