Taiwan Today
Date: March 10, 2016

ROC President Ma Ying-jeou said March 8 that the government will continue

Ex-comfort woman Chen Lien-hua receives a warm welcome during the opening ceremony for Ama Museum March 8 in Taipei City. (Courtesy of TWRF)

seeking justice for Taiwan women forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese during World War II.

“Japan should formally apologize to these so-called comfort women and pay appropriate compensation,” Ma said. “The government stands by the victims and will not rest until their dignity is restored.”

The president made the remarks during the opening ceremony in Taipei City’s Datong District of Ama Museum, the first facility of its kind in Taiwan dedicated to the plight of the women. He also praised Taipei Women’s Rescue Foundation for its efforts over the past 10 or so years in collecting historical documents, photos and film footage from the period.

“This part of history must be preserved,” Ma said. “Not for revenge, but to reveal the truth and ensure the mistakes of the past are not repeated.”     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/03/09
By: Jeffrey Wu and Romulo Huang

Taipei, March 9 (CNA) Leading bids for an online auction of two bikes and one

Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (left) anounces the auction at a March 3 press event.

cycling jersey that Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) rode and wore in two north-south cycle journeys he made earlier this year had totalled more than NT$3.7 million (US$112,640) as of Wednesday noon.

The online auction began at noon on March 4, with starting prices for each of the articles put up for auction at only NT$1. The auction will close at noon on March 15.

Bids for the Giant road bike Defy Advanced 1 “Ke P Teshi” version, which Ko rode on the 520-kilometer bike ride from the Fugueijiao (富貴角) Lighthouse in New Taipei on Taiwan’s northernmost tip to the Eluanbi (鵝鑾鼻) Lighthouse on Taiwan’s southernmost tip in Pingtung County in less than 29 hours Feb. 27-28, have soared to NT$1.51 million within five days.

The so-called first “Twin Tower War Horse,” lent to Ko by King Liu (劉金標), chairman of Giant Taiwan Co., is worth about NT$210,000.     [FULL  STORY]

MASS CONFESSION:Prosecutors said 225 of the doctors and researchers confessed to tax evasion, with NT$78.4m in illegal shelters and NT$260m in forged donations

Taipei Times
Date: Mar 10, 2016
By: Sean Lin / Staff reporter

The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday announced that it has put 225

This is a file photo of Tsai Tso-yung, Academia Sinica research fellow. Photo: Taipei Times

suspects — doctors and Academia Sinica researchers — who confessed to tax evasion on parole, while it would proceed with charges against 27 others.

Prosecutors first found that the 89-year-old Academia Sinica research fellow and former National Defense Medical Center director Tsai Tso-yung (蔡作雍) and deceased suspect Lee Hung (李鴻) had helped more than 250 doctors shelter up to NT$78.4 million (US$2.36 million at current exchange rates) in what was branded the biggest tax evasion case in the nation’s history five years ago.

Investigation results showed that the suspects forged monetary donations totaling NT$260 million to the Springsoft Education Foundation, founded by Tsai, and the Cheng Han Education Foundation, founded by Lee, in response to requests for research funds.

The suspects made the donations while requesting for research funds equivalent to the amount they pretended to have donated, results showed.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/03/09
By: Lu Hsin-hui and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, March 9 (CNA) Taiwan will allocate NT$5.76 billion (US$175 million)

The armored CM-32 ‘Clouded Leopard’ vehicle (CNA file photo).

this year for research and development into home-grown weapon systems, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said Wednesday.

The amount is 211 percent higher than last year’s R&D budget, the MND said in a report on its plans for 2016 submitted to the Legislative Yuan’s Foreign and National Defense Committee.

The funds will be used to continue implementing projects to develop and build ships, submarines and airplanes, and upgrade locally developed jet fighters and armored CM-32 “Clouded Leopard” vehicles, the report said.

The MND will also work with the Ministry of Science and Technology to carry out an academic cooperation project that will cost NT$124.5 million and inject NT$391.6 million into technology development plans, the report said.       [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-03-08
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Premier Simon Chang said Tuesday he wanted to

Premier Simon Chang said Tuesday he wanted to locate about 1,000 confidential documents that had reportedly gone missing.

locate about 1,000 confidential documents that had reportedly gone missing.
His statement at the Legislative Yuan followed the controversy over the allegedly illegal search by military police of the home of a man who had been planning to sell old classified documents online. The case touched off accusations of a throwback to the White Terror era under Martial Law.

Chang responded to reports Tuesday that at least 1,000 such documents might have leaked. The Ministry of National Defense should go and locate those documents, but the proper method had to be used to find them and return them to government custody, the premier said.

Democratic Progressive Party lawmaker Chen Chi-mai said the government should organize the return of confidential files, including those concerning the 228 Incident, to the national archives where they could serve as a basis for righting historic wrongs in the future.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/03/08
By: Chang Jung-hsiang and S.C. Chang

Taipei, March 8 (CNA) A total of 32 students were hospitalized on suspicion of food poisoning after they checked in to a hotel in Tainan, the city’s Department of Health said Tuesday.

Thirteen of them were rugby players from Nanmen Junior High School in Taipei who had gone to Tainan to play.

They suffered from vomiting and diarrhea a day earlier, which school officials suspected were caused by bad breakfast food at the Family Hotel.

Another five students from the rugby team of the University of Taipei were also confirmed late Tuesday to have suffered food poisoning at the same hotel.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan Today
Date: March 8, 2016

ROC-Holy See ties are going from strength to strength on the back of

ROC Vice President-elect Chen Chien-ren delivers an address marking the third anniversary of Pope Francis’s election at a special mass March 6 in Taipei City. (CNA)

expanding exchanges across a broad spectrum of areas, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs March 6.

During a mass celebrating the third anniversary of the election of Pope Francis at Taipei Immaculate Conception Cathedral, Deputy MOFA Minister Leo Chen-jan Lee said the two sides will continue bilateral cooperation and the promotion of global peace.

As a responsible stakeholder in the global community, Lee said, the ROC has been working with the Holy See over the past year in assisting victims displaced by war in northern Iraq and an earthquake and its aftershocks in Nepal.

Another example highlighting relations between the two sides is a special exhibition of rare treasures on loan from the Vatican underway at Taipei City-based National Palace Museum. It is the largest exhibition outside the Holy See of liturgical artifacts used by popes throughout the centuries, he added.     [FULL  STORY]

DON’T SEND MPS:The collector asked the MND to contact him. His vast collection includes files on Lei Chen and photographs of prisoners taken before execution

Taipei Times
Date: Mar 09, 2016
By: Jason Pan / Staff reporter

The scandal over the military police’s alleged violations of civilians’ rights with

A man surnamed Hu sits beside a box marked “White Terror documents” at his premises in Taipei yesterday. Photo: CNA

an illegal detention and search of a private residence took a surprising turn when a man surnamed Hu (胡) said he has a collection of more than 1,000 White Terror-era documents, and asked the Ministry of National Defense (MND) to contact him.

“It was meaningless for the military police to search Wei’s house. There are more of these documents in my hands,” said Hu, who is a consultant for the Taiwanese Web site “Rebirth.com” (再生.com) which specializes in the sale of antiques, valuable cultural items and historical materials.

The military police detained and questioned Wei last month, then went to his home, seizing three documents, which Wei had put up for sale on the Web site.     [FULL  STORY]