Page Three

Play draws inspiration from Taiyuan Prison Incident

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 20, 2017
By: Cheng Hung-ta and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writer

A play, titled Shiro Heroes, which was inspired by the Taiyuan Prison Incident (泰源事件), is to be staged at the Nan Hai Auditorium in Taipei this weekend, organizers said on Thursday.

The play, featuring interpretive dance and experimental music, is directed by Chang Min-chun (張閔淳) and was jointly commissioned by pro-localist groups, including the Lee Teng-hui Association for Democracy and the People’s News Foundation for Arts and Culture.

Shiro Heroes tells the story of six political prisoners who planned a revolution, the groups said.    [FULL  STORY]

17 space shuttles, 1 swimming pool

The China Post
Date: February 20, 2017
By: Morley J Weston

TAIPEI, Taiwan — As of the weekend, 140,000 birds have been culled in Taiwan due to

(Morley J Weston)

the latest outbreak of bird flu. Numbers like these can be painfully abstract, so here they are in more down-to-earth terms:

The amount of meat wasted so far, almost the same weight as two blue whales, would be enough to fill an Olympic swimming pool knee-deep.

If the space shuttles were still operational, it would take 17 of them to blast all of those poor chickens to the International Space Station, where it could feed the current crew of five for over 44 years, provided they ate nothing but flu-infected chicken.

Sadly, these flightless birds will not be launched into the heavens, but incinerated here on earth.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News Encyclopedia: Han Kuang Exercises

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-02-18

The Han Kuang military exercise was first held in June 1984 in the off-shore Penghu islands in the Taiwan Strait. The drills simulated an attack by China’s People Liberation Army. The two Chinese characters — Han Kuang — are a code used by the armed forces and the figure following the code is simply a serial number. The first drill was Hang Kuang 1.

The exercise, aimed at testing Taiwan’s defensive capabilities, is held every year. It lasts from a few days to a few weeks with different military districts taking turns to run drills in their respective areas. Since the mid-1980s, the drill has become a large-scale, high-level, joint military exercise covering various tactics and involving a great number of personnel.

After martial law was lifted in 1987, the Han Kuang Exercises were no longer a military secret. They have since been widely covered by the local media. From 1994 to 2007, three accidents occurred during the annual drills, with a total of eight fatalities.

The government is planning to roll out a new military doctrine in March. President Tsai Ing-wen has ordered the armed forces to put a greater emphasis on “effective deterrence.” It remains to be seen how the new doctrine might affect military drills in the future.    [SOURCE]

Armed Chinese ships pass close by Diaoyutai, known as Senkaku in Japan

Japan mentions “grave concern” to China

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/02/18
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – China sent four naval police ships into the waters near the disputed Diaoyutai

In this file photo dated October 2, 2012, the Japanese Coast Guard is defending the waters off the Diaoyutai. (By Wikimedia Commons)

Islands in the fifth such incident this year, Japanese officials said Saturday.

The uninhabited islands, which are controlled by Japan, are also claimed by Taiwan and China. During his recent visit to the United States, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe obtained the comment from President Donald Trump that the archipelago fell under the provisions of the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty, meaning Washington opposed any unilateral challenges to Japanese control.

According to Japanese sources, one of the Chinese vessels was equipped with a machine gun installation. The previous such incident dated from fewer than two weeks ago, Japan said.

A Chinese government department reportedly confirmed the news from Tokyo, saying that four of its ships had entered the Diaoyutai maritime area.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei regrets Spain’s decision to send Taiwanese suspects to China

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/02/18
By: Mou Tzung-han and Y.F. Low

Taipei, Feb. 18 (CNA) The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) on Saturday expressed regret at a plan by Spain to deport a group of Taiwanese telecom fraud suspects to China.

In a Cabinet meeting held a day earlier, the Spanish government decided to accept Beijing’s request to extradite 269 Taiwanese and Chinese nationals recently arrested in the European country for their involvement in telecom fraud, according to the MOFA.

The decision has infringed upon the rights of the Republic of China (Taiwan) nationals and defies the European tradition of humanism, the ministry said.

The suspects were arrested in December in a joint operation between Spain and China, and more than 200 out of the 269 were ROC nationals, the ministry said.    [FULL  STORY]

Pension reform opponents quarrel over fundraising

ADMINISTRATIVE RIGHTSA civil servants’ group says it needs money to pay for an office beside the Legislative Yuan, where it expects to go into battle for the next year

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 19, 2017
By: Abraham Gerber / Staff reporter

The National Civil Servant Association will no longer participate in meetings of the Alliance for Monitoring Pension Reform, association president Harry Lee (李來希) said yesterday, as divisions over fundraising solidified.

Lee said the association would not participate in alliance meetings “for the time being,” also ruling out restoring alliance convener Huang Yao-nan’s (黃耀南) administrative rights to the group’s Facebook page until National Federation of Education Unions members “admit their mistake.”

Huang also serves as the association’s director-general, but was stripped of his administrative rights to the group’s Facebook page after a squabble over what account information should be provided when soliciting donations.

National Federation of Education Unions vice president Liu Ya-ping (劉亞平) issued a series of heated missives last week over the incident, accusing Lee of being avaricious and violating previous alliance resolutions.    [FULL  STORY]

Lin meets with Cabinet to ‘adjust communication’

The China Post
Date: February 19, 2017
By: The China Post news staff

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Premier Lin Chuan met Saturday with his Cabinet members to revise guidelines for

Premier Lin Chuan steps out of a car ahead of meeting in Taipei on Saturday, Feb. 18. (CNA)

improving internal coordination, as well as external communication with the general public.

On his way to the meeting, Lin told the press that the occasion was like a “time out” in a ball game where the coach regroups the players and conveys new tactics.

He said the meeting would aim at recapitulating government operations over the past several months and improving understanding among Cabinet members.

The meeting followed a reshuffle of the Cabinet earlier this month where new ministers were appointed to four government bodies: the Ministry of Labor, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Ministry of Science and Technology, and the Council of Agriculture.    [FULL  STORY]

US within its rights to station Marines at AIT: Minister

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-02-17

The United States is within its rights to use US Marines to guard the new AIT compound in Taipei. That’s

Foreign Minister David Lee (CNA photo)

the word from the foreign minister, David Lee, on Friday.

The AIT, or American Institute in Taiwan, is the de facto American embassy in Taiwan in the absence of formal diplomatic ties. Former AIT director Stephen Young said earlier this week that the US will for the first time station Marines at the new AIT office, in Taipei’s Neihu district.

The foreign minister said the government respects the US’ decision and that the decision was made on a legal basis.

It is usual for Marines to guard US diplomatic missions around the world but this has not been the case in Taiwan until now. Lee declined to say whether he thought the move signified a breakthrough in US-Taiwan relations.    [SOURCE]

Report about dumping of nuclear waste in ocean near Taiwan inconclusive

Italian businessman might have dumped North Korean nuclear waste in 1995: AEC

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/02/17
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – There is no evidence to show that an Italian businessman had 200,000 barrels of

(By Central News Agency)

North Korean nuclear waste dumped in the ocean near Taiwan, the Atomic Energy Council (AEC) said Friday.

Earlier this month, documents by an Italian intelligence service were declassified, reportedly showing that businessman Giorgio Comerio allowed his ships to drop the radioactive waste into the water near Taiwan, Somalia and in the Mediterranean around 1995.

The AEC ordered an investigation but found no evidence that the events mentioned in the Italian documents actually occurred, according to a report published Friday.

Official releases by the International Atomic Energy Agency showed that the United States, Japan, South Korea, the Soviet Union and Russia had disposed of radioactive waste in the northern part of the Pacific, but nowhere near Taiwan, the AEC said.   [FULL  STORY]

Electricity shortages could worsen in Taiwan this summer: Taipower

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/02/17
By: Huang Li-yun and Y.F. Low

Taipei, Feb. 17 (CNA) Electricity shortages in Taiwan could worsen this summer due to a reactor shutdown at the No. 2 nuclear power plant, state-run Taiwan Power Company (Taipower) Chairman Chu Wen-chen (朱文成) said on Friday.

According to Chu, a storage pool for spent fuel rods will run out of space in early June, forcing the plant’s first reactor to go offline and causing a significant drop in electricity supply.

While a plan to expand the storage pool is still being reviewed by the Atomic Energy Council, the pool will not be reopened until after the expansion work is completed, he said.

Chu said Taipower plans to take measures to prevent any rationing of electricity, including the completion of an emergency generation system in Taoyuan by July 1.   [FULL  STORY]