Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/05/29
By: Lu Hsin-hui and Elaine Hou

Taipei, May 29 (CNA) Taiwan’s Navy Commander Adm. Lee Hsi-ming (李喜明) was

invited to attend a combined change of command ceremony for U.S. Pacific Fleet and U.S. Pacific Command held in Hawaii earlier this week.

Although Taiwan and the United States do not have official relations, military exchanges between the two countries have been increasing in recent years.

Lee was invited to the ceremony held at Pearl Harbor May 27, according to a photo posted on U.S. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert’s Facebook page. Greenert was among the senior American military officers present at the ceremony.

In a photo album titled “PACFLT/PACOM Change of Command,” there is a photo of Greenert talking with Lee after the ceremony was held. In the photo, Lee wore a black suit and a white shirt, along with a pin in the shape of the Republic of China national flag.     [FULL  STORY]

American Enterprise Institute
Date: May 29, 2015
By: Gary J. Schmitt, Michael Mazza

Tsai Ing-wen, leader of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and her party’s

candidate for president of Taiwan, will have her work cut out for her when she arrives in the United States at the end of May. She will aim to show voters back home that she can represent Taiwan effectively on the international stage, can advance the island’s interests, and can competently handle Taiwan’s relationship with Washington, Taipei’s most important security partner.

Tsai’s task is particularly tricky as she must convince Washington that, as president, she would not pursue de jure independence, while being careful not to stray too far from her party’s pro-independence leanings. Although Beijing continues to view Taiwan as a “renegade province,” separated from the mainland at the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949, the island is for all intents and purposes an independent state, completely autonomous from the mainland and a representative democracy to boot. Even so, the current Taiwanese administration, headed by the Kuomintang (KMT), retains the view that there is only “one China,” which includes the island of Taiwan.

Unfortunately for Tsai, whether her visit counts as a success will not be entirely up to her. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which maintains a party-to-party relationship with the ruling Kuomintang, has long been wary of the independence-leaning DPP. Beijing has already begun warning Tsai not to engage in “pro-independence” activities while in the United States. Just last week, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office issued a statement, explaining “we firmly oppose any person engaging in any form of ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist activities in the international arena.”     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-05-29
By: CNA

Tsai Ing-wen, chair of Taiwan’s opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), will

depart Friday night for the United States, where she will visit six cities in her capacity as the party’s 2016 presidential candidate.

During her 12-day visit, Tsai will meet with US officials and Taiwanese expatriates in Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington DC, New York, Houston and San Francisco.

Tsai is scheduled to arrive in Los Angeles on the first leg of the tour and will have dinner with Taiwanese expatriates and Ed Royce, a congressman from California who serves as chair of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

On May 31, Tsai will travel to Chicago, where she will meet with Taiwanese expatriates. She will be in Washington DC June 1-5, calling on US administration officials, members of congress and think tank experts.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/05/28
By: Maubo Chang

Taipei, May 28 (CNA) Among the chiefs of Taiwan’s six municipalities, Kaohsiung

Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) and Tainan Mayor Lai Ching-te (賴清德) led the pack in terms of approval rating, according to a survey conducted by the Global Views Monthly (遠見雜誌).

In its 2015 survey of the performance of local government heads, both Chen and Lai received five stars on a one to five star scale, with five stars being the best.

It was Chen’s third year and Lai’s fourth year in a row to gain the top honor, and both posted better approval scores than they did in the previous year, according to the survey.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-05-28
By: CNA

An Army Aviation Special Forces Command OH-58D reconnaissance helicopter was

forced to land in a stadium in central Taiwan on Wednesday after suspected mechanical failure, the Army said Wednesday.

Both the pilot and the helicopter were safe.

The chopper was returning to its base in Taichung after completing a routine training mission when warning signals showed up on its instrument panel.

The Army Command Headquarters said the pilot followed standard operating procedures and landed the helicopter in Nantou County Stadium at 11:30 am.

A repair team has traveled to Nantou to look into what caused the warning signals, and the Army said the pilot and the chopper will only be returned to the base once the safety of the helicopter is assured.     [FULL  STORY]

LOST IN TRANSLATION:English speakers might well be perplexed by some signs in Hualien County, which imply the indiscriminate use of software translation programs

Taipei Times
Date: May 29, 2015
By: Wang Chin-yi and Jake Chung  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer

In a setback to Hualien County’s much touted effort to refocus its tourist industry

toward the international market, pictures of comical and confusing attempts to render signs from Chinese into English have gone viral on the Internet.

A Facebook user posted images of three road signs for Dasyue Road (大學路) within 5km of each other in Hualien County’s Shoufong Township (壽豐). The English romanization of the Chinese characters on the three signs do not match: They read “Daxue,” “Dah Shyue” and in an experimental attempt at partial translation “Big Xue,” none of which employ Tongyong Pinyin or Hanyu Pinyin, which are normally used on signs in Taiwan.

Not only would road users be confused by the multiple renditions, it seems to imply that the signs refer to three different roads, the poster wrote.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/05/27
By: Leaf Chiang, Chen Chung-wei and Ted Chen

Taipei, May 27 (CNA) Taiwan moved up two notches this year to 11th place in the annual global competitiveness rankings, which were released Wednesday by the International Institute for Management (IMD).

Taiwan also showed improvement in three of the four main sub-indices – economic performance, government efficiency, business efficiency, and infrastructure.

Taiwan’ economic performance rose three places to 11th, while government efficiency moved up two notches to 10th, and business efficiency climbed three spots to 14th, according to IMD.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-05-27
By: CNA

Taiwan will focus on developing its own defense capabilities if the Democratic

Progressive Party (DPP) returns to power, according to a blue paper on national defense published by a DPP think tank Tuesday.

DPP chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen, who will represent the party in the 2016 presidential election, said in the preface of the 12th blue paper that boosting Taiwan’s national defense industry will be at the center of national defense if the DPP returns to power.

The DPP usually publishes a blue paper on national defense every six months, but its New Frontier Foundation published four papers (9th to 12th) on Tuesday ahead of the presidential election in January 2016, which the DPP is favored to win.

“Because of China’s suppression, Taiwan’s ability to procure arms from other countries will become even more difficult. If Taiwan cannot develop the weapons it needs, the military imbalance across the Taiwan Strait will grow even wider,” Tsai said in the report.     [FULL  STORY]