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Central Emergency Operation Center on full alert as Megi nears

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-09-26
By: Central News Agency

Taiwan launched its Central Emergency Operation Center and put it on full alert Monday with Typhoon Megi bearing down on Taiwan and expected to pummel the island on Tuesday.

Premier Lin Chuan (林全) was at the center to listen to briefings by relevant authorities on their preparations against the typhoon, and he expressed concern about possible landslides caused by heavy downpours.

He instructed that all necessary preparations be made to minimize the possible damage caused by Megi.

As of 4 p.m. on Monday, meanwhile, nine local governments in the cities of Taichung, Kaohsiung and New Taipei and Pingtung, Hualien, Taitung, Nantou and Chiayi counties had activated their emergency operation centers and also put them on the highest alert.     [FULL  STORY]

U.S. Sinologist encourages Taiwanese students to ask questions

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/09/26

Taipei, Sept. 26 (CNA) A leading United States Sinologist on Monday encouraged Taiwanese students to

Rachel E. Chung, associate director of Columbia University's Committee on Asia and the Middle East

Rachel E. Chung, associate director of Columbia University’s Committee on Asia and the Middle East

ask questions bravely and to learn to engage in meaningful conversations with people all around the world.

Rachel E. Chung, associate director of Columbia University’s Committee on Asia and the Middle East, issued the appeal during a “Talk with Masters” series of seminars sponsored by the Tang Prize Foundation.

On Sunday, the foundation presented this year’s Sinology prize to Columbia University professor William Theodore de Bary in recognition of his life-time contribution to studying and promoting neo-Confucianism.

Chung gave an acceptance speech on behalf of de Bary at the award ceremony in Taipei.

At the Tang Prize seminar Monday, which was held at National Central University in Taoyuan, Chung said de Bary’s advocacy of cultural and civilizational dialogue has been picked up by two Chinese students at Columbia who launched a symposium on the study of classics by students in various countries.     [FULL  STORY]

Committee rejects KMT’s request that assets be unfreezed amid salary crisis

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 27, 2016
By: Chen Wei-han, Yang Chun-hui and William Hetherington / Staff reporters, with staff writer
The Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee yesterday rejected the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) request to unfreeze assets to pay party employees’ salaries, urging the party to restructure itself to balance its books with legal funds.

The committee on Wednesday last week froze NT$460 million (US$14.63 million) of KMT assets at Bank of Taiwan. With access blocked to its accounts at Bank SinoPac and checks from its Bank of Taiwan accounts frozen, the KMT has postponed payment of this month’s salaries.

Sources in the party said KMT Administration and Management Committee director Chiu Da-chan (邱大展) and deputy director Lee Fu-chuan’s (李福軒) on Thursday last week met with Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee Chairman Wellington Koo (顧立雄) to inquire about the salary issue, but the two sides did not reach any conclusion.

Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee spokeswoman Shih Chin-fang (施錦芳) yesterday confirmed a visit by Chu, who asked that it temporarily lift a freeze on the party’s accounts and checks to pay for employees’ salaries.     [FULL  STORY]

Protesters urge opposition to Penghu casinos

The China Post
Date: September 27, 2016
By: Yuan-Ming Chiao

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Dozens of civic group representatives and residents demonstrated outside the Legislative Yuan Monday, urging Penghu voters to vote down a referendum that would allow casinos to operate in the island county.

The protesters, among them Penghu community representatives, scholars, religious leaders and lawmakers, as well as parents and children, said that pro-gambling groups were inflating potential benefits to the islands’ economy.

Developers have claimed that casinos could generate NT$4 billion per year in revenue and have promised cash handouts of NT$80,000 per year to seniors and subsidies of NT$30,000 per year to students. They have also promised subsidies of NT$50,000 per year to parents of children between the ages of 1 and 6.

The demonstrators chanted, “No to casinos, save Taiwan; no to casinos, save Penghu.” They also performed a skit, in which actors portraying casino proponents attempted to confuse residents by using euphemisms like “internationalization,” “economic development” and “international tourism resorts” to mask the negative side effects of casino legalization.    [FULL  STORY]

XPEC chief detained after court revokes bail

The China Post
Date: September 26, 2016
By: Sun Hsin Hsuan

XPEC Entertainment Inc. Chief Executive Officer Aaron Hsu was to be held overnight for questioning Sunday after an appellate court overturned his bail, which was previously set at NT$10 million.

The High Court had earlier reversed a bail ruling issued Saturday evening on grounds of suspected collusion with witnesses.

According to the court, a witness, whose name was not revealed to the press, testified that Hsu recently contacted him.

The High Court then ordered the Taipei District Court to re-evaluate whether Hsu should be granted bail.     [FULL  STORY]

Kenting surpasses other national parks in attracting visitors

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-09-25
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Kenting National Park surpassed other nine national parks in the number of visitors from January to

Dongsha Atoll National Park

Dongsha Atoll National Park

August, with 4.58 million person-times, according to Ministry of the Interior (MOI) statistics.

The nine national parks and one national nature park attracted a total of 17.27 million person-times of visits during the eight-month period, the statistics show.

The nine national parks are Kenting, Yushan, Yangmingshan, Taroko, Shei-Pa, Kinmen, Dongsha Atoll, Taijiang, and South Penghu Marine; and the one national nature park is Shoushan.

According to the MOI statistics, Kenting’s 4.58 million person-times of visits accounted for 26.5 percent of the total number of visits, followed by Taroko’s 3.57 million and Yangmingshan’s 3.43 million.     [FULL  STORY]

People should not settle for a world ‘ruled by laws’: Tang laureate

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/09/25
By: Christie Chen

Taipei, Sept. 25 (CNA) Louise Arbour, winner of this year’s Tang Prize in rule of law, urged people on

Louise Arbour (second left).

Louise Arbour (second left).

Sunday not to settle for a world “simply ruled by laws,” but to strive for one where laws are just and justly enforced.

“Like many women of my generation across the world, I grew up in a society where laws perpetuated gender inequality and permitted the multitude of discriminatory practices, reflecting the lack of political power of minorities, whose voices were drowned in majority rule,” Arbour said in her acceptance speech at the award ceremony in Taipei.

She said the coming into force of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms in 1982 and the birth of the international criminal justice system were two events that anchored her belief in the law as a force for good.

“As we move forward as a global society propelled by knowledge and scientific advances unimaginable not so long ago, we should forever resist the irrational forces that pull us apart,” the 69-year-old Arbour said.     [FULL  STORY]

Former president Lee released from Taipei hospital

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 26, 2016
By: Staff writer, with CNA

Former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) was discharged from Taipei Veterans General Hospital yesterday afternoon after a dizzy spell the previous night, Lee’s office director Wang Yan-chun (王燕軍) said.

Chen Yu-liang (陳雲亮), chief of the hospital’s Division of Healthcare Management, confirmed that Lee was discharged at about 3pm after the hospital concluded that he was in a stable condition following a series of examinations.    [FULL  STORY]

Ko’s team bleeds members as Education Dep’t chief resigns

The China Post
Date: September 26, 2016
By: The China Post news staff

The Taipei City Government continued to hemorrhage senior officials Sunday, with news of the resignation of Education Department chief Tang Chih-min (湯志民).

Tang tendered his resignation to Mayor Ko Wen-je on Tuesday, citing his “completion of scheduled milestones” and desire to return to university teaching, according to the department, which did not announce the resignation until Sunday.

In an open letter to Education Department staff, Tang said he would return to his professorship at National Chengchi University on Oct. 1, when his resignation is due to becomes effective.

“Education is my life’s work, and education administration is just one of the ways to provide education service,” Tang wrote.

“I will try to work hard for education through other means in the future.”     [FULL  STORY]

US scientist urges youth to learn to ask right questions

The China Post
Date: September 25, 2016
By: CNA

TAIPEI–A visiting U.S. scientist on Saturday encouraged young people in Taiwan to ask the right questions and gain knowledge in multiple disciplines to tackle modern-day challenges in the field of sustainable development.

“I think the most important quality to develop is the ability to ask the right questions,” Ashok Gadgil, a professor from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, told reporters in Taipei.

He said mankind’s problems today can no longer be addressed within a single discipline, unlike a few hundred years ago, when people exploring the ocean may have asked narrow technical questions, such as “how do we find the right longitude?”

Today’s problems require an understanding of various disciplines, including economics, social behavior, science, law and policy, said Gadgil, who is in Taiwan to receive the Tang Prize in sustainable development on behalf of American energy expert Arthur H. Rosenfeld.     [FULL  STORY]