Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/09/23
By: C.P. Liu and Lillian Lin

Taipei, Sept. 23 (CNA) Police in Taiwan have arrested a logging crew that was illegally

cutting precious wood species such as stout camphors, incense cedars, redwoods and beeches in national forests in mountainous areas near Wulai in New Taipei.

The nine people arrested Tuesday were found to have stockpiled around 10 tons of logs from the above mentioned trees, valued at an estimated NT$100 million. The stock included several incense cedar burls from trees that were 700 to 800 years old.

Despite the fact that illegal logging carries a maximum sentence of 10 years, many consider it worth the risk because it is a lucrative business.

Police said illegal logging crews typically operate during the typhoon season so that they can float the logs down the rivers when there is torrential rain and mudflows. They then collect the logs along the riverbanks and smuggle the wood to buyers, according to police.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-09-23
By: Staff Reporter

“The United Front, armed struggle and party building” were called the Communist Party of

China’s “three magic weapons” by Chairman Mao.

It is at the most critical junctures of historical change that the United Front comes into play, according to Duowei News, a media outlet run by overseas Chinese.

Massive changes have taken place in China over recent years, with the diversification of Chinese society and the vested interests within it, as well as the party’s ongoing anti-graft campaign, all of which can be seen as the CPC’s attempt to clean house before United Front work can be begin in earnest, according to the website. The blueprint for United Front work was published in pilot 46-amendment guidelines on Sept. 22, approved at a meeting of the Politburo on April 30 and in effect as of May 18.

The 46-amendment guidelines are the first intraparty regulations on united front work to be published by the CPC, according to Duowei.

The guidelines are divided into overall principles, leadership and responsibilities, work for the membership of the United Front Democratic Parties and non-party members, work for non-party intellectuals, ethnic work, religious work, united front work for the private economy, United Front work in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and overseas and representative structures for non-party members, positing the united front as the strategic implementation of the “four comprehensives” unveiled by party leader Xi Jinping in February.     [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 24, 2015
By: Loa Iok-sin  /  Staff reporter, in TAOYUAN

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文)

yesterday visited several Hakka communities along Provincial Highway No. 3 in Taoyuan and Hsinchu County, following a news conference to give details of her “Romantic Highway No. 3” policy.

Speaking to local political leaders, supporters and Taiwanese literary writer Chung Chao-cheng (鍾肇政) in front of the Shengjiting (聖蹟亭) — the Pavilion of Sacred Relics — in Taoyuan’s Longtan District (龍潭), Tsai promised to turn the section of the highway that runs through Hakka communities in Taoyuan, Hsinchu County, Miaoli County and Taichung into an important route of development in tourism and agriculture that would lead to local prosperity.

“This is a highway of history, as, along the road, we can see the relics of [Han] settlements in history, integration between the Hans and Aborigines, and the combined prosperity of ethnic groups,” Tsai said. “It is also a highway of culture, as Chung, who left a classic page in Taiwanese literature, artist Hsiao Ju-sung (蕭如松), who left so many great works, and a well-known musician in Taiwanese musical history Teng Yu-hsien (鄧雨賢) all lived along the road.”

Besides artistic personalities, Tsai said there are important tea and fruit production regions, as well as research institutes for the national defense industry along the road.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/09/22
By: Yang Shu-min and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, Sept. 22 (CNA) Some 500 tea growers around Taiwan have had their products authenticated through a cloud-based traceability system for domestic tea, which allows consumers to trace the source of the tea they buy, the Council of Agriculture (COA) said Tuesday.

The system was completed in 2014 and the COA started in January to invite the participation of tea farmers, according to Tsai Hsien-tzung (蔡憲宗), a section chief at the COA’s Tea Research and Extension Station.

It includes over 1,000 records of 150 metric tons of tea shipments. The COA aims to include 2,000 farmers in the system by the end of this year and to have at least 50 percent of the nation’s 12,000 tea farmers included in the system by the end of 2017, Tsai said.

If tea farmers have their products recorded in the system, they are required to make the production procedures transparent, to ensure the quality and safety of their products, according to Tsai.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-09-22
By: CNA

A world dance competition being organized by the New Taipei city government and the

Taiwan International Sport Dance Development Association (TISDDA) is set to take place Oct. 24 in the city’s Xinzhuang Gymnasium, the city government said Monday.

This year, a lineup of 250 pairs of dancers from 16 countries will take part in the 2015 World Dance Council-Amateur League (WDC-AL) competition, according to the city government’s sports office.

This is the fifth consecutive year the two organizations have jointly organized the event, said Huang Ching-yi, deputy head of the city government’s Department of Education.

Last year, the competition was upgraded and renamed the WDC-AL World Cup Asian Dance Tour Taiwan Open and this year, the results of the competition will for the first time be included in the accumulated points in the WDC-AL World Open Championships, according to Huang.     [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date:  Sep 23, 2015
By: Weng Yu-huang, Chen Yen-ting and Jonathan Chin  /  Staff reporters, with staff writer

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) yesterday said he remains

open to cooperation between the KMT and the People First Party (PFP) in next year’s presidential election, adding that he would “not give up until the end.”

Both parties are striving for the good of Taiwan and “the vendettas of the last generation” should be resolved through “sincere communication,” Chu said, adding that he has done a great deal of work “under the table,” which “must remain unknown” to the public.

Chu made the remarks in response to reporters’ questions regarding comments made on Monday by PFP presidential candidate James Soong (宋楚瑜), who said he has been “pining for the word” on a pan-blue alliance, but that the issue “depends on the KMT.”

According to the latest survey of presidential candidates released by the Taiwan Thinktank on Monday, Democratic Progressive Party Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) maintains her lead (47 percent) over both Soong and KMT presidential candidate Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱), with Hung at 16 percent and Soong at 13 percent.

Soong yesterday observed World Car-Free Day by riding public transportation, using the occasion to reiterate his stance on nuclear energy.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2015-09-21
By: Ko Lin, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Taipei City Councilor Hsu Shu-hua criticized Mayor Ko Wen-je for leaving the rooftops of

an estimated 598 empty apartment buildings in Taipei unattended, which are hotbeds for breeding dengue fever, reports said Monday.

The mayor responded during a committee hearing that the city government will pull together resources to clean out the areas needing attention within a week.

Hsu pointed out that there are currently 598 unoccupied buildings in the Taipei metropolitan area, of which 205 are located in the city’s Zhongzhen district, 91 in Daan district, and 62 in Wanhua respectively. Among them, the majority of apartments are public housings owned by the Ministry of National Defense (MND) and the Veterans Affairs Council (VAC).

Although dengue fever in Taipei is far from becoming an epidemic, there should be no leniency when it comes to safeguarding public welfare, she said.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/09/21
By: Lung Pei-ning and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, Sept. 21 (CNA) Government-funded flu vaccines will be available from Oct.1 and eligible recipients should get their shots as soon as possible at the nation’s 3,000 medical facilities where the free vaccines are offered, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said Monday.

CDC Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said that this year, the government purchased more than 3.16 million doses of influenza vaccine, including 2.93 million for adults and 233,000 for children, about 68,000 doses more than last year.

These doses of free flu vaccine are available for high-risk groups, including people aged 65 and over; children between the ages of six months and preschool years; nursing home residents, patients with rare or acute diseases; health care workers; those working in animal farming or animal disease prevention and people aged between 60 and 64 with high-risk chronic illnesses.

This year, pregnant women and people aged 50 and above with high-risk chronic illnesses will also become eligible to receive the free immunization, according to Chuang.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-09-21
By: Staff Reporter

Professor Liang Yunxiang from the School of International Studies of Peking University

claims Japan’s new security legislation, which grants the nation the right of collective defense, will give rise to a new arms race in East Asia, according to Hong Kong’s Wen Wei Po.

With the full support from Japan’s ruling coalition under the leadership of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, it is not a surprise that the new laws which clear Japanese troops to fight abroad for the first time since World War II would pass, Liang said, predicting a huge impact on the diplomatic relationship between China and Japan. It is now the responsibility for the governments of both nations to prevent this impact from escalating into real conflict, he said.

Liang told the Wen Wei Po that the controversial security legislation, passed by the upper house of Japan’s Diet on Sept. 19, will eventually force China to increase its military budget. In addition to launching more patrols around the disputed Diaoyutai islands in the East China Sea (Diaoyu to China, Senkaku to Japan, which controls them), China is likely to hold more joint naval exercise with Russia in the Asia-Pacific region, he said.

Though the legislation does not have any direct effect on relations across the Taiwan Strait, it is likely to be considered a great encouragement to advocates of Taiwan independence, Liang said, as they may be encouraged that Japan might come to their aid if China attempted to achieve unification by force. “Only those supporting Taiwan independence want to see China in tension with Japan and the United States,” Liang said. “However, Beijing will do its best to prevent itself from having trouble with Washington, Tokyo and Taipei simultaneously.”