’MISSING LINK’:As the KMT kept meticulous records, documents from the archives could shed light on how and why 228 Incident victims were targeted, an academic said

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 28, 2016
By: Abraham Gerber / Staff Reporter

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) should be required to open party

archives to allow academics to search for a list of people targeted during the 228 Incident, a leading expert on Taiwanese history said yesterday.

“We talk a lot about recovering the KMT’s ‘ill-gotten assets,’ but for some reason, no one seems to talk about recovering the documents stored in the party archives,” Academia Sinica’s Institute of Taiwan History research fellow Hsu Hsueh-chi (許雪姬) said at a commemorative event held at the National 228 Memorial Museum.

The KMT has been reluctant to open its historical archives in the absence of a formal legal obligation, despite ruling the nation as a one-party state for more than 50 years, Hsu said.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-02-26
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The man suspected of killing an eight-year-old girl at her school in Taipei City’s Beitou District last year was sentenced to life in prison Friday, despite a request by prosecutors for the death penalty.

Kung Chung-an, 30, entered the Taipei Municipal Wenhua Elementary School last May 29 and cut the throat of a second-grade pupil surnamed Liu as she went to the restrooms on one of the upper floors.

The Shilin District Court found him guilty of murder but gave him a life term in jail. Appeals are still possible.

During the trial proceedings, Kung’s attorneys argued that he suffered from psychological problems, since he explained how he had heard “voices.” Prosecutors countered, saying he remembered all the details of the murder and had shown no remorse or regret. Kung never apologized to the girl’s family, prosecutors said.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/02/26
By: Rita Cheng, Wen Kuei-hsiang, Chen Chia-lun and Elaine Hou

Taipei, Feb. 26 (CNA) Taiwan responded positively Friday to remarks by China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi (王毅) in which he expressed hope that President-elect Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) will be committed to the pursuit of peaceful development in her administration’s ties with China in line with the country’s constitution.

Wang said during a question-and-answer session following a speech on China-U.S. relations at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a Washington think tank, that he hopes “the person in power in Taiwan will indicate that she wants to pursue the peaceful development of cross-Taiwan Strait relations and that she will accept the provision in Taiwan’s constitution that the mainland and Taiwan belong to one China.”

In Taipei, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), the government agency responsible for China policy, responded that it welcomes the move by China to face practically the Republic of China Constitution.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan Today
Date: February 26, 2016

A plan to set up a dedicated office under the Cabinet to handle Taiwan’s

international trade negotiations was announced Feb. 24 by ROC President-elect Tsai Ing-wen.

The initiative aims to spur Taiwan economic innovation and industrial upgrades by facilitating the country’s accession to regional trade initiatives like the Trans-Pacific Partnership. It dovetails with the chairwoman of the Democratic Progressive Party’s Southbound Policy announced last September.

Originating from the Go South Policy of ex-President Lee Teng-hui launched in 1993, the version proposed by Tsai seeks to strengthen Taiwan’s economic and cultural ties with members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and India.

“It is imperative for Taiwan to implement economic reforms and align itself with the global community,” Tsai said, citing structural changes heralded by such TPP issues as market opening, policy transparency, regulatory coordination and tariff concessions.     [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 27, 2016
By: Jason Pan / Staff reporter

Former Executive Yuan secretary-general Lin Yi-shih (林益世) was yesterday found guilty of accepting bribes and sentenced to a prison term of 13 years and six months by the Taiwan High Court, which also fined Lin NT$15.8 million (US$471,754).

Lin’s mother, Shen Juo-lan (沈若蘭), received a five-month term, which can be commuted to pay a fine of NT$150,000, for her role in destroying evidence in the case stemming from 2010, when Lin was a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator.

It was the second ruling on the case and the decision can be appealed.
Yesterday’s ruling was widely viewed as a heavy sentence, as the High Court handed down a longer prison term than in the first ruling by the Taipei District Court in 2013.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/02/26
By: Wang Shu-fen and Y.F. Low

Taipei, Feb. 26 (CNA) Taiwan recorded 36 road traffic fatalities involving

riders of motorcycles with an engine size larger than 250cc last year, the largest number ever seen in the country, according government statistics released Friday.

In 2015, fatal road traffic accidents dropped by 7.4 percent from the previous year to 1,639 in 2015, and the number of people killed decreased by 123 to 1,696, both hitting a new low in recent years, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said.

Although deaths involving motorcycle riders continued to account for the largest portion of the fatalities at 965 (56.9 percent), the number represents a fall of 7.2 percent from the previous year, the ministry said.

Among the motorcycle riders who died in traffic accidents last year, 822 people (85.2 percent) were operating vehicles with an engine size between 51cc and 250cc, down 119 from 2014.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan Today
Date: February 25, 2016

Taiwan’s seniors are receiving a helping hand in the form of an affordable

long-term care system provided by the ROC government. (CNA)

A proposal to partially fund Taiwan’s long-term care system through an annual allocation of NT$30 billion (US$901.4 million) from tax revenues was announced Feb. 22 by ROC President-elect Tsai Ing-wen.

Under the plan, which includes a yearly commitment of NT$3 billion from the regular government budget, an interministerial task force will be established to coordinate public-sector resources and promote long-term care services.

“More than 20 percent of Taiwan’s population will be aged 65 or over by 2025,” Tsai said, adding that the situation serves as a salient reminder of the need for enhanced measures to provide comprehensive coverage for the nation’s aging population.     [FULL  STORY]

GUIDED BY OPENNESS:Deputy Legislative Speaker Tsai Chi-chang, who organized the event, said he wanted to hear journalists’ opinions on the issue of transparency

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 26, 2016
By: Alison Hsiao / Staff reporter

Independent journalists were yesterday invited to the Legislative Yuan by

Deputy Legislative Speaker Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) to discuss possible solutions to the controversy surrounding their restricted access to the legislature.

The “Legislative Yuan Directions on Issuing Press Passes,” revised and announced on April 10, 2014, stipulates that only reporters from institutions registered as commercial companies and where national news constitutes at least 60 percent of their coverage are to be granted press passes.

Tsai said before the forum that the new legislature’s sole guideline on this issue is openness, and that he would like to listen to the involved parties’ opinions, especially for the achievement of a consensus on how transparency could be implemented with actual measures.

During the discussion, the journalists pointed out sundry existing measures they said are outdated and not conducible to the idea of transparency, but were not exactly on the same page when it came to how an “open legislature” could be realized in terms of distinguishing journalists — whether they be independent or from a registered institution — from the general public visiting for a sit-in.     [FULL  STORY]