Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/02/27
By: Lee Hsin-Yin

Taipei, Feb. 27 (CNA) A four-day international cycling summit opened on Saturday in Taipei, featuring a diverse agenda and side events amid the city’s hopes of promoting its biking environment and culture.

The first Asian city to host the Velo-city Global 2016, the world’s major international cycling conference, Taipei hopes to demonstrate its biking infrastructure, which enables city dwellers to easily get around on two wheels in a densely populated metropolis, according to the Taipei City government.

Organizers hope to draw more discussions on how to make the environment for cycling better in many cities around the world.

“The conference will bring to Taipei not only experts in cycling but also experts in public transport, urban planning and design, smart cities, architecture, design of products and technology, sustainable tourism, and health,” said Marcio Deslandes, manager of the European Cyclists’ Federation, which organizes the Velo-city series and selects host cities each year.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-02-27
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Former Examination Yuan President Yao Chia-wen said Saturday he was not satisfied about Taipei City Mayor Ko Wen-je’s planned absence from a 228 commemorative service in the capital Sunday.

Thousands of Taiwanese fell victim to repression after an uprising against the Kuomintang regime of President Chiang Kai-shek in February 1947 and during the years of White Terror afterward.

The Taiwan Nation Alliance and the Taipei City Government are organizing a joint commemorative service at the 228 Memorial Park in the capital Sunday, but Ko was only planning to send one of his vice mayors to the event. The mayor himself was cycling from the far north to the most southerly point of Taiwan Saturday.     [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 28, 2016
By: Loa Iok-sin / Staff reporter Staff Reporter

The 98-year-old Marxist Taiwan independence advocate Su Beng (史明)

Taiwanese independence advocate Su Beng speaks at the book launch of his memoirs in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Lo pei-der, Taipei Times

yesterday urged Taiwanese to arm themselves with knowledge about pursuing independence, while saying that his assistance to president-elect Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) was strategic, during the launch of his memoir that he spent 20 years writing.

Arriving in a wheelchair at the book launch in Taipei, Su was greeted by hundreds of supporters who packed the room with applause and shouts of “wansui” (“live long”), while a long line of people queued up to wait for Su to sign books they had purchased.

Born to a wealthy family in Taipei’s Shilin District (士林) in 1918, Su obtained a degree in political economics from Waseda University in Tokyo, where he became a Marxist.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
EDITORIAL
By: Taiwan News, Staff Writer

After years of moves backward and forward, Japan’s troubled Sharp

In this Feb. 4, 2016 file photo, employees enter and exit Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. headquarters in New Taipei City, Taiwan. Japanese media report on Thursday, Feb. 25, 2016 that troubled Japanese electronics maker Sharp has agreed to a takeover offer from Taiwanese company Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn. (AP Photo/Wally Santana, File)

Corporation seems finally to have reached a decision and put its future in the hands of one of Taiwan’s most prominent and outspoken tycoons, Terry Gou and his Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.

While the latter said it would wait and first take a look at the documents before signing amid reports of a deal originating with the Japanese media, it looks like the four-year on-again off-again “romance,” as it has been dubbed in Taiwan, has finally reached a conclusion. A review of the deal, the largest case of Taiwanese investment overseas ever, is still pending with the Investment Commission under the island’s Ministry of Economic Affairs.

Sharp was once one of Japan’s global brands, often mentioned in one breath with Sony and Panasonic. However, the Osaka-based company has fallen on hard times, facing heavy debt and recurring losses, partly due to strong competition from South Korea and China for its liquid-crystal display television business. When a Japanese company hits dire times, the government and the business world will usually collaborate to provide a Japanese way out of the doldrums.

However, in this case, Sharp picked Hon Hai’s offer over one from a local government-backed rival, Innovation Network Corporation of Japan, reportedly because that contender was planning to take the company apart and sell off the parts it did not want.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/02/26
By: Tang Pei-chun and Lilian Wu

Taipei, Feb. 26 (CNA) Veteran Republic of China (Taiwan) diplomat Loh I-cheng (陸以正) died on Friday and was praised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for his long service to the country.

During a diplomatic career that lasted four decades, Loh served as the ROC’s ambassador to Guatemala and South Africa, as a representative to Austria, and was part of the ROC’s embassy in the United States when Washington broke off ties with Taiwan in 1978, according to the ministry.

He was ordered to leave the United States after his op-ed piece titled “We’ll Fight, We’ll Die for Freedom” was published in the New York Daily News on Dec. 26, 1978.

He became ambassador to South Africa in 1990, and during his seven years there he developed close ties with then President Nelson Mandela, leading to a visit to the country by former President Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) in 1994.

Loh said Mandela told him in late 1996 that there was a decision he had no choice but to make and gave Taiwan 13 months to prepare for a severance of diplomatic ties in 1998.      [SOURCE]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-02-26
By: Chia Lee, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

President-elect Tsai Ing-wen said Friday that in a bid to effectively solve air

Tsai continued on the tour of Taiwan’s industrial and agricultural sectors Friday, with the third stop being the Taichung Power Plant.

pollution problems in central Taiwan, which are more serious than she expected, the central government would see it as part of its job to push for constructive cooperation with the local government on this matter.

Tsai continued on her tour of Taiwan’s industrial and agricultural sectors Friday, with the third stop being the Taichung Power Plant. Tsai held talks with both business and environmental group representatives in regards to the continuing deterioration of air quality, especially in central Taiwan.

Tsai was cited by media reports as saying that air pollution problems in central Taiwan were more alarming than she expected. Though a challenge to the nation as a whole, the central government should work with local governments in the battle against air pollution, as the central level has more access to and control over resources.

Meanwhile, Professor Chen Chi-chung of National Chung Hsing University, who participated in the talk, said that Tsai will in the future invite environmental groups and experts to come forward with related policy proposals to combat air pollution.     [SOURCE]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/02/26
By: Wen Kuei-hsiang and Y.F. Low

Taipei, Feb. 26 (CNA) Premier Simon Chang (張善政) said Friday that the United States has lent “conditional” support to Taiwan’s membership in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), with opening Taiwan’s market to U.S. pork being one of the conditions.

“Before the pork issue is resolved, the United States will not agree (to include Taiwan in the TPP),” Chang told lawmakers during an question-and-answer session in the Legislative Yuan.

He said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been in constant communication with the TPP’s 12 founding members to try to win their support.

Some of those countries have promised to support Taiwan as long as Taiwan liberalizes its laws and regulations, he said.    [FULL  STORY]