China Post/Asia News Network
Date: Nov 14, 2015
By: Enru Lin

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Chen Chien-jen, a leading cancer researcher and Academia Sinica vice

president, has been tipped as the vice presidential candidate of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

Internet outlet Storm Media Group reported yesterday that DPP presidential contender Tsai Ing-wen had offered the role of deputy to Chen in October.

Chen accepted earlier this month, according to the report.

Tsai, in Greater Taichung yesterday, declined to confirm or deny Chen’s selection but said that an end to the speculation was near.     [FULL STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 15, 2015
By: William Lowther  /  Staff reporter in Washington

Senior US officials on Friday said that Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Eric Chu, center, talks to reporters on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington on Friday. Photo: Shih Hsiao-kuang, Taipei Times

candidate Eric Chu (朱立倫) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) had been given exactly the same reception in Washington.

“We do not play favorites,” Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia Daniel Russel said.

Russell was addressing a Foreign Press Center briefing on US President Barack Obama’s upcoming trip to the G20 summit in Turkey, as well as Malaysia and the Philippines.

Speaking as Chu ended his two-day visit to Washington, Russel was adamant that the two Taiwanese presidential candidates were treated equally.     [FULL  STORY]

Bloomberg
By: Debra Mao and James Nash

With just weeks to go before Taiwan picks its next president, both candidates might be

Eric Chu, Chairman of Taiwan’s Kuomintang, in Virginia on Nov. 11.
Photographer: Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty Images

expected to be crisscrossing the island picking up votes. Instead, Eric Chu — the ruling Kuomintang Party’s nominee — is in Washington, 12,600 kilometers (7,800 miles) away.

Chu’s five-day U.S. trip, which includes stops in ethnic Chinese enclaves in Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco, is all the more remarkable considering the New Taipei mayor is trailing far behind opposition leader Tsai Ing-wen in opinion polls. He entered the race last month after his party abruptly dumped its unpopular candidate.

The late cross-Pacific campaign swing shows the enduring U.S. influence over Taiwanese politics, even after years of flourishing trade with China, its one-time civil war foe. Just as important as stumping on the streets of Taipei is shoring up the U.S. backing that gives Taiwan a measure of geopolitical leverage over Communist Party leaders in Beijing. Tsai made a similar political pilgrimage to Washington in June.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Editorial
Date: 2015-11-12
By: Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Taiwan has only just been recovering from all the excitement of President Ma Ying-jeou

Editorial: Tsai does not need Xi. Taiwan News

traveling to Singapore for an 82-second handshake and a one-hour meeting with China’s President Xi Jinping.

Yet, already, never-resting talk show commentators and media are starting to throw theories around about the need for the Ma-Xi summit to be succeeded by a similar meeting with the next president of Taiwan.

Whatever motivations the president might have had in timing his encounter with his Chinese counterpart on November 7, the most recent polls show that any impact of the summit on the presidential election is likely to be negligible.

Democratic Progressive Party Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen had the backing of 42 percent of the public, Kuomintang Chairman Eric Liluan Chu could count on 22 percent, and People First Party Chairman James Soong would still receive 8 percent if an election were held soon, a poll conducted on behalf of Business Weekly concluded after the Ma-Xi summit.     [FULL  STORY]

FOOT DRAGGING?Police arguments about jurisdiction meant MRT security footage was deleted before police viewed it. Police have questioned the Taiwanese suspect

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 13, 2015
By: Sean Lin  /  Staff reporter

People First Party (PFP) Taipei City Councilor Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday called for

A viral video of a Taiwanese man surnamed Liao, who is accused of hurling a torrent of racial abuse at a foreign resident on a train on Taipei MRT’s Tamsui-Xinyi line is pictured on Youtube. Screengrab from Youtube

better communication between Taipei City Police precincts in handling cases that take place in the city’s MRT system, after a foreigner posted a video showing that he and his Taiwanese girlfriend had been humiliated on an MRT carriage.

During a Taipei City Council question-and-answer session, Huang showed a video clip recorded last month by Christopher Raymond Hall, a Briton, which Hall uploaded to YouTube on Wednesday.

The footage showed Hall and his girlfriend being verbally abused on a train operating on the MRT Tamsui-Xinyi Line by a Taiwanese man, who subjected the couple to a barrage of racist remarks and personal attacks.

Huang questioned the efficiency of the city’s police system, saying that the police were unable to obtain footage of the incident from surveillance cameras installed on MRT trains because more than one week had passed before the police stations finally figured out who had jurisdiction over the case, and the footage had already been deleted.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan Today
Date: November 10, 2015

The ROC’s ruling Kuomintang Chairman Eric Chu embarked Nov. 10 on a seven-day visit to the U.S., with stops

Kuomintang Chairman Eric Chu outlines his campaign platform for next year’s ROC presidential election at an international media event Nov. 5 in Taipei City. (CNA)

planned in Los Angeles, Washington, New York and San Francisco.

During his stay, Chu is expected to exchange views with U.S. officials on such issues as bilateral ties, cross-strait policy, East Asian peace and regional economics, according to Lin Yi-hua, head of the KMT’s Culture and Communications Committee.
“The chairman will take this opportunity to strengthen the KMT’s relationship with its staunch U.S. allies, building on robust two-way interactions over the years,” Lin said. “He will also extend gratitude to local expatriate groups for their support of his presidential bid.”

Highlights of Chu’s trip include a discussion Nov. 13 at Washington-based think tank Brookings Institution, as well as an interview with The Washington Post the same day. These are in addition to a welcome party Nov. 12 hosted by Shen Lyu-shun, the ROC’s representative to the U.S., at the historic Twin Oaks Estate.

While in New York, Chu is scheduled to meet with nongovernmental organization National Committee on American Foreign Policy and give an interview with the Voice of America Nov. 14.    [FULL  STORY]