Want China Times
Date: 2015-04-29
By: Yang Yi and Staff Reporter

Two candidates who have declared for the presidential primary of Taiwan’s

ruling Kuomintang appeared not as rivals for the nomination but as allies and longtime friends in a TV interview, reports our Chinese-language sister paper China Times.

Hunag Hsiu-chu, deputy speaker of the Legislative Yuan, and former health minister Yaung Chih-liang were interviewed by former politician Chao Shao-kang and teamed up to criticize other KMT figures as well as the opposition Democratic Progressive Party leader and presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/04/29
By: Elaine Hou

Taipei, April 29 (CNA) A group of Japanese lawmakers arrived in Taiwan on

Wednesday likely to discuss matters related to the safety of Japanese food exports to Taiwan.

According to Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, during the 4-day visit, the lawmakers are scheduled to meet with President Ma Ying-jeou(馬英九), Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), Foreign Minister David Lin (林永樂), and former President Lee Teng-hui (李登輝).

Led by Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Nobuo Kishi, the brother of Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the delegation will also call on Lee Chia-chin (李嘉進), chairman of the Association of East Asian Relations, which handles ties with Japan in the absence of formal diplomatic relations.     [FULL  STORY]

COY KOO:Independence movement leader Koo Kwang-ming said the timing of Tsai Ing-wen’s remarks is relevant to whether he would keep backing her presidential bid

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 30, 2015
By: Loa Iok-sin  /  Staff reporter

Taiwanese independence movement leader Koo Kwang-ming (辜寬敏) yesterday

lashed out at Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson and presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) announcement that maintaining the “status quo” would be her China policy.

“If maintaining the status quo is to be the DPP’s policy, how could I agree with Tsai?” Koo said in response to media queries for comment on Tsai’s policy announcement earlier this month. “It has been 70 years since World War II ended and we have maintained the status quo that whole time, but has Taiwan’s [sovereignty] issue been resolved?”     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-04-29
By: Xinhua and Staff Reporter

The US government should convey to Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe that

the mutual defense treaty requires cessation of all its “provocative behaviors,” including denying the existence of “comfort women,” former US congressman David Wu said Tuesday.

In an article posted on his personal website (www.davidwu.us), Wu said the US response to Abe’s series of irritants, ranging from comfort women to constitutional revision in a region still raw from World War II, “should be both subtle and strong.”     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-04-28
By: CNA

The vast majority of the members of an independent airline pilots union in

Taiwan have voted to go on strike, threatening to disrupt the operations of China Airlines (CAL), Taiwan’s biggest airline, beginning next month.

Of the 670 members of the Taoyuan Union of Pilots, 596 voted to call a strike and two others cast invalid ballots during the voting period from April 9 to 25, said the union, which is not affiliated with CAL but whose members are mostly CAL pilots.

The result marks the first time in Taiwan’s history that local airline employees acted on their legal right to strike.

The independent pilots union said Monday it will decide whether or not to go on strike after it holds a last-ditch meeting with CAL management on May 11 to see if a dispute over working conditions can be resolved.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/04/28
By: Bien Ching-feng and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, April 28 (CNA) Albie Sachs, a former justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa and winner of the first Tang Prize in Rule of Law, flew to Taiwan Tuesday for a five-day visit, during which he will deliver a speech on transitional justice.

Sachs was met by Tang Prize Foundation CEO Chern Jenn-chuan (陳振川) at the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport.

During his stay, the 79-year-old will give a keynote speech April 29 at National Central University on transitional justice and how South Africa began its path toward democracy.

In celebrating its centennial anniversary, the university screened a documentary on its campus Tuesday titled “Soft Vengeance — Albie Sachs and the New South Africa,” which feature Sachs’ life and influential work.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-04-28
By: CNA

Taiwan’s Air Force Command Headquarters rejected Monday as false and

unfounded media reports suggesting that one of its F-CK-1 jet fighters had been locked on by the People’s Liberation Army’s missile defense system during a routine patrol last year.

According to the media reports, the CK-1 jet fighter flying out of Tainan’s 443rd Tactical Fighter Wing was locked on to by China’s S-300 surface-to-air missile battery in Longtian, Fujian province, sometime last year and that in response the pilot immediately performed a tactical retreat to safety.

The squadron of CK-1 jet fighters was performing a routine patrol on the eastern side of the median line of the Taiwan Strait, according to reports.     [FULL  STORY]