Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/03/28
By: Yin Chun-chieh and Lilian Wu

Taipei, March 28 (CNA) China has made a big deal of its “One Belt, One Road” initiative, but the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has warned against the China initiative.

The MAC said recently the initiative involves several elements, and the government will closely follow its development and the countries participating to assess its impact on Taiwan’s politics and economy.

The MAC said that if Taiwanese businessmen wanted to join the initiative, they would have to understand the government’s views and policy on the initiative and weigh related political and economic risks resulting from the initiative.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-03-28
By: Staff Reporter

After failing to purchase F-16C/D fighters from the United States, Taiwan’s Aerospace

The F-CK-1 Ching-kuo fighter is one of Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation’s major products. (Photo/China Times)

Industrial Development Corporation is seeking assistance from Russia to design domestic fifth-generation fighters, according to our Chinese-language sister newspaper Want Daily.

The move by Taiwan may take casual observers by surprise given the island’s anti-Communist history, but during the early stages of the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Soviet Union was a major supplier of military aircraft to the Republic of China Air Force. In addition to 322 bombers, 777 fighters and 100 trainers, the Soviet Union even sent 3,665 pilots and ground crew to support China’s war of resistance against the Japanese. After the Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact was signed in 1941, the United States then replaced the Soviet Union to become the Republic of China’s major supporter.

The Soviet Union subsequently became an enemy of the Republic of China due to the assistance it provided to the Communist Party of China during the Chinese Civil War. After the ROC government retreated to Taiwan in 1949, it had to rely on the United States for military hardware. No military-to-military cooperation was established between Moscow and Taipei even after the Soviet Union and Communist China became hostile towards each other in the late 1960s.

An agent from the Soviet Union named Victor Louis was dispatched to Taipei in 1968 to meet then ROC president Chiang Kai-shek and his son, Chiang Ching-kuo, to discuss a potential alliance between the two nations according to David Dean who served as political counselor of the US embassy to the Republic of China at the time. Eventually, Chiang Kai-shek rejected the idea of establishing cooperation with the Soviet Union to avoid upsetting the United States.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/03/27
By: Lung Pei-ning, Hao Hsueh-ching and Lilian Wu

Taipei, March 27 (CNA) One in every five people in Taiwan has insomnia and the older one gets, the more likely one is to have problems sleeping, according to a survey done by the Taiwan Society of Sleep Medicine (台灣睡眠醫學學會).

Society president Lin Chia-mo (林嘉謨) said in presenting the survey’s results on Friday that 20.2 percent of survey respondents had sleep disorders, including having trouble falling asleep, suffering from poor quality sleep, or waking up too early.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-03-27
By: CNA

A travel center designed to cater to foreign tourists has been established in historic Daxi

A traditional food vendor on the street in Daxi township, Taoyuan, March 18. (File photo/China Times)

Township in northern Taiwan’s Taoyuan city as part of the country’s efforts to promote travel to local townships, officials said Thursday.

The “travelers space,” which integrates multi-lingual services, self-guided tourist maps and samples of local delicacies, provides international tourists with a glimpse of the lifestyle in Daxi, said Cheng Ying-hui, a bureau deputy chief.

Starting from Daxi — known for its old streets, traditional architecture, tea and tofu dishes — travelers can soak up some nostalgic old-town ambiance and experience Taiwan at a grassroots level, Cheng said.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-03-27
By: CNA and Staff Reporter

Taiwan should actively take part in the ongoing initiative to set up the Asian Infrastructure

Ma Ying-jeou. (Photo/Huang Shih-ci)

Investment Bank (AIIB), an international financial institution proposed by China, instead of staying on the sidelines, said Taiwanese president Ma Ying-jeou in an interview with Want Want China Times published on Friday.

Ma said he has asked former vice president Vincent Siew to discuss the possibility of Taiwan’s AIIB participation with Chinese president Xi Jinping when they meet on March 29. Siew arrived in Boao, Hainan, on Thursday for the annual forum which runs from March 26 to 29 as a representative of Taiwan.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/03/26
By: Liu Shi-yih and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, March 26 (CNA) The Taiwan High Court on Thursday threw out a district court decision and ordered former legislator Lee Wen-chung (李文忠) to pay Vice President Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) NT$500,000 (US$16,020) in damage and offer a public apology for defaming Wu.

While running for the magistrate in Nantou on the Democratic Progressive Party’s ticket in November 2009, Lee claimed that Wu — when he was a legislator — travelled to Bali, Indonesian in 2008 together with then Nantou Magistrate Lee Chao-ching (李朝卿) and a notorious gangster from Nantou County to work out a scheme to maneuver the 2009 elections of Nantou County Council speaker.

Wu, who denied the claims, filed a lawsuit of defamation against Lee, requesting appology and a damage of NT$3 million.     [FULL  STORY]