Want China Times
Date: 2015-04-12
By: CNA

The Suhua Highway improvement project moved one step closer to completion Saturday with

the finished construction of the south-bound lane of the Wuta Tunnel.

The 464-meter Wuta Tunnel in Nan’ao in northeastern Taiwan’s Yilan county is one of eight tunnels along Taiwan’s coastal highway leading to Hualien county and is the third to be completed.

Addressing a ceremony to mark the completion of the work on the tunnel, premier Mao Chi-kuo noted that 63% of the Suhua Highway improvement project involves tunnel-boring, which is challenging task because of the geologically fragile area.

Mao recalled that the government had planned to build a freeway between Yilan and Hualien but dropped the proposal due to opposition from environmentalists.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015-04-11
By: CNA

A free trade agreement between China and South Korea will begin to hurt Taiwan’s economy

within a year after it takes effect, as South Korean products made cheaper by lower tariffs gain an edge over Taiwanese goods in China, Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs said Friday.

Taiwanese exporters are expected to lose an estimated US$6-17 million in orders to South Korean rivals in the year after the pact takes effect, pulling down economic growth by 0.04%, according to a ministry report on the deal’s impact on Taiwan.

Losses will increase to between US$1.9-4.3 billion within a decade after the agreement is put in place, the report forecast.

Taiwan’s economic growth will tumble 0.15% annually two decades after the agreement takes effect, as losses amount to between US$2.3 billion and US$6 billion a year, the report said.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-04-11
By: CNA

A free trade agreement between China and South Korea will begin to hurt Taiwan’s economy

within a year after it takes effect, as South Korean products made cheaper by lower tariffs gain an edge over Taiwanese goods in China, Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs said Friday.

Taiwanese exporters are expected to lose an estimated US$6-17 million in orders to South Korean rivals in the year after the pact takes effect, pulling down economic growth by 0.04%, according to a ministry report on the deal’s impact on Taiwan.

Losses will increase to between US$1.9-4.3 billion within a decade after the agreement is put in place, the report forecast.

Taiwan’s economic growth will tumble 0.15% annually two decades after the agreement takes effect, as losses amount to between US$2.3 billion and US$6 billion a year, the report said.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/04/11
By: Chang Hsin-wei , Yang Ming-chu and Lilian Wu

Saitama, Japan April 11 (CNA) Two Taiwanese food specialties endorsed by baseball pitcher Kuo Chun-lin (郭俊麟) have been selling like hot cakes at a “Taiwan Day” event that is being held over the weekend in Japan.

Kuo, a Taiwanese who made his debut in Japan’s professional baseball league last month as a member of the Saitama Seibu Lions, has endorsed Taiwan’s braised pork rice (滷肉飯) and yogurt green tea (多多綠茶), which are being sold at his team’s home stadium Seibu Prince Dome.

“Braised pork rice is my favorite and a delicacy for the average Taiwanese. Please have it with the yogurt green tea I recommend to get a taste of Taiwan’s culture,” the 23-year-old rookie said in a post on the Lions’ official website, accompanied by pictures of the specialties.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-04-11
By: CNA

Taiwanese researchers have made a rare discovery of a new endemic snake species in Taiwan

with the help of modern science and named it after the indigenous tribe with which it shares its habitat.

Lin Si-min, a life sciences professor at National Taiwan Normal University who led the research team that made the discovery, said Friday it was the first time in 84 years that a new snake species had been found in Taiwan.

His team has called the snake the Pareas Atayal because it belongs to the genus Pareas and lives in the mountain areas that are the traditional territory of the indigenous Atayal tribe, Lin said in presenting the team’s findings.

The last discovery of a new snake species was made by a Japanese scholar in 1931 when Taiwan was under Japanese colonial rule, Lin said.     [FULL  STORY]

DEMOCRACY FAILING:The activists want lawmakers to return power to the people by making it easier to recall elected officials, as well as to hold and pass referendums

Taipei Times
Date:  Apr 11, 2015
By: Alison Hsiao  /  Staff reporter

Taiwan March and several other groups yesterday “besieged” the Legislative Yuan in Taipei to

call for amendments to the Referendum Act (公民投票法) and to mark the anniversary of the end of the occupation of the legislative chamber by Sunflower movement protesters on April 10 last year.

The groups called for a “return” to the Legislative Yuan yesterday and demanded that it “return rights to the people.”

The protesters are calling for changes to the Referendum Act and the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法) — as the groups say that the thresholds are too high to make referendums and recalls feasible.     [FULL  STORY]

Manila Times
Date: April 11, 2015
By: Jing Villamente

Conjoined twins Jennylyn and Jerrylyn de Guzman from Bautista, Pangasinan, were reunited with their parents on Friday after successful surgery at the Tzu Chi Foundation’s general hospital in Hualien, Taiwan.

“I am very happy that they underwent the  operation because I can feel their suffering.

Sometimes all I can do is to cry just seeing them in their condition. It makes me really
happy that you are going to help my kids so they can lead normal lives like other kids,” Ludy de Guzman, the conjoined twin’ mother said during a news conference at the foundation’s headquarters in Quezon City.     [FULL  STORY]