Page Three

Report says DPP might not contest some races in 2018

Taipei Times
Date: Mar 29, 2017
By: Chen Wei-han / Staff reporter

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is considering not putting forward candidates for next year’s mayoral and councilor elections in some constituencies, in favor of forging alliances with DPP-friendly independent candidates, in a bid to prevent the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) winning seats, a report said yesterday.

The DPP is considering not fielding candidates for the mayoral election in Taipei and Miaoli, as well as in Kinmen County, to make room for DPP-friendly candidates who it views as more likely to win those seats, including Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), Miaoli Mayor Chiu Ping-kun (邱炳坤) and Kinmen County Commissioner Chen Fu-hai (陳福海), a report in the Chinese-language Apple Daily said.

In the Taipei race, the DPP is planning to conduct opinion polls on a possible candidate’s chances against Ko before deciding whether the party should nominate its own candidate, the report said.

In the run-up to 2014’s Taipei mayoral election, DPP Legislator Pasuya Yao (姚文智) won the primary, but gave up the candidacy to support Ko’s campaign. Ko had higher approval ratings than Yao in polls, resulting in an alliance between the DPP and Ko, an independent.    [FULL  STORY]

Infrastructure plan has no partisan considerations: president

The China Post
Date: March 28, 2017
By: The China Post news staff

TAIPEI, Taiwan — President Tsai Ing-wen made her first public remarks on a new government infrastructure plan on Tuesday, saying it was foundational to the island’s economic development for the next 20 years and that it was not a partisan issue.

Tsai made the remarks during a meeting with overseas Chinese community representatives in Asia at the Presidential Office, saying that the projects were vital to Taiwan’s industrial upgrading and national competitiveness. She is scheduled to visit two sites in Democratic Progressive Party-controlled Taoyuan City later in the day to promote the plan.

“We have to create the conditions favorable for a better Taiwan for the next generation,” Tsai said, emphasizing that “this improvement in the quality of life is for Taiwan and all the people of Taiwan.”    [FULL  STORY]

Justice minister rejects criticisms of newspaper editorial

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-03-27

Justice Minister Chiu Tai-san on Monday rejected criticisms that a newspaper editorial

Justice Minister Chiu Tai-san (CNA)

aimed at him over recent comments he made about same-sex marriage.

The editorial in Monday’s edition of the mass-circulation United Daily News, in particular took offense at Chiu’s remarks in a constitutional court debate on Friday. During that debate, Taiwan’s grand justices heard arguments about whether the right to gay marriage is constitutional.

The editorial said that Chiu had opposed same-sex marriage on the grounds that it conflicted with the traditional custom of how to refer to people on ancestral tablets. The opinion piece said the justice minister’s comments were not befitting of his position, and showed that the current administration was more concerned about insuring reelection.    [FULL  STORY]

Staff to clear crowds from venue before free Mayday Concert

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/03/27
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Fans will be admitted to the site of the free concert starting the afternoon on March 29. (photo courtesy of the PSLO)

With the free Mayday Concert at Daan Forest Park on March 29 approaching, Taipei City’s Parks and Street Lights Office (PSLO) began to clear the crowds camping out at the venue on Monday morning, to minimize the impact of fans on the surrounding neighborhood.

Fans will be admitted to the site of the free concert starting the afternoon on March 29, according to the city government. City government staff and police officers will be stationed at the site to maintain order.

PSLO Director Huang Li-yuan noted that Daan Forest Park boasts an outdoor concert stage with space capacity for 1,500 viewers (accommodating up to 5,000 if including the surrounding greens). To ensure the least disruption to the neighborhood, the PSLO will work with the police and Bin-Music, the music company responsible for holding the concert, to vacate the site first to ensure fairness of concert seating.   [FULL  STORY]

Two New Taipei firms fined NT$3 million each for releasing pollutants

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/03/27
By: Sunrise Huang and S.C. Chang

 

Taipei, March 27 (CNA) A printing house and a dying company in Zhonghe District of

(Photo courtesy of New Taipei Environmental Protection Department)

New Taipei were fined NT$3 million (US$995,000) each for illegally discharging highly alkaline waste water into the sewage system, the city’s environmental protection officials said Monday.

The officials of the city’s Environmental Protection Department said after getting a tip-off last Thursday, inspectors traced the origin of pink waste water in a ditch, which tested pH12, to printing business Hualin Co. The company was found to be releasing blue waste water and other pollutants into the sewage system, officials said.

As inspectors were checking Hualin’s operations, Hung Yuan Printing and Dying Co., which is located in the same building, suddenly stopped its operations, triggering inspectors’ suspicion, said the officials.    [FULL  STORY]

‘One country, two systems’ an empty pledge: DPP

‘RIDICULOUS’:The unfair election system in Hong Kong should be a reminder to Taiwanese to ensure freedom for future generations, DPP Legislator Wu Ping-jui said

Taipei Times
Date: Mar 28, 2017
By: Chen Wei-han / Staff reporter

The election of Beijing’s favored candidate, former Hong Kong chief secretary for administration Carrie Lam (林鄭月娥) as the territory’s new chief executive shows that China’s “one country, two systems” framework, which guarantees a high degree of autonomy to the territory, is an empty promise, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus said yesterday.

Despite her low popularity, Lam won Sunday’s election with 67 percent of the votes cast by the Election Committee.

There are 3.7 million registered voters in Hong Kong, but the chief executive is elected by a 1,194-member committee, making the vote a “bird cage” election, whereby Hong Kongers are represented by a small number of individuals, DPP Legislator Wu Ping-jui (吳秉叡) said.

The election bankrupted the “one country, two systems” framework and weakened the little confidence Taiwanese had in Beijing, Wu said.    [FULL  STORY]

Rising KMT star Chiang Wan-an says party in bad need of reform

The China Post
Date: March 28, 2017
By: Alan Fong

TAIPEI, Taiwan — With a UPenn education, experience practicing law in Silicon Valley

Chang Wan-an talks to The China Post at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei on Friday, March 24.(Hsin-Hsuan Sun, The China Post)

while working with both startups and tech giants, plus good looks and youth, 38-year-old freshman legislator Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) seems to be the complete package. That’s without even mentioning his family background.

Yet the man often seen as the future of his Kuomintang (KMT) — the party his great-grandfather, former President Chiang Kai-shek, helped found and ruled for decades — is certainly not a conventional KMT politician.

In his interview with The China Post, Chiang spent as much time pointing out the shortcomings of his own party as he did describing what its main rival, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), had done right.    [FULL  STORY]

Taoyuan airport chair vows to crackdown on unlicensed cabs

The China Post
Date: March 27, 2017
By: The China Post news staff

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Taoyuan International Airport Corp’s chairman Tseng Dar-jen (曾大仁) pledged Sunday to address the rampant “fake taxi driver” problem outside the airport’s arrival halls, after the situation was again brought to light by social media users.

National Taiwan University professor Chang Hsueh-kung in a Facebook post accused the unlicensed taxi drivers of creating a chaotic transportation situation by holding up traffic as he left the airport himself.

Describing the chaos as “unbearable,” Chang urged the Transportation Minister Ho Chen-tan to resolve the problem. He made a direct appeal to Tseng, commenting under his post: “Darjen Tseng Chairman, where are you?”

In a response to the comment, Tseng wrote on Sunday morning that he acknowledged unlicensed taxi drivers were a “hidden danger” to the airport’s management and were also a “stain that needed cleaning up.”    [FULL  STORY]

Lawmaker pushes bill to put service charges into workers’ pockets

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/03/26
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News)–A Taiwanese lawmaker said on Sunday that he is pushing a

A Taiwanese lawmaker is pushing a new labor draft bill that aims to put service charges and cleaning fees into actual service providers’ pockets.(By Wikimedia Commons)

new labor draft bill that aims to put service charges and cleaning fees into actual service providers’ pockets instead of extra earnings for employers.

KMT Legislator Arthur Chen (陳宜民) said that many Taiwanese restaurants include five percent to 10 percent service charges on customer bills, and most of the employers have pocketed these extra earnings instead of sharing them with their workers, making service charge a veiled means to hike their prices.

Chen said that the draft amendment to the Labor Standard Act will make it clear that service charges and cleaning fees should be distributed to service providers as wages.
[FULL  STORY]

Taiwan train broadcasts to include S.E. Asian languages

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/03/26
By: Wang Shu-fen and Ko Lin

Taipei, March 26 (CNA) The Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) said it is ready to

(CNA file photo)

add Southeast Asian languages to its foreign language broadcasts at railway stations across Taiwan beginning in April.

Besides Mandarin Chinese, Hokkienese, Hakka and English, platform announcements will soon include Indonesian, Vietnamese and Thai languages, TRA said.

A trial run will begin next month in nine railway stations in Taiwan, which include Taipei, Banciao in New Taipei, Taoyuan, Chungli, Taichung, Changhwa, Tainan, Kaohsiung, and Pingtung.

The inclusion of these languages was made possible by Kuomintang lawmaker Lin Li-chan (林麗蟬), an ethnic Chinese from Cambodia who had invited new immigrants from Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand to record their announcements for the TRA.
[FULL  STORY]