Page Three

Chu vague on mayoral job

Taiwan News
Date: 2015-10-16
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Kuomintang Chairman Eric Liluan Chu said Friday he would wait until after this weekend’s congress to comment on whether he might remain mayor of New Taipei City if he ran for president.

Saturday’s special KMT congress is widely expected to replace Legislative Vice Speaker Hung Hsiu-chu with Chu as its candidate for the January 16 election.

Chu has been slammed by critics for apparently wanting to combine the positions of mayor of Taiwan’s most populated city, chairman of the ruling party and presidential candidate.

Responding to questions from journalists Friday, Chu said he first had to see what the October 17 Congress decided before announcing details in a report after the meeting.     [FULL  STORY]

Chibi Maruko-chan visits Taichung to promote tourism

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/10/16
By: Hao Hsueh-chin and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, Oct. 16 (CNA) The lead character of a popular Japanese manga 201510160024t0001series and animation, Chibi Maruko-chan (櫻桃小丸子), visited the Taichung City government Friday to promote tourism in her birthplace of Shizuoka Prefecture and cooperation with the central Taiwan municipality.

A life-sized effigy of the much-loved manga figure was part of a delegation headed by Yoshi Kusawake, an official in charge of city promotion affairs in the Shizuoka City government, that is visiting Taichung to attend the Taichung International Travel Fair Oct. 16-19.

“Welcome to Maruko-chan’s hometown,” Kusawake said as he touted a Chibi Maruko-chan entertainment park in Shizuoka, as well as agricultural specialities of the prefecture such as green tea and strawberries.     [FULL  STORY]

Dengue outbreak slows in Tainan but intensifies in Kaohsiung

Want China Times
Date: 2015-10-16
By: CNA and Staff Reporter

This year’s dengue fever outbreak in Taiwan has shown signs of abating in

Disinfecting a street in Tainan, Oct. 15. (Photo/Huang Wen-po)

Disinfecting a street in Tainan, Oct. 15. (Photo/Huang Wen-po)

the southern city of Tainan, the country’s worst-hit area this year, while neighboring Kaohsiung has seen an increase in the daily number of new cases, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) for Dengue Outbreak said Thursday.

As of the previous day, Tainan alone had reported 197 new cases from the day before, 90 fewer than the same period of a week ago. However, infections were on the rise in Kaohsiung, with 155 new cases reported from the previous day, 44 more than last week.

Centers for Disease Control deputy director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang said that his agency has so far provided 143 thermal foggers to the Tainan city government, which are used to spray insecticide around affected areas. Since the rise in Tainan has become more gradual, the agency will now provide 85 of the machines to neighboring Kaohsiung.     [FULL  STORY]

Lawmakers block farmland reform

LAND SPECULATION?Allowing experts to dictate whether farmers can sell their land is unfair, a legislator said, while the premier urged more communication

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 17, 2015
By: Alison Hsiao  /  Staff reporter

Several Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) legislators have blocked the implementation of an amendment to the Regulations Governing the Building of Agricultural Houses on Agricultural Land (農業用地興建農舍辦法) aimed at curbing farmland speculation by placing them under legislative review, angering both activists and KMT-friendly former officials.

The regulations, which were revised and announced by the Ministry of the Interior and the Council of Agriculture last month, would restrict farmhouse construction to farmers only.

As it is an executive order, the amendment was submitted to the legislature for reference, not review.

However, the regulations were placed on legislative review during a meeting on Wednesday of the legislature’s Procedure Committee meeting. That means implementation of the new regulations can be put off or annulled, depending on the legislature’s decision.

The change was made through the proposals of 17 KMT lawmakers and the TSU caucus. The amendments now have to be reviewed by a joint meeting of the Internal Administration Committee and the Economics Committee, but no date has been set for the meeting.     [FULL  STORY]

Control Yuan probes Ko on request Farglory

Taiwan News
Date: 2015-10-15
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The Control Yuan said Thursday it would

Control Yuan probes Ko on request Farglory. Central News Agency (2015-10-14 15:03:28)

Control Yuan probes Ko on request Farglory. Central News Agency (2015-10-14 15:03:28)

investigate the administration of Taipei City Mayor Ko Wen-je at the request of Taipei Dome developer Farglory Group.

Ever since Ko took office last December, the mayor and the developer have been at loggerheads over the 40,000-seat stadium, mainly over its financial and safety aspects. The city ordered work on the project to be stopped, even though it is close to completion.

Farglory reportedly asked the Control Yuan, the nation’s top government watchdog, to investigate Ko’s team to see if it was guilty of abuse of power or negligence in forcing the delay of the build-operate-transfer project.

The mayor had as it were first fired an arrow before drawing a target, Farglory reportedly phrased its accusations.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan’s charity groups to collect 50 tons of food for the needy

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/10/15
By: Hsu Chih-wei and Lauren Hung

Taipei, Oct. 15 (CNA) Joining the celebration of this year’s World Food Day 201510150031t0001on Oct. 16, a group of Taiwanese charity organizations have decided to collect food donations for underprivileged people, setting a goal of 50 tons within 50 days, according to the Taipei-based Carrefour Cultural and Educational Foundation.

The charity campaign, called “555 Food Collection Challenge,” has been jointly launched by scores of local philanthropic groups, including the Chinese Christian Relief Association, the Taichung Chapter of the Red Cross of the Republic of China (Taiwan) and the Social Welfare and Philanthropic Association of Kaohsiung City (SWPACK), the Carrefour foundation said.     [FULL  STORY]

New mobile commerce app offers Taiwan stores convenience

Want China Times
Date: 2015-10-15
By: CNA

A new mobile commerce app was launched in Taiwan on Wednesday with

JKOS Network CEO Kevin Hu launches the app in Taipei, Oct. 14. (Photo/Hung Hsi-lung)

JKOS Network CEO Kevin Hu launches the app in Taipei, Oct. 14. (Photo/Hung Hsi-lung)

the aim of signing up thousands of convenience stores, supermarket chains and department stores, allowing them to more easily and cheaply issue e-coupons and book reservations.

Kevin Hu, CEO of JKOS Network Co, said at the launch of the JKOS app that more than 1,000 stores and restaurants in Taipei have teamed up with JKOS over the past year to offer e-coupons and reservation services within the app. Over the next two months, the number is likely to rise to 3,000 as local convenience stores, supermarket chains and department stores sign up to the mobile commerce app, he said.

Taiwan’s overall retail market is valued at around NT$10 trillion (US$308 billion), representing a great business opportunity for companies to develop mobile payment and digital wallet services, according to Hu.

The JKOS app stands out by offering a merchant version for partnering stores, which allows them to easily issue e-coupons and manage customer reviews at a lower cost than developing their own apps, he said.     [FULL  STORY]

Damage to frigate downplayed by navy

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 16, 2015
By: Jason Pan  /  Staff reporter

Military officials downplayed damage done to a naval frigate when it ran

Coast Guard Administration patrol vessel Tainan sails in waters off the Pratas Islands on Sept. 17. Photo courtesy of the Coast Guard Administration

Coast Guard Administration patrol vessel Tainan sails in waters off the Pratas Islands on Sept. 17. Photo courtesy of the Coast Guard Administration

aground while sailing out of Zuoying Port (左營港) in Kaohsiung, scuttling its mission to the Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島) in the South China Sea.

The incident occurred last week, but details only emerged after Minister of National Defense Kao Kuang-chi (高廣圻) was questioned in the legislature over the past two days.

According to military officials, the Tzu I struck a concrete breakwater to the south of the Zuoying naval base section on the evening of Tuesday last week.

The 4,100-tonne Tzu I with the Magong Port-based (馬公) 146th Fleet is the fifth of eight Taiwan-built Cheng Kung-class frigates based on the Oliver Hazard Perry-class of US frigates.     [FULL  STORY]

Smartphone ban for Army conscripts to be lifted in November

Taiwan News
Date: 2015-10-14
By: Ko Lin, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

The nation’s Army personnel will be able to use smartphones in military

Smartphone ban for Army conscripts to be lifted. Central News Agency

Smartphone ban for Army conscripts to be lifted. Central News Agency

bases effective November 1, Kuomintang Legislator Lin Yu-fang pointed out Wednesday during legislative session in Taipei.

“The lifting of smartphone ban will benefit an estimated 38,000 active army conscripts in the next two years,” he said.

The Minister of National Defense (MND) Kao Kuang-chi said he hopes the initiative will further cover all branches of the nation’s armed forces in the future, and that the privilege to use smartphones for conscript soldiers can be completely lifted, as it was with the career military.

“There are still officers within the all-voluntary force who oppose the idea of smartphone usage in base camps,” Lin said, urging Kao to spend time to talk to his subordinates as base camp officers have been known to reprimand soldiers despite the relaxation of rules.     [FULL  STORY]

Prosecutors office lists KMT chair as defendant in replacement flap

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/10/14
By: Liu Shih-yi, Elizabeth Hsu and Lilian Wu

Taipei, Oct. 14 (CNA) A special investigation unit under the Supreme 201510140025t0001Prosecutors Office said Wednesday that it has listed ruling Kuomintang (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) as a defendant for violating election laws by secretly maneuvering to have the party’s nominated presidential candidate, Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱), replaced.

Also listed as a defendant by the Special Investigation Division (SID) was KMT Secretary-General Lee Shu-chuan (李四川).

On Oct. 8, Legislator Chou Ni-an (周倪安) of the minor opposition Taiwan Solidarity Union filed a complaint accusing Chu and Lee of violating the Presidential and Vice Presidential Election and Recall Act by asking a candidate to abandon the campaign by “offering bribes or other undue benefits.”

Article 84 of the act stipulates that anyone who asks for a promise or asks a candidate or a person with the qualifications to be a candidate to abandon the campaign or conduct certain actions by offering bribes or other undue benefits shall be condemned to fixed-term imprisonment.     [FULL  STORY]