DIVIDED WE STAND:KMT members wanting to tone down the annual China forum now that the party is in opposition have met with disapproval from former leaders

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 05, 2016
By: Stacy Hsu / Staff reporter

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) members are divided over a proposed abolition of the party’s annual forum with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which has taken place since former KMT chairman Lien Chan’s (連戰) “journey of peace” visit to China in 2005.

The proposal was tabled by former KMT secretary-general Lee Shu-chuan (李四川) in a party reform proposal submitted to KMT Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) late last month.

In the report, Lee called the annual forum — officially referred to as the Cross-Strait Economic, Trade and Culture Forum — “political pageantry,” saying it should be replaced by the establishment of a service center for China-based Taiwanese businesspeople in Beijing.

New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫), who nominated Lee as the party’s secretary-general after assuming the KMT chairmanship in January last year, yesterday said that the possibility of transforming the cross-strait forum had already been touched upon during last year’s forum.

“Preliminary efforts were made to transform the forum last year. We hope Hung and leaders in Beijing can make some adjustments, as different stages of cross-strait interaction have different missions and should therefore be handled in a different manner,” said Chu, who led a delegation to the 10th KMT-CCP forum in Shanghai in May last year.     [FULL  STORY]

SNOOPING:Chinese are most likely interested in Taiwan’s Indigenous Defense Fighters, weapons and defense facilities, former legislator Hsu Chung-hsin said

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 04, 2016
By: Lee Hsin-fang / Staff reporter

Former Taiwan Solidarity Union legislator Hsu Chung-hsin (許忠信) said he has concerns over the intentions of Chinese who go missing after entering Taiwan on the pretext of traveling or undergoing medical procedures, saying they could be on intelligence-gathering missions.

According to statistics compiled by the National Immigration Agency (NIA), there are 146 Chinese who are unaccounted for, entering Taiwan for tourism or to undergo medical procedures.

The NIA and the National Police Agency are still trying to locate them.

“The probability of Chinese engaging in intelligence-gathering activities in Taiwan under the guise of medical examinations or independent travel has surged since President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration further opened Taiwan to China,” said Hsu, who is a professor of law at National Cheng Kung University.

Hsu said it is not that the government is unable to find the missing Chinese citizens, but rather that search efforts have been impeded by its attitude.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-04-02
By: Central News Agency

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) on Saturday said it has taken note of a statement by the U.S. government encouraging Taipei and Beijing to continue their efforts to maintain cross-Taiwan Strait peace and stability.

“Cross-strait peace and stability is the joint responsibility of the two sides. We will work hard for it,” DPP spokesman Wang Min-sheng (王閔生) said.

Wang added that the DPP also appreciated Washington’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act and its attention to cross-strait peace.

He was responding to remarks made by U.S. National Security Council Senior Director for Asian Affairs Dan Kritenbrink in a press briefing held Thursday, prior to a meeting between U.S. President Barack Obama and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping (習近平).

On a question related to Taiwan, Kritenbrink said he expected the issue of Taiwan would be raised in the meeting because it almost always comes up in any meeting between the two presidents.     [FULL  STORY]

MA’S MESSENGER?Lawyer Chou Wu-jung said that the minister of justice’s trip to China was highly inappropriate due to concerns over national security leaks

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 03, 2016
By: Jason Pan / Staff reporter

On returning to Taiwan late on Friday from a landmark visit to China, a country infamous for its high execution rate, Minister of Justice Luo Ying-shay (羅瑩雪) said her ministry would tread carefully when dealing with cases involving capital punishment.

Addressing calls by some groups to execute convicted offenders on death row, Luo said the Ministry of Justice would deal with the issue in a prudent manner, adding that the ministry has formed a “special review committee” for capital punishment cases that involve potential miscarriages of justice.

A plan to set up the committee came before a four-year-old girl was decapitated in Taipei on Monday.

“In the aftermath of the case, everyone sees the need for this special review committee to implement and carry out its mandate,” Luo said. “Therefore, we request prosecutors’ offices at all levels to pass on all cases involving capital punishment to the ministry for review by the committee.”

Luo said that she is unaware of the progress of the review process on various cases, so she does not know whether any inmates on death row would be executed before May 20, when President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration steps down.     [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 01, 2016
By: Shelley Shan / Staff reporter

A Taiwanese woman was found dead in a small town in the southern Czech Republic after she went missing during a tour in central Europe earlier this month.

According to the Southeast Travel Service Co (東南旅行社), the woman, surnamed Huang (黃), joined the company’s 10-day tour to Austria and the Czech Republic.

The tour group checked into a hotel in the Czech city of Cesky Krumlov on the fifth day of the tour, the company said, adding that the tour guide did not arrange any activity for the night and left the tourists in the group to explore the town by themselves.

However, Huang did not return to the hotel that night. The tour guide and a friend of Huang spent the night trying to find her, but failed, the company said.

The tour guide reported to the police the next day that Huang was missing, the agency said, adding that her whereabouts remained unknown even after the tour group returned to Taiwan on March 14.     [FULL  STORY]