NBC News
By: FRANCES KAI-HWA WANG

The University of Southern California (USC) has launched a new effort to collect and preserve local and national Taiwanese-American history in the form of a Taiwanese American Digital Archive at the USC Libraries.

“From a community perspective, this is an important project because many of

Documents collected as part of the creation of the USC Taiwanese American Digital Archive, a project to document local and national Taiwanese-American history. Photo by Ho Chie Tsai

our first generation immigrants who came to the US as early as the 1950s, and in larger numbers post-1965, are in their 70s or 80s,” Ho Chie Tsai, founder of nonprofit TaiwaneseAmerican.org, told NBC News in an email. “During the martial-law era of Taiwan, their history and stories had been suppressed by the Nationalist government. And even after martial law was lifted in 1987, for so long, many more were even afraid to share their stories for fear of what might happen to them. It was this fear and anger, yet their hope for a better Taiwan, that many of my parents’ generation worked hard, here in the US, to create networks and communities that embraced their unique Taiwanese identity.”

Initial research of existing collections by USC subject resident archivist Joanna Chen Cham, who could not comment on the project by publish date, suggests that few Taiwanese-American records have been collected and other community collections have been overlooked, according to USC. The project plans to collect, digitize, and return most of the original source material back to the families that provide them. Cham, a second-generation Taiwanese American, is leading the effort under the direction of USC East Asian Library head Kenneth Klein.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/02/23
By: Lung Pei-ning and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, Feb. 23 (CNA) Taiwan, on heightened alert for a possible Zika outbreak, has ramped up its quarantine protocols in order to shield the country from the mosquito-borne virus at its borders, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said Tuesday.

The current quarantine work is focusing on off-shore and border control, said CDC Deputy Director-General Chou Jih-haw (周志浩).

Six major quarantine measures have been implemented, including clearing mosquitoes from airplanes, healthcare and hygiene education for arriving and departing passengers, fever screening of arriving passengers, traveler-self reporting, blood tests at ports, and hospital treatments, Chou said.

According to the CDC, there were 12 Taiwanese tour groups traveling to central and southern American countries in February. Among the tour groups, which consist of a total of 254 people, eight groups have returned to Taiwan, it said.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan Today
Date: February 23, 2016

Expanding Taiwan’s renewable energy production and implementing power

Taiwan’s first floating solar power system in Pingtung County represents the effectiveness of ROC government policies promoting renewable energy production nationwide. (UDN)

saving measures in the public and private sectors are key policy priorities for the ROC government.

Green power initiatives are in place nationwide, aiming to achieve renewable energy installed capacity of 17,250 megawatts by 2030, or 12.6 percent of total energy consumed, according to the Bureau of Energy under the ROC Ministry of Economic Affairs.

Raising green productivity and slashing energy consumption through the development of light-emitting diode, smart grid, solar photovoltaic and wind power industries is also a goal of the government. These sectors are estimated to generate an annual production value of NT$1 trillion (US$29.7 billion) while employing 100,000 people by 2020.

The inauguration of Taiwan’s first floating solar power system Feb. 18 in Pingtung County underscores the effectiveness of this policymaking commitment. Constructed on a retention pond by Taipei City-headquartered LCY Group and locally based Sun Rise E&T Corp., the facility’s 400 solar modules can generate 102 kilowatts of electricity per year from 3.6 hours of sunlight per day. This number is set to increase to 499 kilowatts once full operations commence in May, providing energy for more than 440 households.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/02/22
By: Liu Chien-pan and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, Feb. 22 (CNA) Taiwanese people were highly satisfied with the

CNA file photo

performance of police officers in maintaining social order, but distrusting of judges and prosecutors in making fair and just decisions on legal cases, according to a survey released Monday.

A high percentage – 72.9 percent – of the people surveyed were satisfied with the police’s performance in keeping society safe, the highest rate since the survey was first conducted by the Crime Research Center of National Chung Cheng University in 2003.

The survey on the satisfaction level for last year also showed that 43.9 percent of the respondents thought the current social order in Taiwan was in a good condition.

Although the rate of satisfaction remained lower than the 50-percent mark, it indicated a steady growth for four consecutive years, researchers at the Crime Research Center said.     [FULL  STORY][

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-02-22
By: Chia Lee, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

As Taichung City recorded a high level of PM 2.5 Monday, the city

As Taichung city recorded high density of PM 2.5 Monday, the city government said that it has initiated related contingency measures to cope with the worsened air quality in the city.

government said that it has actuated related contingency measures to cope with the worsening air quality in the city.

Taichung’s Environmental Protection Bureau (EPB) on Monday revealed the city’s latest air quality update, in which five out of 16 observation monitoring stations across the city reached the “red” level in the EPA’s air quality index as of 8 a.m. Monday.

The city government warned the public of bad air quality on the same day accordingly, while enforcing related contingency plans to improve air quality, including clamping down on pollution emissions and keeping up the effort of monitoring pollution data through the Continuous Emissions Monitoring System (CEMS).

The city government also noted it will step up street cleaning, road dust suppression, as well as water sprinkling at construction sites, all of which common dust control measures adopted by the local government.     [FULL  STORY]

AGING POPULATION:The president-elect is looking to increasing sales, gift and inheritance taxes as one way to finance the proposed services for elderly people

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 23, 2016
By: Staff writer, with CNA

Underlining the need to develop a solid policy on long-term care for an aging

President-elect Tsai Ing-wen, center, leaves after an academic seminar to mark the 10th anniversary of the Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology’s establishment at Taipei Veterans General Hospital yesterday. c Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times

population, president-elect Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday said that she plans to allocate NT$30 billion (US$893.73 million) from taxes and NT$3 billion from the regular government budget to build a long-term care system.

Speaking at an academic seminar to mark the 10th anniversary of the Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology at Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Tsai said that providing long-term care services would be a top priority for the next government, which will be sworn in on May 20.

An intergovernmental agency long-term care panel will be formed to carry out the task by pooling resources from various sectors across the nation, she said.

Tsai’s platform on long-term care services, outlined during her presidential campaign, advocates hiking sales, gift and inheritance taxes to finance the proposed services for elderly people.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/02/22
By: Lung Pei-ning and S.C. Chang

Taipei, Feb. 22 (CNA) Taiwan’s Ministry of Health and Welfare called a

CDC’s Chou Jih-haw (left, CNA file photo)

meeting Monday to require local health authorities to complete drills by the end of this month on preventing the infection of Zika virus, a mosquito-born disease that is hitting Central and Southern American countries.

The meeting was chaired by Kuo Hsu-sung (郭旭崧), commanding officer of the Zika Virus Infection Control Center, and attended by officials from six infectious disease control networks and 22 cities and counties across the nation, according to Chou Jih-haw (周志浩), deputy director general of the ministry’s Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

Chou quoted Kuo as issuing an order to local health officials that they finish a round of exercise by the end of this month that will see designated hospitals properly deal with the scenario of having a first case of a patient who has tested positive for having contracted Zika virus.

While ordinary people will not show violent symptoms after contracting the disease, infected pregnant women might give birth to babies with microcephaly or “smaller than usual heads,” so health officials should make extra efforts to alert pregnant women, Chou said.     [FULL  STORY]