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Taiwan Nation Alliance aims to hold ‘mega event’

MROALE BOOSTER:The group, which helped former president Chen Shui-bian to power in 2004, is to hold events in the six special municipalities to back the DPP

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 21, 2015
By: Lee Hsin-fang  /  Staff reporter

The pro-independence Taiwan Nation Alliance (TNA) is to stage a “mega event” to further boost morale for the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) presidential and legislative election campaigns at the end of the year, planning to hold major parades in the six special municipalities and inviting former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) to be the convener-in-chief.

The alliance is said to have resolved through its central committee to hold the event, with the aim to giving its full support to DPP presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) for the restoration of a Taiwan-centered administration, and to the legislative candidates of the DPP, the Taiwan Solidarity Union and other “third political forces” to help them secure a majority in the legislature.

According to the group’s preliminary plan, the parades will take place in the six special municipalities, with the one in Taipei splitting into three major courses marching from Wanhua Train Station, Jhongxiao E Road and Daan Forest Park and converging finally on Ketagalan Boulevard.

The Taipei parade is scheduled to feature live exchanges on screens with the parades taking place in New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung, according to the plan, and the event might also be expanded further to include other cities.     [FULL  STORY]

Canada Day celebrations to showcase food, culture

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/06/18
By: Elaine Hou

Taipei, June 18 (CNA) Canadian culture and food specialties, including a traditional pastry, will go on 51904120display in Taipei later this month at the Canada Day celebrations in the city.

For the first time, visitors to the Taipei celebrations will have a chance to taste beavertails, which are fried dough pastries made in the shape of a beaver’s tail, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Taiwan (CCCT) said Thursday at a news conference.

The celebrations to mark Canada’s 148th birthday will be held at the Hakka Cultural Park in Taipei on June 27 from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m., said the CCCT, which is organizing the event.

Visitors to the event will also have an opportunity to sample Canadian beef, a Quebec specialty called poutine, various brands of Canadian beer, and Bloody Caesar cocktails, said CCCT Acting Chairman Leo Seewald.     [FULL  STORY]

Hung Hsiu-chu to visit US in August or September

Want China Times
Date: 2015-06-20
By: CNA

Arrangements will be made for Hung Hsiu-chu, Taiwan’s ruling Kuomintang’s likely candidate for the

Hung Hsiu-chu waves to the press after a radio interview, June 19. (Photo/CNA)

Hung Hsiu-chu waves to the press after a radio interview, June 19. (Photo/CNA)

2016 presidential election, to visit the United States later this year, KMT chair Eric Chu said Saturday.

The arrangements will begin after Hung is confirmed as the party’s official candidate at the party’s national convention set for July 19, Chu said.

The KMT will communicate with the US side on the date of Hung’s visit and August and September are both possible times, he said.

In addition to meeting with US officials, another purpose of Hung’s US visit is to win the support of Taiwanese expatriates there, he said.

KMT spokesperson Yang Wei-chung, meanwhile, also said the KMT has been planning to have its presidential candidate visit the United States.

“Hung Hsiu-chu is now our candidate, we will make arrangements for her to visit the United States soon,” Yang said.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan’s first ‘comfort women’ museum to open by year-end

Want China Times
Date: 2015-06-19
By: CNA and Staff Reporter

A museum in memory of a group of Taiwanese women who were forced into sexual slavery by the

A former "comfort woman" listens to Shinzo Abe address the US Congress, April 29 local time. (File photo/CNS)

A former “comfort woman” listens to Shinzo Abe address the US Congress, April 29 local time. (File photo/CNS)

Imperial Japanese Army during World War II, known euphemistically as “comfort women,” is scheduled to open in Taipei by the end of this year, a Taipei-based women’s rights group said Thursday.

The themes of the museum will be peace and women’s rights, said Kang Shu-hua, executive director of the Taipei Women’s Rescue Foundation, a driving force behind the initiative.

Before the formal opening on Dec. 10, the foundation will hold a ceremony to unveil the museum plaque on Aug. 14, a date that is considered as a memorial day for comfort women by civic groups in countries like South Korea, China, Indonesia, Taiwan and the Philippines, Kang told CNA.     [FULL  STORY]

ROC to honor war heroes John Rabe, Ho Feng-shan: Ma

Taipei Times
Date:  Jun 20, 2015
By: Staff writer, with CNA

President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said yesterday that his administration is to honor two people who helped innocent Chinese and Jews during World War II and soldiers who fought in the Second Sino-Japanese War, when the Republic of China (ROC) holds a series of events next month to mark the 70th anniversary of the Allied victory.

The ROC’s eight-year fight against Japan (1937 to 1945) was a part of World War II, in which Japan and the other Axis Powers were defeated by the Allies.

As part of a series of commemorative events, Ma said that his administration is to honor German businessman John Rabe and ROC diplomat Ho Feng-shan (何鳳山) in recognition of their efforts to save the lives of many people during World War II.

Rabe is known for helping to create a safety zone in Nanjing in 1937 when that city — then the capital of China — fell to Japanese troops. The zone provided shelter for more than 200,000 civilians and prevented them from being slaughtered by the Japanese army.     [FULL  STORY]

Remember World War II history to promote peace: Ma

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/06/19
By: Cheng Chi-feng and Kuo Chung-han

Kaohsiung, June 19 (CNA) President Ma Ying-jeou visited Kaohsiung Veterans Home and had lunch 201506190026t0001with veterans on Friday, the eve of the Dragon Boat Festival.

Many veterans living at the home witnessed the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945), said Ma, ahead of a series of events being held by the government to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the end of the war from July 4 to October 25.

The commemorative events are intended to condemn Japanese aggression and to promote peace, Ma said.

Ma said the government signed a fishery pact with Japan in April of 2013, which settled to some extent a long simmering fishing controversy in the East China Sea near the Diaoyutai Islands (called the Senkaku Islands by Japan).     [FULL  STORY]

Manila fears cross-strait cooperation in maritime disputes

Want China Times
Date: 2015-06-19
By: Staff Reporter

A standoff between Philippine and Taiwanese coast guard vessels off the coast of Batanes on June 6

A Taiwan Coast Guard Administration vessel off the coast of Kaohsiung on June 6. (Photo/CNA)

A Taiwan Coast Guard Administration vessel off the coast of Kaohsiung on June 6. (Photo/CNA)

has caused Manila to be concerned about possible cooperation between Taipei and Beijing over the disputed South China Sea in the future, our sister paper Want Daily reports.

Noli De Castro, the former vice president of the Philippines and an anchor for Manila’s ABS-CBN network, accused Taiwan of bullying the nation together with China.

The standoff between Taiwanese coast guard vessel and Maritime Control Ship 3004 of the Philippines took place near waters off the island of Itbayat. Less than 200 kilometers from Taiwan, Itbayat is the northernmost municipality of the Philippines.

During the two-hour confrontation, the Taiwanese coast guard vessel claimed the waters of Itbayat as the exclusive economic zone of Taiwan, to which the Philippine vessel said the ship was in Philippine territorial waters and requested the Taiwanese ship check its charts. The Taiwanese ship initially indicated that it would leave the area, still claiming that it was within Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone, but remained in position and later said it would not depart. The Philippine ship had no communication with headquarters or any government agency during the standoff. The ship’s crew later sang the Philippine national anthem.     [FULL  STORY]

Eight impeached over prison graft

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 20, 2015
By: Jason Pan  /  Staff reporter

The Control Yuan wrapped up its investigation into the prison bribery scandal involving former Eastern Multimedia Group (EMG, 東森集團) chairman Gary Wang (王令麟) on Thursday, issuing a statement saying that it would impeach eight officials in the nation’s correctional facilities, including four high-ranking officials who had served as prison wardens.

Among those impeached were former Green Island Prison warden Su Ching-chun (蘇清俊), former Yilan Prison warden Wu Tsai-wei (吳載威), former Taichung Prison warden Chao Chun-chi (趙崇智) and former Taipei Prison warden Fang Tzu-chieh (方子傑).

Four other Taipei Prison officials were also impeached — former administrative secretary Ko Shu-yu (柯書宇), former staff officer Tsu Hsing-hua (祖興華), former section supervisor Chou Ping-jung (周秉榮) and former staff manager Chang Wen-fa (張文發).

When serving his second prison term in 2013 for fraud and other criminal convictions, Wang paid bribes and gave gifts to prison officials via his personal secretary Hu Hsiao-ching (胡曉菁).     [FULL  STORY]

Freeway controls in place to ease Dragon Boat Festival traffic

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/06/18
By: Lee Hsin-Yin

Taipei, June 18 (CNA) Traffic controls will be enforced on the nation’s freeways over the three-day 201506180031t0001Dragon Boat Festival, the National Freeway Bureau said on Thursday.

Traffic control measures will be applied from June 18-21, and tolls will be suspended between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. every day during this period, according to the bureau.

A unified rate of NT$0.9 (US$0.03) per kilometer will be adopted during the holiday period, a 25 percent discount from the standard rate.

Motorists traveling between the Hsinchu and Yanchao interchanges on National Freeway No. 3 will receive an additional 20 percent off.     [FULL  STORY]

Online battle for KMT’s Hung in Taiwan’s Wiki wild west

Want China Times
Date: 2015-06-18
By: Staff Reporter

In the space of just two months, Hung Hsiu-chu, the deputy speaker of Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan, has

Wiki war! The DPP's Tsai Ing-wen, left, and the KMT's Hung Hsiu-chu do battle on a computer keyboard. (Illustration/China Times)

Wiki war! The DPP’s Tsai Ing-wen, left, and the KMT’s Hung Hsiu-chu do battle on a computer keyboard. (Illustration/China Times)

gone from being a peripheral and sometimes derided figure for the ruling Kuomintang to being the party’s probable presidential candidate with an approval rating of 46% in three opinion polls, writes our sister paper China Times.

In the four days since the primary polls confirmed Hung’s eligibility for the KMT nomination on June 14, her page on Wikipedia’s Chinese-language site has been edited over 150 times, suggesting an online battle between internet users supporting the major opposition Democratic Progressive Party candidate Tsai Ing-wen and Hung supporters online. Her page on the English version of the site has also been significantly updated and improved; only one week ago, the content on the page had largely been lifted directly from her bio on the website of the Legislative Yuan that has been a rich source of amusement for local bloggers on account of its poorly rendered English, including claims that Hung is a “royal (sic) KMT member” and that she was “accidentally elected to the Legislature.”

On the Chinese-language page, some users added details to Hung’s biography sourced from an illustration by Taiwanese cartoonist Cherng, for example hinting that Hung had slapped the cartoonist’s mother around the face when she was a pupil under Hung’s care in her previous career in education. The continual back-and-forth between pan-green netizens and Hung supporters led to the article being partially protected and flagged as controversial by the site’s admins.     [FULL  STORY]