Want China Times
Date: 2015-04-19
By: Staff Reporter

The United States is strategically shifting its military bases to the Asia-Pacific region for the

primary purpose of countering China’s rise, claims the China Youth Daily, the official newspaper of the Communist Youth League.

Citing US digital news outlet Quartz, the report claims that America has at least 686 “base sites” off the US mainland in 74 foreign countries.

The management of US base sites is split between Washington headquarters, the US Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps, while the types of military bases generally can be placed into three categories.

The first of these is the Main Operating Base, which is defined as a “permanently manned, well protected base, used to support permanently deployed forces, and with robust sea and/or air access.” Examples of this type of base can be found in Japan, South Korea and Germany.     [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 20, 2015
By: Wang Hsiu-ting  /  Staff reporter

The Taitung District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday faced ridicule after the English-language

translations of several public signs were found to be riddled with “Chinglish” and direct phonetic transcriptions.

The incident originated from a message posted by netizen Shih Wei-ting (施韋廷) on a Facebook fan page titled “Love Taitung” (就是愛台東) on Saturday, in which he said an English sign outside the office that was meant to caution people about a slippery floor on rainy days read: “Please careful day rain Lu Hua.”

Lu Hua (路滑) is the pinyin phonetic transcription for slippery roads.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-04-18
By: CNA

Taiwan will enforce as scheduled a new directive that requires imported food from Japan to be

labeled with its place of origin and proof that it is radiation free, vice health minister Shiu Ming-neng said Friday.

The directive has been issued and it’s not possible to rescind it, Hsu told reporters after meeting with three visiting Japanese Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry officials.

The Japanese officials asked during the meeting for Taiwan to remove the requirement and offered more data related to radiation risks, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

But Hsu said the new directive will be enforced starting on May 15 as scheduled. He added that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is compiling scientific research and risk assessments on radiation safety.

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/04/18
By: Chang Jung-hsiang and Lee Hsin-Yin

Taipei, April 18 (CNA) Six men and two women were arrested Saturday for assaulting Vietnamese workers with eggs in southern Taiwanese city of Tainan, local police said.

The attackers, two of them under age 18, said they were just playing a prank, according to the police.

Separate assaults on Vietnamese workers were reported two days in a row in Tainan, raising concerns from their employers.

A Vietnamese worker was struck by eggs on April 15, while another three were assaulted in a similar fashion the following day, the police said.

Surveillance camera footage showed that the attackers rode motorcycles to follow the victims into alleys during late hours.

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 17, 2015
By: Staff writer, with CNA

Pakistani campaigner for female education and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousufzai

is to visit Taiwan, possibly in August, according to a government-funded foundation that has invited her.

Taiwan Foundation for Democracy president Huang Teh-fu (黃德福) yesterday said that Yousufzai has accepted the foundation’s invitation.

The foundation is planning to award her a prize in recognition of her contributions to society, Huang said during a legislative committee hearing, in response to questions from lawmakers on which international visitors the foundation plans to invite to Taiwan.     [FULL  STORY]