Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-03-03

Premier Lin Chuan says planned restrictions on retired military officials of senior rank and political

appointees visiting China are appropriate. Lin was speaking Friday in an interview.

The government has introduced a revision to a statute governing personal exchanges across the Taiwan Strait. The move came following a controversial trip by a small number of retired top brass to attend an official event presided over by the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, in Beijing last November.

Under the revision, retired top brass will be barred from attending official activities held by Chinese leaders. There will be punishments for violators .

Lin said the government has no plans to curb freedom of speech or the free movement of individuals. But he said there is a need to introduce stricter rules.    [FULL  STORY]

Making a pilgrimage to the original Taipei restaurant credited with inventing General Tso’s Chicken

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/03/03
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Writers from Taiwan News paid a visit yesterday to the original Peng’s Garden

Hunan Restaurant (彭園湘菜館) to learn more about the history of the famed eatery, a place which should be on the itinerary of every visitor to Taipei, and to sample its world-famous dish — General Tso’s Chicken (左宗棠雞).

Though many Westerners may not have heard of Peng’s Garden, it’s trademark dish — General Tso’s Chicken — is on the menu of virtually every Chinese restaurant in North America and much of the Western world. The dish recently gained renewed attention due to a documentary released in 2014 titled “The Search for General Tso” directed by Ian Cheney and the sad passing of the dish’s legendary inventor Chef Peng Chang-kuei (彭長貴) in late 2016.

In an interview with Taiwan News, the general manager and top apprentice of Peng, Chef Chen Cheng-chuan (陳正川), elaborated on the rich history of the restaurant chain and revealed some of the secrets behind its signature dishes.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/03/03
By: Worthy Shen and Y.F. Low

Taipei, March 3 (CNA) A minor planet co-discovered by an astronomer at Taiwan’s National Central

University (NCU) in 2006 has been officially named “Yilan,” after a county in Taiwan, the university said Friday.

The naming was finalized by the International Astronomical Union last year, Lin Hung-chin (林宏欽), head of NCU’s Lulin Observatory, announced in an event held at Chenggong Elementary School in Yilan County’s Luodong township.

“Yilan” was discovered by Lin and Chinese amateur astronomer Ye Quanzhi (葉泉志) on Aug. 12, 2006.

According to Lin, “Yilan” takes 3.78 years to orbit around the sun. Its closet and farthest distance to the sun are 300 million kilometers and 420 million kilometers, respectively.

It was near the constellation Capricornus when it was discovered and is now near Ophiuchus, Lin said.
[FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: March 4, 2017
By: The China Post news staff

TAIPEI, Taiwan — A new metro connecting Taipei and Taoyuan recorded 52,000 passengers on its first

day of commercial operations on March 2, down sharply from the numbers seen during trial runs, the Taoyuan Metro Corp. said Friday.

The company said the volume was only about two-thirds from the average during trial runs, but was relatively high compared to the experience of other newly opened rail systems with passenger numbers between trial runs and first-day commercial operations.

The company said the number indicated public confidence in the service and estimated that daily passenger volume on the line — officially called Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport Access MRT — would be about 45,000 after the half-price discount period ends on April 1.

During the monthlong trial runs starting from Feb. 2 to March 1, the Taoyuan Airport MRT, which serves as both a commuter train and an express connecting Taipei and the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, saw a daily average passenger volume of about 80,000.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-03-02

Taiwan and Japan have reached an understanding on fishing rights in waters

surrounding the Okinotori Atoll. That was the word from deputy head of the Fisheries Agency Huang Hung-yien on Thursday.

Huang’s remark comes amid a meeting of the the joint Taiwan-Japan fisheries committee meeting in Tokyo. Fishing rights in waters surrounding the Okinotori Atoll have been a point of contention between the two sides since Japan’s controversial seizure of a Taiwanese fishing boat in the area last year. However, the issue is not on the negotiating table for the meeting.

Speaking before the Legislature’s Economics Committee Thursday, Huang said that Japan and Taiwan have arrived at an understanding on the matter. He said the foreign ministry is also continuing to negotiate with its Japanese counterpart.  [SOURCE]

Early settlers in Okinawa might have originated from Taiwan based on anthropological evidence

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/03/02
By: Judy Lin, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Taipei (Taiwan News)—The first people that set foot on Okinawa, an island in Japan,

more than 30,000 years ago, might have sailed there on bamboo rafts from Taiwan, according to studies by Japanese anthropologists.

Chief anthropologist Yousuke Kaifu of Japan’s National Museum of Nature and Science hypothesized the ancestors of today’s Okinawans might have been from Taiwan based on human remains, DNA, sociology and Paleolithic sites found on the islands, as well as other factors.

After examining skeletons and other artifacts found from Paleolithic sites in Okinawa some 30,000 years ago, Japanese anthropologists found the items were closely related to those found from the Changbin Culture (長濱文化) in Baixing Caves in Taitung County.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/03/02
By: Yang Shu-min and Lilian Wu

Taipei, March 2 (CNA) Two farms were confirmed as infected with the highly pathogenic

avian influenza H5N2 virus and another with the H5N8 virus on Thursday. All poultry at the three farms has been culled, the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine said.

Since Jan. 1, 64 poultry farms in Taiwan have been confirmed as infected with highly pathogenic avian flu and 496,577 birds have been culled, the bureau said.

Currently, the number of farms confirmed as infected with H5N6, a virus transmittable to humans, stands at 11, it added.     [FULL  STORY]