Taiwan News
Date: 2016-07-09
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – President Tsai Ing-wen called for support to rebuild Taitung County after

the devastation wrought by Typhoon Nepartak, while Premier Lin Chuan visited the region Saturday.

The storm, which passed across southern Taiwan Friday, left three dead in the country, but the southeastern county was especially hard hit, with roofs, signs, trees, vehicles and containers being ripped apart or overturned. Saturday morning, thousands of families woke up without electricity or water.

Agricultural losses in the south were estimated at NT$600 million (US$18 million), but total losses amounted to NT$2 billion (US$62 million), reports said.

On her Facebook page, the president wrote there should be total support for the efforts of the people of Taitung to rebuild their homes following the disaster. She also posted pictures of soldiers helping out with clearing trees from the streets and of the premier touring the area.     [FULL  STORY]

GREEN-BLUE CONFLICT:Hsu Yung-ming rejected calls for the hall to be torn down, saying that transitioning the content could help create a consensus for further change

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 10, 2016
By Abraham Gerber / Staff reporter

Taipei’s Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall should be transformed into a

research center and museum for all of the nation’s presidents, New Power Party (NPP) caucus whip Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明) said yesterday, adding that the memorial’s name could be temporarily preserved alongside the statue of former president Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石).

“Having a memorial dedicated to this one leader isn’t appropriate because we don’t have any other similar memorials. It would be better to start dedicating the site to all former presidents and transition content to remove all traces of the authoritarian tradition of reverence to Chiang Kai-shek,” Hsu said, adding that he had already submitted an amendment to the Organization Act of National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Management Office (國立中正紀念堂管理處組織法), which the legislature’s Procedure Committee is expected to address on Tuesday.

The amendment would expand the memorial’s mandate to include the preservation and exhibition of artifacts from all of the nation’s former presidents, along with research into the nation’s democratization process.     [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: July 9, 2016
By: Joseph Yeh

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Funding made to Paraguay during President Tsai Ing-wen’s recent state visit

to the South American ally was initiated during the previous Ma Ying-jeou administration instead of during Chen Shui-bian’s administration, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) has said.

MOFA spokeswoman Eleanor Wang told The China Post that the US$71 million project to help the ally build affordable housing units was first initiated in 2014 during a previous administration.

Wang said Foreign Minister David Lee had already explained the project to lawmakers.

In a legislative session on Monday, Lee said the five-year project was launched by Ma in 2014.

According to Wang, the project was first proposed by the Paraguay government as part of its National Program of Poverty Reduction.

The cooperation project was approved by the R.O.C. government in accordance with the International Cooperation and Development Act (國際合作發展法).     [FULL  STORY]

The typhoon left two people dead and more than 70 injured, while more than 200,000 households lost power.

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-07-08
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The eye of Typhoon Nepartak headed out into the Taiwan Strait near

Tainan around 2:30 p.m. Friday, the Central Weather Bureau said, warning residents against complacency.

The storm, which was downgraded from the status of a super typhoon earlier in the day, made landfall near Taimali in Taitung County at 5:50 a.m. before making its way across Southern Taiwan at a relatively slow pace.

By 2:30 p.m., the weather bureau located the center of the typhoon at 20 kilometers north-northwest of Tainan and moving northwest at a speed of 12 kilometers per hour in the general direction of Penghu.

Sustained winds of 155 kph with gusts of up to 191 kph were still raging around the storm, the bureau said.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/07/08
By: Tyson Lu, Chiu Po-sheng, Kuo Chu-chen, Wang Shwu-feng and
Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, July 8 (CNA) Taitung County, the part of Taiwan hardest hit by Typhoon Nepartak on Friday, has reported initial agricultural losses from the storm of over NT$600 million (US$18.58 million).

According to the Taitung County government, few crops in the county survived Nepartak’s onslaught of strong gusts of wind and torrential rain.

The crops sustaining the heaviest damage were pomelos, custard apples, bananas, pineapples, cabbage, tomatoes and bell peppers, the local government said.

The losses reached over NT$600 million as of Friday afternoon, based on initial reports from townships around the county, and were expected to continue to rise as more farmers assess the damage to their crops, according to the local government.     [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: July 9, 2016
By: The China Post news staff

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiwan on Friday thanked the United States after the latter announced that

it will be returning approximately US$1.5 million in funds from the sale of property purchased with alleged bribes paid to family members of Taiwan’s former President Chen Shui-bian.

The Special Investigation Division (SID, 特別偵查組) of the Supreme Prosecutors Office expressed gratitude to the U.S. Justice Department, after the latter said on Thursday that it will return the funds to Taiwan following the sale of two properties in America that were allegedly purchased with bribes paid to Chen’s family.

The SID said the latest move exemplifies mutual legal assistance between the two countries based on a Taiwan-U.S. Mutual Legal Assistance Agreement.

The SID said Taiwan requested legal assistance from the U.S. Justice Department in September 2010 and March 2012 under the pact.     [FULL  STORY]