Page Three

Ko not charged over hospital account

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-06-08
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taipei City Mayor Ko Wen-je will not be indicted over campaign allegations 6760304 (1)he used an illegal account when he worked at National Taiwan University Hospital, prosecutors announced Wednesday.

During the hard-fought battle for the Taipei City mayoral elections of November 2014, Kuomintang legislator Lo Shu-lei accused Ko of having set up a special account, labeled MG149, which he used to receive donations from business he could hide from hospital management.

Ko always furiously denied the accusations, saying the account was legal and the funds served to help medical research as well as new students, graduates and researchers.

On Wednesday, the Taipei District Prosecutors Office completed its investigation and closed the case. There was not enough evidence to bring any charges against Ko, who won the mayoral election by a landslide despite a variety of allegations being leveled at him during the campaign.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan to launch New Southbound Policy Office soon

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/06/08
By: Sophia Yeh and Kuo Chung-han

Taipei, June 8 (CNA) The Presidential Office said Wednesday that a proposed New Southbound Policy Office is in the process of being established as a task force in the Presidential Office.

Responding to a lawmaker’s questions in a legislative committee hearing, Presidential Office spokesman Alex Huang (黃重諺) said the office will devise strategies to build links between Taiwan and Southeast Asia and India.

It will also serve as a coordinator between the Cabinet and industries, and academic and educational institutions at home and abroad, Huang said

James Huang (黃志芳), a former foreign minister, has been designated to head the New Southbound Policy Office, the spokesman said.

“We will first promote tourism and visa exemptions” for middle-class visitors from Southeast Asia, James Huang said in an interview on May 27.     [FULL  STORY]

DPP accuses Ma of taking classified papers

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 09, 2016
By: Stacy Hsu / Staff reporter

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators yesterday urged the Special Investigation Division to launch an investigation into allegations that former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) had taken copies of classified national security documents before leaving office.

At a news conference at the legislature yesterday morning, DPP Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇), citing a confidential source, said Ma had taken an unidentified number of boxes containing copies of classified national security documents when he was moving out of his office.

“Ma is the only president who had a copy machine in his office. He has said before that he always made copies of documents himself, including classified documents,” Wang said.

Calling on investigators to subject Ma to the same standards imposed on former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), Wang said that the investigation division searched both the Presidential Office and Chen’s residence after hearing that Chen had allegedly moved several boxes of classified documents out of his office.     [FULL  STORY]

Employers asked to help Muslims in Taiwan observe Ramadan

Focus Tiwan
Date: 2016/06/06
B:y Hsu Chih-wei and S.C. Chang

Taipei, June 6 (CNA) Taipei’s Grand Mosque on Monday, the first day of the Islamic festival

CNA file photo

CNA file photo

Ramadan, expressed hope that employers or company executives will make it easier for their Muslim workers to successfully observe the festival’s month-long fasting and other worshiping rituals.

Taipei Grand Mosque Chairman Feng Tung-yu (馮同瑜) quoted Imam Ibrahim Chao (趙錫麟) as saying the 2016 Ramadan should run from June 6 to July 6 or July 7, when Muslims around the world will celebrate breaking of fast or Eid al-Fitr for the Muslim Calendar Year of 1437.

During Ramadan, Muslims are required to refrain from taking food from dawn to dusk — around 3:30 a.m. to around 6:30 p.m. — daily until Eid al-Fitr.

Feng called on families or companies hiring Muslim workers to help them observe the festival, focus on prayer and scripture reading, and then attend Eid al-Fitr activities.     [FULL  STORY]

Ma’s planned trip a ‘difficult issue’

DELICATE:As the former head of state, Ma Ying-jeou should be aware of the sensitivity of the issue, Mainland Affairs Council Deputy Minister Lin Cheng-yi said

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 07, 2016
By: Stacy Hsu / Staff reporter

Whether former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) should be allowed to visit Hong Kong next week is a highly difficult issue requiring political judgement, Mainland Affairs Council Deputy Minister Lin Cheng-yi (林正義) said yesterday, expressing confidence that Ma would not act against the Presidential Office’s pending decision.

Lin made the remarks at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, which discussed the potential impact of recent developments in East Asia on Taiwan and relevant countermeasures.

Fielding questions from Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Liu Shih-fang (劉世芳), Lin said Ma’s application to make a one-day visit to Hong Kong on Wednesday is still being deliberated in accordance with the National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法).

The Presidential Office, the National Security Council and the Ministry of Justice are reviewing the application, Lin said.     [FULL  STORY]

Air conditioner at Taoyuan airport fails again due to blown fuse

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-06-05
By: By Bien Chin-feng, Lu Kang-chun and Elizabeth Hsu, Central News Agency

Taipei, June 5 (CNA) The air conditioner at the second terminal of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport failed to work again Sunday morning, only hours after an earlier malfunction was repaired, the latest in a string of problems caused by a thunderstorm that brought severe flooding and power outages to Taiwan’s main gateway three days ago.

The air conditioning system began sending out cool air at around midnight Sunday, but stopped running at 4 a.m. due to a glitch in the cooling tower, according to Taoyuan International Airport Corp. staff members.

After repairs, the system was back at work at 6 a.m. cooling down the steaming terminal, which was like a hot oven over the past few days due to a power failure and the warm weather.

At around 9 a.m., however, the air conditioner stopped working again because of a jump in the circuit breaker. As of 11:49 a.m., the repair was still ongoing. On Thursday, a thunderstorm led to severe flooding and power outages, leaving the airport, mainly Terminal 2, in a state of chaos. More than 200 flights were delayed, and some 30,000 passengers were affected.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan’s Handling of Mass Burn Victims at Water Park Draws Attention Abroad

Why you need to know

A year after a deadly explosion at a Taiwan water park, the EU and a number of countries are seeking advice from Taiwan on how to treat large numbers of burn victims.

The News Lens
Date: June 4, 2016
By: Chang Shin-wei

A horrible dust explosion at the Formosa Fun Coast recreational water park in Bali, New Taipei

Photo Credit: Reuters/達志影像

Photo Credit: Reuters/達志影像

City, in June last year, which caused 12 deaths and more than 500 injuries — 300 with burns on more than 60% of their body — made headlines worldwide. A year later, Taiwan’s ability to handle the complex emergency has drawn the attention of several countries that want to learn from its experience.

Last month, the E.U. invited a commitee from Taiwan to share its experiences dealing with burn patients on such a large scale.

The June 27 explosion was the largest public safety incident since the 1999 Jiji Earthquake (also known as the 921 Earthquake), which left more than 2,400 dead.

According to Business Today, the dust explosion broke the world record for the amount of burn patients, but the overall death rate was 2.4%. Among the reasons for the low death rate were the rapid spiriting of patients to hospitals all over the nation, the activation by all the medical facilities involved of mass-casualty incident management systems, and an effective division of the workload.     [FULL  STORY]

Ex-president’s attendance at dinner broke no parole rules: prison

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-06-05
By: Liao Jen-kai and Evelyn Kao, Central News Agency

Taipei, June 5 (CNA) Former President Chen Shui-bian’s attendance at a dinner celebrating the establishment of a foundation in Taipei Saturday did not violate the provisions of his medical parole, a chief prison official said Sunday.

Chen, who is a founding member of the organization, showed up in a VIP room adjacent to the main venue of the dinner hosted by the Ketagalan Foundation for about two hours to receive supporters, while on release from jail on medical parole that was granted in January last year.

Chen’s visit to the dinner did not violate his parole regulations, prison warden Huang Wei-hsien said, adding that a detailed assessment outlining all the facts will be released and submitted to the Ministry of Justice’s Agency of Corrections Monday.

According to the prison’s medical care staff who accompanied Chen on the visit, the disgraced former president did not violate the conditions of his medical parole, Huang said.     [FULL  STORY]

Former military officer gets master’s degree at 84

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/06/05
By: Hsu Chi-wei and Kay Liu

Taipei, June 5 (CNA) A former military officer graduated from Tamkang University’s Graduate

Wang Jung-ching (center front, Photo courtesy of Tamkang University)

Wang Jung-ching (center front, Photo courtesy of Tamkang University)

Institute of International Affairs and Strategic Studies Sunday, receiving his master’s degree at the age of 84.

Wang Jung-ching (王榮慶) received his diploma at a commencement ceremony Sunday, along with 40 others who also finished their studies at the graduate institute.

But Wang, who served in the military for over two decades and retired with the rank of colonel, caught more attention than others for overcoming the challenges for a man in his eighties to finish the course, such as language and computer skills.

One of the challenges, Wang told the university’s Tamkang Times, was Professor Ho Szu-yin’s (何思因) class on U.S. foreign policy, because it was taught in English.     [FULL  STORY]

Bureau suggests ‘bridge of mutual trust’ with China

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 06, 2016
By: Staff writer, with CNA

Taipei and Beijing, deadlocked over the so-called “1992 consensus,” are testing each other’s bottom lines with regard to the political foundation of their bilateral relations, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said, suggesting that Taiwan should keep communicating with its rival and try to build a bridge of mutual trust.

The bureau made the assessment and suggestions in a report to the legislature, prior to NSB Director-General Yang Kuo-chiang’s (楊國強) appearance at a legislative committee meeting today.

Summing up China’s response to President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) May 20 inaugural address, the bureau said that China thinks Tsai has taken “one step closer” to its version of the “1992 consensus,” but is not satisfied with her attempts to evade the “core meaning” of its definition of “one China” — that Taiwan and China belong to “one China.”

The “1992 consensus,” a term former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) admitted to making up in 2000, refers to a tacit understanding between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese government that both sides of the Taiwan Strait acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.     [FULL  STORY]