Want China Times
Date: 2015-06-04
By: CNA and Staff Reporter

Taiwan’s president, Ma Ying-jeou, said Wednesday that his South China Sea Peace

Initiative is “probably the only way to downsize the problem” in a region with tensions rising over territorial claims, and that a roadmap will be announced soon.

The situation in the South China Sea is more complicated than in the East China Sea but it is clear that “the competition of territorial claims will lead nowhere,” Ma said during a question-and-answer session of a video conference with Stanford University.

In response to questions on his proposal, Ma said that the initiative is based on the idea that “while national sovereignty cannot be divided or compromised, natural resources can be shared.”

“This is probably the only way to downsize the problem” and seek a solution, he added.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/06/04
By Lu Hsin-hui and Scully Hsiao

Taipei, June 4 (CNA) The Control Yuan — the government’s top supervisory body — on Thursday reprimanded the Ministry of Health and Welfare and other agencies for oversights that it said led to a food scare involving a company selling lard made from recycled oil.

The Control Yuan faulted the ministry for not properly inspecting edible food products in the market and prodding local health authorities to conduct quality checks on edible oils.

The Control Yuan also reprimanded the Environmental Protection Administration for failing to keep track of recycled oils, as requested by the nation’s top government watchdog five years ago.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-06-04
By: Staff Reporter

The US may return to its base in Subic Bay in the Philippines, according to a report

in Hong Kong’s Ta Kung Pao, citing a June 2 piece in the Independent of the UK.

The Independent report said opposition in the Philippine Senate to US military bases in the country has dropped away in the wake of increasing tensions with China over sovereignty clashes in the South China Sea.

The US secretary of defense, Ashton Carter, visited Vietnam after the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore last week, where he called for an immediate halt to China’s land reclamation activities, which have aroused fears surrounding the country’s increasing military reach and freedom of navigation and sovereignty issues.     [FULL  STORY]

NTHU students cheer for their trip to Kenya this summer as volunteers on May 29 in Hsinchu County.
清大學生為他們的暑期肯亞志工行雀躍；攝於五月二十九日，新竹縣。

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 04, 2015

International volunteers from National Tsing Hua University (NTHU) are going to the

east African nation of Kenya this year for the first time. They will provide services such as assisting with local community construction, information education and cultural exchanges. Knowing that NTHU students are willing to provide service in his home country, Father Mathews Odhiambo Owuor, who came from Kenya to preach in Taiwan, not only provided students with information, but also made this volunteer trip possible, hoping that it would change the future of the children in Kenya.

Father Owuor said the gap between the rich and poor in Kenya is wide; students do not have classrooms, water and electricity. Education is a luxury for them. He highly commended the NTHU students for spending thirty-five days of their summer vacation in Kenya, providing public services and doing volunteer work. He will accompany the volunteers to Kenya with the hope that a volunteer platform will be established to give Kenyan students a glimpse of hope.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-06-03
By: CNA

Taiwan and the Philippines may start follow-up discussions next week on cooperative

law enforcement in their overlapping economic marine areas, a Taiwanese foreign affairs official said Tuesday.

Philippine and Taiwanese fishery officials are due to meet in Taiwan for negotiations on matters such as the scope of such law enforcement by the authorities in each country, said Elliott Charng, director-general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, at a regular news briefing.

He said the two countries are still trying to finalize the date for the meeting but it may be held as early as next week in Taipei.

The negotiations are being held in the wake of two incidents involving Taiwanese fishing boats in an overlapping economic zone of two countries, and the other incident in Philippines territorial waters, in May.     [FULL  STORY]

‘SPEAKING NONSENSE’:A Taipei city councilor accused the police of making misleading statements, while the minister of the interior dismissed other criticism

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 04, 2015
By: Abraham Gerber and Lii Wen  /  Staff reporters

A child protection plan revived by the Taipei City Government last week differs from

a plan the city canceled in March, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said yesterday.

He said that the city government’s announcement of the plan’s cancelation in March had been “imprecise,” failing to specify what was in the plan.

A fatal attack on an elementary student in a school restroom on Friday last week has drawn attention to Taipei’s cancelation of the child protection plan as part of a reduction of “superfluous” duties for police officers.

The Taipei Police Department yesterday said that the plan canceled in March referred to traffic direction at elementary-school entrances.

Mandatory execution of such directions was canceled by the National Police Administration in 2012, with Taipei “canceling only the name” as part of a March reorganization of police duties, the police department added.     [FULL  STORY]