SAME DIFFERENCE?Ma shook off criticism that the Republic of China’s ‘11-dash line’ echoes China’s ‘nine-dash line,’ and similarly lacks a basis in international law

Taipei Times
Date: May 28, 2015
By: Shih Hsiu-chuan  /  Staff reporter

The Republic of China’s (ROC) claim over the disputed South China Sea conforms

with international law, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said yesterday, adding that critics of the claim who say it is identical to that of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) have “not an ounce of common sense.”

After Ma on Tuesday proposed the “South China Sea peace initiative,” the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) demanded more clarity to ensure compliance with international law and the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and questioned whether Ma intends to join with China in asserting the claim.

The concerns voiced by the DPP were similar to views repeatedly expressed by some former US officials and academics that Taiwan should clarify its position on the demarcation line, known as the “11-dash line,” used to lay its claim to the entire South China Sea, as they said that the assertion has no basis in international law.

China’s claim to the South China Sea is demarcated similarly by the “nine-dash line.”

Ma rejected the DPP’s criticism yesterday, when he received international guests who attended the International Law Association and American Society of International Law Asia-Pacific Research Forum in Taipei on Tuesday.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-05-26
By: CNA and Staff Reporter

Local tour bus operators in Taiwan and the country’s Directorate General of

Highways are offering 25 promotional bus tours at steep discounts this summer to promote travel around Taiwan.

Kuo-Kuang Motor Transport, for instance, is offering a one-day package taking tourists to Wanli and Jinshan districts in northern Taiwan for NT$199 (US$6.50), about 33% cheaper than normal.

Nantou Bus is offering five different packages featuring the scenic Sun Moon Lake in Nantou county, with the steepest discount 34% off the normal fare.

Another tour from Taichung to the Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village, an amusement park in Nantou county highlighting the culture of Taiwan’s indigenous peoples, is being offered for NT$1,020 (US$33.40), inclusive of transportation and a ticket to the theme park.     [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date:  May 27, 2015
By: Stacy Hsu  /  Staff reporter

A herbal tea ingredient used by a Kaohsiung-based shop was found to contain

pesticide residues at a level nearly 120 times the maximum permissible amount, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday.

Six products were added to the list of contaminated beverages in the latest round of random tests on hand-shaken drinks, bringing the total number of deficient products to 65 since the agency launched inspections earlier this month in the wake of a widespread pesticide scare.

Four products were sold in Kaohsiung, including a wedelia flower product used by a herbal tea store in the special municipality’s Cianjhen District (前鎮) that were found to contain 6 parts per million (ppm) of hexaconazole, 120 times the legal level of 0.05ppm.     [FULL  STORY]

Radio New Zealand International
Date: 25 May 2015

A Marshallese woman who died fighting for justice for the survivors of United States

nuclear weapons tests on her country’s islands is being honoured in Taiwan this week with the Global Love of Lives award from a Taipei non-profit foundation.
Darlene Keju, 1995, Marshall Islands

Darlene Keju, who exposed a United States cover up of nuclear test-caused health problems in her islands, also formed the internationally recognised non-profit group Youth to Youth in Health in the Marshall Islands.

She died nineteen years ago from cancer and is the only Pacific islander in the group that is being to honoured.

The Chou Ta-Kuan Educational and Cultural Foundation is honoring 19 people from around the world in an annual ceremony launched 18 years ago following the death of the foundation’s namesake, a Taiwanese boy who died at 10 from cancer.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/05/25
By: Sunrise Huang and Lilian Wu

Taipei, May 25 (CNA) The “Queen’s Head,” the most famous rock formation in Yehliu Geopark, faces an uncertain fate despite an all-out effort to prevent its thinning neck from snapping, the North Coast & Guanyinshan National Scenic Area said Monday.

Kuo Chen-ling (郭振陵), the secretary-general of the scenic area administration, said Monday that experiments done on four mushroom rocks near the Queen’s Head have found that nanotechnology can prevent erosion, but it still has some drawbacks that have yet to be overcome.

In the experiments done over the past nine months, nanotechnology has proven that it could reinforce the queen’s neck and delay the weathering process, Kuo said.

But it has also caused the rocks to whiten and slivers of the rocks’ surfaces to break off amid the dramatic changes in temperature, moisture and sunshine on the North Coast, he said.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-05-24
By: CNA

Taiwan’s Tourism Bureau said several restaurants, including some in Taipei 101, the

National Palace Museum and scenic Sun Moon Lake have earned Halal certification.

The bureau said in a news conference on Friday that 24 restaurants recently received certification from the Chinese Muslim Association, bringing the total number with Halal certification in Taiwan to 70.

The growing number of Halal restaurants will make it more convenient for Muslim visitors to travel to Taiwan, the bureau said.

There are nearly 2 billion Muslims in the world, and they are being wooed as potential tourist by many countries in the world, the bureau said.

Muslims made about 180,000 visits to Taiwan last year, up 12.5% from 2013, and the bureau estimated that the number could grow by 10% this year.     [FULL  STORY]

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

The Central Weather Bureau (CWB) yesterday warned of torrential rain in the

mountains of central and southern Taiwan, while heavy rain brought by a plum rain front has slightly eased water shortages in the south and north of the island.

Mountainous areas in Taichung and Kaohsiung, as well as Nantou, Hualien, Chiayi and Pingtung counties and Taoyuan’s Sinwu District (新屋), have experienced extremely heavy rain, with more than 130mm of rainfall in 24 hours, the bureau said.

The warning of torrential rain means that more than 200mm of rain could fall in 24 hours, with extremely heavy rain expected in northern, central and eastern Taiwan proper, the bureau said.     [FULL STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/05/24
By: Christie Chen

Taipei, May 24 (CNA) Taiwanese composer Lim Giong (林強) has won the Cannes

Soundtrack Award for his work in director Hou Hsiao-hsien’s (侯孝賢) martial arts film “The Assassin” (聶隱娘), ahead of the awards ceremony of the Cannes Film Festival.

The Cannes Soundtrack Award is awarded by a group of journalists.

“The Assassin,” a Tang Dynasty martial arts film starring Taiwanese actress Shu Qi (舒淇) and actor Chang Chen (張震), is among the 19 entries competing for the Palme d’Or, the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival, on Sunday.

In a film review published on The Hollywood Reporter on May 20, film critic Deborah Young touted Lim for his original use of music.     [FULL  STORY]