Page Three

New papers examine Chinese threat

Taipei Times
Date: May 03, 2015
By: William Lowther  /  Staff reporter in Washington

Taiwan faces “imminent military threats” from China, and its current defense posture — “compounded by financial constraints” — will soon become obsolete at dealing with the threats, a paper written by former Taiwanese defense minister Andrew Yang (楊念祖) said.

“The military threat from mainland China has remained a daily reality, as Beijing still holds the option to employ the use of force to achieve political unification,” Yang said in the paper published in the Washington-based Jamestown Foundation’s China Brief journal.

Taiwan must create innovative, asymmetric capabilities that “exploit the enemy’s weaknesses” to fend off a surprise attack, Yang wrote.

The US and Taiwan have a shared concern about the strategic and security “game change” in the East China Sea, with Beijing responsible for provoking and escalating tensions, Yang wrote.     [FULL  STORY]

Concerns in Taiwan over cross-strait trade pact

Want China Times
Date: 2015-05-02
By: Hsieh Ai-chu and Staff Reporter

Economic officials in Taiwan have been preparing to speed up the pace of

Women shop at a supermarket. (File photo/China Times)

Women shop at a supermarket. (File photo/China Times)

negotiations on a trade-in-goods agreement with China since President Ma Ying-jeou said he would like to see the pact signed before his term ends in 2016.

If Ma’s goal is to be fulfilled, Taiwan and China would have to conclude the negotiations by the end of the year since the presidential election is scheduled for next January. Some scholars have raised concerns, however, that the trade-in-goods agreement may not be enough to deal with the challenges of a fast changing global market.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan to hold computer-aided war games next week

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/05/02
By: Lu Hsin-hui and Scully Hsiao

Taipei, May 2 (CNA) The military will conduct five days of computer-assisted 2015050200251war games May 4-8, with the focus this year on emergency response, as part of the country’s annual Han Kuang exercises.

In a bid to test the military’s combat readiness in the face of a military threat from China, the drill will focus on swiftly preparing troops for battle and the mobilization of supplies and reservists.

The five-day drill is the first stage of the Han Kuang No. 31 exercises, which are designed to test the military’s combat capabilities after it completed late last year an initiative to streamline the military, said Maj. Gen. Zhong Shu-ming, director of the Defense Ministry’s Joint Operations Division.     [FULL  STORY]

Kaohsiung postpones water cuts

GAS PRICES:Separately, CPC said wholesale LPG and LNG prices would decrease this month to reflect shipping rates and the NT’s appreciation against the US dollar

Taipei Times
Date:  May 02, 2015
By: Lauly Li  /  Staff reporter

Third-phase water rationing measures are to be postponed for a week in Kaohsiung as the Gaoping River’s (高屏溪) water level is above the low-warning level, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.

“If there is sufficient water in the Gaoping River, we should use it instead of letting it flow into the ocean,” Water Resources Agency Chief Secretary Lai Chien-hsin (賴建信) said by telephone.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan urges Japan to apologize over comfort women issue

Want Chnese Tmes
Date: 2015-05-01
By: CNA

Japan should apologize for its military’s abuse of “comfort women” who were

A former comfort woman listens to Shinzo Abe's speech at the US congress in Washington, April 29. (File photo/Xinhua)

A former comfort woman listens to Shinzo Abe’s speech at the US congress in Washington, April 29. (File photo/Xinhua)

forced into sexual slavery during World War II, a Taiwanese official said Thursday, one day after Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe paid homage to US Americans killed in the war but offered no apology for Japan’s wartime atrocities.

“Our stance on the comfort women issue has been consistent, which is that Japan should apologize to the victims and offer compensation,” said Lo Koon-tsa, secretary-general of the Association of East Asian Relations, which handles Taiwan’s ties with Japan in the absence of formal diplomatic relations.

The Taiwanese government will continue to press Japan for an apology to the comfort women, Lo said at a news briefing, when asked to comment on Abe’s statement, which was made in a speech to the United States Congress.     [FULL  STORY]

DPP to push for workers’ rights, higher wages: Tsai

Taipei Times
Date:  May 02, 2015
By: Chen Wei-han  /  Staff writer

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) vows to improve workers’ rights by amending laws that would promote a shorter workweek and a higher minimum wage, DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday, while calling on the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to stop prioritizing cross-strait relations over labor issues.

The DPP legislative caucus has proposed an amendment to the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法) that would change current regulations defining regular work as 84 hours every two weeks to 40 hours per week, and will push for the legislation of a minimum wage act that ensures workers can enjoy an income necessary to meet basic living standards, Tsai said while attending a religious ceremony in Taipei’s Songshan District (松山).     [FULL  STORY]

Japan urges Taiwan to cancel planned rules on food imports

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/05/01
By: Elaine Hou

Taipei, May 1 (CNA) Several visiting Japanese lawmakers urged the Taiwanese 201505010021t0001government Friday to cancel its plans to tighten regulations on Japanese food imports, calling it a “surprise” move.

“On the issue of food safety, we’ve learned that Taiwan will implement measures aimed at tightening regulations pertaining to Japanese food imports, and we have expressed our concerns to Taiwanese authorities,” Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) lawmaker Nobuo Kishi said through an interpreter at a news conference in Taipei.

“We hope they will cancel the planned regulations,” said Kishi, the brother of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. He is leading one of the two delegations of Japanese lawmakers visiting Taiwan.     [FULL  STORY]

Vietnam War veteran pushing for ties between PRC and Taiwan’s DPP

Want China imes
Date: 2015-05-01
By: Samuel Hui

Earnest Tchang, a member of the Chinese Nung Commando Unit serving under the US Army’s Fifth Special Forces Group during the Vietnam War said his

Earnest Tchang. (Photo/Samuel Hui)

Earnest Tchang. (Photo/Samuel Hui)

dream is to promote peace and mutual understanding across the Taiwan Strait during an interview with Want China Times on April 30 to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Fall of Saigon.

Born in Fujian province in Southeastern China in December of 1940, Tchang moved to the port city of Haiphong in Northern Vietnam, then known as French Indochina, to escape the Japanese occupation forces. After the French were defeated by Ho Chih Minh’s Communist Viet Minh at Dien Bien Phu in 1954, Tchang’s father who was the representative of Shell Oil Company decided to move to Saigon in South Vietnam which was then under the control of Bao Dai, the last emperor of the Nguyen Dynasty.

In 1955, Ngo Dinh Diem, the non-Communist nationalist leader overthrew Emperor Bao Dai and established the Republic of Vietnam in the South. Diem then introduced a policy of naturalization to make all Chinese residents living in the nation citizens of South Vietnam. Due to this policy, Tchang’s family decided to leave Vietnam for France. However, Tchang alone chose to come to Taiwan alone due to his love for and loyalty to the Republic of China (ROC).     [FULL  STORY]

Parties unveil constitutional reform plans

Taipei Times
Date: May 02, 2015
By: Alison Hsiao  /  Staff reporter

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucuses yesterday unveiled their respective proposed amendments to the Constitution.

The Constitutional Amendment Committee is expected to commence the review of various versions of a constitutional amendment bill in the middle of this month after the remaining three scheduled public hearings.

KMT caucus whip Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆) said that, as the legislature is set to go on recess on June 16, the process of amending the Constitution would have to be divided into different stages. The KMT hopes to be able to work on the following in the first stage: lower the voting age from 20 to 18, establish absentee voting and lower the threshold for parties to name legislators-at-large from 5 percent of total party votes to 3 percent.     [FULL  STORY]

Japanese lawmakers visit Taiwan to discuss food safety issues

Central News Agency
Date: 2015-04-30
By:  CNA

Taipei, April 30 (CNA) A group of Japanese lawmakers is visiting Taiwan to discuss relations between the two countries, including matters related to the safety of Japanese food exports to Taiwan, a Taiwanese official said Thursday. The lawmakers, who arrived a day earlier on a four-day visit, have met with the mayors of Taichung, Kaohsiung and Tainan to promote city-to-city exchanges with Japan, said Lo Koon-tsan, secretary-general of the Association of East Asian Relations, which handles ties with Japan in the absence of formal diplomatic ties, at a news briefing.

During the meeting with Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu, the delegation expressed hope that Taiwan will rethink its regulations pertaining to Japanese food imports and that more scientific data can be provided, a source said. Led by Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Nobuo Kishi, the brother of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the delegation is also scheduled to meet with President Ma Ying-jeou, Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng, Foreign Minister David Lin and former President Lee Teng-hui, said Lo. The delegation will also call on Lee Chia-chin, chairman of the Association of East Asian Relations, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je and executives of the ruling Kuomintang and main opposition Democratic Progressive Party, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.     [FULL  STORY]