COME ONE, COME ALL:he Executive Yuan is seeking to boost tourism as the economy falters, while a travel association urged a requirement for the tourists to have insurance

Taipei Times
Date:  Aug 21, 2015
By: Alison Hsiao and Shelley Shan  /  Staff reporters

The Executive Yuan yesterday said the cap on the number of Chinese tourists traveling

to Taiwan via the Free Independent Travel (FIT) program is to be raised to 5,000 a day to boost the country’s tourism.

With the GDP growth forecast for this year slashed by the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) to 1.56 percent last week, the Cabinet said that at least four measures would be carried out to boost the nation’s tourism and service industries.

The measures include the waiving of visa fees for Southeast Asian tourist groups meeting certain conditions, encouraging Taiwanese firms to have their overseas employees travel to Taiwan, lowering the threshold for tax refunds for tourists and relaxing the cap on the number of Chinese tourists traveling via the FIT program.

National Development Council Minister Woody Duh (杜紫軍) said the changes could help the nation generate NT$8.85 billion (US$271 million) in tourism profits by the end of the year.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-08-05
By: Staff Reporter

Taiping, the largest natural island in the disputed South China Sea’s Spratly island chain,

could be used as a staging base by the Republic of China Air Force’s fighters and maritime patrol aircraft for any potential conflict in the region, according to a report by the Washington-based think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The Spratlys are the most contested island group in the South China Sea, claimed in whole or in part by China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei. Taiwan exercises control over Taiping, which is no longer the largest island in the chain due to Chinese land reclamation activities. It is garrisoned by coast guard officers.

With a flying radius of 960 kilometers, the ROC Air Force’s P-3C patrol aircraft can carry out reconnaissance operations over southern and central China. Like the Air Force’s F-16 fighter and C-130 cargo plane, the P-3C is capable of landing on the 1,195-metre long airstrip built on Taiping, according to the report.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/07/27
By: Claudia Liu and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, July 27 (CNA) President Ma Ying-jeou said in a recent interview with the BBC that he

was not happy about a simulated attack on Taiwan’s Presidential Office in a Chinese military drill.

Ma called the move a reminder that despite rapprochement, the military threat from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) remains solid and that Taiwan should prepare to take defensive measures against such threats.

Asked whether China’s growing economic and military strength will pose an increasing threat to Taiwan, Ma said in the interview released Monday that the military balance across the Taiwan Strait has been tilting in favor of China since 2005 because it is difficult for Taiwan to compete with China’s military buildup, given that in recent years, China’s military spending has been on a double-digit or nearly 20 percent annual growth.

Under such circumstances, the best strategy is for the two sides to reduce the risk of military conflict across the strait through achieving political reconciliation and improving relations, according to Ma.     [FULL  STORY]

YIBADA
Date: Jul 25, 2015
By: EL Borromeo

As 2016 approaches, wherein Taiwan will be holding a presidential election, China heightens

its efforts to make more replicas of Taiwan targets that will be used for simulated attacks.

The physical mock-ups, which the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has been making since 2014, reflect Beijing’s “preparations for a military struggle” with Taiwan, a Chinese military expert revealed on Friday.

Andrei Chang, also known as Pinkov who founded the Canada-based Kanwa Defense Review, stated that China has been increasing its preparations because the government of its capital city is concerned about the “potentially drastic changes in Taiwan’s political situation” that may arise after the presidential election.

Compared with the incumbent Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou, Taiwan’s opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chair and a front-runner in the presidential bid Tsai Ing-wen is expected to be in a less conciliatory position toward China.     [FULL  STORY]

OUTDATED CONSTITUTION:The Constitution must be amended to reflect reality, the New Power Party said, adding that young people see China as a foreign country

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 09, 2015
By: Loa Iok-sin  /  Staff reporter

New Power Party Acting President Huang Kuo-chang, center, speaks during a news

conference yesterday in which the party announced its China policy.  Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times

The New Power Party (NPP) yesterday said its cross-strait policy would focus on demonstrating that Taiwan and China are two separate nations, while amending laws according to the cross-strait factual “status quo.”

“Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] presidential hopeful Hung Hsiu-chu [洪秀柱] earlier proposed her ‘one China, same interpretation’ model, while President Ma Ying-jeou [馬英九] insists on ‘one China, with each side having its own interpretation,’ and KMT Chairman Eric Chu [朱立倫] said that the two sides of the Taiwan Strait both belong to ‘one China,’” NPP Acting President Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) told a news conference.

“Although their ideas might be slightly different, all sit under the framework of ‘one China,’ which is against the principles of national sovereignty and constitutional democracy, because Taiwan’s sovereignty belongs to the 23 million people of Taiwan, not to anyone in China,” he added.     [FULL  STORY]