Page Two

President calls for new model in development of ties with China

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/05/03
By: Ku Chuan and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, May 3 (CNA) A new proposal put forward by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) as a basis for cross-strait relations is consistent with the government’s longstanding policy of maintaining regional peace and stability, Presidential Office spokesman Sidney Lin (林鶴明) said on Wednesday.

In an interview with the local United Daily News published on Wednesday, Tsai put forward a new approach to promoting relations between Taiwan and China.

Tsai said the two sides should face the objective reality that cross-strait relations are in a new situation and so both Taiwan and China should work out a framework favorable for the development of peaceful and stable cross-strait relations, as well as regional stability and prosperity.    [FULL  STORY]

Cabinet responds to criticism of infrastructure plan

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-05-02

Cabinet spokesperson Hsu Kuo-yung has responded to criticism of the government’s infrastructure plan. Some critics of the plan have expressed concerns that it could encourage wasteful spending and that the projects it funds could turn out to be white elephants.

In an interview Tuesday, Hsu said that the plan had been taking shape before the Tsai administration took office last May. He also said that the plan had been worked out after taking a variety of views into account and seeking advice from experts like the head of the central bank, Perng Fai-nan. Hsu said the plan will create between 40,000 and 50,000 jobs. He also said that local governments including those controlled by the opposition KMT are seeking to secure infrastructure budgets under the plan.

In response, Hsu said that the effects of light rail projects will only be apparent once they are finished. He also said that river management projects and plans to renovate reservoirs will prevent floods and provide clean drinking water.

Meanwhile, Hsu said that plans to turn a port in Kaohsiung into a center for wind turbine assembly will transform a port that is already under-used into a key point for Taiwan’s green energy sector.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan records lowest winter rainfall in 54 years

Taiwan’s rainfall during winter season in 2017 reaches second historical low since 1963

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/05/02
By: Judy Lin, Taiwan News, Staff Reporter

TAIPEI (Taiwan News)—Water shortage alerts and different phases of water

Women dressed in down coats and warm attire during a cold front that hit the country on Feb. 15, 2016.(By Central News Agency)

rationing implemented during the start of the year in Taiwan were caused by record low winter rainfall since 1963, said Economic Affairs Minister Lee Chih-kung (李世光) on Tuesday.

Lai Chien-hsin (賴建信), head of the Water Resources Agency (WRA), noted rainfall recorded in winter in 2017 was 160.61 millimeters less, the second lowest rainfall recorded since 1963 where rainfall declined 168.79 millimeters, according to statistics compiled by the agency from Dec. 1, 2016 to Feb. 22, 2017.

Due to lower rainfall during winter season, science parks from north to southern Taiwan, New Taipei City and Taoyuan City governments deployed preemptive water conservation strategies earlier this year, said Lai.    [FULL  STORY]

President tweets again to promote Taiwan’s WHA participation

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/05/02
By: Lu Hsin-hui and S.C. Chang

Taipei, May 2 (CNA) President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) shared a video of a photo

CNA file photo

exhibition on “Taiwan’s contributions to health for all” on her twitter account on Tuesday, describing it as “Taiwan’s story.”

This was her third tweet in four days, seeking to attract international attention to Taiwan’s wish to attend this year’s World Health Assembly (WHA), which kicks off on May 22 with registration for participation ending on May 8. Taiwan has yet to receive an invitation from the World Health Organization’s Secretariat.

Taiwan provides medical assistance to millions of patients around the world — this is Taiwan’s story, said the president in her tweet linking viewers to the video produced by Taiwan’s Ministry of Health and Welfare and Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
[FULL  STORY]

KMT pans actuarial report on pensions

SILENT MINORITY:The voices of the people whose pensions are to be reformed have been absent from the debate, KMT caucus secretary-general Alicia Wang said

Taipei Times
Date: May 03, 2017
By: Alison Hsiao / Staff reporter

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday criticized the Ministry of Civil Service’s actuarial report on pension reform, saying that it was completed in only four days and questioning its credibility.

Referring to the government’s more than NT$882.4 billion (US$29.35 billion) Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Program, the KMT caucus accused the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government of “borrowing money for pork-barreling on the one hand, while rushing to cut the pensions of civil servants, public-school teachers and military personnel in the name of the nation’s financial difficulties on the other.”

“So far, we have only heard the government’s point of view about its pension reform plan; the voices of those being reformed has been absent,” KMT caucus secretary-general Alicia Wang (王育敏) said. “In addition, the actuarial report for pension reform was finished in four days, an incredible speed which has left us no choice but to question its credibility.”

“The report was made public on April 18 without the names of the actuaries involved being printed; the responsibility for authoring the report was put out to tender on April 13, with the bidding process concluding and a contract being signed on that day,” KMT Legislator William Tseng (曾銘宗) said.    [FULL  STORY]

Legislator vows to ‘destroy’ alleged rapist

The China Post
Date: May 3, 2017
By: The China Post news staff

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmaker Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) said on Tuesday that he holds “solid evidence” to “destroy the reputation” of a teacher who he claims raped a young writer several years ago.

Lin accused a cram school teacher on Tuesday of raping the late Lin Yi-han (林奕含), a talented writer and daughter of eminent doctor Lin Ping-huang (林炳煌). She died in an apparent suicide last week at 26 years old.

Her parents issued a statement the day after the suicide, claiming that their daughter died not just because of the major depressive order she had struggled with since she was 16 years old, but also because she never recovered from the grooming and rape eight to nine years ago.

The statement pointed to one of the cram school teachers who taught her before she took the high school entrance exam.    [FULL  STORY]

Presidential Office: Trips to be announced when plans final

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-05-01

The presidential office said on Monday that if the president and vice president have

President Tsai met the Solomon Islands Deputy Prime Minister on April 24 (CNA)

any planned overseas trips, they will be announced once the plans are final. The office was responding to reports that President Tsai Ing-wen will visit Taiwan’s South Pacific allies in July.

When Deputy Prime Minister Manasseh Maelanga of the Solomon Islands visited Taiwan last month, President Tsai told him that she would like to visit his country. Then on Monday, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmaker Wang Ding-yu asked Foreign Minister David Lee if there was any particular reason for Tsai mentioning a visit. Lee said that there was no particular issue at hand. But the president is reportedly considering a trip to strengthen ties, as Solomon Islands is the largest and most populous of Taiwan’s six allies in the South Pacific.

The foreign minister also said if there are plans for the president to make an overseas trip, they will be kept under wraps until all the plans are final.
[SOURCE]

Warm, sunny forecast to continue until Friday

The weather will be warmer than the previous days until the front arriving on Friday

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/05/01
By: Rana Yeh, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The weather is warm and muggy in Taiwan on Sunday, with

Warm weather is expected to continue until Friday in Taiwan(By Central News Agency)

the daytime highs reaching to 31 degrees Celsius in western parts of the island, according to the Central Weather Bureau (CWB).

It will be mostly cloudy all over the country from Monday to Thursday, with afternoon showers caused by heat convection in northern and eastern Taiwan. Mountainous areas and places close to the mountains in northern Taiwan are also expected to have occasional rainfall, CWB forecasted.

People are advised to take precautions against ultraviolet rays and bring umbrellas when going out in the daytime.

The weather will turn cooler on Friday as a frontal system pass and northeasterly winds approach, with the highest temperatures to drop to 25 to 27 degrees, the CWB predicted.    [SOURCE]

President lauds Taiwanese doctors for assistance in Vietnam

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/05/01
By: Sophia Yeh and Lilian Wu

Taipei, May 1 (CNA) President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday shared the story of

Post downloaded from President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) Twitter page

Taiwanese doctors helping patients with cleft and craniofacial problems in Vietnam recently.

The president said on Twitter that Taiwan’s Noordhoff Craniofacial Foundation and Chang Gung Memorial Hospital recently sent a team of medical personnel to Vietnam. The German Cleft Children’s Aid Society (DCKH) also sent two doctors to join the team, and they completed surgeries on 35 patients in just two days.

Tsai said this was another example of the contribution to the world of Taiwan’s medical experts.    [FULL  STORY]

WHA snub would be an insult: minister

NOW HIRING:The White House has yet to appoint hundreds of department positions, which means that despite US support for Taiwan, there is no one to implement policies

Taipei Times
Date: May 02, 2017
By: Abraham Gerber / Staff reporter, with CNA

Denying Taiwan the right to participate in this year’s World Health Assembly (WHA)

Minister of Foreign Affairs David Lee speaks at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday. Photo: CNA

would be “a further insult to Taiwanese,” Minister of Foreign Affairs David Lee (李大維) said yesterday.

Lee made the remark in response to a question by New Power Party Legislator Freddy Lim (林昶佐) at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee.

The WHA is to meet in Geneva, Switzerland, from May 22 to 31.

Taiwan first attended the WHA as an observer in 2009, a year after former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration came to power, adopting a conciliatory policy toward Beijing.    [FULL  STORY]