Want China Times
Date: 2015-10-09
By: CNA

To celebrate the 104th anniversary of the National Day of the Republic of

China, 104 international visitors were invited to say happy birthday to Taiwan in a video clip made by a Taipei-based company.

Speaking in their own languages or in Mandarin, people from more than 20 countries, including Australia, Austria, Canada, Guatemala, Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Slovakia, South Africa and South Korea, wished the ROC a happy birthday .

In one scene, international students from France, Germany, Japan, Panama, the United Kingdom and the United States say a happy birthday to the ROC in Hokkien.     [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date:  Oct 10, 2015
By: Sean Lin  /  Staff reporter

A recent string of controversies involving the Taipei City Government does

not seem to have affected Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) popularity, with the mayor receiving a warm welcome in Miaoli County yesterday.

Ko visited the county’s Yuanli Town Triangle Rush Exhibition Hall, where he learned about the traditional craft of rush-weaving.

While Ko signed autographs and took photographs with residents, several people shouted: “Greetings to Mr President.”

When reporters asked him what his reaction was, Ko said nervously: “Don’t ask me. Don’t talk nonsense. Cut me some slack, will you?”

After touring the exhibition center, Ko underlined the importance of marketing strategies, which he said could help boost sales of rush-woven handicrafts.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2015-10-08
By: Ko Lin, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Democratic Progressive Party’s Tsai Ing-wen called upon her team members to remain

vigilant as the presidential election enters its 100-day countdown Thursday, reports said.

Tsai’s comments came during the third day of her “Taiwan-Japan friendship tour” where she met with members of the Democratic Party of Japan.

“The 100-day mark is where the real battle begins,” she said, informing her DPP counterparts to step up the game with their campaign efforts.

“There is no time to rest. The next 100 days will be our chance to make Taiwan a better place.”

When asked if she would be taking on the advice from Kuomintang Chairman Eric Chu to ask Japan for support in Taiwan’s bid to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), Tsai said she has always sought for support from Taiwan’s allies, whether it was in the United States or Japan.

“I never forgot to bring up the TPP topic whenever I had the chance. He (Chu) might not be in the know given to his busy schedule,” she explained.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/10/08
By: Elaine Hou

Taipei, Oct. 8 (CNA) Taiwan will soon open a new representative office in Surabaya,

Indonesia’s second-largest city, a move that is expected to boost relations between the two countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Thursday.

Preparations for the opening of the new representative office in the capital of Indonesia’s East Java Province are underway and the office is expected to be officially established in November, said Elliott Charng (常以立), director-general of the ministry’s Department of East Asian and Pacific Affairs.

The opening of the Taipei Economic and Trade Office (TETO) in Surabaya — Taiwan’s second representative office in Indonesia — will help promote bilateral trade relations and make it more convenient for Indonesian workers to apply for visas to work in Taiwan, he told a news conference.

Approximately 230,000 Indonesians currently work in Taiwan, accounting for the largest group of foreign workers in the country, he said.     [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date:  Oct 09, 2015
By: Loa Iok-sin and Jason Pan  /  Staff reporters

Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Legislator Chou Ni-an (周倪安) yesterday filed a lawsuit

against Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) and Secretary-General Lee Shih-chuan (李四川) for “making arrangements under the table” to replace KMT presidential candidate Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱).

Flanked by members of the TSU Youth Organization, Chou filed a lawsuit with the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office accusing Chu and Lee of conducting so inn a teng (搓圓仔湯, kneading to make rice ball soup), a Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese) term that often refers to political schemes involving coaxing a candidate to drop out of a race by offering money, a post-election government position or other enticements.

That would violate Article 84 of the Presidential and Vice Presidential Election and Recall Act (總統副總統選舉罷免法), which stipulates that “anyone who asks for an expected promise or asks a candidate or a person having the qualification of candidate to abandon the campaign or conduct certain actions on by offering bribes or other undue benefits” is punishable by law, Chou said.

“Chu and Lee met with Hung several times to persuade her to withdraw from the presidential election while presenting some conditions for exchange,” Chou said. “Since [Hung said that] all the meetings have been recorded, I am filing a complaint with the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office, hoping that prosecutors would start an investigation as soon as possible.”     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/10/07
By: Chao Li-yen and Lilian Wu

Taipei, Oct. 7 (CNA) National Taichung Girls Senior High School students wore shorts to school Wednesday or switched to shorts in front of the school to underscore their demand for the right to wear shorts.

Responding to a “wear shorts to school today” campaign on Facebook, students wore shorts or changed into them when they started to arrive at school at 7 a.m.

They were immediately marked down for violating school regulations on dress code by drillmasters. If marked down four times, the students will get a warning or be forced into doing school service.

The students have been demanding the right to wear shorts. Last week during a flag-raising ceremony, scores of them removed their skirts to display shorts underneath, shouting the slogans “equal rights for men and women” and “it’s no sin to wear shorts.”     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-10-07
CNA and Staff Reporter

The number of Wi-Fi hotspots in Taipei available for free online browsing and

downloading will increase by 3,000 to 9,000, the city’s mayor Ko Wen-je said Tuesday while announcing the formation of a new wireless network alliance for Taiwan’s capital.

Through collaborations with nine business operators who between them own a total of 3,000 hotspots, the alliance on the Taipei Free platform — which already has 6,000 free Wi-Fi hotspots — will begin Oct. 10, providing free Wi-Fi services at 9,000 hotspots around the city, Ko said.

As soon as smart phone users download the “Taipei WiFi Alliance” application on their devices, they will be able to roam in the 9,000 free wireless network zones with one single account, officials at the city’s Department of Information Technology said.

The nine businesses that make up the alliance are ATT 4 Fun, Cama, Pacific Sogo, Taipei 101, FamilyMart, Huashan Spot Theater, Miramar Entertainment Park, Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store and Shin Kong Cinemas.     [FULL  STORY]