The Baltimore Sun
August 7, 2015
By: Andrea K. McDaniels

A Johns Hopkins burn unit team was part of the massive effort to treat hundreds of

victims in Taiwan after a massive fire was sparked by colored corn powder spewing from the stage during a rap performance in a popular waterpark.
lRelated

The fire in June, which made international news, left 510 burn victims, including 24 who suffered injuries on more than 80 percent of their bodies and 257 on more than 40 percent. An American was one of the victims.

Three weeks after the June incident, a group of Hopkins medical personnel, led by Stephen Milner, director of the Johns Hopkins Burn Center, organized a team to assist the overwhelmed doctors in Taiwan. They decided to volunteer after being contacted by the Tawainese embassy and local nurses. The team included three specialized burn doctors, one emergency room doctor, a burn unit nursing coordinator and a senior burn rehab specialist.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-08-07
By: Staff Reporter

The chair of our parent group Taipei-based Want Want Holdings, Tsai Eng-meng has

called for an end to partisanship in Taiwan and urged Taiwanese people to visit China and shed their prejudices against the country’s ruling Communist Party of China (CPC), during the sixth Peace and Prosperity Forum held by our Chinese-language sister paper Want Daily

The forum, which was held at Taipei’s iconic Grand Hotel on Friday, was attended by political dignitaries and businesspeople such as Hung Hsiu-chu, the presidential candidate of Taiwan’s ruling Kuomintang (KMT), Beijing’s State Council Office for Taiwan Affairs deputy director Ye Kedong, Financial Supervisory Commission chair William Tseng, Straits Exchange Foundation chair Lin Join-sane, Bank SinoPac chair Paul Chiu and the chair of the Association of Taiwan Investment Enterprise on the Mainland Kuo Shan-hui.

The feud between the major opposition Democratic Progressive Party and KMT has divided the country and blocked the passages of policies and regulations that could have been beneficial or have been widely approved by the public, said Tsai. Nothing but partisanship is to blame for Taiwan’s declining competitiveness and stagnant economic growth, said Tsai.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/08/07
By: C.C. Chen and Lillian Lin

Taipei, Aug. 7 (CNA) Education Minister Wu Se-hwa (吳思華) said during a radio interview on Friday that the curriculum guidelines dispute reflects deep-seated differences over political positions, history and even national identity.

Commenting on the protest against the revised curriculum guidelines for senior high school textbooks, Wu said he has discussed the dispute with historians and come to better understand the different positions on political issues, history and self identity in Taiwan.     [FULL  STORY]

Hualien, Yilan and Orchid Island to close schools and offices

Taiwan News
Date: 2015-08-06
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Local governments in most of Taiwan, including the Taipei area,

announced that offices and schools would not be closed Friday despite the onslaught of Typhoon Soudelor.

The storm, which some international media have labeled the strongest of the year, was expected to impact Taiwan on Friday and Saturday, while it was highly likely to make landfall in the middle of the east coast, probably in Hualien County, before trekking west to the Taiwan Straits.

Most areas announced that Friday would be a normal working day, with schools and offices remaining open.

The only exceptions were Hualien County, where the typhoon was expected to make landfall, Yilan County and Orchid Island, which lies far off the east coast of Taitung County.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/08/06
By: C.W. Chen and Lillian Lin

Taipei, Aug. 6 (CNA) International visitors to Taiwan can now enjoy wireless Internet access by applying for an account through the iTaiwan online registration system for foreign visitors, and it takes only one minute to register, a spokesperson for the National Development Council said on Thursday.

Since the government rolled out the wireless service in 2011, more than 100 million people have registered, the spokesperson said.

Despite starting life as a service providing free basic WiFi access in certain indoor public areas at government agencies, the system has since integrated the resources of 13 universities and Taipei City government. It recently coordinated with the Tourism Bureau and the Ministry of the Interior to streamline the registration process for foreign visitors.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-08-06
By: Lo Yin-chung and Staff Reporter

The Taipei city government announced Aug. 5 that mayor Ko Wen-je will attend an

annual twin city forum in Shanghai later this year. The annual forum had been in jeopardy when Beijing slammed Ko for criticizing the 1992 Consensus, which Beijing insists upon as the foundation of cross-strait ties.

Ko has managed to turn the situation around however with expressions of goodwill in two interviews with Chinese media outlets, including the official Xinhua news agency, state broadcaster China Central Television and China Review news agency on March 31 and Aug. 3, which seem to have mollified Beijing.

Ko said he understands and respects the 1992 Consensus and stressed that he knows the difference between international affairs and mainland affairs. Although it would be difficult for Ko to publicly recognize the 1992 Consensus domestically, his position as an independent local government head offers Beijing an opportunity to create a new cross-strait exchange model.     [FULL  STORY]