DEGREE OF UNCERTAINTY:The KMT was responding to a ‘Next Magazine’ story that alleges that the party is reconsidering Hung amid questions over her degree

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

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) spokesperson Yang Wei-chung (楊偉中) yesterday

Legislative Speaker Hung Hsiu-chu yesterday attends a book launch in Taipei yesterday. Hung refused to comment on a lawsuit against political commentator Wen Shen, whom Hung has accused of defaming her father. Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times

said that it is “absolutely impossible” for any change to be made to the party’s decision to nominate Deputy Legislative Speaker Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) as its presidential candidate, after Next Magazine reported that Hung’s nomination might be at risk as her master’s degree has been called into question.

The latest edition of the magazine, published yesterday, said that because Hung is facing questions over the authenticity of her degree, combined with her and her team’s discord with the party leadership, her nomination might be questioned before the party congress on July 19, where the nomination is to be finalized.

The magazine quoted a party source as saying that the degree issue would open the party to charges of deceiving the electorate, and called on the party to reconsider Hung’s nomination or the KMT’s integrity would be compromised.     [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 24, 2015
By: Alison Hsiao  /  Staff reporter

Social Democratic Party (SDP) legislative candidate Lu Hsin-chieh (呂欣潔) went to

Gay rights activisits hold signs demanding the legalization of gay marriage as Social Democratic Party (SDP) legislative candidate Lu Hsin-chieh, second right, and her parnter Chen Ling, register their marriage at the Zhongzheng District Household Registration Office in Taipei, yesterday. Photo: EPA

Taipei’s Zhongzheng District Household Registration Office yesterday with her partner to register their same-sex partnership under a new measure the city has adopted.

The Taipei City Government has allowed for the registration of gay couples since Wednesday last week, becoming the second area in the nation to recognize such relationships after Kaohsiung.

If both partners have their household registered in Taipei, a gay couple can register their partnership at their respective district household registration offices.

However, the registration is not legally binding, but rather a symbolic record in the government’s household registration system of the partnership.

Under the regulations, a consent form allowing access to personal information is also signed, in which the signatory can choose to allow medical institutions, social welfare institutions or police access to the partnership registration information.     [FULL STORY]

Time
By: Olivier Laurent

Photographer Adam Ferguson explains his approach

Behind TIME’s Plastic Surgery Cover With Fashion Photographer Miles Aldridge

Photograph by Adam Ferguson for TIME

My Most Important Photograph: Brigitte Lacombe, New York, 1988
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Tsai Ing-wen, who is running for president in Taiwan, is on the cover of this week’s edition of TIME Asia. Freelance photographer Adam Ferguson, who authored the cover portrait, takes us behind the scenes:

“The shoot followed a morning interview by TIME’s Emily Rauhala and Zoher Abdoolcarim in Taipei,” Ferguson tells TIME. “I was setting up a studio on location and I was nervous I wouldn’t get [a lot of] time, but Tsai was very relaxed and happy to work with me.”     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-06-21
By: CNA and Staff Reporter

Kuomintang presidential candidate Hung Hsiu-chu said Saturday that national interest will be her

Hung Hsiu-chu had earlier derided the idea of visiting the US, likening it to a form of test or job interview. (Internet photo)

prime consideration in deciding whether to visit the United States, after learning that the ruling party is intent on having her do so despite her dismissive remarks earlier in the week.

“The United States is our closest and most important ally, and it is very important to maintain relations with the United States,” she said, having only a few days previously scoffed at the idea of visiting the US in a swipe against her opposition rival Tsai Ing-wen.

Hung also stressed that only statements coming directly from her or her spokesperson could be considered to reflect her views on cross-Taiwan Strait relations and the issue of a possible US visit.

She made the remarks after KMT Chairman Eric Chu said earlier Saturday that arrangements will be made for Hung to visit the United States after she is confirmed as the party’s official presidential candidate at the party’s national convention set for July 19. Chu said the KMT will communicate with the US side on the date of Hung’s visit, with August and September both possible times.

Only a few days earlier, Hung had said that if she were to go to the United States now, it would be like taking a test or attending a job interview, which she said would be very strange — a clear jab at opposition Democratic Progressive Party candidate Tsai Ing-wen, who recently returned from a 12-day trip to the United States, where she was warmly received by lawmakers and think tanks. In an interview with a local radio station, she said, “My feeling of repellence is very strong. How is this honorable? I don’t think our presidential candidates definitely have to go.” She proposed instead that she would invite US officials to come and talk to her in Taiwan.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-06-18
By: CNA and Staff Reporter

Ruling Kuomintang presidential candidate Hung Hsiu-chu said Thursday that she is not inclined to visit

Hung Hsiu-chu on her way to an interview in Taipei, June 18. (Photo/Yao Chih-ping)

the United States before Taiwan’s 2016 presidential election.

Hung said she would prefer to go to the United States or Japan after she is elected in January. The putative candidate said that if she were to go to the United States now, it would be like taking a test or attending a job interview, which she said would be very strange — a clear swipe at opposition Democratic Progressive Party candidate Tsai Ing-wen, who recently returned from a 12-day trip to the United States.

Hung said the US side probably does not know her and is curious about her, but they should feel at ease with the KMT and believe that she will not suddenly become a troublemaker in the bilateral relationship or in Taiwan’s dealings with China.

According to Hung, many people in the KMT, including the party’s chair Eric Chu, have encouraged her to visit the United States because this would help boost the morale of Taiwanese expatriates there. However, Hung said it would not be good if she purely visits Taiwanese expatriates there and that she is hesitant as to whether to go to Washington DC.

A more important issue is that opposition Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen has prepared herself for many years, while it has been less than two months since she joined the KMT presidential primary, Hung said. She said she has to race against time to tour around Taiwan to see as many people as possible.

Also Thursday, KMT Secretary-General Lee Shih-chuan suggested that Hung should visit the United States to communicate her policies to Taiwanese expatriates there.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-06-17
By: CNA

Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan passed a law Tuesday to allow for the establishment of a Cabinet-level

Deputy Legislative Speaker Hung Hsiu-chu bangs the gavel at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei, June 16. (Photo/CNA)

commission that will implement the country’s maritime and environmental protection policies.

The passage of the Maritime Commission Organic Law, which was put forward by the Cabinet, highlights the government’s focus on maritime affairs. It stipulates that a Maritime Commission should be set up under the Executive Yuan to take charge of overall maritime policy and environmental protection planning.

In passing the new law, lawmakers agreed that the Maritime Commission must immediately start preparing for the establishment of a Maritime Conservation Administration and National Maritime Research Institute and complete that task within 12 months.

The existing Coast Guard Administration will also become part of the commission’s portfolio.     [FULL  STORY]

FINGER-POINTING:The DPP caucus whip said the KMT’s Lai Shyh-bao had proposed postponing the presidential poll, but Lai said it was the PFP’s idea

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 17, 2015
By: Alison Hsiao  /  Staff reporter

Interparty negotiations over constitutional amendments broke down again yesterday, with young protesters,

Members of social advocacy group Taiwan March are detained by police yesterday after rushing into one of the Legislative Yuan’s halls demanding that KMT Legislator Lai Shyh-bao explain why constitutional amendment negotiations were ended. Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times

angry over the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) refusal to separately review controversial amendments on the last day of the legislative session, attempting to storm into KMT caucus whip Lai Shyh-bao’s (賴士葆) office.

The Legislative Yuan had its last plenary meeting yesterday, which was already extended for the legislature to pass the amendments in time for a referendum on the reforms to take place alongside the presidential and legislative elections on Jan. 16. The failure to pass the amendments means the referendum will not take place as planned.

The party caucuses held negotiations yesterday morning intending to iron out the disagreements on how the constitutional amendments should be handled.

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus said it proposed that constitutional amendments on which the parties have reached a consensus, such as the lowering of the voting age to 18 and the lowering of the threshold for parties to secure representation in the legislature, be passed in time for the administrative procedures required by the referendum.     [FULL  STORY]