Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/01/07
By: Chen Wei-ting and Lilian Wu

Taipei, Jan. 7 (CNA) An outbreak of diarrhea occurred Friday among nearly 500 students at four schools

in Taipei on Friday, one day after they ate school lunches.

The Department of Education of the Taipei City government said Saturday 498 students from four elementary and junior high schools had diarrhea Friday morning.

Among them, seven sought medical treatment and were diagnosed as gastroenteritis but none of them were hospitalized, the department said.

The caterer of the school lunches has been ordered to stop the service at the four school that were affected and at 19 others, education officials said.

They said the caterer, which supplied some 8,600 lunches to 15 schools on Thursday, was being checked by health officials and food samples were being tested.    [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: January 8, 2017
By: CNA

TAIPEI — Most of western Taiwan faced poor air quality on Friday as a stagnant frontal system

prevented pollutants from dispersing, an environmental protection official has said.

The air quality index for areas in western Taiwan ranged between 100 and 200 on the 0-500 scale adopted by the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) for its air quality monitoring network.

Under the EPA monitoring system, indexes with readings between 101 and 150 suggest that the air quality is unhealthy for people more vulnerable to airborne pollutants while scores between 151 and 200 indicate the air quality is unhealthy for everybody.

As of 1 p.m., the worst air quality was found in the Changhua, Yunlin, Chiayi and Tainan areas, which all had monitoring stations where the air quality index exceeded 150.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan Today
Date: January 06, 2017

Taiwan High Speed Rail Museum opened to the public Jan. 5 in Taoyuan City, northern Taiwan, providing

visitors the opportunity to learn more about the world-class infrastructure project and its contributions to the development of Taiwan’s economy, tourism industry and transportation network since commencing services 10 years ago.

Comprising 19 separately themed exhibitions, a driver’s cab simulator and a number of interactive displays, the museum draws the curtain back on the engineering feats making possible a one-day living circle via the express 90-minute, 345-kilometer ride through western Taiwan from Taipei City in northern Taiwan to Kaohsiung City in southern Taiwan. An array of facts and figures is also on offer about THSR, which serves the nation’s 23 million people and hits a top speed of 300 kph.

Premier Lin Chuan said at the museum’s opening ceremony that THSR is an outstanding example of public-private sector collaboration. “The success of the high-speed rail underscores the flexibility and management expertise of Taiwan companies, as well as the government’s commitment to supporting projects bolstering the nation’s industrial prowess.”    [FULL  STORY]

Hsieh denies DPP lawmaker interceded on son’s behalf

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/01/06
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Envoy to Japan and former Premier Frank Hsieh said his son Hsieh Wei-chou

often played with the legal sports lotto, but his wife’s sudden departure to Taiwan was not to pay back their son’s debts, but to assist their daughter who fell into coma after an accident.

Media reports said last month that the younger Hsieh, who won election to the Taipei City Council for the Democratic Progressive Party in 2014, was NT$10 million (US$313,000) in debt due to a supposed addiction to the sports lottery. His mother, Yu Fang-chih, had returned from her husband’s side in Japan to help him clear the debts, reports said at the time.

In a Facebook post Friday, Frank Hsieh acknowledged that the “present situation” was the result of his son’s liking for the sports lottery. Hsieh Wei-chou had denied the high amount of the debt and defended his buying of lottery tickets as completely legal.

As a public person, Hsieh Wei-chou should undergo scrutiny and show self-discipline, but he didn’t need to clarify or defend his problems, Frank Hsieh wrote.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/01/06
By: Ku Chuan, Ko Lin and Lilian Wu

Taipei, Jan. 6 (CNA) Both Taiwan and the United States want to avoid trouble during President Tsai Ing-

wen’s (蔡英文) stopovers in the United States during her trip to Central America, a former director of the American Institute in Taiwan’s Taipei office said Friday.

William A. Stanton, who served as Taipei office director from 2009 to 2012, was responding to a question on whether Tsai might meet with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s team during her stopover in the United States.

Stanton said he had no insider information, but he believed that both Taiwan and the United States wanted to avoid trouble due to the heavy pressure being put on Taipei by Beijing.

If there were to be any contacts, meetings with friends or staff of the new U.S. administration will be in secret, he said.

“No one wants a bigger problem now,” he said.    [FULL  STORY]

’TAIWAN MONTH’:Hondurans are looking forward to President Tsai Ing-wen’s visit, the ambassador said, urging more investment and describing himself as ‘Taiwan-loving’

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 07, 2017
By: Lu I-hsuan / Staff reporter

Honduran Ambassador to Taiwan Rafael Fernando Sierra Quesada yesterday rebutted a rumor that it

was due to the wobbling relationship between the two nations that President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) made Honduras the first stop in her nine-day visit to Central America, which begins today.

The ambassador called for a deeper relationship between the two nations in terms of commerce and education to further solidify ties and create a win-win situation for both countries.

Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez last year visited Taiwan before Double Ten National Day celebrations, and invited Tsai to visit Honduras.

Tsai then requested a change to the itinerary of her visit to Central America to include Honduras, sources said.

Sierra said the Honduran people are looking forward to Tsai’s visit, dismissed rumors that diplomatic ties are unsteady and described himself as “Taiwan-loving.”    [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: January 7, 2017
By: Stephanie Chao

TAIPEI, Taiwan — As President Tsai Ing-wen departs for a visit to Central America, speculation is rife

over a possible meeting with Donald Trump’s transition team during a transit stop in the U.S.

Tsai is set to make two stopovers in the U.S. as she embarks on a visit to four of the nation’s diplomatic allies in Central America.

A 120-person delegation led by Tsai to Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala and El Salvador will leave Taiwan 10 a.m. Saturday and return Jan. 15.

The trip, titled the “Ying Chieh Project” (英捷專案), will see Tsai attend the inauguration ceremony of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega on Jan. 10.

Tsai will stop in Houston, Texas on the outbound leg of her trip, and in San Francisco on her return to Taiwan.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan Today
Date: January 05, 2017

The Germany-based Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids announced Jan. 4 that it will set

up a research center at the National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center in northern Taiwan’s Hsinchu City this year.

In a news conference at the Ministry of Science and Technology in Taipei City, the NSRRC said the research conducted at the new facility, called the Center for Complex Phase Materials, will focus on semiconductors, nano-structures and magnetic materials. The German institute and Republic of China (Taiwan) government will each provide 200,000 euros (US$210,504) per year to the center to support the work of graduate students, post-doctoral researchers and scientists.

The research organization based in Dresden, Germany, will also work to strengthen scientific collaboration and talent exchanges with the NSRRC as well as Hsinchu-based National Chiao Tung University and National Tsing Hua University.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/01/05
By: Maggie Huang, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The winter in Northern Taiwan is always cold and wet, but surprisingly sea of

flowers can still be seen in Yilan.

The sea of cosmos blossom near Yilan’s Leawood Bridge is now one of the most popular spots for the local residents and visitors from other cities, as the sea of flowers and the beautiful bridge make a beautiful winter scene.

The sea of flowers was sowed by Yilan City Office during the fallow season, and up to 3.5 hectares of flowers swaying in the wind during the flowering season, which is expected to last until the Lunar New Year.

According to the mayor, Yilan’s Leawood bridge was named after Leawood city of Kansas after the two cities became sister cities in 1989. The city government is planning to send a delegation to the American city in May to promote a mutual cooperation on tourism.    [FULL  STORY]