‘POSITIVELY REVIEWED’:The premier defended the government’s decision to apply for membership, as some lawmakers said it gave China a chance to humiliate Taiwan

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 15, 2015
By: Alison Hsiao  /  Staff reporter

Legislators across party lines yesterday questioned Premier Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國) about

China’s rejection of Taiwan’s bid to be a founding member of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), as the premier insisted that the government’s efforts were not entirely in vain.

China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) on Monday confirmed that Taiwan’s bid to become an AIIB founding member had been turned down. The Ministry of Finance then released a statement saying that the AIIB Multilateral Interim Secretariat affirmed that the rejection at this stage would not hinder Taiwan’s future bid to become an ordinary member.

Mao reiterated that message during a question-and-answer session on the legislative floor yesterday, saying that the AIIB charter would be written in a way that would not obstruct Taiwan’s participation as an ordinary member.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-04-14
By: Staff Reporter

FireEye, a California-based cyber security company, said government-backed Chinese

hackers have carried out a decade-long cyber espionage campaign against Southeast Asian countries and India since 2005, collecting political and military intelligence from these countries’ government networks, reports Mingjing News, a New York-based website allegedly sourced by political insiders, citing the Wall Street Journal.

The company’s recently published report said the hackers sent e-mails to their recipients encrypted with malware. They also tricked administrators into downloading malware on their computers. The malware infected the administrators’ USB sticks and eventually affected their server networks once the USBs were unwittingly plugged into other computers.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan Today
Date：04/13/2015

A National Taiwan Normal University team announced April 10 the discovery of Pareas

atayal, the first endemic snake species identified in Taiwan since 1931.

The mollusk-eating reptile is found in Xueshan—the second highest mountain in Taiwan at 3,886 meters above sea level—and named after the indigenous Atayal tribe inhabiting the region. The findings were published online in Sweden-based animal systematics journal Zoological Scripta.

Lin Si-min, team leader and a professor with NTNU Department of Life Science, said previously only the Pareas formosanus was recognized as a valid pareatid species endemic to Taiwan. “The new species, however, is characterized by its yellow iris, elongated lower jaw and weakly keeled dorsal scales.

“While the former favors slugs for food, the latter has a particular fondness for snails, resulting in the evolution of an asymmetric tooth arrangement optimized for extracting meat from right-handed shells.”     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/04/13
By: Yiu Kai-hsiang and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, April 13 (CNA) Taipei City’s Public Work Department has built 40 cuckoo clock-shaped birdhouses in Daan Forest Park with the aim of adding a touch of nature to the rapidly urbanized city, a city official said Monday.

With spring upon the city, people can see the cuckoo clock birdhouses when they pass under the maple trees along Xinsheng South Road (新生南路) and Jianguo South Road (建國南路), which frame two sides of the park, according to the official.

The boxes are made from Japanese cedar and park authorities are hopeful that they will be used by the black-browed barbets and other bird species that live in the park.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-04-13
By: Chien Li-hsin and Staff Reporter

A bookstore designed by architect Chu Chih-kang from Taiwan was recently selected by

Architectural Digest, a prestigious online architectural magazine, as one of the 14 world’s most beautiful bookstores, according to our Chinese-language sister paper Want Daily.

The Fangsuo Book Store in Chengdu, capital of southwestern China’s Sichuan province, opened in January. The only other bookstore from Asia to make Architectural Digest’s list is in Japan.

Chu said he was inspired by the history of Xuanzang, the famous Buddhist monk from the Tang Dynasty whose adventures were fictionalized in the classic novel Journey to the West. Xuanzang resided and practiced Buddhism at Daci Temple in Chengdu before he undertook a spiritual pilgrimage to India.     [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 13, 2015
By: Chen Wei-han  /  Staff writer

A flag representing a newly formed political party has been cleared by the Ministry of the

Interior, but its similarity to the flags used by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the New Party has raised eyebrows.

According to a report yesterday by the Chinese-language United Daily News, the Republic Party (Minkuotang, 民國黨 or MKT) flag consists of the Republic of China’s national emblem on a golden-yellow background, a design that employs a symbol used by the KMT and the colors used by the New Party.

Members of the KMT and the New Party said the design is a cause for concern, as voters might confuse the MKT flag for that of the KMT or the New Party, the report said.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/04/12
By: Lu Hsin-huei and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, April 12 (CNA) Former National Security Council Secretary-General Su Chi (蘇起) said

Sunday that the country’s main opposition party does not have a firm policy on Taiwan-China relations and needs to address that shortcoming.

The Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) has failed to resolve the fundamental problem of its differences with China regarding the perception of cross-strait relations, Su said.

The DPP’s “policy on relations with the mainland (China) is not solid enough,” he said, adding his voice to the public commentary on the policy, which was put forth last week by DPP Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) at a meeting of the party’s China Affairs Committee.

Su, a member of the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) who served as head of Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council 1999-2000, said he believes the DPP guidelines are aimed mainly at the people of Taiwan and at the United States.     [FULL  STORY]