Want China Times
Date: 2015-04-21
By: Chen Sung-shan

When Tsai Ing-wen, the leader of Taiwan’s main opposition Democratic Progressive Party, was

Tsai Ing-wen gives an address at Cheng Kung University in Tainan, April 18. (Photo/CNA)

formally nominated as the party’s candidate for next year’s presidential election, she did not address the 1992 Consensus or the “one China” issue in her remarks on cross-strait relations.

Tsai said however that she would “go beyond the framework of the Kuomintang and the Communist Party of China,” and “establish regular cross-strait relations,” indirectly dismissing the 1992 Consensus as the basis for cross-strait exchanges.

Just as in Tsai’s presidential campaign four years ago, her political positions and discourse have left observers in a fog. Her basic tone is to “maintain the status quo,” but she left room for “unlimited” political imagination. The stronger her opposition is, the more she will move toward the center, but if the other side is weak she will not move at all.

Tsai lost her bid for the presidency in 2012 but she has a much greater chance of winning this time with the KMT demoralized in the wake of a crushing defeat in local elections in November. So she has to come up with more substance on cross-strait policy to reassure the United States and China on how she can achieve stable cross-strait relations.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/04/20
By: Claudia Liu and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, April 20 (CNA) Sean Lien (連勝文), son of former Vice President Lien Chan (連戰), is in the clear after prosecutors found no evidence of alleged stock speculation made by a political pundit as he prepared to run for Taipei mayor.

“Justice delayed is justice denied,” the junior Lien said Monday when asked about the Taipei District Prosecutors Office’s move to close the case after finding no evidence of illegal conduct.

“The harm has been done,” he said, criticizing the accusations made in March 2014 that he engaged in stock speculation as political manipulation.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/04/19
By: Hsu Chih-wei and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, April 19 (CNA) A mother of seven children was honored by the Taiwan Fund for Children and Families (TFCF) Sunday for single-handedly raising the children — six of whom have intellectual disabilities — and caring her sick, jobless husband.

Teng Chia-chen (鄧家蓁), 52, grimly gritted her teeth to shoulder the responsibility of supporting a family of nine all by herself after her husband failed in business and fell sick. She makes a living by delivering goods as well as lunch and dinner boxes, and selling home-made bread at home in Taoyuan.

Sleeping less than 5 hours a day, Teng cannot afford to fall sick. Due to her heavy financial burdens, she was once unable to even pay the registration fee for a hospital visit, which ranges between NT$100 (US$3.2) and NT$150 at different hospitals.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-04-19
By: CNA and Staff Reporter

Taiwan may become a new member of the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank

Zhu Guangyao fields questions at the Atlantic Council in Washington DC, April 17. Photo/CNA)

(AIIB) as an economy despite being unable to become a founding member, a senior Chinese official was reported as saying Friday in the United States.

As an economy, Taiwan cannot become a founding member of the AIIB, but “there is a possibility for Taiwan to join the bank as a new member,” said Zhu Guangyao, China’s vice finance minister.

Zhu spoke during a question-and-answer session after giving a speech at the Atlantic Council, a think tank based in Washington DC, according to foreign media reports.

He said the two sides of the Taiwan Strait are currently discussing the name to be used by Taiwan to join the AIIB.     [FULL  STORY]