Page Three

Celine Dion sings in Taipei for the first time ever

Celine Dion Taipei show goes on after typhoon exits stage

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/07/12
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Worldwide superstar diva Celine Dion sang in

Celine Dion sings in Taipei. (By Central News Agency)

concert for the first time in Taipei last night (July 11), the first of three scheduled shows for the singer at the Taipei Arena and despite Typhoon Maria, which had just left the country hours before her performance, reported CNA.

Dion opened the show with “The Power of Love” and when on to sing more than 20 songs and changed into 6 different costumes over the course of one hour and fifty minutes. She ended the show with her famous song “My Heart Will Go On” from the blockbuster flm “Titanic.”     [FULL  STORY]

Jade Mountain remeasured using latest technology

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/07/11
By: Hsiao Po-yang and William Yen

CNA file photo

Taipei, July 11 (CNA) The official height of Jade Mountain, the highest peak in Taiwan, was officially restated as 3,952.43 meters with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 cm, using the most modern technology available, according to a Yushan National Park Headquarters (YNPH) press release Wednesday.

The Ministry of the Interior’s National Land Surveying and Mapping Center visited the mountain on multiple occasions from 2016-2017 to take readings, the press release said.

Different techniques such as leveling, satellite positioning and gravity surveying were used to ensure the measurement is as accurate as possible, the statement said, adding that it is the most precise measurement possible with existing technology.

The official height of Jade Mountain was previously recorded as 3,952 m and it remains the highest peak in Taiwan and Northeast Asia, the YNPH said.    [FULL  STORY]

Speaker’s guilty verdict for vote-buying upheld

STRIPPED OF OFFICE: An investigation found that Lee Chuan-chiao bribed seven city councilors to be elected speaker, and bought votes in the preceding election

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 12, 2018
By: Jason Pan  /  Staff reporter

The Taiwan High Court yesterday upheld a guilty verdict for former Tainan

Former Tainan City Council speaker Lee Chuan-chiao talks to reporters in Tainan in an undated photograph.  Photo: Tsai Wen-chu, Taipei Times

City Council speaker Lee Chuan-chiao (李全教) for charges of vote-buying, sentencing him to four years in prison and depriving him of his civil rights for five years.

Lee, a prominent Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) figure in the city, was in December 2014 elected speaker following city councilor elections.

However, a judicial probe found that Lee bribed seven fellow councilors to get himself elected, at a price of NT$10 million (US$328,073 at the current exchange rate) per vote.

The Tainan District Court in April 2016 found Lee guilty of vote-buying.
[FULL  STORY]

US Lauds Taiwan for Aiding Areas Once Under IS Control

Voice of America
Date: July 10, 2018
By: Nike Ching

U.S. officials recognize Taiwan’s contribution to finance demining operations in post-Islamic State areas in Syria and Iraq, at the United States Institute of Peace, in Washington, July 9, 2018. Pictured from left to right are: Laura Stone, State Department acting deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asia and Pacific affairs; John Norris, American Institute in Taiwan Managing Director; Stanley Kao, Taiwan’s representative to the United States; and Terry Wolff, U.S. deputy special Presidential envoy for the global coalition to counter Islamic State. (Photo – R. Chung/VOA Mandarin)

STATE DEPARTMENT — The United States is recognizing the contributions of an unlikely and quiet partner in its global campaign to defeat the Islamic State (IS) terror group — Taiwan.

U.S. officials thanked Taiwan for its stabilization and humanitarian efforts in areas once controlled by IS in Syria and Iraq during a ceremony at the United States Institute of Peace in Washington.

Taiwan’s representative to the United States, Stanley Kao, announced Monday it was contributing $1 million to finance demining operations in Syria and 20 demining equipment sets to assist with similar efforts in Iraq.

The global campaign to defeat IS now has 77 members, said Terry Wolff, U.S. deputy special Presidential envoy for the global coalition to counter Islamic State, “Taiwan is a valuable partner.”    [FULL  STORY]

Complaints flood Taipei mayor’s Facebook after 4pm typhoon holiday

Formosa News
Date: 2018/07/10

Taiwan’s first typhoon of the year led to office closures at 4 pm today in many parts of Northern Taiwan. After the fact, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je’s Facebook page was attacked by complaints that 4pm was too late. Taipei mayor spoke out publicly to defend the choice of timing. He shrugged off the online complaints, saying that a 100% satisfaction rate is seen only in North Korea.

Authorities in the Taipei-Keelung metropolitan area reached a consensus on canceling work and classes after 4 p.m. today, as a precautionary measure for the incoming typhoon. As the region braced for the storm, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je personally assumed command of the emergency operations center. But even before the typhoon arrived, Mayor Ko’s Facebook page was filled with complaints. Many of the mayor’s Facebook fans said the 4 pm typhoon holiday should have let out earlier.
[FULL  STORY]

Taiwan’s highway authority heightens control of more than 10 highways during typhoon  

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/07/10
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News)—Taiwan’s highway authority announced measures

(By Wikimedia Commons)

to heighten control of more than 10 provincial highways and road sections in mountainous areas across Taiwan on Tuesday evening before Typhoon Maria makes landfall on the island.

According to Directorate General of Highways’ (DGH) news release issued at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, the following highways would be closed as a precautionary measure on Tuesday night due to the approaching typhoon:

  • Provincial Highway No. 8 between Lishan and Taroko
  • Provincial Highway No. 9 (Suhua Highway)
  • Provincial Highway No. 9 D (old Suhua Highway)
  • Provincial Highway No. 7 between Luofu and Ciilan
  • Provincial Highway No. 7 A between Ciilan and Siyuan Pass
  • Provincial Highway No. 7 D (between Shuanglianpi and Chuntou)
  • Provincial Highway No. 2 Pisha section and Pitou section
  • Provincial Highway No. 9 Taipei to Yilan section
  • Provincial Highway No. 9 A Wulai section
  • Provincial Highway No. 20 between Qinhe and Fuxing and between
  • Siangyang and Lidao
  • Provincial Highway No. 29 between Namasia and Wulipu

However, the enforcement of the highway closures will depend on real-time weather information and will be adjusted flexibly at the scenes, according to the DGH. The agency said it would dispatch personnel to station and patrol the above-mentioned highways and road sections.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan donates US$1 million to help demining work in Iraq, Syria

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/07/10
By: Chiang Chin-yeh and Ko Lin 

Washington, July 10 (CNA) Taiwan donated US$1 million Monday as part of its commitment to assisting the U.S.-led Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS in its ongoing demining work in Syria and Iraq.

A ceremony attended by Taiwan’s representative to the U.S. Stanley Kao (高碩泰), Managing Director of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) John Norris, U.S. Deputy Special Presidential Envoy Terry Wolff, and acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of State Laura Stone, was held at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) in Washington to mark the donation.

As a member of the global community, Taiwan will not remain silent in its contributions to international humanitarian efforts, Kao said.

According to Wolff, the donation will go to help private contractors with their demining work in the war-torn countries.    [FULL  STORY]

Teachers defend trip to Deng Nan-jung museum

WHITE TERROR: Huang said the museum aims to illustrate the history of Taiwan’s democratization through Deng’s story, an important part of history that is ignored

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 11, 2018
By: Ann Maxon  /  Staff reporter

Two elementary-school teachers yesterday defended their decision to take students on a field trip to the Deng Nan-jung Liberty Museum (鄭南榕自由紀念館) last month after a New Taipei City councilor last week reported them to the city’s Department of Education for “engaging in political activity.”

Lujian Elementary School teachers Weng Li-shu (翁麗淑) and Liu Fang-chun (劉芳君) on June 28 took their two classes to the museum to see a photography exhibition on the 228 Massacre.

While the field trip had been approved by the school and agreed by parents, the two were on Thursday last week informed by the school that New Taipei City Councilor Chen Ming-yi (陳明義) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) had reported them to the department on behalf of a parent for taking children to what appeared to be a political event.

At a news conference on Friday last week, Chen described the field trip as inappropriate for children aged 10 and 11, because the subject of the museum and exhibition was “political” and Deng Nan-jung (鄭南榕) had “set himself on fire.”    [FULL  STORY]

Rixing Type Foundry

Taiwan’s last Chinese character letterpress preserves the dying art of Chinese character mold making. 

Atlas Obscura
July 8, 2018

Ever thought about how newspapers printed in Chinese were produced in the pre-digital era? Every word, every character needed to be on stock for printing. And here, in the middle of Taipei, these characters are still produced with molten lead.

Rixing Type Foundry is the last Chinese character letterpress in Taiwan. This rare typographic gem houses what some believe is the only surviving collection of traditional Chinese movable type character molds in the world.

The foundry boasts about 120,000 different molds. The molds come in different sizes and three different typefaces. Rows of wooden shelves fill the space, each stacked with different moveable types. In the back, you’ll see a room full of different molding and casting machines, including ones that that create 3-D lead type pieces.    [FULL  STORY]

No timetable for carrying out executions: Justice Ministry

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-07-09

Deputy Justice Minister Chen Ming-tang says there is no timetable for carrying out executions. His comments came Monday, during an interview.

There have been growing calls in Taiwan for the government to keep capital punishment as an option. That’s following a recent string of murders that have horrified the public. Even a lawmaker from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) – which is largely against the death penalty – has suggested that the government execute death row inmates before the practice is banned.

Deputy Justice Minister Chen explains how his ministry is dealing with capital punishment.    [FULL  STORY]