Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/01/13
By: Liu Shih-yi, Yeh Su-ping and Frances Huang

Taipei, Jan. 13 (CNA) Taiwan investigators said Wednesday that they had

not received any audio evidence from a woman who accused Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) of accepting a large political donation from a wanted fugitive.

Lin Hsiu-chuan (林秀娟), who made the allegation, said she had given an audio disc to the Special Investigation Division (SID) of the Supreme Prosecutors Office during an investigation in November.

The disc provided evidence that Tsai had accepted a donation of NT$450 million (US$13.39 million) from Huang Fang-yen (黃芳彥), former deputy superintendent of Shin Kong Memorial Wu Ho-Su Hospital, Lin said.

In response, Lin said Wednesday that the SID’s comment was regrettable and that she had been “set up” by the SID.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan Today
Date: January 13, 2016

The winners of this year’s Taipei International Book Exhibition Book Prize

were announced Jan. 12 by the ROC Ministry of Culture, highlighting the increasingly diverse nature of the local publishing sector.

Novelists Gan Yao-ming, Liu Da-ren and Wang Ting-kuo won for fiction, with film critic Dennis Chan, magazine magnate Chan Hung-chih, as well as interior designer Hsin Yong-sheng and information and communication technology engineer Yang Chao-ching for nonfiction.

MOC Deputy Minister Tsai Ping-kun said the various themes of awarded pieces represent the rich and vibrant cultural landscape in Taiwan. “The government will continue supporting such outstanding talents and promoting writing with local identity.”

According to Tsai, Gan’s work offers a look at the nation’s logging history in Hualien County during the 1970s through the eyes of an indigenous Amis girl. “It employs fantasy and tribal myths to clearly explain the complex local flora and technically harrowing world of timber harvesting equipment,” he said.     [FULL  STORY]

IN ITS OWN RIGHT:Huang Kuo-chang said the two parties had nominated outstanding at-large legislative candidates, so voters should cast their ballots based on policy issues

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 14, 2016
By: Abraham Gerber / Staff reporter

The New Power Party (NPP) yesterday pushed back against Democratic

Progressive Party (DPP) calls for “pan-green camp” voters to “concentrate” their votes in Saturday’s legislative elections, although it refrained from directly criticizing the DPP.

“When we say that we want a ‘new politics,’ we do not want to get bogged down in the manipulative methods of old politics, so we absolutely will not criticize parties whose ideas are similar to ours nor will we issue a call for voters to ‘allocate ballots,” Acting NPP Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) said.

Ballot allocation refers to voters coordinating to strategically divide their ballots among ideologically similar parties or candidates, the way the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) called on pan-green households to “allocate” at least one ballot to the TSU during the 2012 elections.

The DPP over the past week has repeatedly called on voters to “concentrate” their at-large ballots on itself, saying that support for small “third force” parties threatens to undermine the “safe” seats on its at-large legislative slate.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-01-11
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

A campaign video features director Wu Nien-chen’s soundtrack urging voters

to vote for the Democratic Progressive Party and its presidential ticket was released Monday.

Wu stumped for New Power Party legislative candidate Ke Yi-cheng at his campaign rally on Saturday, which made the media believe Wu supports the NPP.

However, Wu’s voice is the soundtrack of the DPP’s new video, urging voters to vote for the DPP and its presidential ticket, Tsai Ing-wen and Chen Chien-jen.

Political party vote determines how many at-large legislator seats a party can get, so voters need to focus on the DPP and enable it to get a majority of seats to reform the Legislature, Wu is heard as saying.     [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 12, 2016
By: Lee Jung-ping and Jonathan Chin  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer

People First Party presidential candidate James Soong (宋楚瑜) yesterday

visited former president Chiang Ching-kuo’s (蔣經國) mausoleum in Taoyuan’s Touliao (頭寮) to mark the 28th anniversary of Chiang’s death tomorrow.

A teary-eyed Soong — who served as a personal secretary to Chiang from 1978 to 1981 — said he visited the mausoleum to “rediscover Chiang Ching-kuo’s stance, which is that the greatest thing in the world is the people.”

Soong added that he also wanted to recover the “ideals of the [Chinese Nationalist] Party [KMT] as [KMT founder] Sun Yat-sen (孫逸仙) conceived it.”

When asked to comment on KMT presidential candidate Eric Chu’s (朱立倫) plan to visit the mausoleum in the next few days, Soong said: “It does not matter how often one worships at the temple if there is no Buddha in his heart,” adding that politicians must be mindful of the public.

“This is why after eight years of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration, the KMT is held in contempt by the public,” he added.     [FULL  STORY]