Page Three

KMT delegation to China broke law: DPP legislator

PUSHING BOUNDARIES:Lee Chun-yi said that Chen Chen-hsiang and the KMT had announced a political agreement with Beijing without authorization

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 29, 2016
By: Hsiao Ting-fang and Lin Liang-sheng / Staff reporters

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) on Monday called for the Mainland Affairs Council to investigate possible violations of the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (兩岸人民關係條例) by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Vice Chairman Chen Chen-hsiang (陳鎮湘), who led a KMT delegation to Beijing last week.

While in Beijing, Chen announced with China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Minister Zhang Zhijun (張志軍) “eight points of consensus,” that touched on political issues such as Taiwanese independence.

Lee said that Chen and the KMT had announced or signed a political agreement with China without the authorization of the council, in violation of the law.

The eight points that the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) put forward during Chen’s visit, which included the upholding of the “common political foundation of the 1992 consensus and opposition against Taiwan’s [de jure] independence;” the deepening of inter-party rank-and-file exchanges between the two parties; promoting cross-strait exchanges and cooperation in agriculture, fishery and tourism and of small and middle enterprises and providing services to the marketing of agricultural and fishery products and tourist packages.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan Lantern Festival reveals its star attraction

The China Post
Date: December 29, 2016
By: CNA

TAIPEI — The main and handheld lanterns for the official 2017 Taiwan Lantern Festival slated to start

(CNA)

Feb. 11 in the central-southern county of Yunlin were unveiled in Taipei Wednesday.

Representing the year of the rooster in the Chinese zodiac, the 23-meter-high main lantern is designed in the shape of a phoenix and is decorated with more than 200 crystals, according to the Tourism Bureau.

The bureau said 80,000 handheld lanterns featuring a chicken-egg combination shape will be handed out when the festival takes place from Feb. 11-19.

The festival is expected to attract 10 million visitors and generate NT$8 billion in tourism dollar for the area, according to the bureau.

At the ceremony in Taipei, Yunlin Magistrate Lee Chin-yung (李進勇) expressed a warm welcome for tourists to visit the main lantern zone in front of the Taiwan High Speed Rail Yunlin Station in Huwei Township.    [FULL  STORY]

Exquisite Moth

Taiwan Today
Date: December 27,2016

A Plutodes exquisite, a moth species first discovered in Taiwan, sits on a leaf in outlying Kinmen County in this undated photo. (Courtesy of Kinmen National Park Administration)    [SOURCE]

Mercury plunges to 11 degrees in Tamshui

Snow possible above 3,000 m

Taiwan News
Date: 2016/12/27
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Temperatures fell rapidly to reach 11 degrees Celsius in Tamshui Tuesday

(By Central News Agency)

evening, the lowest so far this winter, the Central Weather Bureau said.

The Tamshui weather station measured a temperature of 11.0 degrees Celsius at 6:06 p.m., the bureau announced. Earlier, at 4:52 p.m., the mercury had already dropped to 11.9 in Tamshui, the bureau announced.

As predicted, temperatures did not wait until evening to fall, but dropped steadily all through the day, experts said.

The lowest temperatures were to be expected from Tuesday evening until Wednesday morning, with snow possible at high altitudes.   [FULL  STORY]

After FATCA pact signing, increased focus on possible tax evaders

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/12/27
By: Tsai Yi-chu and Lilian Wu

Taipei, Dec. 27 (CNA) Taiwan and the United States signed an agreement on the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) on Dec. 22 that will make it easier to go after “non-cooperative” clients, the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) announced Tuesday.

Under the inter-governmental agreement, which still has to be approved by the Legislature, the U.S. can in the future ask Taiwan to provide data on “non-cooperative” clients.

At present, Taiwan’s financial institutions have only provided the U.S. with the number of “non-cooperative” clients and the amount of money in their accounts, but they have not provided personal information on the clients themselves.

The Banking Bureau under the FSC said that under the agreement the U.S. can ask for more detailed information on clients who do not cooperate with requests for information.    [FULL  STORY]

Change aims to protect TV station

‘CHILLING EFFECT’:Political interference would be detrimental to democracy if it is allowed to influence news reports, NPP Legislator Kawlo Iyun Pacidal said

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 28, 2016
By: Sean Lin / Staff reporter

The New Power Party (NPP) yesterday proposed a draft amendment to the Act for the Establishment of

New Power Party Legislator Kawlo Iyun Pacidal explains her party’s proposed amendments to the Act for the Establishment of the Indigenous Peoples Cultural Foundation at a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Huang Yao-cheng, Taipei Times

the Indigenous Peoples Cultural Foundation (財團法人原住民族文化事業基金會設置條例) to ensure that the foundation, which operates Taiwan Indigenous TV, is free from political interference that might affect the objectivity of its programs.

Since the station was launched in 2004, it has been subject to political interference from government agencies and legislators, who have frozen the foundation’s budget to pressure it to present certain perspectives in its programs, NPP Legislator Kawlo Iyun Pacidal, an Amis, told a news conference in Taipei.

Citing her experience as a reporter for the station, she said that she was punished after a report on the Council of Indigenous Peoples was aired.

“If political interference can be allowed to have a ‘chilling effect’ on news reports, it will surely be detrimental to democracy and the freedom of speech,” she said.    [FULL  STORY]

Tsai urges reforms to repair military image

The China Post
Date: December 28, 2016
By: Joseph Yeh

TAIPEI, Taiwan — President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Tuesday called on the R.O.C. armed forces to

President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) greets newly promoted generals during a ceremony held in Taipei on Tuesday, Dec. 26. (Photo courtesy of the Presidential Office )

continue implementing reforms to restore the damaged reputation of service members following a series of scandals.

Speaking during a promotion ceremony in Taipei — her second such event since becoming commander-in-chief on May 20 — the president congratulated 31 senior military personnel who were rising to the rank of general, saying that their higher ranking meant they must shoulder greater responsibility.

Tsai said that after assuming the presidency, she had inspected the nation’s troops and found that some major reforms needed to be launched to improve the military’s image.

One of the top priorities of Taiwan’s military is to upgrade the individual equipment carried by its soldiers, Tsai said, adding that the military also needs to renovate its idling lots and camps and to improve administrative efficiency.   [FULL  STORY][

Taoyuan airport posts record passenger traffic in 2016

Taiwan Today
Date: December 26,2016

Annual passenger traffic at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport topped 40 million Dec. 13 for the first

Premier Lin Chuan (center) and other officials launch a special exhibition celebrating TTIA’s record passenger traffic Dec. 24 in northern Taiwan’s Taoyuan City. (Courtesy of Executive Yuan)

time in the facility’s 37-year history, with the figure expected to rise 9.09 percent year on year to 42 million by the end of 2016, according to airport officials.

In a special exhibition held Dec. 24 at the northern Taiwan gateway celebrating the milestone, Premier Lin Chuan noted the achievement moved TTIA into the top of five categories in the benchmarking system utilized by the Montreal-based Airport Council International to assess facilities around the world.

“When the airport metro system commences operations early next year, TTIA will gain even more international exposure,” Lin said. “The government will continue enhancing public transportation and implement other infrastructure projects so that TTIA becomes the pride of Taiwan and Asia.”

The premier also highlighted areas where TTIA needs to improve, including addressing problems in the design and operations of Terminal 2. He also said airport authorities must ensure that the expansion of Terminal 2 and construction of Terminal 3 remain on schedule, urging enhanced exchanges with global counterparts so as to improve management practices.    [FULL  STORY]

China resumes ties with Sao Tome in blow to Taiwan

The small West African nation ended diplomatic relations with Taiwan less than a week ago.

Taiwan News
Date: 2016/12/26 16:09
By: Wendy Lee , Taiwan News, Staff Writer(By Associated Press)

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Beijing announced Monday that it has re-established diplomatic ties with Sao

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, right, shakes hands with his Sao Tome counterpart Urbino Botelho as they exchange signed documents during a signing ceremony at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, Monday, Dec. 26, 2016. China and Sao Tome and Principe officially resumed diplomatic relations on Monday, in a triumph for Beijing over rival Taiwan after the African island nation abruptly broke away from the self-ruled island last week. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

Tome and Principe, a small West African nation that had just ended diplomatic relations with Taiwan last week.

China’s Foreign Ministry announced today that it has resumed diplomatic relations with the former Taiwan ally, after the two nations’ foreign ministers met in Beijing and signed books at a ceremony in front of their flags, less than a week after the small West African nation broke ties with Taiwan.

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi said after signing the deal that Sao Tome will get full support from his nation in its quest for socio-economic development, according to media reports.

On December 21, Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry announced that Sao Tome has severed ties with Taiwan. The two countries have maintained mutual diplomatic relationships for nearly 20 years since May 1997, when Sao Tome switched diplomatic recognition from China to Taiwan.

Sources revealed that Sao Tome and Principe had recently asked for financial assistance of up to US$200 million dollars, but was turned down by the ROC government due to its unwillingness to engage in “dollar diplomacy.”    [FULL  STORY]

Diplomacy not zero-sum game: official

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/12/26
By: Sophia Yeh, Tai Ya-chen and Lilian Wu

Taipei, Dec. 26 (CNA) The Presidential Office on Monday expressed deep regret and discontent after

(CNA file photo)

China and Sao Tome and Principe announced their resumption of diplomatic relations earlier that day, saying that “diplomacy is not a zero-sum game.”

China and Sao Tome and Principe signed a communiqué to resume diplomatic relations in Beijing earlier that day.

Presidential Office spokesman Alex Huang (黃重諺) said that “diplomacy is not a zero-sum game,” noting that participation in the international community by both sides of the Taiwan Strait has positive significance and the two sides need not clash with each other.

“Any move to restrain or interfere with Taiwan’s participation in the international community will be a loss to the international community, and will also not be beneficial to the healthy development of cross-strait relations,” Huang said.    [FULL  STORY]