Taiwan News
Date: 2015-12-31
By: Ko Lin, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

The Democratic Progressive Party called on the Kuomintang to tone down

their political rhetoric, reiterating that the DPP has never deprived the nation’s hog breeders of their livelihood, reports said Thursday.

“The KMT loves to seize every opportunity to turn the U.S. pork issue into a political spat,” DPP Legislator Chen Ting-fe said.

The debate over the relaxation of pork imports with ractopamine has since been a heated topic of discussion following the first round of election debate last weekend, when DPP presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen said Taiwan should adopt the ractopamine standards from Japan and South Korea as reference.

“The DPP promises to use extremely high standards for examining the labeling of foreign pork at the home market,” Chen said.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/12/04
By: Chen Wei-ting, Wang Shu-fen and Kay Liu

Taipei, Dec. 4 (CNA) For people planning to see the first sunlight of 2016,

Kenting National Park and Taitung County in southeastern Taiwan are two of the best locations, the Central Weather Bureau said Friday.

It said sunrise on Jan. 1, 2016 will be at 6:35 a.m. in the Longkeng area in Kenting and the Sanxiantai area in Taitung.

However, for sun chasers who wish to catch the very first rays of light on New Year’s morning, Orchid Island off the east coast of Taitung will be their best choice as sunrise there will be at 6:33 a.m., according to the bureau’s data.

New Year’s morning activities have become popular among Taiwanese in recent years.

One such event is a flag-raising ceremony at Cape San Diego in New Taipei City, which drew around 60,000 people this year. The sunrise at that location — the easternmost point of Taiwan proper — will be at 6:37 a.m. next New Year’s Day, the CWB said.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2015-12-30
By: Ko Lin, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

The government is mulling over whether to allow the conditional opening of

non-endangered animal hunting in specified National Parks across the island, reports said Wednesday.

Minister of the Interior Chen Wei-zen pointed out during a press conference in the morning that it would need to discuss the matter with experts to determine if Taiwan’s native aborigines can practice their annual animal hunting ritual during festivities.

“The ministry hopes to come up with a draft proposal for legislative review before inauguration of the new government,” he said.

Chen said the existing National Park Law clearly prohibits the killing of wildlife, and that the law would need to be amended before the passage of the conditional term.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan Today
Date: December 30, 2015

The primary and handheld lanterns for the 2016 Taiwan Lantern Festival to be

launched in Taoyuan City were unveiled Dec. 29 by the Tourism Bureau under the Ministry of Transportation and Communications.

Representing the Year of the Monkey in the Chinese zodiac, the 26-meter-high main lantern is modelled after the Monkey King from the time-honored Chinese novel “Journey to the West.” The lantern is the tallest of its kind in the festival’s 27-year history.

It also boasts 17,000 sets of circuits, breaking new ground regarding luminance and variety of colors to dazzle show-goers.

“Given its latest technology in the realms of light, music and sound to be showcased every 30 minutes at night during the event, we are certain to attract a healthy number of visitors from home and abroad while taking the event to new heights,” a bureau official said.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/12/29
By: Huang Kuo-fang, Christie Chen and Elaine Hou

Taipei, Dec. 29 (CNA) The number of visitors admitted daily to the southern branch of the National Palace Museum (NPM) in Chiayi County will be increased, the museum said Tuesday, one day after the soft opening of the popular branch.

Given the popularity of the newly opened branch, the museum will raise the daily visitor quota from the current 1,000 to 1,750 with effect from Jan. 1, NPM Director Feng Ming-chu (馮明珠) said.

[Cups with Design of Chickens, Rocks and Flower in Doucai Color / Ming dynasty, Chenghua reign AD1465-1487]

Advance bookings to visit the NPM’s southern branch will remain in place for the six months of its soft opening, the NPM said.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan Today
Date: December 29, 2015

Taiwan’s overall economic monitoring indicator flashed blue for the sixth

consecutive month in November, with signs pointing to a modest growth track progressing for the relatively sluggish economy, according to the National Development Council Dec. 28.

“The composite score of 15 was the same as the month before and outperformed that of the third quarter, indicating the period of contraction is nearing its end,” said Wu Ming-huei, director of the NDC’s Economic Development Department.

“Growth is likely to gather steam in the coming year, as several trend-adjusted leading indicators, including the index of export orders and real monetary aggregates M1B, are pointing upward, while the coincident index also rose to 98.31, up 0.03 percent from a month earlier.”

Among the overall indicator’s nine individual components, monetary aggregates M1B—defined as currency in circulation plus checking accounts, passbook deposits and passbook savings deposits—and imports of electrical equipment and machinery both remained at a stable green.     [FULL  STORY]