Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/03/12
By: Chiang Yuan-chen and Romulo Huang

Seoul, March 12 (CNA) The Go-playing artificial intelligence (AI) program

AlphaGo defeated top Korean Go player Lee Se-dol in the third straight game in Seoul Saturday, winning 3-0 in a planned five-game match.

The AI program, developed by Google Inc.’s DeepMind unit, scored the decisive win against Lee, a professional 9-dan Go player, in the game that lasted more than 4 hours.

There is no mercy rule for the match and the remaining games will be played as scheduled on Sunday and Tuesday, the organizers of the contest said.

“Go is a very beautiful game,” Google co-founder and Alphabet president Sergey Brin said after the match. “I’m very excited that we’ve been able to instill that level of beauty inside a computer.”

For his part, Lee, who has won 18 world titles, admitted that he had no chance in the first game, missed opportunities in the second, and succumbed to pressure in the third. “I do apologize for not being able to satisfy people’s expectations,” he said.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-03-11
By: Chia Lee, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) spokesman Juan Chao-hsiung stated

Friday the party’s four major propositions for its plan to turn Taiwan into a “nuclear-free homeland” by 2025.

First, stop the building of the fourth nuclear power plant without extending the operation lifetimes of the current three nuclear plants; second, carry out safety supervision management on the affiliated nuclear power plants and strengthen national nuclear emergency mechanism; third, demand the Taipower to submit a report on the plan with a cost estimation for decommissioning; fourth, seek for social consensus on nuclear waste disposal site.

Heavy dependence on imported energy and over-reliance on nuclear and thermal power are the major energy security challenges that Taiwan is facing right now, said Juan, adding that DPP’s “new energy policy” is aimed at resolving these fundamental problems.

To move towards a nuclear-free homeland by 2025, the new government will initiate the “new energy policy” once it takes office, said Juan, including energy sector innovation, carbon reduction, green energy development and technology innovation.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/03/11
By: Yang Ming-chu and Lilian Wu

Tokyo, March 11 (CNA) Japanese students studying in Taiwan have held “Thank you, Taiwan” activities every year since a powerful earthquake and massive tsunami struck Japan on March 11, 2011, prompting Taiwan to make generous donations to its neighbor. This year, the father of a Japanese student took part in the activity in her place.

His daughter, Ai Ono, was a student at National Chengchi University when she died of carbon monoxide poisoning in her rented apartment in Taipei in March last year.

Ono was only a senior high school student when the March 11, 2011 quake struck Japan. As a leader of a student group, organized by an association of Miyagi Prefecture to express gratitude for Taiwan’s donations and to explain the post-construction process, she visited Taiwan and was impressed by the island and later decided to study in Taiwan.

In 2014, she attended the first “Thank you, Taiwan” activity, but missed the 2015 event when she died at the age of 20.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan Today
Date: March 11, 2016

A record NT$1 billion (US$30.4 million)-plus in orders is expected to be

clinched at Taiwan International Boat Show during its March 10-13 run at Kaohsiung Exhibition Center in southern Taiwan.

Featuring 166 exhibitors from 10 countries and territories at 1,005 booths, this year’s edition is the biggest indoor event of its kind in Asia and tops the size of the inaugural show in 2014.

During the opening ceremony, ROC Vice President Wu Den-yih said the scale of the event reflects the success of government efforts in fostering cross-sector collaboration in Taiwan. The local yacht industry is the world’s fourth largest for craft 80-foot or above, and is set to scale new heights going forward, he added.

Echoing Wu’s remarks, Vice President-elect Chen Chien-jen said Kaohsiung is spearheading the local shipbuilding business. The port city is home to 19 of 35 national pleasure boat-makers, accounting for over 80 percent of total output and 90 percent of exports, he added.

According to organizer Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA), the 4.5-hectare purpose-built KEC has put Kaohsiung on the map as a top destination for large-scale marine industry exhibitions in Asia. Based on the city’s reputation as a hub for yacht manufacturing and operations, TAITRA said it plans to build the metropolis into the most important for boat shows in the region.     [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Mar 12, 2016
By: Abraham Gerber / Staff reporter

The National Women’s League should disclose its assets as part of new

broader financial reporting requirements for political organizations, New Power Party (NPP) Legislator Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明) said yesterday.

“The National Women’s League was established by the KMT, but they have refused to respond to the questions about exactly how much of the nation’s treasury flowed into their coffers,” he said. “To say that the government did not participate in the group’s fundraising efforts is ridiculous. Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) let his wife call for donations and then forced the entire nation to pay.”

Chiang’s wife Soong Mayling (宋美齡) established the league and served as its head for decades. A tariff called the “Military Benefit Tax” benefiting the league was levied on the US dollar value of all imported goods between 1955 to 1989, allowing the league to finance a broad range of charitable work, notably including the construction of military dependents’ villages.

Hsu criticized the Ministry of the Interior for not forcing the organization to publicize its finances, saying that it could use provisions of the Civil Associations Act (人民團體法) to threaten the league with dissolution for illegal behavior if it refuses to disclose its financial records.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-03-10
By: Chia Lee, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Vice President Wu Den-yih and Vice President-elect Chen Chien-jen were seen

on stage together Thursday, attending an opening ceremony of the 2016 Taiwan International Boat Show.

Both of them delivered a speech at the event.

The 2016 Taiwan International Boat Show kicked off in Kaohsiung Thursday at Kaohsiung Exhibition Center, showcasing the latest designs of world leading boat-makers as well as quality marine products and related accessories of local manufacturers.

Wu first congratulated Chen Chien-jen, who will be taking over the position soon, and said he would expect the new government to continue the effort in promoting close cooperation between public and private sectors.

Accompanied by Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu, Chen Chien-jen said that it is a pleasure coming back to his hometown and participating in the largest indoor boat exhibition in Asia.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/03/10
By: Milly Lin and Elaine Hou

Taipei, March 10 (CNA) Taiwan is scheduled to send Formosa Satellite No. 7

(FORMOSAT-7) into space by the end of 2016, in effort to collect more detailed atmospheric data to enhance the accuracy of weather forecasts, according to the country’s National Space Organization (NSPO).

The FORMOSAT-7 is a major collaborative space program between Taiwan’s NSPO and the United States’ National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It follows the successful FORMOSAT-3 program that was launched 10 years ago.

The new program is comprised of 12 microsatellites, it said. The 12 satellites are slated to be launched and deployed in two clusters of 6 satellites into designated low and high inclination orbits in 2016 and 2018, respectively, it added.

After it is fully deployed in 2018, the FORMOSAT-7 constellation is expected to provide 8,000 atmospheric soundings per day, the NSPO said, adding that the data will contribute to weather forecasts and climate observations.

Through collecting more detailed atmospheric data, this new satellite program will improve the observation of typhoons and enhance the accuracy of weather forecasts, it added.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan Today
Date: March 10, 2016

A Tainan City firm is leading the way in transforming the textile sector in

Taiwan through industry 4.0 innovation while cementing the country’s top-tier position in the global functional fabric supply chain.

Everest Textile Co. Ltd., a long-term supplier to international sportswear giants like Adidas, Nike and Under Armour, has championed intelligent automation since 2014. This undertaking reflects company President Roger Yeh’s firm belief in the value of business innovation.

“We are the first smart textile firm in Asia employing big data, cloud computing and smart networking technology to re-engineer operations,” Yeh said.

This NT$350 million-plus (US$10.59 million) root-and-branch upgrade should raise Everest’s production efficiency by 30 percent while eliminating 30 percent of manual labor processes by year-end. “We expect to fully recover our capital outlay in 18 months,” Yeh added.     [FULL  STORY]