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Chiang Kai-shek statues nationwide found defaced

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 29, 2016
By: Jonathan Chin / Staff writer

Statues of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) yesterday were defaced around the nation, including in Yilan, Nantou and Miaoli counties, in apparent acts of protest coinciding with 228 Memorial Day.

In Yilan City, slogans that read “Taiwan’s Hitler” and “Culprit of 228” were sprayed in red on a statue of Chiang in the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Park, while “China’s Founding Father” was sprayed on the park’s statue of Sun Yat-sen (孫逸仙).
In Nantou’s Jhongsing New Village (中興新村), a statue of Chiang was covered with a white cloth cut to resemble a shroud.

A statue of Chiang in a Miaoli City parking lot was also defaced. A box, on which “Apologize” was written, was placed over the statue’s head, while a board hung from its neck read “Murderer.”

Vandalism of monuments honoring historical figures of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) have been common in recent years on 228 Memorial Day, a day dedicated to the remembrance of the 228 Incident — an uprising that began on Feb. 27, 1947, which was violently suppressed by the KMT government, marking the beginning of the White Terror era.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei City Mayor breaks promise not to cry on Feb. 28

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-02-28
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Taipei City Mayor Ko Wen-je stopped to cry several times in his 228 Memorial 6738047Day address at the Eluanbi Lighthouse on Sunday after finishing his 520-kilometer biking trip from Taiwan’s northernmost tip to the southernmost tip in 28.5 hours.

Ko reached the destination– the Eluanbi Lighthouse—at 10:05 AM on Feb. 28, 28.5 hours after he started biking from the Fuguei Cape Lighthouse at 5:26 AM on Feb. 27. Upon completing the grueling trip, Ko made a 9-miniute address on the 228 incident in which his grandfather was one of a great many Taiwanese people persecuted by the ruling Kuomintang government.

Ko’s grandfather, who was an elementary school teacher at that time, was implicated in the 228 incident, causing the family to panic, according to Ko’s speech on last year’s 228 Memorial Day. His grandfather was shortly jailed and physically abused during his confinement; he subsequently suffered from mental and physical illnesses after his release from jail and died three years later, according to Ko’s statement last year.     [FULL  STORY]

Chinese student unaccounted for after being swept into sea

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/02/28
By Worthy Shen and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, Feb. 28 (CNA) A Chinese student at Fo Guang University in Yilan has

The beach near Wushi Port. (CNA file photo)

The beach near Wushi Port. (CNA file photo)

been missing since he was swept by a big wave into the Pacific Ocean off Wushi Port in the county on Sunday, according to local police and Coast Guard officers.

A search is underway, the Yilan County Fire Bureau said.

The student, only identified by his surname of Wang, is a 20-year-old exchange student at the university. He was swept into the sea as he was playing in the water within the surfing zone of the port, the bureau said.

As of 6 p.m., there were no signs of the student, prompting rescue personnel to expand the scale of the search.     [FULL  STORY]

Criminals can be forgiven but crimes must be reprimanded: vice president-elect

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-02-28
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Criminals can be forgiven but crimes must be strongly reprimanded; so the

(Source of the photo: Vice President-elect Chen Chien-jen's Facebook)

(Source of the photo: Vice President-elect Chen Chien-jen’s Facebook)

incoming government must carry out transitional justice to bring true reconciliation for the country, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Vice President-elect Chen Chien-jen said on Sunday.
“The 228 Incident is the most hurting tragedy in Taiwan’s history, and I prayed for the souls of people who died because of the incident to rest in peace,” Chen said on his Facebook page on the 228 Memorial Day.

“DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen and I clearly understand our responsibilities to reveal more hidden truths about the 228 Incident and the White Terror period,” Chen said.

In related news, Tu Shih-wen, a 228 Incident victim family representative from Kaohsiung City, said after attending a memorial at the 228 Peace Memorial Park in Taipei on Sunday that he was only five when the incident broke out, so he could feel the pain for those who lost their loved ones, such as the bereft families of those who died in the Feb. 6 earthquake.     [FULL  STORY]

Dumplings from Taiwan gain following in the Philippines

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/02/28
By: Emerson Lim and Elizabeth Hsu

Manila, the Philippines, Feb. 28 (CNA) Taiwanese restaurant chain Din Tai 57320107Fung (鼎泰豐) has won over many Philippine foodies with the star of its menu — xiaolongbao (small dumplings in English) — since it opened its first branch in the country late last year.

The new branch opened last December at SM Megamall in Mandaluyong in the greater Manila area, and “everyone went crazy to finally satisfy their (palate) with the restaurant’s star of menu, the Xiao Long Bao,” a post on the ABS-CBN news website said.

The post, titled “How to enjoy the best dim sums in the world,” was put online Saturday along with a video made for the Cityscape program on the ANC News channel, an English-language TV channel affiliated with ABS-CBN, one of the Philippines’ two largest media groups.

In the video, Eliza Antonino, Din Tai Fung’s partner in the Philippines, attributed the restaurant’s popularity to its emphasis on details, from the soup-filling ratio to the volume of folds of a dumpling wrapper.     [FULL  STORY]

Lawmakers pan Prague for sovereignty slight

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 28, 2016
By: Lin Liang-sheng, Ku Chia-hsin and Jake Chung / Staff reporters, with staff writer

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers castigated the Prague City Council’s support for China’s claim of sovereignty over Taiwan in a sistership agreement that the city has signed with Beijing, and called on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the premier to express the nation’s disapproval.

The city assembly on Thursday ratified an agreement which included a clause stating that “Prague recognizes the one-China policy, as well as recognizes Taiwan as an inseparable part of Chinese territory.”     [FULL  STORY]

Students, university clash over 228

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-02-27
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A dispute erupted at Taipei’s prestigious National

(image courtesy of NCCUWildFire Facebook page)

(image courtesy of NCCUWildFire Facebook page)

Chengchi University after a college official ripped up a student association poster marking the anniversary of the 228 Incident, reports said Saturday.

Sunday is the 69th anniversary of an uprising against the Kuomintang rule of President Chiang Kai-shek, which was followed by the death of thousands, initially during fighting and executions, and later during years of repression known as the White Terror..     [FULL  STORY]

Taipei to hold North Gate photo contest

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/02/27
By: Liu Chien-pang and Lilian Wu

Taipei, Feb. 26 (CNA) The Taipei municipal government is holding a photo 21754859contest to commemorate the demolition of a ramp connecting to Zhongxiao Bridge in the city and “the resurgence of the splendor” of the nearby North Gate.

The city’s Public Works Department said it will accept entries between March 15 and April 15 and all interested parties, regardless of age or nationality, can participate.

The entries will be reviewed in late April, with the results announced a week later.

There will be three top prizes, with each winner receiving NT$50,000 (US$1,500), three second-place prizes of NT$30,000 and three third-place prizes of NT$20,000.     [FULL  STORY]

US urges China to remain flexible in cross-strait ties

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 28, 2016
By: Staff writer, with CNA

A senior White House official on Friday reiterated US calls for China to show flexibility in its relations with Taiwan, but did not comment on the latest remarks by Chinese Minister for Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅), which were seen by some in Taiwan as conciliatory.

“We repeatedly encourage our friends in Beijing to show flexibility and creativity in cross-strait relations going forward,” US National Security Council Senior Director for Asian Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink said. “I’m hopeful that will continue.”     [FULL  STORY]

Prison sentences in case against Ting Hsin affiliate

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-02-26
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Top managers at Ting Hsin International affiliate 6737660Cheng I Food Co., Ltd. received prison sentences of up to five years and ten months Friday for mixing animal feed oil with other cooking oil and selling it for human consumption.
The case was one of several high-profile food safety scandals which broke out in late 2014, with Ting Hsin, the conglomerate run by the four Wei brothers, at the center of the controversy.

The Kaohsiung District Court on Friday handed out a sentence of five years and ten months in prison to Ho-Wu Hui-chu, the businessperson who sold the animal feed oil to Cheng I. Middleman Lin Ming-chung received four years and two months, Cheng I President Ho Yu-jen eight months and Hu Chin-wen, a company official handling the purchase of the cooking oil ingredients, four months. Appeals were still possible.

Ho-Wu’s company was also fined NT$6 million (US$180,000), while Lin saw his illegal profits estimated at more than NT$4.47 million (US$134,000) confiscated.     [FULL  STORY]