Page Two

‘One Taiwan’ slogan criticized

KMT CAPITALIZING?Taipei City Government policy adviser Hung Chih-kun said ‘one China’ was missing, while others said the slogan promotes Taiwanese independence

Taipei Times
Date:  Nov 02, 2015
By: Stacy Hsu  /  Staff reporter

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Eric Chu’s (朱立倫) latest

The campaign slogan and logo of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Eric Chu is shown in a screed grab from Facebook after it was released yesterday. The characters beneath “one Taiwan” read: “Taiwan is strength.” Photo: Screen grab from Facebook

The campaign slogan and logo of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Eric Chu is shown in a screed grab from Facebook after it was released yesterday. The characters beneath “one Taiwan” read: “Taiwan is strength.” Photo: Screen grab from Facebook

campaign slogan unveiled yesterday has triggered a heated online discussion on its underlying messages, as well as bringing accusations of plagiarism.

Early yesterday, Chu posted on Facebook a photograph showing a billboard in Taipei’s downtown area with the slogan “One Taiwan.”

“Past campaigns were usually a process of prolonged bickering … but after staring at a few key words — solidarity, action and strength — which I selected from a long list, I have come to a realization about the predicaments Taiwan has experienced over the years,” Chu wrote on Facebook.

Chu said he realized that people generally tend to spend more time arguing over problems than trying to tackle them, which has led to the nation’s stagnant economy and “social chaos.”

Addressing Taiwan’s problems requires unity, mutual tolerance and comprehension, Chu said.

“We must jointly march forward into the future with a multicolored, diversified, and united ‘one Taiwan,’” he said.     [FULL  STORY]

Tsai: legislative campaign efforts moving ahead smoothly

Taiwan News
Date: 2015-11-01
By: Ko Lin, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen denied rumors that it

Tsai moves ahead with legislative campaigns. Central News Agency

Tsai moves ahead with legislative campaigns. Central News Agency

has revised down on the number of anticipated win in next January’s legislative elections, reports said Sunday.

Tsai said the party’s campaign efforts are moving ahead smoothly as planned, and that their goal to achieve a certain amount of seats in the legislature will not be bogged down by unscrupulous rumors and hearsays.

“The direction we are taking with our legislative campaign is spot on,” she said.

The presidential contender was campaigning in Chiayi County when she made the remarks, a municipal that is traditionally a green stronghold.

Tsai moved across two of the area’s city and mountainous regions in order to see the formation of two separate campaign posts. The DPP’s Chiayi County legislative candidates include Huang Hsiu-fang and Chen Wen-pin.     [FULL  STORY]

Finalists of new award for improving society announced jointly by Golden Pin Design Award, WDC Taipei 2016

A new special award to be presented to a project/product making society better

Taiwan News
Date: 2015-10-31
By: Sophia Yang, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

5% Design Action Social Innovation Platform by dreamvok (Image courtesy of the Taiwan

Finalists of new award for improving society announced. Taiwan News

Finalists of new award for improving society announced. Taiwan News

Design Center)
With more extreme weather across the region and a widening gap between the rich and the poor, the projects addressing key social issues to improve the quality of life for the underprivileged and to assist others in times of crisis are worth our attention and support. A collaboration between Taiwan’s premier design award, the Golden Pin Design Award, and World Design Capital Taipei 2016, has resulted in the selection of four innovative social design projects as Finalists in a new Special Annual Award this past week.

Projects addressing key social issues including improving living conditions for disaster victims, applying design thinking to social problems, and recycling waste materials are considered during the selection process.

Judging for the award took place in early October at the National Taiwan University Sports Center in Taipei, where panel of nine local and international design industry specialists, also judges for the Golden Pin Design Award 2015, carefully reviewed the 15 projects and products that made it through Primary and Secondary Selection.     [FULL  STORY]

Woman nabbed for smuggling heroin

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/10/31
By: Chiu Chun-chin and Lilian Wu

Taipei, Oct. 31 (CNA) A woman has been arrested for smuggling heroin into Taiwan, aviation police at the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport said Saturday.

Police said the 38-year-old woman, surnamed Tian (田), was found to have 1,212 grams of heroin hidden in her underwear when she arrived from Vietnam aboard an EVA Air plane.

Another man, also surnamed Tian, 23, who was accompanying her, and a man surnamed Chang (張), 44, who planned to take delivery of the heroin, were also arrested.

The three were turned over to the Taoyuan District Prosecutors Office for violation of the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act.

Conferring on Climate Change

Taiwan Review
Date: November 1, 2015
By: OSCAR CHUNG

A forum for nongovernmental groups helps Taiwan learn from and contribute to

The UNFCCC NGO Forum in Taipei City in August was attended by a number of foreign experts with close ties to U.N. agencies or other prominent international organizations. (Photo by Huang Chung-hsin)

The UNFCCC NGO Forum in Taipei City in August was attended by a number of foreign experts with close ties to U.N. agencies or other prominent international organizations. (Photo by Huang Chung-hsin)

international efforts to tackle global warming.

In the week leading up to an international climate change conference for nongovernmental organizations (NGO) in August this year, Annie Chang (張琬琪) was brimming with anticipation and excitement. The annual forum in Taipei on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is of great significance to local NGOs, she explains, as it provides them with an opportunity to share their insights with representatives of prominent international groups. “Of course, participating in one of the panels is a little nerve-racking,” says the researcher from the Foundation for Women’s Rights Promotion and Development, a Taiwanese organization founded in 1998. “But overall I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to discuss our experiences and exchange views on climate change.”

The UNFCCC NGO Forum, co-organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Cabinet-level Environmental Protection Administration (EPA), is among a number of regularly scheduled events that help connect Taiwan to international efforts to tackle global warming. Due to its unique status in the international community, the Republic of China (ROC) is not a member of the U.N. and therefore is not a signatory to the UNFCCC, an environmental treaty for combating climate change. As a result, official representatives from Taiwan do not take part in UNFCCC conferences.     [FULL  STORY]

NCCU students petition against ‘party-state’ song

Taipei Times
Date:  Nov 01, 2015
By: Wu Po-hsuan and Jake Chung  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer

National Chengchi University (NCCU) student group the “Wild Fire Alliance” on Friday

Members of student organizations at National Chengchi University petition for the abolition of their school anthem on Friday in Taipei. Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times

Members of student organizations at National Chengchi University petition for the abolition of their school anthem on Friday in Taipei. Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times

handed in 1,378 signatures to school authorities, asking the university to abolish its anthem, which they said contained “party-state ideology.”

Pointing to lyrics to the anthem such as “implementing the Three Principles of the People is our party’s mission/building the Republic of China is our party’s responsibility,” student group spokesperson Yang Tsu-hsien (楊子賢) said that the university’s insistence that students sing the anthem in the annual choir competition “makes it difficult for people to tell whether NCCU is a national university or a university established by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).”

Students said that the phrases “the responsibility of our party” echoed party-state ideologies, adding that it sounded more like brainwashing rather than arousing within the students a sense of pride in their school.     [FULL  STORY]

Arbitration panel OKs jurisdiction in South China Sea case

Taiwan News
Date: 2015-10-30
By: MIKE CORDER, JIM GOMEZ Associated Press

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — An international tribunal ruled Thursday that it can

Arbitration panel OKs jurisdiction in South China Sea case. Associated Press

Arbitration panel OKs jurisdiction in South China Sea case. Associated Press

take on a case between China and the Philippines over disputed territory in the South China Sea, overruling objections from Beijing that the arbitration body has no authority to hear the case.

The Philippine case, which was filed before the tribunal in The Hague in January 2013, contends that China’s massive territorial claims in the strategic waters do not conform with the 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea and should be declared invalid. The Philippines also asserts that some Chinese-occupied reefs and shoals do not generate, or create a claim to, territorial waters.

The tribunal said it has authority to look into seven issues raised by the Philippines against China but added that its jurisdiction over seven others “will need to be considered in conjunction with the merits.” It asked Manila to clarify one other issue.

It said it has set hearings and expects to hand down a decision on the case next year.     [FULL  STORY]

Yo-Yo Ma hopes to bring music of comfort to Taiwan

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/10/30
By: Rachel McGuffin

Taipei, Oct. 30 (CNA) Renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma spoke about the social responsibility of 201510300036t0001music and arts in Taipei on Friday, and said he hopes that his upcoming concert with classical pianist Kathryn Stott in the southern city of Tainan will bring comfort to the people there as they fight dengue fever.

At a press conference to promote the duo’s concert tour in Taiwan, Ma introduced the concept of “cultural social responsibility,” saying that the term means using music and arts to fulfill one’s responsibility to help society.

The Grammy-winning musician said he hopes that the duo’s concert stop in Tainan on Saturday will comfort the people in the city during the dengue fever crisis.

In reference to the turmoil and changes in the world, including the recent Syrian refugee crisis and climate change, Ma said, “We don’t know what tomorrow’s going to look like, so I think through culture we can find a way to help society. We are here together to deal with issues that none of us by ourselves can solve.”     [FULL  STORY]

Tsai more in tune with US than Chu on South China Sea

Want China Times
Date: 2015-10-30
By: CNA and Staff Reporter

The presidential candidate of Taiwan’s ruling Kuomintang, Eric Chu, said Wednesday he

The USS Lassen was sent to challenge Beijing's 12-nautical-mile limit around its artificial islands in the South China Sea on Oct. 27. (Photo courtesy of USS Lassen's Facebook)

The USS Lassen was sent to challenge Beijing’s 12-nautical-mile limit around its artificial islands in the South China Sea on Oct. 27. (Photo courtesy of USS Lassen’s Facebook)

will not stand behind the United States on the South China Sea issue, while his Democratic Progressive Party rival sounded more in tune with the US.

Amid growing tensions between China and the US over the South China Sea, the DPP’s leader and presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen said all countries have an obligation to maintain the right to freely fly over or navigate through the disputed region.

“My position on the South China Sea has been clear all the time, that is, all parties should put forth their proposals and state their stances based on the legal principles of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,” she said.

Under those principles, foreign vessels, both military and civilian, are allowed innocent passage through territorial waters.

Taiwan urged to prove worth in US ‘rebalancing’

PIVOTAL POLICY:Hudson Institute director of Chinese strategy Michael Pillsbury said that Taiwanese should put forward tangible suggestions regarding the US’ Asia pivot

Taipei Times
Date:  Oct 31, 2015
By: Stacy Hsu  /  Staff reporter

Taiwan should step up efforts to prove it can be a useful partner in the US’ foreign policy in Asia, but refrain from implementing any radical changes that could unsettle cross-strait relations, Hudson Institute director of Chinese strategy Michael Pillsbury said.

Pillsbury, a former US assistant undersecretary of defense for policy planning, was speaking at a forum titled “Beijing’s Strategy of Unification toward Taiwan and the US Response” at the legislature in Taipei yesterday morning.

The event was organized by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Mark Chen (陳唐山), who served as foreign minister during former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) administration. It was attended by several Taiwanese academics and foreign affairs experts.     [FULL  STORY]