The China Post
Date: August 29, 2016
By: The China Post news staff

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Echoing statements made by the city’s mayor, Taoyuan Metro Company general

manager Chen Kai-ling (陳凱凌) said Sunday there was no set timetable for the start of the airport line, stressing that political considerations would not influence the launch date.

Addressing expectations that the MRT will launch by the end of this year, Chen replied that some of the 25 major flaws of the system would have to be improved within three months.

The opening date for the airport metro has been delayed several times.

On Saturday, Aug. 27, the Transportation Ministry’s Taoyuan International Airport Supervision Committee held a press conference presenting its final report, after two months of investigations into potential errors in the metro system.

The committee promised that the metro’s safety was assured and said the airport MRT could be launched immediately, with gradual improvements being made in the future.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-08-28
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

What is in the old streets of Anping in Tainan that tourists should be interested in besides the historical sites and local delicacies? The special culture of sword lions is definitely something to check into as two color painted mailboxes have borne witness to the rising popularity of Anping’s special sword lion culture.

To decorate residences with the talismans of sword lions is a special culture of Anping, and the tradition dates back to Ming and Qing dynasties when Anping was the base of the navy. According to culture worker Cheng Tao-tsung, in the ancient times, when soldiers came home, they used to hang their sword and lion-emblazoned shield on a rack in front of their houses. The combination of the sword and the shield looked like a lion biting a sword. The presence of the sword and shield meant the male host was home, which could serve as a deterrent to thieves and robbers looking for houses to break in.

Over time, the sword lion became a talisman in the area and local people liked to use different sword lion figures to decorate the inside and outside of their houses as they were believed to have different functions.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/08/28
By: Sophia Yeh and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, Aug. 28 (CNA) Taiwan should look at possible dialogue between China and the Vatican in a

positive light and this is not a zero-sum game in which either Taiwan or China must lose its friendship with the Holy See, Deputy Foreign Minister Wu Chih-chung (吳志中) said Sunday.

Wu made the comment following media reports that the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, said Saturday that the Vatican is hopeful it can improve ties with China after decades of tension.

Beijing severed links with the Vatican in 1951 shortly after the Communist Party took power and launched a crackdown on organized religion but Pope Francis is pushing to improve relations after decades of mistrust, according to media reports.

When asked whether Taiwan’s diplomatic ties with the Vatican will be affected if China improves relations with the Holy See, Wu told local media reporters after attending a seminar that relations between the Holy See and Taiwan are solid due to their shared belief in the fundamental rights of religious freedom and democracy.     [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: August 28, 2016
By: The China Post news staff

TAIPEI, Taiwan — President Tsai Ing-wen met Saturday with the former grand justice she is expected

to nominate to head the Judicial Yuan, according to reports, with a public announcement of the nomination expected Thursday.

Tsai met with the would-be candidate, Hsu Tzong-li, in the Presidential Office in a 90-minute meeting to discuss judicial reform, the Central News Agency said.

Also attending the meeting were Supreme Court Justice Tsai Chung-tun, who is favorite to be nominated as Hsu’s deputy, as well as four of five candidates for the Council of Grand Justices.

CNA cited sources as saying that Vice President Chen Chien-jen will hold a press conference Thursday to announce the nominations of Hsu and the other six candidates on behalf of the president.

Tsai’s guests arrived for the meeting in the Presidential Office separately from 2 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., and Hsu and Tsai Chung-tun were seen leaving together in the former’s car at around 4:10 p.m.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-08-27
By WildAid, Taiwan News

(BY Matt Grager, Climate Campaign Director, WildAid/5 TO DO TODAY)

WildAid’s 5 To Do Today climate action campaign, in partnership with the Chinese Nutrition Society kicked off a new campaign focused on reducing meat consumption in China, which is currently expected to rise by 50% by 2030.

We’re thrilled to announce that the campaign now has support from leading voices for climate solutions on both sides of the Pacific: Entertainment industry icons and climate activists James Cameron (director of Titanic and Avatar, among other blockbusters), former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (star of the Terminator films, also directed by Cameron) and China’s most famous actress, Li Bingbing, to create a comprehensive media campaign featuring TV PSAs and billboards geared to reduce meat consumption.

U.S.-based groups Climate Nexus and My Plate, My Planet will distribute English versions of the ads in the United States. Watch a behind-the-scenes clip of a PSA to be released later this summer!     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/08/27
By: Lu Hsin-hui and Y.F. Low

Taipei, Aug. 27 (CNA) President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said Saturday that the number of Chinese nationals who travel independently to Taiwan has continued to increase, dismissing concerns that visitors from China have declined since her inauguration.

In an TV interview marking her first 100 days in office, Tsai said the cross-Taiwan Strait tourism that is dominated by group travel has reached a point where structural transformation is needed, and a possible way to do so is encouraging independent travel.

“During this period, independent travelers from China have not decreased but have increased,” she said.

Also during the interview, the president was asked to comment on an incident occurring last month in which the locally developed Hsiung Feng III anti-ship missile was launched by mistake from a Chinchiang-class corvette during a simulated test in Kaohsiung.     [FULL  STORY]

NEW BUDS:Decreasing job opportunities, stagnant wage growth and the income gap are a reality, the president said, explaining why her administration is pushing change

Taipei Times
Date: Aug 28, 2016
By: Alison Hsiao / Staff reporter

The government is not afraid of controversies, as “they could help us face the core of the problems,”

President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday, as she acknowledged that the administration over the past three months has been encountering disputes on various fronts.

Tsai attended a seminar, titled “Direct Election of President and Taiwan’s Democratic Development in the Past 20 Years,” held by the Lee Teng-hui Foundation in Taipei, along with former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝).
Lee, 94, said that although Taiwan in the past faced internal democratic dysfunction and is still under external pressure from China, he is optimistic about the nation’s democracy, which, if its values and rule of law are bolstered, will allow Taiwan to become a sound democracy and a normalized nation.

Speaking after Lee, Tsai said that in 1996 Taiwanese for the first time elected their own national leader.

“The direct election of the president, the milestone of the nation’s democratic development, is not a historical contingency, but the outcome of the joint effort of social and political powers,” she said.     [FULL  STORY]