The China Post
Date: February 7, 2017
By: Sun Hsin Hsuan

TAIPEI, Taiwan — The Animal Protection Association of the Republic of China (APA)

warned on Monday that the number of stray dogs was likely to soar with the introduction of a ban on animal euthanasia.

Secretary-general of the APA, Huang Ching-jung (黃慶榮) worried that the ban “might become the beginning of a disaster,” underlining the increased pressure on animal shelters nationwide.

Taipei was the only city that could implement the no-kill policy without causing a public issue, Huang said, because Taipei already had the lowest stray population in Taiwan.

While official estimates put the stray population at 128,000 last year, Huang said the actual number could be three-times that.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-02-05

The foreign ministry on Sunday reiterated the Republic of China’s sovereignty over the Diaoyutai Islands.

The Republic of China is the official name of Taiwan’s government.

The comments came in response to recent remarks by US President Donald Trump’s Secretary of Defense James Mattis during his first trip to Asia in his role. Speaking in Tokyo, Mattis said that the United States’ commitment to defending Japanese territory applies to the Diaoyutai Islands.

The islands are also claimed by China, which also spoke about against Mattis’s comments.

Taiwan’s foreign ministry said Sunday that no matter how you look at the situation, from a historical, geographical, practical or legal perspective, there’s no doubt that the Diaoyutai’s belong to the Republic of China on Taiwan.    [FULL  STORY]

Huge crowds flocked to see the kickoff of the Taipei Lantern Festival on February 4 in the Ximending area

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/02/05
By: Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Taipei (Taiwan News) — The 2017 Taipei Lantern Festival (元宵節) kicked off at 6:00 pm on February 4

along Zhonghua Road between Ximen and Beimen MRT stations and Total Taipei posted the following photos of the first night of the festival.

The theme of this year’s Lantern Festival is “West Side Story, Taipei Glory,” and it will be held until February 17.

Crowd at Ximending to celebrate the opening night of Taipei Lantern Festival
Crowd at Ximending to celebrate the opening night of Taipei Lantern Festival (Photo by Total Taipei)

The opening night attracted throngs of people to the crowded Ximending area, which became much more crowded than usual.

The Lantern Festival was first held in Taipei in 1990 as the national Lantern Festival until 2001, when the government decided to hold the national event in different towns. This year’s national Lantern Festival will be held in Yunlin.​    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/02/05
By: Miu Tzung-han and S.C. Chang

Taipei, Feb. 5 (CNA) President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Sunday took on board a business leader’s suggestion that her government ask the Legislature to expedite a bill on monitoring negotiations between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait.

Tsai’s nod indicated that she attached great importance to the suggestion by Lin Por-fong (林伯豐), chairman of the Chinese National Association of Industry and Commerce, Taiwan, which was put forward during a lunch meeting in Taipei between Tsai and Taiwanese business people operating in China, according to participants.

Lin said the president expressed concern about the current conditions for Taiwanese investors in China and how they would cope in the event of a trade war between China and the United States under President Donald Trump.

On their part, the Taiwanese business leaders said they were concerned about the state of cross-strait relations under Tsai’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government, said Lee Li-chen (李麗珍), deputy secretary general and spokesperson for the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF). [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: February 5, 2017
By: CNA

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiwan’s top China policy official on Sunday called on Beijing not to further limit the

number of Chinese tourists permitted to visit Taiwan and to allow opportunities for greater interaction, communication and friendship between the people on both sides.

On its end, the Taiwan government will seek to attract more visitors, including independent Chinese tourists, by rolling out more extensive travel packages and improving the quality of its tourism services, said Chang Hsiao-yueh (張小月), chief of the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC).

Chang made the comments on the sidelines of a Lunar New Year celebration for Taiwanese businesses operating in China, after the Travel Agent Association of Taiwan (TAAT) released data that showed a record low daily number of 966 applications by Chinese tourists on Feb. 2 to visit Taiwan.

She also said that the MAC was pleased to see a report in the Hong Kong media that China was considering Taiwan’s request to grant its nationals living and working in China the same civil rights as Chinese citizens.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-02-04

Premier Lin Chuan says that the government’s new picks for Cabinet-level positions have all been

chosen on the basis of their ability.

The premier was speaking Saturday in response to criticism over the appointment of Lin Mei-chu to the position of labor minister. She currently serves as a minister without portfolio and as head of the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission.

The move comes amid a Cabinet reshuffle that will also see the ministers for labor, health, and science replaced. But her appointment as labor minister has proven controversial because she is President Tsai Ing-wen’s cousin.

The premier said that all of the new Cabinet picks were chosen because of their ability to perform, and that no other factors were involved in their selection.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan to become the 2nd country in Asia after India that implements ‘zero euthanasia’ of stray animals

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/02/04
By Sophia Yang,Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A revision to the Animal Protection Act that bans stray animal euthanasia went

into effect nationwide Saturday. Some animal rights activists express concerns over the lack of disease controls and of supporting measures to cope with overcapacity in animal shelters as people continue abandoning pets.

According to the Chinese-language Liberty Times, the local government data show that the public shelters were either way over capacity or over capacity at the end of January. The public shelters in Taipei City, Tainan City, Taoyuan City, Yilan County, Pingtung County, and Hsinchu City have exceeded capacity.

Despite the increased public awareness and extremely low cost of microchipping (less than NT$200, or US$6.4, in Taiwan), the implementation rate remains low at 60 percent, while the rate of spaying/neutering is even lower.

Huang Qing-rong (黃慶榮), secretary-general of the Animal Protection Association of the Republic of China, was quoted by other local media as saying that it has yet to be the right timing to implement the new law given the country’s low pet sterilization rate. Huang worried that the new law would give some irresponsible pet owners some peace of mind or a slight sense of guilt to abandon pets as they won’t be subject to euthanasia and that will lead to the increase in the homeless animal population.  [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/02/04
By: Chang Ming-hsuan and Lilian Wu

Taipei, Feb. 4 (CNA) Taiwan’s Health Promotion Administration (HPA) on World Cancer Day Saturday

urged Taiwanese to adopt a more healthy lifestyle, saying such a change would help reduce the risk of cancer.

Habits such as smoking, drinking, poor diet, lack of physical activity are the major risk factors for cancer, along with obesity, accounting for at least one third of all cases worldwide, the HPA said, citing the World Health Organization.

Therefore, as the international community marks World Cancer Day, Taiwanese would be well advised not to smoke, chew betel nuts or drink alcohol but instead to exercise more, observe a healthy diet, pay attention to weight control and get regular health checks, the HPA said.

It said domestic research has found that 15 minutes of exercise per day could extend a person’s lifespan by three years.    [FULL  STORY]