Want China Times
Date: 2015-05-07
By: Chen Man-nong and Staff Reporter

The top leader of the Communist Party of China, Xi Jinping, has responded in a positive way to requests by the head of Taiwan’s ruling Kuomintang, Eric Chu, following their meeting on May 4 in Beijing, reports our Chinese-language sister paper China Times, citing mainland academics.

Xi’s response in five points have covered each issue that Taiwanese people at each level of society care about, said Ni Yongjie, an academic at the Shanghai Institute of Taiwan Studies. The upgraded version of the “one China” concept that does away with the “respective interpretations” addendum and proposed peace framework are also “super stable structures” upon which to build peaceful development, Ni said.

Ni said that Xi’s statements were all addressed to the KMT and all his propositions were responding to the needs of Taiwanese people, including his views on Taiwan’s participation in the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and other regional economic cooperation organizations.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/05/06
By: Chen Chi-feng and Maubo Chang

Kaohsiung, May 6 (CNA) Firefighters in Kaohsiung were called into a man’s home Wednesday to chase off thousands of bees that had clustered in a pair of his jeans on a clothesline in a shed, apparently trying to build a hive.

The man who called the city’s Nanzi District firefighters told them he had hung out his jeans to dry Sunday night and had discovered the swarm of bees Tuesday after the heavy overnight rain. Upon arrival on the scene, firefighters found nearly four thousand bees clinging to the jeans, seemingly trying to build a hive.

The firefighters identified the tiny bees as a non-venomous species and managed to encase the pair of jeans in a huge plastic bag without disturbing the bees.

They then carried the bag to a field and released the bees into the wild, without causing them any harm.     [FULL  STORY]

Yahoo News
Date: May 4, 2015
By: Associated Press

BEIJING (AP) — The head of Taiwan’s Nationalists reaffirmed the party’s

support for eventual unification with the mainland when he met Monday with Chinese President Xi Jinping as part of continuing rapprochement between the former bitter enemies.

Nationalist Party Chairman Eric Chu, a likely presidential candidate next year, also affirmed Taiwan’s desire to join the proposed Chinese-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank during the meeting in Beijing. China claims Taiwan as its own territory and doesn’t want the island to join using a name that might imply it is an independent country.

Chu’s comments during his meeting with Xi were carried live on Hong Kong-based broadcaster Phoenix Television.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/05/05
By: Elaine Hou

Taipei, May 5 (CNA) Taiwan’s representative office in Australia said Tuesday

that it has taken measures to deal with reported exploitation of Taiwanese workers on working holiday visas in that country.

Concerned about an Australian Broadcasting Corp. (ABC) investigation that has revealed foreigners toiling in slave labor conditions, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Australia said it has immediately contacted the Australian immigration authorities and law enforcement agencies and has urged them to probe the report.

Australia, which does not have a capped quota for working holiday program participants, is the most popular destination for Taiwanese young adults seeking working holiday programs.

Using footage from secret cameras, the ABC investigation found that some migrant workers are being grossly underpaid and working up to 18 hours a day in harsh conditions, an AFP report said.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-05-05
By: CNA and Staff Reporter

President Ma Ying-jeou was positive about both Kuomintang chairman Eric Chu

and Communist Party of China chief Xi Jinping speaking of continuing to deepen cross-strait exchanges based on the 1992 Consensus during their meeting in Beijing on Monday, a Presidential Office spokesperson said.

The 1992 Consensus refers to a tacit understanding reached between Taiwanese and Chinese representatives in 1992 that there is only one China, with room of interpretation on both sides.

President Ma thinks that in the 23 years since the consensus, history has proved that cross-strait relations prosper if both sides abide by the tacit understanding and suffer if they deviate from it, Presidential Office spokesman Charles Chen said.

“Our ‘one China’ is based on the Republic of China Constitution and our stance is ‘one China is the Republic of China,’ and it is by no means “two Chinas,” or “one China, one Taiwan,” or “Taiwan independence,” Chen said.     [FULL  STORY]

The Huffington Post
Date: 04/23/2015
By: Carly Ledbetter

Industrial designer Yi-Chen Shin Kuo sees the future of building design as an ever-changing, open landscape, a vision he recently incorporated in an award-winning building proposal.

Kuo just won the Futuristic Design Category in the A’ Design Award and Competition for his 2014 thesis project “Turn To The Future,” a rotating apartment building where views consistently change for dwellers.

Kuo, who completed his thesis for the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, says his concept focuses mainly on millennials, specifically those who want to “change their rural idyll without sacrificing their metropolitan lifestyle.” The housing project, which he envisioned for 2035, would allow city dwellers to enjoy a new landscape every day when they look out their window.     [FULL  STORY]