Taiwan News
Date: 2016-02-17
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

New Taipei Mayor Eric Chu, Taipei City Mayor Ko Wen-jer and Keelung Mayor LinYu-chang will jointly fly a 16-foot sky lantern in the final organized activities of the Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival at the Shifen Sky Lantern Square on Feb. 22, the date of the Lantern Festival.

The main lantern will be decorated with beautiful landscape photos from around the world collected by a six-year-old girl whose dream is to travel around the world.

Tourism and Travel Department, New Taipei City Government, said visitors to Shifen on Feb. 22 can take shuttle buses at MRT Taipei Zoo Station, TRA Ruifang Station and TRA Keelung Station.     [SOURCE]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/02/17
By: Page Tsai and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, Feb. 17 (CNA) The Taipei High Administrative Court ruled Wednesday that the son of a Japanese man believed to have been killed during the military suppression of a major anti-government uprising in Taiwan in 1947, known as the 228 Incident, should be paid NT$6 million (US$180,180) in compensation.

The ruling marks Keisho Aoyama (青山惠昭), a 71-year-old resident of the city of Urasoe in Okinawa, as the family member of the first foreign victim of the incident to be eligible for compensation.

In 2013, Aoyama filed an application with the Memorial Foundation of 228 in Taiwan to recognize his father, Esaki Aoyama (青山惠先), as a foreign victim of the incident and demanded NT$6 million in compensation.

His father was recognized as a victim in December 2014, but the foundation turned down the compensation demand on the grounds that the Japanese government did not pay reparations to former Taiwanese troops who fought for Japan during World War II or Taiwanese women forced to work as wartime sex slaves in Japanese military brothels before and during the war.     [FULL  STORY]

SHIFT:Officials attributed the congestion to drivers taking the Zhongxiao Bridge instead of the two other bridges linking Taipei and New Taipei City

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 17, 2016
By: Sean Lin / Staff reporter

After a morning of smooth traffic flow, the number of cars and scooters on the

Zhongxiao Bridge (忠孝橋) began to increase yesterday following the demolition of an onramp connected to the bridge over the Lunar New Year holiday, with officials saying that traffic rose by 3 to 5 percent along the west terminus of Zhongxiao W Road.

Taipei Department of Transportation Commissioner Chung Hui-yu (鍾慧諭) said that traffic was heavy from the ramp leading to the intersection of Zhongxiao W Road and Xining S Road, with department officials saying that cars were moving at a speed of between 10kph and 20kph.

The congestion extended to the middle of the bridge and it took drivers at least five more minutes before they could enter Taipei, Chung said.    [FULL  STORY][

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/02/16
By: Yiu Kai-hsiang and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, Feb. 16 (CNA) President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) on Tuesday called for measures to prevent a recurrence of the destruction that occurred in Tainan during a magnitude 6.4 earthquake that struck southern Taiwan on Feb. 6.

These measures would include inspections of old buildings in earthquake-prone areas around the country, Ma said during a visit to Chi-nan Temple (指南宮) in Taipei’s Muzha area where he attended a prayer vigil for the victims of the earthquake.

The Feb. 6 quake, centered in Meinong District of Kaohsiung, left 116 people dead and more than 500 others injured in neighboring Tainan.

The quake toppled several buildings, with the collapsed Weiguan Jinlong apartment complex in Tainan’s Yongkang District being the main site of the casualties, accounting for 114 deaths.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-02-16
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Former Cabinet Secretary-General Chen Ching-chun visited the Taipei City Government Tuesday amid reports he would soon take over as the capital’s third vice mayor.

The previous holder of the position, Chou Li-fang, resigned in January after less than a year in government. One of her tasks was to manage preparations for the hosting of the 2017 Summer Universiade.

Chen, 59, has a long career in the Democratic Progressive Party. He served as mayor of Sanchong in what is now New Taipei City, was elected legislator and appointed transportation vice minister and later secretary-general of the Executive Yuan during the presidency of Chen Shui-bian.

The prospective new vice mayor visited Mayor Ko Wen-je Tuesday morning. After the one-hour meeting which also included other top city officials, Chen told reporters he would be involved in education and domestic affairs.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan Today
Date: February 16, 2016

The 24th edition of Taipei International Book Exhibition is promoting cross-

border communications in the global publishing industry while strengthening Taiwan’s presence as an Asia-Pacific hub for copyright exchanges.

Exhibitions span children’s books, comics and animation, electronic media, government publications, university presses and world literature. These help ensure TIBE’s standing as the largest book show in Asia and premier status alongside events like Frankfurt Book Fair of Germany, Bologna Children’s Book Fair of Italy and BookExpo America of the U.S.

A total of 1,706 booths by 626 publishers from 66 countries and territories is certain to push attendance above last year’s record 560,000. In addition, there are 528 copyright transaction sessions during the six-day event, as well as the Book Meets Film cross-media matching forum—a platform for adapting 19 titles into TV dramas and films since its inauguration in 2012.

Doris Wang, chairwoman of event organizer Taipei Book Fair Foundation, attributed TIBE’s success to strong ties with the worldwide book fair and publishing community. She cited collaboration with FBF on launching Frankfurt Academy Training Program for Asian publishing professionals in Taipei.     [FULL  STORY]

UNNECESSARY:The DPP said an NPP call for a resolution opposing the sale of CNS to MSPE is redundant, as it has already secured a pledge from the Investment Commission

Taipei Times
Date: , Feb 17, 2016
By: Chang Hsiao-ti and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writer

The New Power Party (NPP) yesterday announced its legislative agenda,

which includes introducing bills to institutionalize the transition of governments, combat media monopolies and increase transparency in cross-strait negotiations, as well as amend disaster relief and compensation laws.

The party made the announcement at a news conference held after its caucus met in Taipei to set its priorities in the Legislative Yuan session that is to begin on Friday.

NPP Chairman and Legislator Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) said that the party’s priority is to introduce a draft act to regulate the transition of power between governments by specifying how outgoing administrations handoff their responsibilities to incoming administrations.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-02-15
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Repair and restoration of 34 historical sites damaged by the Feb. 6 earthquake was initially estimated to cost NT$520 million, Minister of Culture Hung Meng-chi said on Monday.

Twenty-three of the 34 damaged historical sites are located in the city of Tainan, with the State Temple of the Martial God and the Tainan Confucian Temple being the most severe cases, Hung said.

The Ministry of Culture dispatched a cultural heritage emergency team on the same day of the earthquake to assist in inspecting the structures of the damaged historical sites and their strengthening, the minister said.

On the next day, fences that were more likely to collapse were strengthened, and those looked ready to crumble, such as the drum tower of the Wind God Temple, were cordoned off for safety concern, Hung added.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/02/15
By: Lung Pei-ning and Lilian Wu

Taipei, Feb. 15 (CNA) The Cabinet said Monday that it will set up a research

institute for mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue fever and the Zika virus in the first half of the year.

Minister without Portfolio Chung Char-dir (鍾嘉德), who convened a meeting with the Ministry of Health and Welfare earlier in the day, said it was agreed that the research center would be established under the National Health Research Institutes before the start of summer.

Working with local governments and schools, the research institute will monitor disease-bearing vectors, carry out clinical trials and establish a better early warning system, Chung said.     [FULL  STORY]