Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/04/08
By: Chen Chi-ching and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, April 8 (CNA) One hawksbill sea turtle and six green sea turtles were released into the sea Wednesday by their caregivers at a sea turtle shelter in Penghu, an island group off the southwestern coast of Taiwan, drawing nearly 200 spectators.

The sea turtles were all rescued and brought to the Penghu Sea Turtle Rehabilitation Center at different times over the years after being found injured or in poor health, according to center staff.

The hawksbill turtle, for example, was taken to the center in April 2009 after its shell was penetrated by a speargun, they said.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-04-08
By: CNA and Staff Reporter

Former premier Frank Hsieh of Taiwan’s opposition Democratic Progressive Party said

Tuesday that if the party fails to handle its China policy well, cross-strait relations will not be stable if the party wins the 2016 presidential election.

Now is the best time for the DPP to adjust its cross-strait policy after the party won big in last year’s local government elections, Hsieh said in a radio talk show he hosts.

Hsieh made the remark a day after another DPP heavyweight, Hung Chi-chang, who previously served as Taiwan’s top negotiator with China, urged his party to give up its pursuit of de jure independence for Taiwan if it is returned to power next year.

According to Hsieh, Taiwan’s cross-strait policy needs the support of more than 60% of its people to be successful. Currently, the pro-independence DPP’s cross-strait policy receives an approval rating of about 30%, while the ruling Kuomintang’s policy of maintaining the status quo with a view to eventual unification also gets around 30%.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/04/08
By: Lu Hsin-huei and Lee Hsin-Yin

Taipei, April 8 (CNA) Taiwan’s military will adopt financial penalties, including pension cuts, to

deter servicemen from violating its rules, the Ministry of National Defense said Wednesday, in the aftermath of high-profile security breach at a Taiwan Army base.

Soldiers who are forced to retire due to inappropriate behavior will be required to pay back the money spent by the government on their training, said ministry spokesman Maj. Gen Luo Shou-he (羅紹和).

In the case of servicemen who are expelled from the military after two simultaneous major demerits, their pensions will also be cut, Luo said.

The stricter rules were put forth in the wake of a military scandal, in which Lt. Col. Lao Nai-cheng (勞乃成), the deputy head of a helicopter squadron in Taoyuan under the Army Aviation Special Forces Command, brought a group of people to see Taiwan’s U.S.-made cutting-edge AH-64E Apache helicopters at their base in Longtan on March 29 without approval from his superiors.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/04/07
By: Chang Jung-hsiang and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, April 7 (CNA) Tainan Mayor Lai Ching-te (賴清德) reiterated Tuesday that he will not attend any of the municipality’s council meetings until vote-buying allegations against Tainan City Council Speaker Lee Chuan-chiao (李全教) have been addressed through the judicial system.

Lai made the comment after Lee was bailed on charges of vote-buying and announced a plan to hold a regular city council meeting later this month.

Lee was released on NT$15 million (US$483,699) bail by the Tainan District Court April 2 after being indicted by prosecutors the day before for vote-buying, which prosecutors said led to his victory in the city council’s speakership election last December.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-04-07
By: CNA

Taipei is a city of rivers. Walk around the Dadaocheng, Yuanshan, Dazhi and Neihu areas and

you’ll enjoy plenty of river views. Travelers who ride a bicycle will know about the city’s comprehensive, interlinked system of riverside bikeways, with a total length of 112 kilometers along the Tamsui, Keelung, Xindian, and Jingmei rivers.

Discover Taipei, a bimonthly published by the Taipei City Government, introduces to readers the city’s four river in its March/April edition. The following is the article:

The History of Tamsui River

In former times, the Tamsui River played a key role in local communication and goods transportation, and was at the center of the city’s rise.     [FULL  STORY]

Asia One
Date: Apr 06, 2015
By: Kazunari YamashitaMonday, Nikkei Asian Review

TAIPEI — With young Taiwanese becoming more politically aware, elections scheduled for January could transform the island.

Things began to change in March 2014, when student and other activists occupied the Legislative Yuan, Taiwan’s parliament, to protest the island’s rapid rapprochement with China.

One year on, and the increasing number of young people criticising President Ma Ying-jeou’s stance on China is giving the ruling Kuomintang party a case of the jitters.

On the evening of March 18, some 1,000 young people gathered near the legislative chamber to protest Ma’s pro-China policies. “Abolish the service trade pact (between Taiwan and China),” they chanted. “Protect democracy!” Some of the protesters threw into the building a large ball with the words “constitution reformation” written on it. The act was the protesters’ way of telling the ruling party to start listening to public opinion.

The rally was held to mark the first anniversary of what has come to be known as the Sunflower Movement. The activists adopted the name because of how the plant follows the direction of the sun, a habit they saw as hopeful.

Want China Times
Date: 2015-04-06
By: Staff Reporter

Liu Yang-ming, a 35-year-old blogger from Taiwan, has written a book about his fetish for high

school girls’ uniforms from a sociological perspective — or so he told our sister paper China Times.

The book, titled Uniform Fetishism, is in fact a declaration of his “uniform complex,” admits the author.

All Liu’s friends know that he is a bit “twisted” behind a seemingly solemn appearance. “I walk into schools to get a good look at the students. To me, youth is a huge stimulus,” said Liu, who seeks to destigmatize his predilection by studying it thoroughly from various angles that include sociology and the history of clothes. “A pervert, yes, but a learned one,” he said.     [FULL  STORY]