EXPLANATION:Tsai Ing-wen said there was a need for a well-coordinated team to tackle the challenges facing Taiwan and communicate between levels of government

Taipei Times
Date: Mar 04, 2016
By: Chen Hui-ping and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writer

President-elect Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday said she would “take

responsibility” for contradicting previous statements that the nation’s president should not also be head of the ruling party, comments she made in criticizing President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).

“The ongoing and changing political situation” and the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) new position as the majority party in the legislature made it necessary for her to double as president and DPP chairperson, she said at a news conference at the Hsinchu Science Park after she met with semiconductor industry officials.
DPP officials on Wednesday said that Tsai would remain as party leader after her inauguration on May 20, prompting journalists at the news conference to ask her about the shift in her stance.

Taiwan is beset by “comprehensive challenges,” and it would take “an efficient, well-coordinated team” to implement her platform, for which the DPP had made amendments to its party charter, she said.     [FULL  STORY]

POOR SHOWING:The DPP also had the PFP and the luck of the draw to blame for the results, but was not helped by Legislator Yang Yao, who voted for himself, for a tie

Taipei Times
Date: Mar 03, 2016
By: Alison Hsiao / Staff reporter

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), which has only 35 seats in the 113-seat

legislature after the legislative elections on Jan. 16, yesterday won seven convener seats with the help of the People First Party (PFP), the luck of the draw and a blunder by a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmaker as the legislature held elections for 16 conveners of eight committees.

Of the eight legislative committees, the Education and Culture Committee and the Foreign and National Defense Committee are the only two that choose their conveners via recommendation instead of election. DPP Legislator Huang Kuo-shu (黃國書) and KMT Legislator Apollo Chen (陳學聖) will take turns to preside over education and culture committee meetings, while the foreign and national defense committees are to be overseen by DPP Legislator Liu Shih-fang (劉世芳) and KMT Legislator Johnny Chiang (江啟臣).     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan Today
Date: March 1, 2016

A series of policy initiatives aimed at boosting the competitiveness and

production value of Taiwan’s biomedical and smart machinery industries were recently proposed by ROC President-elect Tsai Ing-wen.

The biomedical component includes reforms for 31 items covered under amendments to the Act for the Development of Biotech and New Pharmaceuticals Industry, Fundamental Science and Technology Act and Pharmaceutical Affairs Act. This raft of changes is prioritized for review in the ninth Legislature, which commenced sittings Feb. 19 in Taipei City.

“We hope these bills can be greenlighted by year-end,” Tsai said during a conference with industry leaders Feb. 23 at Nangang Software Park in Taipei City. “The biomedical industry in Taiwan is full of potential and what we need to do is boost production value by pooling the resources of the academic, public and private sectors.”       [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-02-27
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – President-elect Tsai Ing-wen will resolve possible conflicts of interest due to her brother’s investments in the biotechnology sector before her inauguration on May 20, the Democratic Progressive Party said Saturday.

At a meeting with biotech business leaders recently, Tsai praised the sector’s efforts, including a reportedly failed attempt by OBI Pharma Inc. to develop a working breast cancer drug.

However, a letter to the media alleged Saturday that a brother of Tsai, Tsai Ying-yang, was a board member of the fifth-largest shareholder in OBI Pharma. The shareholding company was even originally named after Tsai’s father and had also played a role in the formation of other biotech firms, reports said.     [FULL  STORY]

’CHEESY’:Acting KMT chairperson Huang Min-hui said that the public would not support the DPP carrying out ‘political vendettas’ in the name of transitional justice

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 25, 2016
By: Stacy Hsu / Staff reporter

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Acting Chairperson Huang Min-hui (黃敏惠)

yesterday urged president-elect Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) not to let her pledges to push for transitional justice descend into “cheesy political slogans,” in her latest round of barbs aimed at the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) legislative proposals.

“Tsai promised modesty after she won last month’s presidential election. However, the DPP caucus has tabled a series of controversial proposals, such as those concerning the removal of portraits of Republic of China [ROC] founding father Sun Yat-sen (孫逸仙) from public buildings and ‘ill-gotten’ party assets,” Huang said.

Huang said Tsai has listed transitional justice as one of her five major political reform plans and vowed to cement momentum for reform via collaboration.

“What exactly do you [Tsai] plan to transition to, justice or hatred?” Huang asked, urging the DPP chairperson to explain herself.     [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 23, 2016
By: Stacy Hsu / Staff reporter

Former deputy legislative speaker Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) yesterday

lambasted a proposal to abolish a legal requirement that portraits of Republic of China (ROC) founding father Sun Yat-sen (孫逸仙) be displayed in public buildings, calling it an unwise move.

“It is an ill-considered proposal. Would you toss away the memorial tablets of your ancestors at home?” Hung said on the sidelines of a Lunar New Year greetings event at the KMT’s branch in New Taipei City’s Jhonghe District (中和) yesterday morning.

Hung was responding to reporters’ questions on Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Gao Jyh-peng’s (高志鵬) proposal on Saturday to remove the requirement and drop Sun’s designation as the nation’s “founding father.”

Gao said Sun’s portraits were reminiscent of one-party rule under the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) authoritarian regime and ran against democratic principles.     [FULL  STORY]