Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/06/16
By: Liu Jian-bang and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, June 16 (CNA) Taiwan is determined to address the dispute with Japan over fishing near

the Okinotori atoll in talks scheduled for late July, an official said Thursday.

Vice Foreign Affairs Minister Leo Lee (李澄然) made the comment at a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Internal Administration Committee that was also attended by officials from the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) and the Council of Agriculture.

In the meeting, People First Party (PFP) Legislator Chen Yi-chieh (陳怡潔) asked whether the new government has continued with efforts to protect the rights of Taiwanese fishermen operating in waters near Okinotori in the western Pacific since it took office May 20.

Citing Japanese media reports from May 23 that Taiwan’s Coast Guard would withdraw patrols from the vicinity because of the new administration’s stance, Chen asked whether the new government is no longer protecting the rights of Taiwanese fishermen operating there.     [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: June 17, 2016
By: Enru Lin

TAIPEI, Taiwan — The family dog could someday be eligible for household registration.

The government on Wednesday said it was developing a scheme to add companion animals to

the national household registry as a way to discourage pet abandonment.

“We propose including pets in the household registry and conducting a census every few years,” Agriculture Minister Tsao Chi-hung (曹啟鴻) told lawmakers of the Economics Committee.

A complete pet record would encourage responsible animal ownership and enable tougher enforcement of laws against pet abandonment — a punishable offense that today is hard to prove, he said.

Tsao was reporting on the Council of Agriculture’s (COA) preparation for a national no-kill policy for captured strays.

The policy has been adopted already at some public shelters and comes into effect nationwide next February.

A Push to Spay and Neuter

The COA has been working with local governments to control animal populations in humane ways, Tsao said.

Local governments trapped, neutered and returned a combined 110,000 cats and dogs last year, up from 78,000 in 2014, according to COA statistics.     [FULL  STORY]

The first animal blood transfusion center in Taiwan is officially in business, but will it be able to help all animals in need?

The News Lens
Date: 2016/06/15
By: Olivia Yang

National Pingtung University of Science and Technology has established the first animal blood

donation center and blood bank in Taiwan.

Tsai Yi-lun (蔡宜倫), an assistant professor at the university who heads the center, told the The News Lens International that a close evaluation of the nation’s animal healthcare system had made it clear there was a need for such an establishment in Taiwan.

The Veterinary Transfusion Medicine Center is based on the pet blood banks at the University of California, Davis and Thailand’s Kasetsart University. Plans for the center started in 2013.

“We hope to continue working with similar institutions in other countries once the center is operating more steadily,” Tsai says.

The center is currently focusing on canine blood donations and transfusions. Dogs between the age of one and eight weighing more than 20kg and have received regular vaccinations and deworming are elgible donors.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-06-15
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Thanks to the launching of Taiwan- Nagoya service by several budget airlines, the number of Taiwanese tourists visiting the Japanese city of Nagoya has increased significantly since the beginning of this year, according to media reports.

Japan has long been the top destination for Taiwanese travelers, and the Japanese cities of Tokyo and Osaka have traditionally been very popular. But Nagoya is on the rise.

According to statistics, the number of Taiwanese visitors to Nagoya has increased significantly this year compared to the same period last year, with January, February and March growing 170 percent, 144 percent, and 146 percent, respectively.

The increase has been attributed to several budget airlines’ launching of the Taiwan-Nagoya route, including V Air, Tigerair and JetStar Japan, reports said.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/06/15
By: Elaine Hou

Taipei, June 15 (CNA) Canadian culture and food specialties will be featured in Taipei later this month

at the Canada Day celebrations in the city, a fun-filled event that is expected to draw thousands of people, the organizers said Wednesday.

Among the sections at this year’s event, the Canadian Food and the Art Corner sections are new additions. The Canadian Food section will showcase an array of imported food from Canada, such as wild rice, beer, cider, and maple syrup, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Taiwan (CCCT) said at a news conference.

The Art Corner will display various handicrafts, and members of the Taipei Writers’ Group will also set up a booth to showcase their publications, it added.

Meanwhile, visitors will have an opportunity to sample snacks and drinks with a Canadian flavor, including maple pies, maple iced tea and Bloody Caesar cocktails, the CCCT said.     [FULL  STORY]

‘STEP BACK’:DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming said an agreement was reached in return for an adjustment to public hearings on transitional justice legislation

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 16, 2016
By: Abraham Gerber / Staff reporter

Marathon negotiations between the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Chinese Nationalist

Party (KMT) caucuses narrowly averted tussles in two key legislative committees yesterday, as parrying over transitional justice legislation continued.

Following talks on Tuesday and yesterday morning with the Internal Administration Committee’s co-convener Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順) of the KMT, former legislative speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) and KMT caucus whip Lin Te-fu (林德福), DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said an agreement was reached to overturn decisions at a meeting of the committee on Monday night in return for an adjustment to public hearings on transitional justice legislation that the KMT had demanded.

“We have both taken a step back because we want legislative business to proceed smoothly with everyone able to state their views,” Ker said. “Transitional justice legislation is unavoidable because it reflects a core DPP value — as does legislation on illicit party assets.”    [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
By Joseph Yeh ,The China Post
June 16, 2016, 12:14 am TWN

TAIPEI, Taiwan — The top U.S. envoy to Taiwan has called for the pork import issue to be

depoliticized, reiterating Washington’s long-standing call for the government to adopt global standards on meat containing the leanness enhancer ractopamine.

“We have been very consistent by saying that the regulations here should be based on science and international standards,” American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Kin Moy said during a media roundtable Tuesday.

“What we are seeing right now does not really reflect anything based on science so much as it is based on sort of political issues. The Taiwanese authorities should stop moving away from science-based international standards and instead adopt them,” Moy said.

Commenting on a protest last month by pig farmers urging the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration not to lift the ban on ractopamine-containing pork, Moy said he understood and sympathized with the domestic implications of the issue.     [FULL  STORY]

As another university closes its department of Taiwanese literature, academics and students disagree on the reasons for its demise.

The News Lens
Date: 2016/06/14
By: Yuan-ling Liang

In a June 6 article, the Chinese-language United Daily News discussed the many challenges

confronting Taiwanese literature and noted that the Department of Taiwanese Languages at Chung Shan Medical University (CSMU) will be closed after its current students graduate this month.
The real reason for the closure remains murky; some say courses lack popularity and practicality, while others fear the study of local culture and literature is being marginalized by profit-seeking universities and career-focused students across Taiwan.

Lin Shi-chieh (林士傑), who majored in Taiwanese languages and graduated from the CSMU in 2015, is now a student at the Graduate School of Taiwanese Literature of the National Taipei University of Education (NTUE). During Lin’s freshman year, 2012, the department announced it would not recruit any students for the following year due to its low enrolment rate and a high number of students already transferring out of the department.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-06-14
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Fishermen opened up two pregnant tiger sharks trapped in stationary fishing nets off the coast of Changbin Township, Taitung County and took out a total of 75 pups on Monday and Tuesday, of which the 38 Monday “born” pups are active and able to eat.

On Monday fishermen found a female tiger shark trapped in the stationary net had a round belly, which indicated to them it was expecting pups. The fishermen immediately opened up the female tiger shark and saved 38 pups, which the fishermen sent to the Eastern Marine Biology Research Center of the Fisheries Research Institute. On Tuesday another female tiger shark was caught by the net, and the fishermen took out 37 pups.

Ho Yuan-shing, head of the Eastern Marine Biology Research Center, said the fact that two female tiger sharks got caught in the stationary nets in two days might mean the period coincides with the birthing season of tiger sharks.     [FULL  STORY]