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Memorial service in Kinmen marks 823 bombardment

Want China Times
Date: 2015-08-24
By: CNA and Staff Reporter

A memorial service was held Sunday in Taiwan’s outlying island county of Kinmen to

Veterans attend the memorial event in Kinmen, Aug. 23. (Photo/Li Chin-sheng)

Veterans attend the memorial event in Kinmen, Aug. 23. (Photo/Li Chin-sheng)

mark the 57th anniversary of the beginning of a sustained period of artillery bombardment from mainland China in 1958.

The service, organized by the Kinmen Defense Command, was attended by more than 70 retired soldiers in honor of their fellow servicemen who died defending the outlying island from Chinese invasion during the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis.

Lee Jing-chuan, who lives in Pingtung county’s Wandan township and has set up an exhibition there of the battle, said withstanding the bombardment paved the way for the peace that now exists in Taiwan. He said Aug. 23 should be celebrated as “Peace Memorial Day of the Taiwan Strait.”

From Aug. 23, 1958, Chinese troops fired more than 470,000 shells at the 150-square-kilometer Kinmen island — which lies only a short distance from the Chinese mainland — over a period of 44 days, killing 587 ROC soldiers and 101 civilians.     [FULL  STORY]

Cross-strait meeting under way in Fuzhou, China

Taipei Times
Date:  Aug 25, 2015
By: Staff writer, with CNA

Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Chairman Lin Join-sane (林中森) yesterday arrived in

Straits Exchange Foundation Chairman Lin Join-sane, left, accompanied by China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits Chairman Chen Deming, second left, visits the Chinese Shipyard Culture Museum yesterday after Lin arrived in Fuzhou, China, for the latest round of high-level cross-strait meetings. Photo: CNA

Straits Exchange Foundation Chairman Lin Join-sane, left, accompanied by China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits Chairman Chen Deming, second left, visits the Chinese Shipyard Culture Museum yesterday after Lin arrived in Fuzhou, China, for the latest round of high-level cross-strait meetings. Photo: CNA

Fuzhou, China, for the latest round of high-level meetings with his Chinese counterpart, Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits Chairman Chen Deming (陳德銘).

Lin and his delegation were greeted by Chen at the hotel at which they are staying.

The formal talks began later yesterday.

The main items on the agenda of the talks are framework agreements on the avoidance of double taxation and aviation safety, which are expected to be signed this afternoon.

When greeting Lin, Chen said the two sides would also discuss allowing Chinese air passengers the right to transit through Taiwan and making cross-strait transport links more convenient.     [FULL  STORY]

Ex-lawmaker Chen Wan-chen defends Lee

MAN OF HIS ERA:The author said an interview she conducted for a book showed that more than 200 elderly Taiwanese raised during the Japanese colonial period felt like Lee

Taipei Times
Date:  Aug 24, 2015
By: Yen Hung-chun and Jonathan Chin  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer

Former president Lee Teng-hui’s (李登輝) recent comments in an interview with a Japanese magazine were faithful to Taiwanese history and “represented the Taiwanese voice of his generation,” former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator Chen Wan-chen (陳婉真) said yesterday.

The Japanese-language Voice magazine quoted Lee as saying that Taiwan did not fight a war of resistance against Japan during the Japanese colonial era, and that many Taiwanese joined the Imperial Japanese Army at that time to fight for “their motherland,” which they thought of as Japan.

In the interview, the former president cited his own experience and that of his elder brother, Lee Teng-chin (李登欽), who joined the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy respectively.     [FULL  STORY]

Taipei residents advised to store water amid torrential rain

Taiwan News
Date: 2015-08-23
By: Ko Lin, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

As precautionary measure, the Taipei Water Department advised residents in the greater 6697914Taipei area to store water in advance as raw water turbidity is beginning to reach 2,514 nephelometric turbidity units (NTU) at the Chihtan water purification plant in Xindian, reports said Sunday.

Water supplies will be cut off in both Taipei and New Taipei City if turbidity level reaches 12,000 NTU, it said.

The announcement followed an updated standard operation procedure published by the water department to avoid murky tap water caused by typhoons from being supplied to the two special municipalities.

The city’s water purification plants are to decrease the amount of water processed when raw water turbidity reaches 6,000 NTU and is to cease processing water if turbidity levels reach 12,000 NTU, the department said.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan will use death penalty cautiously: President Ma

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/08/23
By: Hsu Chih-wei and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, Aug. 23 (CNA) President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said Sunday that his 201508230020t0001government’s policy is to retain the death penalty but use it cautiously, as it has been doing in recent years.

Addressing a national youth policy forum, Ma asked the participants about their views on the controversial issue of the death penalty.

Among the 85 participants at the annual forum that was organized by the Ministry of Education, 26 said they supported abolition of the death penalty law, while 46 said they did not.

One of the participants who expressed support for capital punishment said people who take others’ lives should be punished.     [FULL  STORY]

Ko Wen-je defends ‘one family’ remark as show of goodwill

Want China Times
Date: 2015-08-23
By: CNA

Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je explained Saturday that he was trying to show goodwill to

Ko Wen-je. (File photo/CNA)

Ko Wen-je. (File photo/CNA)

Beijing when he said “the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are one family.”

Ko gave the explanation after the comment at the recent twin city forum of Taipei and Shanghai drew a torrent of criticism from pro-independence politicians in Taiwan.

Ko said that when he made the remark that the two sides of the strait were “one family,” he also said “the next step will be to see the mainland’s sincerity.”

In politics, it is not advisable to keep people at arm’s length at the very beginning, he said. It is better to show goodwill first then wait and see, he added.     [FULL  STORY]

NSB beefs up campaign security tactics

NEW EQUIPMENT:An official said that the items ordered from the US include gunfire detection systems, which would replace the French-made PILAR systems now in use

Taipei Times
Date:  Aug 24, 2015
By: Lo Tien-pin and Jake Chung  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer

The special services division of the National Security Bureau (NSB) has ordered multiple sets of counter-sniping equipment from the US to boost security for January’s presidential election, according to a government official who wished to remain anonymous.

When it comes to security during the presidential campaign, “gunshots are what we worry about most,” said the source, adding that if a presidential candidate or important figures were shot and wounded or killed, it could result in political turmoil

In a previous report to the Legislative Yuan, the bureau said that investigations in recent years found that more than 1,000 people in the nation posed a security concern, adding that more than a few were inclined toward radical action.     [FULL  STORY]

Mobile police stations to be reviewed next January: Ko

Taiwan News
Date: 2015-08-22
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The benefits and disadvantages of recently introduced mobile police stations will be evaluated next January, Taipei City Mayor Ko Wen-je said Saturday.

After his new administration took office last December, the outspoken mayor proposed to do away with some police stations housed inside tall buildings. Instead, the officers would work from vans which would be able to reach the public rather than waiting for the public to come to them.

The change in policy incited fears that police officers would be hard to reach when most needed, while critics said Ko was only trying to save money for the city government while neglecting public safety needs.     [FULL  STORY]

Torrential rain warning issued for Taiwan as Goni nears

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/08/22
By: Lee Hsin-Yin

Taipei, Aug. 22 (CNA) Torrential rainfall can be expected overnight Saturday in northern, central and eastern areas of Taiwan as Typhoon Goni brushes past the island, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) has warned.

The areas most likely to be affected are New Taipei City, Taoyuan City, Hsinchu County, Miaoli County, Taichung City, Nantou County, Yilan County and Hualien County, the bureau said, forecasting 130 mm of rainfall in those areas over a 24-hour period.

As of 8 p.m. Saturday, Goni was centered 240 kilometers east-southeast of Eluanbi, the southernmost tip of Taiwan, moving at a speed of 17 kilometers per hour in a north-northeasterly direction.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan is pushing for representative offices: MAC

Want China Times
Date: 2015-08-22
By: CNA

Taiwan has always been actively negotiating with China to set up representative offices

Zhang Zhijun speaks to the press, Aug. 13. (Photo/CNA)

Zhang Zhijun speaks to the press, Aug. 13. (Photo/CNA)

in each other’s territory, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said Friday, denying claims from a Beijing official that Taipei was stalling talks.

While the idea of establishing representative offices was first proposed by China, Taiwan has since been active in pushing for cross-strait negotiations on related issues, said the MAC, Taiwan’s top cross-strait agency, in a statement.

The MAC’s remarks were in response to a local media report earlier in the day that Zhang Zhijun, head of the Taiwan Affairs Office under China’s State Council, was blaming Taiwan for stalled negotiations on setting up the representative offices.

“It’s Taiwan’s problem,” Zhang was quoted as saying in the United Daily News report. “We don’t understand why Taiwanese people are afraid of being eaten by us.”     [FULL  STORY]