Residents in Miaoli, Taichung, and the mountainous areas of Nantou are warned of sudden burst of rain and strong wind gust throughout the day.

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/04/11
By: Wendy Lee , Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A front that is currently passing through Taiwan has brought

heavy batches of rain to most parts of the island. The Central Weather Bureau (CWB) has issued heavy rain alert for some parts of northern Taiwan, while cautioning that high wind conditions are also expected in the central area.

The weather bureau on Tuesday morning issued a heavy rain alert for cities and counties in northern and central Taiwan, including New Taipei City, Keelung City, Taipei City, Taoyuan City, Hsinchu City, Taichung City, Hsinchu County, Miaoli County, and Nantou County.

Outbreaks of rain began to sweep in late Monday night, moving across the island from the north towards the weekend. Heavier rain is forecast for Tuesday and well into Thursday, before the front starts to weaken on Friday.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/04/10
By: Chen Chun-hua, Wen Kuei-hsiang and Liu Guan-tig and Lilian Wu

Taipei, April 10 (CNA) Taiwan reacted angrily on Monday after the wife of a detained Taiwanese human rights and democracy advocate was forced to abort a trip to Beijing because her travel permit to China had been revoked.

The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), the body in charge of Taiwan’s China policy, said in a statement that China has yet to formally notify Taiwan of the charges leveled against Lee Ming-che (李明哲) and where he is being detained.

China also revoked a valid travel permit to enter China held by Lee Ching-yu (李凈瑜), wife of Lee Ming-che, thwarting her plan to board a plane for Beijing on Monday to try to see her husband, it said.    [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: April 11, 2017, 12:27 am TWN
By: The China Post news staff

Taiwan’s electricity operating reserve rate hit the year’s low of 3.56 percent on Monday

afternoon, as record temperatures seen in many parts of the island pushed up overall power consumption to a record level for the year, according to state-run Taiwan Power Company (Taipower).

A Taipower official in charge of power management said that power load capacity peaked at 30.236 million kilowatts/hour at 3:50pm, translating into the lowest operating reserve rate seen so far this year and indicating the increasing possibility of power rationing.

The official said that the island’s total power consumption broke the 30 million kw/hr mark for the first time this year 11 days earlier than seen on April 21 last year, when the corresponding figure hit 30.333 million kw/hr.    [FULL  STORY]

Cole responds to Dr. Liu Yawei’s article about his ideas on conflict resolution in the Taiwan Strait.

The News Lens
Date: 2017/04/08
By: J. Michael Cole

In an article published in the Diplomat on April 4, Dr. Liu Yawei(劉亞偉), director of the

China Program at the Carter Center and founding editor of the U.S.-China Perception Monitor, proposes five areas in which U.S. President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart, President Xi Jinping(習近平), could cooperate after their groundbreaking meeting in Florida later this week.

While there is much to agree on his first four “doables,” which among other things call for Beijing and Washington to work together in resolving a variety of global challenges, from trade to territorial dispute, his last point, which is specifically on the Taiwan “issue,” presents a picture of the trilateral relationship that unfortunately has much more in common with the Chinese Communist Party’s wishes than with reality, a fact which weakens the potency of Dr. Liu’s “doables” as a means to shed light on, if not resolve, the longstanding dispute.
[FULL  STORY]

Bike failed to avoid a van emerging on to the road

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/04/08
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A middle-aged couple from New Taipei City died when their

Ducati motorbike crashed on a road along Taiwan’s east coast in Yilan County, reports said Saturday.

According to a police report, the heavy bike came to a fall after a van had suddenly veered from the side of the road in Toucheng around 12:42 p.m.

The red bike, carrying Huang Cheng-ping, 45, and his wife Li Mei-hui, 43, was unable to avoid the van, driven by a 60-year-old man surnamed Lin, police said. The Ducati hit the left front side of the van and fell over, throwing the couple off.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 017/04/08
By: Wang Shu-fen and Lilian Wu

Taipei, April 8 (CNA) The Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC)

clarified Saturday that asking drivers to yield to vehicles with drivers taking a road test is a campaign, and those who fail to follow the new regulation will be advised to comply, but will not be fined.

In view of the compulsory road test for people wanting to obtain a driver’s license starting next month, the MOTC has revised road traffic safety regulations, requiring drivers to yield to vehicles marked with the sign “driver under test,” in addition to fire trucks and ambulances, to avoid traffic hazards on the road.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-04-07

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs says that it will maintain close contact with the US on the meeting between President Donald Trump and the Chinese president, Xi Jinping. That’s the word from the foreign ministry spokesperson Eleanor Wang on Friday.

The two leaders are meeting for the first time since Trump took office in January. The summit is being held at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.

Prior to the meeting, Matt Pottinger, senior director of Asian affairs of the National Security Council, and Susan Thornton, acting assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, gave reassurances that the meeting will not involve a trade-off on Taiwan.    [FULL  STORY]