Page Three

Tourism Bureau offers incentives

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 13, 2017
By: Shelley Shan / Staff reporter

The Tourism Bureau yesterday rolled out new incentives to attract tourists from nations

Tourism Bureau Director-General Chou Yung-hui, left, and Bureau of Consular Affairs Director-General Agnes Chen yesterday shake hands at a news conference after announcing that Taiwan will expand visa privileges for visitors from several Southeast Asian and South Asian countries. Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times

targeted by the government’s “new southbound policy,” after the Ministry of Foreign Affairs further relaxed visa requirements for people from some Asia and Southeast Asia nations.

Bureau of Consular Affairs Director Deneral Agnes Chen (陳華玉) said that since August last year the ministry has waived visas for Thais and Bruneians.

Although the program is a trial, Chen said that it has already contributed to significant growth in visitor numbers from both countries.

The ministry has extended the visa-waiver program for both for another year, Chen said, adding that the program is to expire on July 31 next year.    [FULL  STORY]

It’s never too late to learn

The China Post
Date: April 13, 2017
By: CNA

Shih Chang-feng (時常鳳), first from left in foreground, listens with rapt attention in a classroom in Hualien on Wednesday, April 12. Huashan Social Welfare Foundation (華山基金會) on Wednesday held an event in which 20 seniors were able to experience life in the classroom after missing out on an education in their youth. Children at the Hualien primary school accompanied their older peers, helping them make Easter eggs and take part in their classroom routines..    [FULL  STORY]

Local academic elected to council of regional audiovisual group

Taiwan Today
Date: April 11, 2017 | A- A+

Jiing Yng-ruey, a professor in the Graduate Institute of Studies in Documentary and Film

Professor Jiing Yng-ruey (third right) presents a gift of restored historic news footage from Taiwan to Mick Newnham (center), former president of SEAPAVAA’s executive council, April 6 in Manila. (Courtesy of TNNUA)

Archiving at Tainan National University of the Arts in southern Taiwan, was elected to the executive council of the Southeast Asia-Pacific Audiovisual Archive Association April 7 in Manila, the Philippines.

The professor was appointed to a three-year term during the association’s six-day annual council meeting that wrapped up April 8. He attended the event, along with his team from TNNUA, to present an address on his efforts in developing community-based audiovisual archives.

Following his election as a member of SEAPAVAA’s executive council, Jiing was invited to visit Thailand in the near future to share his archiving and restoration expertise with the Thai government’s Public Relations Department.    [FULL  STORY]

Mandarin Airlines to launch island hopping tour package

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/04/11 16:08
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News)–Mandarin Airlines announced Tuesday that it will soon launch a

Mandarin Airlines announced it will soon launch a three-day island hopping tour package that takes tourists to the eastern Taiwanese county of Taitung(By Central News Agency)

three-day island hopping tour package that takes tourists to the eastern Taiwanese county of Taitung (台東) and the islands of Orchid Island (Lanyu 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) off the coast of Taitung.

As weather is getting warmer, trips to offshore islands are getting popular, Mandarin Airlines said, adding that it has worked with tourism operators to launch the island hopping tour package that is only available in the spring and summer seasons.

According to the airline’s plan, passengers will take a 7:20 a.m. flight from Taipei Songshan Airport to Taitung, and then travel to Orchid Island and Green Island by boat. The return flight from Taitung Airport to Taipei will be at 7:40 p.m.    [FULL  STORY]

Coldplay concerts to set record for largest outdoor performance

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/04/11
By: Sabine Cheng and Lilian Wu

Taipei, April 11 (CNA) Coldplay, a British rock band, opened its first of two concerts at the high speed rail’s Taoyuan Station Plaza Tuesday.

Coldplay, formed in 1996 by lead vocalist and keyboardist Chris Martin and lead guitarist Jonny Buckland at University College London, is in Taiwan for the first time in two decades.

The two concerts Tuesday and Wednesday are expected to attract an audience of nearly 80,000, according to the organizer, setting a record for the largest outdoor concerts by any foreign performers over the last two decades.

Rain began falling on Tuesday morning after a summer-like day the previous day, sending the mercury down and leaving nearly 40,000 fans worried that they might have to watch the performance in the rain, but it petered out until around 8:25 p.m., when a downpour came.    [FULL  STORY]

KMT asks prosecutors to appeal Sunflower rulings

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 12, 2017
By: Stacy Hsu / Staff reporter

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday urged prosecutors to appeal two court rulings that acquitted some Sunflower movement members who stormed the Legislative Yuan and Executive Yuan buildings in 2014, to help restore the public’s faith in the justice system.

KMT Culture and Communications Committee deputy director Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said that the verdicts have raised questions on whether the judges made the decisions because they were afraid of convicting “criminals” who have been painted “heroes” by the media.

“Taiwan is a nation ruled by law and it has taken great pride in it. However, the court’s decision to acquit defendants in the March 18 case under the pretext of civil disobedience is not only unconstitutional, but also ran counter to the principles that a court ruling should be free of undue interference,” Hung said at a news conference in Taipei.

Hung was referring to the Taipei District Court’s decision on March 31 to acquit 22 defendants who broke into the Legislative Yuan on the night of March 18, 2014, based on the principle of “civil disobedience.”   [FULL  STORY]

Lee’s arrest undermines cross-strait ties: academic

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 12, 2017
By: Lu Yi-hsuan and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writer

Beijing’s detention of Taiwanese human rights advocate Lee Ming-che (李明哲) is the height of absurdity in the eyes of the Taiwanese public — one that has damaged cross-strait relations while highlighting the fragilitiy of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) regime, Taiwan Thinktank researcher Tung Li-wen (董立文) said.

Lee went missing since arriving on the Chinese mainland from Macau on March 19. Ten days later, Beijing said that Lee was being held in custody for “suspected involvement in activities endangering national security.”

Lee’s wife on Monday was prevented from boarding a plane to Beijing to search for her husband after her “Taiwan compatriot travel document” was canceled by the Chinese government.
Tung said that Chinese authorities have yet to say what laws Lee had broken.
[FULL  STORY]

President ‘deeply concerned about Li Ming-che case’

The China Post
Date: April 12, 2017
By: Stephanie Chao

TAIPEI, Taiwan — President Tsai Ing-wen is deeply concerned about the case of detained Taiwanese human rights activist Li Ming-che and is closely following the situation, the Presidential Office said Tuesday.

Presidential Office spokesman Alex Huang said Tsai had instructed government agencies to do everything they could to protect Li’s rights and, most importantly, his personal safety.

“The government is unified on this issue. No one is absent,” Huang said, citing Tsai’s instructions.

The Presidential Office’s statement came weeks after Chinese authorities said Li was being detained on suspicion of endangering national security. Since then, little other news has come out of Beijing.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan and Japan talk maritime issues

.

Taiwan and Japan held a meeting about cooperation on fishery and maritime issues on Sunday. It was the first meeting of a working group under the mechanism of a Taiwan-Japan dialogue on maritime affairs.

The two sides were not able to agree on the status of the Okinotori atoll but did say communicating about the issue was helpful for further mutual understanding. Japan holds that the atoll is an island with an exclusive 200-nautical mile economic zone. Taiwan, on the other hand, maintains that it is not an island because it cannot sustain human habitation.

The issue became a flashpoint last year when Japan detained a Taiwanese fishing boat near Okinotori atoll.    [FULL  STORY]

MOST seals medical research agreement with MIT

Taiwan’s Ministry of Science and Technology deepens medical research collaboration with MIT

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/04/10
By: Judy Lin, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News)—Taiwan’s Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) signed an

Head of MOST Chen Liang-gee (center), STPI Director-general Yuh-Jzer Joung (left), and Roger Mark of IMES (right). (Photo courtesy of MOST)

agreement to strengthen medical research collaboration between Taiwan and U.S. with the Institute for Medical Engineering and Science, a division of the prestigious American university Massachusetts Institute of Technology on April 7, 2017.

The research agreement signed between head of MOST Chen Liang-gee (陳良基) and Roger Mark, Distinguished Professor of Health Sciences and Technology of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT discuss how to improve the two nations medical research partnership.

The agreement will also initiate postdoc exchange programs between Taiwanese students and American students.    [FULL  STORY]