Taiwan News
Date: 2016-04-13
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taipei City is considering ending its contract with the Farglory Group about the Taipei Dome, Mayor Ko Wen-je told city councilors Wednesday.

The nearly completed 40,000-seat stadium project has been the focus of a high-profile dispute between the mayor and Farglory Chairman Chao Teng-hsiung ever since the former took office in December 2014. Last year, the city decided work on the Taipei Dome had to be halted due to safety considerations.

During a question-and-answer session at the Taipei City Council, Ko was asked how he was planning to deal with the project. The stalemate has been partly blamed for falling opinion poll ratings for the outspoken independent mayor.

For the first time, Ko said that the city was “resolving the issue in the direction of a termination of the contract,” reports said. As to whether the stadium should be torn down and rebuilt, or just torn down to make way for something else, Ko said every possibility was there, if the law was respected.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/04/13
By: Elaine Hou

Taipei, April 13 (CNA) Taiwan issued a strong protest Wednesday after

Kenya cited the “one China” policy as grounds for deporting several Taiwanese citizens to China after they were accused of phone fraud.

In a statement, Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) protested against Kenya’s decision to deport the Taiwanese suspects to China and demanded that the African country give a “reasonable explanation” for its actions.

The statement came after international media reports citied the Kenyan government as saying that the fraud suspects were in Kenya illegally and were being sent back to where they had come from.

“We don’t have official relations with Taiwan. We believe in the ‘One China’ policy. We have diplomatic relations with China,” Kenyan Foreign Minister Amina Mohamed was also quoted as saying in a Reuters report.     [FULL  STORY]

DEPORTEES FROM KENYA:A People First Party lawmaker accused Andrew Hsia of making a fool of lawmakers, with a Chinese fax saying a visit would be ‘inconvenient’

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 14, 2016
By: Stacy Hsu / Staff reporter

Mainland Affairs Council Minister Andrew Hsia (夏立言) faced criticism at a

legislative committee meeting yesterday over his “over-optimistic” interpretation of a response to the government’s request to visit Taiwanese detained in China following their deportation from Kenya.

At the Internal Administration Committee meeting, several lawmakers asked when the government planned to send officials to China to visit the 45 Taiwanese who were “illegally abducted” by China from Kenya on Friday last week and Tuesday.

Twenty-three of them were acquitted by a Kenyan court on Friday last week in a 2014 telecom fraud case, while the other 22 Taiwanese were among a group of 41 suspects arrested by Kenyan police on the same day.

When answering questions from Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順) regarding visiting the detained Taiwanese, Hsia said that China’s Taiwan Affairs Office sent a fax earlier yesterday welcoming such a visit and that the council would endeavor to make the trip possible within the next two or three days.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date 2016-04-12
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – China should release all Taiwanese who had been deported from Kenya, President-elect Tsai Ing-wen said Tuesday amid an escalating crisis over citizens accused of involvement in telephone scams.

An estimated 45 Taiwanese nationals had been found not guilty by a court in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, but instead of expelling them to Taiwan, the authorities in the African country were planning to put all of them on flights to China. Eight were reportedly already being held in Beijing.

The move caused consternation in Taiwan, where politicians from all sides condemned it as interference in the country’s sovereignty.

Government circles said they would be sending an envoy to China to lodge a protest and to discuss the release of the Taiwanese citizens.

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/04/12
By: Chen Wei-ting, Yu Hsiao-han and Kuo Chung-han

Taipei, April 12 (CNA) A new stationary front will result in rain for Taiwan

from Tuesday night through Friday, with the chance of heavy rain or even extremely heavy rain in northeastern and western Taiwan Wednesday and Thursday, according to the Central Weather Bureau.

Tuesday lows will be down to 18 degrees Celsius in northern Taiwan and Yilan County, with highs of 26-27 degrees in northern and eastern parts of the country.

The lows will be 20-22 degrees, with highs of 29-30 degrees in central and southern parts of the country, the bureau said.

As the current stationary front lingers around Taiwan, there is the chance of showers and thunderstorms in central and southern Taiwan, said the forecasters.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan Today
Date: April 12, 2016

New Taipei City in northern Taiwan is slashing greenhouse gasses and

leading the way in helping Taiwan reach its carbon emissions reduction goal in the 21st century and beyond.

Initiatives like installing light-emitting diode, or LED, bulbs in 220,000 street lamps, as well as encouraging greater use of the public bike rental system YouBike through offering the first 30 minutes of use free, are examples of successful local government undertakings aimed at keeping New Taipei on the road to sustainable and low-carbon city status.

New Taipei is also winning international recognition for its greening efforts. In December 2015, it was named one of the 10 best metropolises in the world for climate reporting by London-based Carbon Disclosure Project. A month earlier, the city was the first in Asia to achieve full compliance with climate change action announced by the Compact of Mayors, a New York-based organization and the world’s largest coalition of city leaders committed to combating climate change.

To further its efforts, the New Taipei City Government organized climate change forum April 10 in Banqiao District, gathering local academics and representatives of the private and public sectors to discuss strategies to fight against climate change. “Facing the severe challenges brought by climate change, we have to be well-prepared and work hand in hand to cut carbon emissions and conserve biodiversity,” Mayor Eric Chu said.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan Today
Date: April 9, 2016

ROC President Ma Ying-jeou visited Pengjia Islet near the Diaoyutai

Islands April 9, unveiling a monument commemorating the third anniversary of the signing of the landmark Taiwan-Japan Fisheries Agreement. (UDN)

“This monument serves as testament to the ROC government’s commitment to safeguarding sovereignty and promoting regional stability by turning the East China Sea, South China Sea and Taiwan Strait into three seas of peace,” Ma said.

Arriving on an S-70C helicopter in the afternoon, the president was joined at the ceremony by senior government officials, academics, and members of the media from home and abroad. He also met with ROC Coast Guard Administration personnel based on the islet and inspected a weather observation station and lighthouse. This was Ma’s second visit to Pengjia Islet following his first in September 2012.

Pengjia Islet is situated around 30 nautical miles north of Keelung City in northern Taiwan and 76 nautical miles west of the Diaoyutai Islands.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-04-11
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

According to Directorate-General of Personnel Administration’s (DGPA) initial plan released on Monday, Taiwan’s administrative organizations will enjoy 116 days off in 2017, including six long weekends.

Next year’s Chinese New Year holiday season will only have six days, three days shorter compared to this year’s, according to the initial plan. Next year’s Chinese New Year holiday will be from Jan. 27 to Feb. 1.

There will be four four-day holidays, including the 228 Peace Memorial Day holiday (Feb. 25 – 28), the Tomb Sweeping Day holiday (Apr. 1 – 4), the Dragon Boat Festival Holiday (May 27 – 30), and the National Day holiday (Oct. 7 – 10), according to the plan. All four holidays have four days off from Saturday through Tuesday.

The New Year Holiday is a three-day holiday, starting from Dec. 31 this year until Jan. 2 in the next year.     [FULL  STORY]