Page Three

KMT leading itself to its doom: Soong

‘SURE THING’:PFP Secretary-General Liu Wen-hsiung said the best time for Soong to announce his intention to enter the presidential race would be early next month

Taipei Times
Date:  Jul 22, 2015
By: Alison Hsiao  /  Staff reporter

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Hung Hsiu-chu’s (洪秀柱) spokesperson Jack Yu (游梓翔) yesterday said that if People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) joins the race, he would be helping the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) secure an easy win.

Soong has remained ambiguous regarding his intent to run, but said that it is the KMT, rather than anyone else, that is leading itself to its doom. The PFP is a KMT splinter group that formed after the 2000 presidential election.

Yu yesterday said on Facebook that he respects Soong, as they both served as heads of the National Chengchi University debate club and that he had worked in Soong’s campaign team.

However, it is impossible for Soong to not know that the DPP would run off with the bone should both the KMT and PFP have candidates in the presidential race, he said.     [FULL  STORY]

Taipei 2nd most-searched destination on Hotel.com Chinese website

Taiwan News
Date: 2015-07-20
By: Central News Agency

Taipei, July 20 (CNA) Taipei was second-top of the list of destinations searched for on the Hotel.com Chinese-language website in the first five months of 2015, following Hong Kong, according to an annual Hotel.com study on outbound travel by mainland Chinese travelers. Asian destinations comprised nine out of the top 10 spots on the list, with Paris the only non-Asian destination in the top 10 — Hong Kong, Taipei, Bangkok, Seoul, Phuket, Tokyo, Osaka, Chiang Mai, Singapore and Paris — the 2015, or fourth edition of the Hotel.com Chinese International Travel Monitor shows.

The study also found that based on the number of rooms booked on the Hotels.com Chinese website in 2014, Taiwan was the 10th-highest destination Chinese travelers intended to visit in 2014, and the fifth-highest they actually traveled to that year.

The top 10 destinations Chinese travelers actually visited last year were the United States, Thailand, Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, France, Australia, Italy and the United Kingdom. According to the study, tech-savvy, younger and more affluent Chinese formed a substantial part of the 20 percent growth in the number of outbound mainland Chinese travelers, which reached 107 million in 2014.     [FULL  STORY]

Taipei sets up ‘disease control taxi’ to prevent spread of disease

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/07/20
By: Ku Chuan and Bill Lin

Taipei, July 20 (CNA) A disease control taxi service, consisting of 50 volunteer drivers from 201507200020t0001Crown Taxi (皇冠車隊), was established Thursday to transport people suspected of having MERS or other new types of disease, Taipei’s Department of Health said Monday.

The goal of the project, launched in cooperation with the city’s Department of Transportation and Crown Taxi, is to prevent MERS or other potentially dangerous diseases from spreading in the community when patients venture out to seek treatment.

The department held an intensive training session on July 14 and will hold another on July 22 to teach the volunteer drivers how to avoid contracting the disease from the passenger and disinfect the car after the passenger is dropped off.     [FULL  STORY]

Former president Lee departs for six-day Japan tour

ON THE GO:The 92-year-old former president is to speak at the Diet Building and Foreign Correspondents’ Club, and visit a tsunami site

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 21, 2015
By: Staff writer, with CNA

Former-president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) is to begin on a six-day tour of Japan today taking him to Tokyo, Sendai and Japan’s northern Fukushima Prefecture, which was devastated by the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami, his office said yesterday.

Lee, 92, is scheduled to spend the first three days in Tokyo, where he is to speak at the Diet Building on Wednesday and attend a banquet hosted by the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association in Japan.

Lee is also to give a speech at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan on Thursday before attending a banquet hosted by Diet members.

Lee is to visit a hospital in Koriyama City, Fukushima Prefecture, on Friday, staying in Sendai that night.     [FULL  STORY]

A documentary on the history of Southeast Asian Immigrants in Taiwan

Taiwan News
Date: 2015-07-20
By: Huang Hui-yu, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Immigration by Southeast Asians to Taiwan have long been observed decades ago, but due to Chinese customs and traditions, people often chose to forget or deny their Southeastern heritage.

As art teacher at Chuangyi elementary school, Lee Kai-di only learned about his grandmother’s Indonesian heritage after she passed away. In the beginning, he has had a hard time accepting the fact until a Vietnamese-born Taiwanese introduced himself confidently in class one day that he is from a cross-cultural family. This propelled Lee to start tracing and documenting his family roots.     [FULL  STORY]

DPP’s seemingly hints at possible running mate

Taiwan News
Date: 2015-07-19
By: Central News Agency

Kaohsiung, July 19 (CNA) On the day when the ruling Kuomintang officially picked its nominee for the 2016 presidential election, opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairwoman and presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen appeared to indicate who her running mate might be.

 

Speaking at a gathering in Kaohsiung of the Asia Taiwanese Chambers of Commerce (ASTCC), Tsai called Su Jia-chuyan, secretary-general of the DPP, as “my best partner.” Su is running for a legislative seat in the southern port city although the way Tsai introduced her running mate in the 2012 presidential election gave rise to some speculation on whether the two will be on the same ticket again.     [FULL STORY]

DPP wants a ‘good-quality’ race in 2016

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/07/19
By: Lu Hsin-hui, Wu Je-hao and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, July 19 (CNA) The opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said after the ruling

DPP presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen

DPP presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen

Kuomintang (KMT) nominated its presidential candidate on Sunday that it was hoping for a “good-quality” campaign ahead of the January 2016 presidential election.

“To the DPP and even Taiwan, the race is not just that of Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文, the DPP’s presidential candidate), nor merely about who will be elected as president,” said DPP spokesman Juan Chao-hsiung (阮昭雄) in a statement after Deputy Legislative Speaker Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) was nominated by the KMT.

“There are more and more people who believe the country should have some changes, and hope the country can move forward instead of continuing to go backward,” Juan said, expressing the DPP’s hope for a political culture with rational and in-depth social dialogue.     [FULL  STORY]

‘One country, different interpretations:’ KMT’s Maginot Line

Want China Times
Date: 2015-07-19 09:12
By: Pan Chao-yang

A rather amusing scene has emerged in Taiwan’s political circles. The Kuomintang, which was

The KMT's Hung Hsiu-chu, left, and Tsai Ing-wen of the DPP. (Photo/Wang-Ying-hao and Yao Chih-ping)

The KMT’s Hung Hsiu-chu, left, and Tsai Ing-wen of the DPP. (Photo/Wang-Ying-hao and Yao Chih-ping)

in disarray after suffering a drubbing in local elections in late 2014, is back in high spirits and advising Hung Hsiu-chu, its likely nominee in the 2016 presidential election, on how to win the race.

Party strategists have cited the “one county, different interpretations” formula as if it is a mantra that will help Hung win the election.

It is widely known that most of the heavyweights in the KMT believe the “one country, different interpretations” is a great formula because they think it represents a “Maginot Line” for the party.

In their minds, it has allowed Beijing to make concessions and created some space for the independent sovereignty of the Republic of China. At the same time, it has kept the two sides on a course of peaceful development, lowered cross-strait tensions and preserved Taiwan-US relations.     [FULL  STORY]

Executive Yuan rejects I-Mei boss’ criticism of FDA

LOOSE LIPS?Kao Chih-ming sent a petition last week that accused the FDA of leaking information about an inspection of its Taiwan factories to Chinese customs authorities

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 20, 2015
By: Staff writer, with CNA

The Executive Yuan on Saturday rejected an accusation by I-Mei Foods Co general manager

I-Mei Foods Co general manager Kao Chih-ming holds up a book at a news conference on June 6 in Taipei. Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times

I-Mei Foods Co general manager Kao Chih-ming holds up a book at a news conference on June 6 in Taipei. Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times

Kao Chih-ming (高志明) that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had hurt the company’s sales in China by telling Chinese authorities about irregularities in I-Mei products.

Executive Yuan spokesman Sun Lih-chyun (孫立群) said Premier Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國) had received a petition from Kao earlier in the week complaining that the FDA’s action had made it harder for I-Mei exports to clear Chinese customs.

The FDA denied the accusation, saying it did not give its Chinese counterpart any information on recent food inspection at I-Mei factories, during which nine-year-old pre-packaged Lunar New Year meals were discovered.

Those past-expiration date items were not for export and were definitely not being sold to China, a FDA spokesman said on Friday. The Straits Exchange Foundation and China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits signed an agreement in 2008 to notify each other of information concerning food safety related to cross-strait trade.     [FULL  STORY]

DIY fertility testing goes digital with Taiwan’s iSperm

Straits Times
Date: Jul 17, 2015
By: REUTERS

TAIPEI (REUTERS) – Call home, check your email, count your sperm: Taiwanese start-up

Pig farm owner Sam Wang demonstrating how to use an iSperm kit in Yunlin, Taiwan. PHOTO:

Pig farm owner Sam Wang demonstrating how to use an iSperm kit in Yunlin, Taiwan. PHOTO:

Aidmics is hoping to cash in on the US$40 billion (S$55 billion) global human fertility market with an iPad compatible gadget it calls iSperm.

Aidmics initially developed the product to help livestock farmers, but founder Agean Lin now plans to seek US Food and Drug Administration approval next year to expand its use to men.

“In the US, one out of every six couples has trouble conceiving,” Lin, 35, told Reuters.

Investment advisory Harris Williams estimates the global fertility market to be worth as much as US$40 billion.     [FULL  STORY]