Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/04/07
By: Jeffrey Wu and Kay Liu

Taipei, April 7 (CNA) Video site YouTube launched its YouTube Gaming platform aimed at gamers in Taiwan Thursday, as game-related content has been growing in popularity in the country.

YouTube Gaming has dedicated pages for more than 25,000 games, in addition to channels set up by gamers who share and stream their gameplay live online, the video site said.

During the launch event, three gamers who have their own YouTube channels featuring their gameplay and other game-related content — HiChocolate, RSPannie and Onityan — demonstrated how easy it is to stream mobile phone games through YouTube Gaming and interact with online viewers.

YouTube said it has become a place for gamers in Taiwan to explore and share game-related content, citing a survey conducted by its parent, Google, and marketing firm GfK, which showed 52 percent of gamers aged between 16 and 45 in Taiwan visited the video site daily during the fourth quarter of 2014.     [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 07, 2016
By: Shelley Shan / Staff reporter

The legislature’s Transportation Committee yesterday passed a resolution asking the Ministry of Transportation and Communications to return to the government properties owned by the Telecommunications Association and Postal Association — two subsidiaries under the ministry — or to dismiss these two organizations, adding that the matter should be resolved within three months.

Lawmakers threatened to send the case to the Control Yuan for investigation if ministry officials fail to comply with the resolution.

The committee was scheduled to review the performances of all the subsidiaries under the ministry and National Communications Commission, but lawmakers in the question-and-answer session focused on whether the two agencies should be dismissed.

The lawmakers said that the two associations — which are under Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) and Chunghwa Post Co (中華郵政) — are only in charge of managing the properties they own and function more like real estate companies, adding that the properties managed by these associations belong to the state and could end up being in the hands of private owners.

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Cheng Yun-peng (鄭運鵬) said that the committee had already passed a similar resolution in the previous legislative session, but the ministry chose not to do anything about it. Though five of nine seats on the board of directors of the Telecommunications Association are representatives of government agencies, Cheng said that the current chairman of the association also serves as the executive vice president of Chunghwa Telecom.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-04-05
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – New Power Party Chairman Huang Kuo-chang said Tuesday he had completed a proposal to strengthen the power of the Legislative Yuan to review appointments.

Several top political nominations, including those of all members of the Control Yuan, have to be approved by vote at the Legislature. However, Huang said most of the reviews before the vote were only empty procedures.

The leader of the small party said he had taken part as an academic in many hearings for nominees to the Council of Grand Justices and the Examination Yuan. Because current legislation was far too vague, the hearings and the following reviews and discussions at the Legislature only occurred pro forma, Huang said. As a result, legislators were unable to play their full role when reviewing the nominations and balancing the government, he said.

Huang used the four-day holiday period to finish writing his legislative proposal to strengthen the powers of review. Once the holiday over, maybe Wednesday, he would propose his document to the full five-member legislative caucus of the NPP, of which he is a member. If it won the group’s support, he would submit it to the Legislative Yuan, he said.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/04/05
By: Emerson Lim and Elaine Hou

Manila, April 5 (CNA) Former Philippine President Fidel V. Ramos is scheduled to visit Taiwan later this week, during which he will meet with President-elect Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and outgoing President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) in an effort to promote bilateral exchanges and cooperation.

Ramos, who will travel with a trade delegation comprising Taiwanese businessmen based in the Philippines and Philippine businessmen, is scheduled to arrive in Taiwan Wednesday, said Chen Wen-ju (陳文儒) of the Taiwanese chamber of the South Philippines, which is helping to organize the trip.

This will mark the eighth consecutive year in a row for Ramos to visit Taiwan on a trip organized by the chamber.

Ramos, whose father once served as the Philippines’ ambassador to the Republic of China, is described as being friendly toward Taiwan.     [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 06, 2016
By: Lo Tien-pin / Staff reporter

The military has proposed a NT$400 million (US$12.35 million) program to upgrade the nation’s two aging Dutch-made Zwaardvis-class submarines, in which the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology would supervise the “life extension program” (LEP) that would be contracted out to foreign defense companies.

According to sources in the navy, the two submarines have been in service for nearly 30 years and are still seaworthy and capable of carrying out maritime patrol missions, but their electronics and weapons systems are obsolete in terms of operational consistency and reliability.

The two diesel-powered, 2,660-tonne submarines, Hai Lung (海龍, sea dragon) and Hai Hu (海虎, sea tiger), entered service in the navy in 1987 and 1988 respectively.
As most parts for the vessels are no longer in production and suitable replacements cannot be found, it is difficult to maintain and repair the submarines, naval officials said, adding that a large-scale upgrade program is needed to enhance their operational capabilities and to extend their service lives.

Plans for upgrades were also made necessary by president-elect Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) indigenous defense submarine project to enable the domestic production of eight attack submarines, under which the first vessel would not be commissioned until 2025.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-04-04
By: Central News Agency

A book that promotes “negative energy” has topped an Eslite Bookstore bestseller list just two weeks after its publication, the bookstore said Monday.

The book, titled “NeEnergy: The Power of G-bye”, is a collection of witty, humorous and self-deprecating one-liners and short remarks about work, life, dreams and love.

It currently ranks number 1 on the bestseller list of books in the leisure and entertainment category.

The author, Lin Yu-sheng, was a computer and communication engineering major who quit his day job to start his own copywriting business last year, according to the bookstore.

He has over 340,000 fans on his Facebook page, which posts his short remarks and encourages people to “receive some negative energy every day.”     [FULL  STORY]