Politics

Tsai sees medical biotechnology hub

Taipei Times
Date:  Oct 28, 2015
By: Alison Hsiao  /  Staff reporter

Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday said

Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen yesterday speaks at the party’s headquarters in Taipei about her proposal to turn Taiwan into an Asia-Pacific center for medical biotechnological research. Photo: CNA

Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen yesterday speaks at the party’s headquarters in Taipei about her proposal to turn Taiwan into an Asia-Pacific center for medical biotechnological research. Photo: CNA

Taiwan should seek to become an Asia-Pacific center for medical biotechnological research, tapping the nation’s advantages of possessing a genetic database of certain Asian ethnic groups and an understanding their lifestyle habits and environments.

Biotechnology is a fast-moving field and medical biotechnology offers significance prospects for Taiwanese industry, she said.

“We have excellent human resources in clinical medicine and research to study diseases specific to ethnic Chinese, with a renowned international reputation. We also possess a world-class medical system with sufficient medical professionals and facilities that are well-equipped to conduct clinical tests for new medicines and medical devices,” Tsai said.

“There are a lot of challenges too, as it is a capital-intensive, skill-intensive and expertise-intensive industry. This is why we should integrate efforts by the government, academic institutes and industries to continue to lay the groundwork by strengthening our human resources, capital, intellectual property and regulations for establishing Taiwan as the research and industrial center of the medical biotechnology of the Asia-Pacific region,” she said.     [FULL  STORY]

Candidates urged to declare stance on gay marriage

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 27, 2015
By: Abraham Gerber  /  Staff reporter

Major party candidates should take a clear position on marriage equality, legislative

Protesters hold placards and chant slogans outside the Legislative Yuan yesterday, urging lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people across the nation to wield the power of their votes to influence politics. Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times

Protesters hold placards and chant slogans outside the Legislative Yuan yesterday, urging lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people across the nation to wield the power of their votes to influence politics. Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times

candidates from the Green-Social Democratic Party Alliance (Green-SDP Alliance) said yesterday.

“Gay voters have been deceived by politicians for too long, so we hope all presidential and legislative candidates can show sincerity and stop throwing curveballs to voters,” Social Democratic Party (SDP) candidate Miao Bo-ya (苗博雅) said.

“Be brave enough to tell the public what you really think in your heart and whether you support marriage equality. Only then will people have a clear basis for casting their ballots,” Miao said, criticizing the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Democratic Progressive Party for failing to state whether they would support legalizing same-sex marriage if they achieved a legislative majority.     [FULL  STORY]

KMT’s switch of Hung is true to core value of staying in power

Editorial
Date: 2015-10-26

Taiwan’s ruling Kuomintang nominated its chair, Eric Chu, to run in the 2016 presidential

Eric Chu and Hung Hsiu-chu shake hands as Hung is relieved of the KMT's nomination at a party congress on Oct. 17. (File photo/CNA)

Eric Chu and Hung Hsiu-chu shake hands as Hung is relieved of the KMT’s nomination at a party congress on Oct. 17. (File photo/CNA)

electoral contest last weekend after the party’s highest decision-making body rescinded its earlier nomination of Hung Hsiu-chu, the deputy speaker of the Legislative Yuan, because of her dismal showing in the polls.

The replacement drew ire from a large section of the party’s own supporters for breaching faith with Hung, with some even threatening not to vote in January’s presidential and legislative elections.

But according to the conventional rules of democratic politics, the KMT’s replacement of Hung is acceptable because the decision was made based on the principle of “give a little to gain a lot.” From an overall perspective, the main duty of political parties in a democratic nation is to gain power to fulfill their ideals.     [FULL  STORY]

Chu says ‘perseverance’ will help him win the presidency

Taiwan News
Date: 2015-10-26
By: Ko Lin, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Kuomintang presidential candidate Eric Chu hoped to pass on the spirit of perseverance

Chu says perseverance will help him prevail. Central News Agency

Chu says perseverance will help him prevail. Central News Agency

as depicted in the blockbuster movie “Kano” onto his political endeavor, reports said Monday.

“We shall prevail in January,” Chu said during a press conference in Chiayi, where he participated in an event to promote tourism for the county’s Alishan forest railway.

KMT’s legislative nominee Wu Yu-jen, who will be standing for Chiayi on January 16, said he vows to develop the city’s low-carbon tourism based on electric locomotives.

“The Tourism Bureau has plans to purchase additional electric-powered locomotives to replace its ageing fleet of diesel trains,” Wu said, noting that it hopes the Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA) can help drive Chiayi’s tourism.     [FULL  STORY]

Social Democrats-Green alliance calls for tax equality

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/10/25
By: Sophia Yeh and Maria Tsai

Taipei Oct. 25 (CNA) The Social Democratic Party (SDP) and Green Party alliance called 201510250020t0001for tax equality to narrow the rich-poor gap by proposing a fair tax program Sunday.

Legislative candidates and supporters of the two minor parties hit the streets in a protest against a draft amendment to the Statute for Industrial Innovation.

The Cabinet in the amendment proposed tax cuts for enterprises which spend on personnel training, overseas investments and taking measures to weather economic downturn in a business cycle. The draft is scheduled to be debated in the Legislative Yuan in December.

The alliance believed that the draft, instead of reviving domestic economy, will benefit only Taiwan’s conglomerates .     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan’s presidential candidates yet to pick running mates

Want China Times
Date: 2015-10-25
By: CNA and Staff Reporter

With only 84 days left until Taiwan’s next presidential election, none of the presidential

From left: Eric Chu, Tsai Ing-wen and James Soong attend the ROC National Day ceremony in Taipei, Oct. 10. (Photo/Huang Shih-chi)

From left: Eric Chu, Tsai Ing-wen and James Soong attend the ROC National Day ceremony in Taipei, Oct. 10. (Photo/Huang Shih-chi)

candidates have yet announced their running mates.

Asked if he has set any criteria for his running mate, Eric Chu, chair and presidential candidate of the ruling Kuomintang, said he is keeping an open mind in this regard and invites the public to recommend any good fits. “I haven’t set any criteria for my running mate… But he or she needs to give hope to the people of Taiwan,” he said when he paid a visit to Changhua county on Saturday.

In response to the media speculation that Chu has been mulling over the possibility of sharing a ticket with Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng, Chu shrugged off the question, saying Wang is still the Legislative Yuan’s respected leader.     [FULL  STORY]

Tsai downplays KMT’s defamation tactics

Taiwan News
Date: 2015-10-25
By: Ko Lin, Staff Writer

Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen rebuked Kuomintang’s

Tsai downplays defamation tactics. Central News Agency

Tsai downplays defamation tactics. Central News Agency

accusations saying the ruling party continues to run its election campaign using defamation tactics, reports said Sunday.

Earlier on Thursday, KMT Chairman and presidential contender Eric Chu blasted Tsai and her counterparts for using “dirty tricks” against him, expressing that he will do whatever necessary “to keep the opposition party from ruling.”

Furthermore, Chu criticized the DPP that the public would not support negative campaign tactics.

When asked about her sentiment over Chu’s rhetoric, Tsai responded that the KMT can jump from one candidate to another, but its smearing efforts remain the same.

“Chu has been laying criticisms on the DPP for a week now, it’s getting old,” Tsai said, adding that the KMT has since lost its public appeal because of its aptitude towards placing blames rather than finding solutions.     [FULL  STORY]

Chu says he is not cutting ties with President Ma

Taiwan News
Date: 2015-10-25
By: Ko Lin, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Kuomintang presidential candidate Eric Chu denied allegations that he was cutting ties

Chu says he is not cutting ties with Ma. Central News Agency

Chu says he is not cutting ties with Ma. Central News Agency

with President Ma Ying-jeou, stressing that the focus should instead be on efforts to introduce better, improved government policies for the future of Taiwan, reports said Sunday.

In an article published by the Chinese-language Apple Daily earlier this week, TV host Jaw Shaw-kong mentioned that Chu would need to prove that he is more suitable than Hung Hsiu-chu to represent the KMT, and to prove that he is more suitable than the Democratic Progressive Party’s Tsai Ing-wen to assume the position of Republic of China president. More importantly, he would also need to prove that he is not a reflection of Ma.

“Chu has to let the public know that he is a different player,” the article quoted, adding that it would be Chu’s downfall if he followed Ma’s political agenda.     [FULL  STORY]

Survey shows significant gap between Chu, Tsai

‘DIRTY TRICKS’:The KMT chairman said that once his campaign got under way, the DPP started to take action through lawsuits and mudslinging to avoid a fair contest

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 25, 2015
By: Alison Hsiao  /  Staff reporter

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) was trailing his Democratic

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Eric Chu shakes hands with supporters in New Taipei City yesterday. Photo: Chen Wei-tsung, Taipei Times

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Eric Chu shakes hands with supporters in New Taipei City yesterday. Photo: Chen Wei-tsung, Taipei Times

Progressive Party (DPP) counterpart by 18 percentage points, the latest survey conducted by the Chinese-language China Times regarding support for presidential candidates published yesterday showed.

The results showed that 38.9 percent of respondents said they would vote for DPP presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), 21.8 percent for Chu and 8.8 percent for People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜).

If a “pan-blue integration” were to occur, meaning that Soong withdraws from the race, both Tsai and Chu’s support would increase, with respondents supporting Tsai rising to 45.7 percent and Chu to 27 percent.     [FULL  STORY]

Hung payoff allegation ‘stupid’: Yeh

FRIENDLY DISAGREEMENT:A friend of the deputy legislative speaker was quoted as saying that Hung never asked the former minister to borrow money from the KMT

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 25, 2015
By: Alison Hsiao  /  Staff reporter

Former minister of transportation and communications Yeh Kuang-shih (葉匡時), who served as an adviser to Deputy Legislative Speaker Hung Hsiu-chu’s (洪秀柱) presidential campaign team, yesterday said allegations that he was involved in a quid pro quo exchange between the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) headquarters and Hung was “stupid.”

Yeh on Thursday said that KMT headquarters offered to give Hung NT$30 million (US$922,708) for her campaign on Oct. 5, a disclosure that led Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) to accuse Yeh and the KMT of agreeing to a quid pro quo arrangement for Hung to step down as the party’s presidential candidate.     [FULL  STORY]