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Reporter denies role in lie-detector affair

The China Post
Date: June 19, 2016
By: The China Post news staff

TAIPEI, Taiwan — A TV reporter has dismissed speculation that she was involved in an alleged love-motivated information leak that led to the sacking of a Taipei City Government aide who refused to take a lie-detector test.

The Next TV reporter, Chang Yen-ching, writing on her Facebook page, protested that speculation putting her at the center of the row is threatening to cancel out all her hard work as a journalist, the Central News Agency reported.

She said she previously chose not to respond to the speculation but has now decided to speak up after seeing the matter developing into “gossip,” which she said is blurring the focus of the issue.

One of Taipei Deputy Mayor Charles Lin’s aide’s, surnamed Huang, has been fired for refusing to take a lie detector test conducted to identify the “mole” that leaked Mayor Ko Wen-je’s unannounced itineraries to the press.     [FULL  STORY]

KMT proposes bill against ethnic discrimination

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-06-17
By: Central News Agency

Taipei, June 17 (CNA) The opposition Kuomintang (KMT) proposed a draft bill against ethnic discrimination Friday amid controversy over a series of amateur videos showing a woman using abusive language against mainland Chinese veterans who fled to Taiwan from China during the retreat of the Nationalist government seven decades ago.

The proposed draft said that ethnic groups that use insulting words against other groups, or groups of different political stances, have created polarization and confrontation among different groups, seriously affecting national solidarity and social progress.The KMT proposed the draft bill in what it says is an effort to promote ethnic harmony, increase protection for underprivileged ethnic groups and carry out the spirit of promoting ethnic equality.

The proposal passed the first reading in the Legislature Friday and will now be sent to the Internal Administration Committee. The draft bill came after a recent incident in which self-styled “citizen journalist” Hung Su-chu called an elderly man at a Kaohsiung park early this month a “Chinese refugee eating the bones of the Taiwanese people,” and telling him to “scram back.”     [FULL  STORY]

Philippine president-elect welcomes Taiwan’s new southbound policy

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/06/17
By: Emerson Lim and Elaine Hou

Davao City, the Philippines, June 17 (CNA) President-elect Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines

Philippine president-elect Rodrigo Duterte (right).

Philippine president-elect Rodrigo Duterte (right).

has welcomed Taiwan’s new southbound policy aimed at strengthening relations with Southeast Asian countries, and he hoped the Philippines and Taiwan can deepen bilateral exchanges.

Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), who took office May 20, has proposed the policy to reduce Taiwan’s economic dependence on China and create opportunities for Taiwanese businesses in Southeast Asia and India. The Philippines, with its fast-growing economy, is considered an important partner in the plan.

Duterte, the outgoing mayor of Davao, told CNA recently that he welcomed the policy and said he saw an opportunity for agricultural cooperation between the two sides.

The Philippines has large swathes of land and has great agricultural development potential, the 71-year-old politician said, eyeing the opportunity to cooperate with Taiwan’s advanced agriculture sector.    [FULL  STORY]

Aerospace industry show takes off in Taichung City

Taiwan Today
Date: June 17, 2016

The inaugural Aerospace Industry—AIM and Productivity 4.0 Industrial Technology Matching

An unmanned aerial vehicle produced by National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology—the main R&D institution under Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense, is a star attraction at Aerospace Industry—AIM and Productivity 4.0 Industrial Technology Matching Exhibition June 16-20 in Taichung City. (Courtesy of TCG)

An unmanned aerial vehicle produced by National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology—the main R&D institution under Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense, is a star attraction at Aerospace Industry—AIM and Productivity 4.0 Industrial Technology Matching Exhibition June 16-20 in Taichung City. (Courtesy of TCG)

Exhibition opened June 16 in central Taiwan’s Taichung City, highlighting concerted efforts among government, industry and the academia to boost the sector through enhanced coordination and integration of public-private sector resources.

Co-organized by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Taichung City Government and Economic Daily News, the five-day exhibition serves as a platform for AIM Alliance firms. Established in December 2015, the alliance comprises the A-team, aerospace companies; I-team, intelligent R&D institutions; and M-team, machinery manufacturers.

“The exhibition is an unprecedented platform for members from the three teams to interact and pursue partnerships,” said TCG Secretary-General Huang Ching-mao. “We believe the sky is the limit when it comes to tapping the potential of Taiwan’s aerospace industry.”

Huang said the AIM Alliance harnesses a unique set of cross-industry synergies. “The I-team is the solution provider, helping its partners in aerospace and machinery manufacturing move to higher levels in efficiency and automation.     [FULL  STORY]

TISR poll shows drop in support for the Cabinet

DPP DECLINE:The party had a 0.5 percentage point decrease in respondents expressing goodwill toward it, while the KMT saw a 0.3% increase in its favorability

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 18, 2016
By: Lin Liang-sheng and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writer

Poll results released on Wednesday showed a drop in support for the Cabinet compared with

Premier Lin Chuan, center, and Legislative Speaker Su Jia-chyuan, right, take part in a turkey rice promotion at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday. Photo: CNA

Premier Lin Chuan, center, and Legislative Speaker Su Jia-chyuan, right, take part in a turkey rice promotion at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday. Photo: CNA

results last month.

The Taiwan Indicator Survey Research (TISR) poll showed a 16.4 percentage point increase from a month earlier in respondents who said they are not satisfied with Premier Lin Chuan’s (林全) Cabinet, while those who were satisfied decreased 6.5 percentage points.

The poll showed that 9.8 percent of respondents said that domestic finances were good — a rise of 3.6 percentage points from last month — while 79.6 percent said they were in decline, a decrease of 5.7 percentage points.

In response to questions about family finances, 52.4 percent said their income and expenditures were balanced —– an increase of 0.6 percentage points from last month — while 39.7 percent said spending outweighed income, an increase of 0.4 percentage points.     [FULL  STORY]

Longevity Palace – A combination of Kun and Beijing Opera

The China Post
Date: June 18, 2016
By: Hsuan Chung-wen, Special to The China Post

TAIPEI, Taiwan — A Chinese opera group will present the most famous love tragedy in Chinese

Li Bao-chun as Emperor Hsuan, right, and Lee Shan-shan as the magnificent concubine. (Courtesy of Hsuan Chung-wen/Koo Chen-fu Cultural Foundation)

Li Bao-chun as Emperor Hsuan, right, and Lee Shan-shan as the magnificent concubine. (Courtesy of Hsuan Chung-wen/Koo Chen-fu Cultural Foundation)

history, here in Taiwan. “Longevity Palace” (長生殿) is a well-known historical tale from the Tang Dynasty. It tells the unforgettable love story between Lee Lung-ge (李隆基 A.D. 685-A.D. 762), known as Emperor Huan (唐玄宗) and his magnificent concubine Yang Yu-huan (楊玉環 A.D. 719-A.D. 756), which ended in tragedy, as she was forced by her beloved husband, the emperor, to hang herself at the age of 35.

This unique combination of Kun and Beijing Opera will be performed on June 17 and 18, at 7:30 p.m., and on June 19 at 2:30 p.m. at the City Theater, No. 25, Bade Road, Section 3, Taipei. Information about the performance is available at www.koo.org.tw.

This new-style opera is the creation of professor Li Bao-chun (李寶春) of the Chinese Opera Department, Chinese Culture University. Li is an outstanding Beijing opera actor, specializing in both male and martial art roles. He has won many awards for his performances, including one for best Asian actor from the U.S. Lincoln Center.     [FULL  STORY]

Presidential Office ban requires ‘strong proof’ of intent: Ma

The China Post
Date: June 17, 2016
By: Stephanie Chao

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Ex-President Ma Ying-jeou demanded on Thursday that the Tsai administration provide strong, clear evidence that he could have revealed state secrets during a visit to Hong Kong that the Presidental Office blocked.

The Presidential Office restricted Ma from attending a Hong Kong event over security concerns earlier this week, which was later ridiculed by Ma in a video-taped speech on Thursday.

Ma stated that “there must be strong evidence to prove” that he would leak secrets in Hong Kong, which he demanded to see during a Thursday press conference. Ma said that if no such evidence exists, then “restricting my movements is not in line with democratic freedom.”

He went on to rhetorically ask “which advanced democratic country in the world would see its sitting president bar a former head of state from leaving the country?”     [FULL  STORY]

Tsai to embody new foreign policy

Taiwan News
Editorial
Date: 2016-06-16
By: Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Barely a month after being sworn in as the nation’s first female head of state and only its 6762027second from the Democratic Progressive Party, President Tsai Ing-wen will make her first official overseas trip to two of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies in Latin America, Panama and Paraguay, beginning next week.

The first is one of the busiest trading nations thanks to its Panama Canal, which is also the reason why Tsai was invited, to attend the inauguration of its expansion. The second is a little-known landlocked country, but it’s also Taiwan’s only ally in South America.

For Taiwan, overseas trips by its president are more important than almost for any other country in the world. In most countries, local media barely report on their head of state or head of government traveling because it is so commonplace and so frequent.

In Taiwan, such trips are a luxury. The country only counts 22 official diplomatic allies around the world, and visiting most of them involve stopovers for refueling in other countries which do not maintain diplomatic relations with Taiwan.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan seeks legislation to ward off EU ‘red card’ fishery threat

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/06/16
By: Chen Cheng-wei, Tang Pei-chun, Kuo Chih-hsuan, Leaf Chiang and
S.C. Chang

Taipei, June 16 (CNA) Facing a European Commission threat to issue a “red card” against

CNA file photo

CNA file photo

Taiwan for allowing its fishing vessels to continue to violate international norms, the Council of Agriculture (COA) said Wednesday it hopes to complete tough legislation by July to fend off possible sanctions.

Taiwan’s representative office in Brussels has alerted its home government that by March, 2017 at the latest, if no satisfactory improvements have been made in regard to Taiwan’s “illegal, unreported and unregulated” fishing practices in international waters, a red card could be issued — meaning trade sanctions against Taiwan.

While issuing Taiwan a “yellow card” in October, 2015, the European Commission advised Taiwan to take 11 steps to improve its fishing fleet’s record.     [FULL  STORY]

DPP, NPP extend their boycott of committee meeting

’WASTE OF TIME’:DPP and NPP legislators say that there is already consensus on directly abolishing the Red Cross Society Act, so a committee review is unnecessary

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 17, 2016
By: Abraham Gerber / Staff reporter

Pan-green lawmakers yesterday extended their boycott of a Social Welfare and Environmental

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Alicia Wang, center back, yesterday urges lawmakers from other parties to attend a meeting to review a draft amendment to the Red Cross Society Act at a meeting of the legislature’s Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee in Taipei. Photo: Huang Yao-cheng, Taipei Times

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Alicia Wang, center back, yesterday urges lawmakers from other parties to attend a meeting to review a draft amendment to the Red Cross Society Act at a meeting of the legislature’s Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee in Taipei. Photo: Huang Yao-cheng, Taipei Times

Hygiene Committee meeting about the future of the Red Cross Society Act (紅十字會法), which was called by the committee’s Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) coconvener.

Signs condemning the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and New Power Party (NPP), and calling for a committee meeting lined desks in front of the committee meeting, attended only by KMT coconvener Alicia Wang (王育敏).

“The bills cover both sides of the issue — including abolishing rather than revising the law. Every legislator has a responsibility to participate in the review of legislation,” she said. “Boycotting a committee does not display a democratic spirit.”

She played Waiting for You to Return, a song from 1940s, before exiting, leaving the committee room to government officials, who took advantage of the committee members’ absence to read papers and play with their mobile phones.     [FULL  STORY]