Page Three

Poll finds split on Aboriginal issues

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 31, 2016
By: Loa Iok-sin / Staff Reporter

Ahead of President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) scheduled apology to the nation’s Aborigines on behalf of the government tomorrow, the results of a poll released yesterday indicated that Aborigines and non-Aborigines have differing ideas about which issues the government should prioritize.

For the first time, the nation’s leader is to officially apologize for the injustices that the governments of Taiwan have perpetrated against Aborigines, as a step toward reconciliation and transitional justice.

However, the results of a poll conducted by the Taiwan Thinktank show that people of different ethnic backgrounds have different ideas on the most important aspects of transitional justice for Aborigines.     [FULL  STORY]

Teens beat heat, strong currents to circle island

The China Post
Date: July 31, 2016
By: CNA

TAIPEI — “We made it!” a group of eight Taiwanese teenagers shouted in joy as they p12areached a beach in the eastern county of Taitung Saturday to complete a round-the-island journey by canoe, a challenge which took them almost a month to overcome.

They set off from a beach in Taitung on July 1. During the journey, they braved scorching heat and paddled their canoes against strong currents on the sea, but were undaunted by the hardships.

Some of them thought of giving up the task because they wanted to go back home to help their families deal with the aftermath of the destruction caused by Typhoon Nepartak, which ravaged Taitung earlier this month. Although they had struggled quite a bit, they decided to keep on, their coach said.     [FULL  STORY]

Chinese Honeytrap Snares Taiwanese Aviation Police Official

A Taiwanese aviation police officer was seduced by the female manager of a Chinese company with ties to the CCP.

The News Lens
Date: 2016/07/27
By: Chang Shin-wei

A police officer at Taiwan’s Aviation Police Bureau has been indicted on corruption

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charges by Taiwanese prosecutors after it was discovered that he facilitated the procurement of 17 x-ray securityscanners valued at more than NT$70 million (US$2 million) from a Chinese firm.

Local media report that Sun Yi-ming (孫一鳴) accepted a NT$3.6 million bribe after being seduced by Li Weilin (李委霖), a 32-year-old manager at Nuctech in Taiwan, a Chinese company run by individuals with links to the Chinese Communist Party, including a son of former president Hu Jintao (胡錦濤). Knowing Sun was responsible for the procurement, Li made contact with him in 2013, and they developed an affair, according to reports. Sun was already married with children.

Nuctech’s products are not approved by the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA), and a direct purchase would have violated the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA).     [FULL  STORY]

US court orders overseas group to put back ROC flag

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 28, 2016
By: Staff writer, with CNA

A US district court of appeal judge has handed down a ruling against an overseas Chinese association in San Francisco over its removal of a Republic of China (ROC) national flag from its office in 2013 to signify the end of its support for the ROC government.

Justice Rebecca Wiseman said in a written statement that the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association in San Francisco should replace the ROC flag in its office.

The ruling was made on the grounds that association president Ted Wong (黃榮達) forced the passage of a resolution to get rid of the flag during a board of directors’ meeting in May 2013, an action which violated the organization’s rules because the resolution failed to get the required number of votes from board members for its approval.

The attorney representing the plaintiff said that the ruling is a victory, because the reasons given for opposing the removal of the flag have all been accepted by the court.     [FULL  STORY]

Taipei records its 2nd-highest July temperature

The China Post
Date: July 28, 2016
By: CNA

TAIPEI–Temperatures in Taipei soared to 38.5 degrees Celsius shortly after 1 p.m. on

A tiger of the Taipei Zoo stands in the water in this photo provided by the zoo's administration Wednesday, July 27, to cool itself in the searing summer heat. Daytime temperatures in Taipei reached as high as 38.5 degrees Celsius on Wednesday, the second highest ever recorded in the city for the month of July. (CNA)

A tiger of the Taipei Zoo stands in the water in this photo provided by the zoo’s administration Wednesday, July 27, to cool itself in the searing summer heat. Daytime temperatures in Taipei reached as high as 38.5 degrees Celsius on Wednesday, the second highest ever recorded in the city for the month of July. (CNA)

Wednesday, the second highest ever recorded in the city in the month of July, the Central Weather Bureau said.

A Pacific high pressure system continues to affect Taiwan, and clear and hot weather is being reported around the island, the bureau said.

At 1:19 p.m., a CWB station in Taipei registered a temperature reading of 38.5 degrees, and its station in Banqiao in neighboring New Taipei recorded a temperature of 37 degrees.

The highest temperature ever recorded in Taipei in July was 38.6 degrees in 2010.

The highest temperature recorded in Taipei this year was 38.7 degrees, set on June 1.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan to Face Difficulties Investigating Party Assets, Lawyer Says

Hard to prove? After decades of campaigning and a marathon session in Taiwan’s parliament, the ruling Democratic Progressive Party finally passed a law to investigate the party assets that were allegedly illegally obtained during the Kuomintang’s 50 years in power. But one lawyer suggests the hard work may be just getting started.

The News Lens
Date: 2016/07/26
By: Hsu Chia-yu

Taiwan’s legislators yesterday passed a landmark bill that will allow investigators to indentify

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political assets acquired illegally over the past 71 years and return them to the state.

The Act Governing the Handling of Ill-gotten Properties by Political Parties and Their Affiliate Organizations was passed after an 11-hour session in the Legislative Yuan – which since the January elections is now controlled by a majority of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) members.

The Kuomintang (KMT) has long been accused of exploiting its decades of one-party rule and building up a massive asset base, worth billions. The party earlier this year claimed the net worth of its assets was no more than NT$16 billion (US$500 million) – this figure is widely disputed and far below many other estimates.

The law will see the establishment of a special commission, which will operate under the executive branch of government, to investigate all party assets acquired since August 1945.     [FULL  STORY]

Taipei to ban single-use tableware in municipal units

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-07-26
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Single-use tableware and bottled water will be prohibited at 228 schools in Taipei City from August 67715051, Taipei City Government said, estimating to save 12.94 million units of tableware a year, equivalent of the height of 890 Taipei 101 if all the saved tableware units were stacked up.

Taipei Mayor Ke Wen-je has been pressing for a ban on using single-use and Melamine tableware and bottled water since he took office. Therefore, the city government promulgated the enforcement guidelines for banning the use of single-use and Melamine tableware in Taipei City Government on August 26, 2015, which have been enforced in Taipei City Hall since April 1 this year.

Taipei Deputy Mayor Chen Ching-jun announced at a press conference that beginning on August 1, the ban on the use of single-use and Melamine tableware will be comprehensively enforced in all municipal units, including district offices, all Taipei City Hospital branches, the zoo, and all 282 public and private elementary schools, junior high schools and senior high schools in the city.     [FULL  STORY]

Tropical Storm Mirinae not expected to affect Taiwan

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/07/26
By: Wang Shu-feng and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, July 26 (CNA) A tropical low pressure system detected in the South China Sea was

(From the Central Weather Bureau website)

(From the Central Weather Bureau website)

upgraded to Tropical Storm Mirinae at 2 p.m. Tuesday, but is not expected to affect Taiwan, meteorologists said that day.

Mirinae, the third tropical storm to form in the Pacific this year, was forecast to move toward China’s Hainan Island, according to the Central Weather Bureau (CWB).

As of 2 p.m. Tuesday, the storm was located 980 kilometers west-southwest of the Hengchun peninsula in Taiwan’s southernmost county of Pingtung, moving toward Hainan, CWB data showed.

The bureau also rebutted a forecast issued by a television weatherman that a tropical storm will form July 30 east of the Philippines, saying that currently, not even a tropical low pressure system has formed, let alone a tropical storm.     [SOURCE]

New Party publishes South China Sea poll results

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 27, 2016
By: Lee I-chia  /  Staff reporter

The New Party yesterday released a poll on the South China Sea issue which found that nearly 70 percent of respondents felt “betrayed by great powers” over the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague’s ruling that all high-tide features in the Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島), including Itu Aba Island (Taiping Island, 太平島), are legally “rocks.”

The poll — which the party commissioned a polling company to conduct on Thursday and Friday last week — showed that 68 percent of respondents either knew nothing about or refused to comment on the statement: “Under international recognition, the Republic of China (ROC) government has made territorial claims over South China Sea islands and surrounding waters, which is also called the ‘11-dash line’ or ‘U-shaped line,’ and has sovereignty over Taiping Island.”

However, New Party national committee adviser Lee Sheng-feng (李勝峰) said 78.2 percent of the respondents knew about the international court’s ruling and 44.9 percent agreed with the statement that “the US is secretly supporting or controlling [the Philippines]” and Washington persuaded Manila to file the case against Beijing’s South China Sea claims.

He said the most interesting result was that 69.7 percent of respondents felt “betrayed by great powers” — meaning the US and Japan — over the court’s ruling, adding that Tokyo usually follows Washington’s lead in policy decisions.     [FULL  STORY]

MOTC to free up more wireless spectrum for IoT

The China Post
Date: July 27, 2016
By: Christine Chou

TAIPEI, Taiwan — The Transportation Ministry said it would push harder to free up much-needed

Transportation Minister Ho Chen Tan (賀陳旦), fourth right; Chunghwa Telecom Chairman Rick Tsai (蔡力行), fourth left; Google Taiwan Managing Director Chien Lee-feng (簡立峰), second left; and Advantech Managing Director Chaney Ho (何春盛), third left, attend a telecommunications technology forum in Taipei on Tuesday, July 26. (Christine Chou, The China Post)

Transportation Minister Ho Chen Tan (賀陳旦), fourth right; Chunghwa Telecom Chairman Rick Tsai (蔡力行), fourth left; Google Taiwan Managing Director Chien Lee-feng (簡立峰), second left; and Advantech Managing Director Chaney Ho (何春盛), third left, attend a telecommunications technology forum in Taipei on Tuesday, July 26. (Christine Chou, The China Post)

wireless spectrum for Taiwan’s internet of things (IoT).

Transportation Minister Ho Chen Tan (賀陳旦), speaking at a telecom technology forum in Taipei organized by Chunghwa Telecom (CHT, 中華電信) and Economic Daily News (經濟日報), said IoT offered market opportunities to Taiwan, but that allocating more spectrum was critical to the next wave of IoT development.

The ministry’s next steps include distributing more spectrum licenses and relinquishing more unused spectrum to IoT.

Technological development has brought Taiwan to where it is today — a global leader in hardware manufacturing, Ho Chen said.

He urged firms to take advantage of Taiwan’s tech-savvy user base, which leads the world in time spent online and in 4G adoption.

The Transportation Ministry is the majority shareholder of Chunghwa Telecom, the nation’s leading telecommunications firm.     [FULL  STORY]