KMT should apply ‘Keelung standards’ in Taitung, Miaoli

By Chris Wang  /  Staff reporter

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) should apply the same standards when replacing its candidates in November’s seven-in-one elections because they are involved in allegations of corruption, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday.

“If Keelung City Council Speaker Huang Ching-tai (黃景泰) is to be stripped of his nomination for the Keelung mayoral election due to his role in an alleged corruption case, why are candidate for Taitung County commissioner Justin Huang (黃健庭) and candidate for Miaoli County commissioner Hsu Yao-chang (徐耀昌) able to retain their nominations?” DPP spokesperson Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) asked at a press conference in Taipei.

Interior ministry asked not to appeal Dapu ruling

By Chris Wang  /  Staff reporter

Members of four Dapu Borough (大埔) families who won a landmark land expropriation case yesterday urged the Ministry of the Interior not to appeal the verdict.

The Taiwan High Court on Jan. 3 ruled that the demolition carried out in Dapu in Miaoli County’s Jhunan Township (竹南) last year, whether partial or complete, of the families’ homes to make way for the expansion of a science park project had been unlawful.

Police told to use force, professor says

‘GHOST OF KMT’S PAST’:：Protesters and the DPP say that national security agencies have ordered police to arrest people for merely shouting slogans at protests
By Mo Yan-chih and Chris Wang  /  Staff reporters
Thu, Jul 25, 2013 - Page 1

A university professor who was arrested on Tuesday during a protest over the forced demolition of houses in Dapu Borough (大埔) in Miaoli County’s Jhunan Township (竹南) accused national security authorities of instructing police to use excessive force against protesters and urged President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration to stop enforcing repressive controls over its people.

“Most of Taipei City’s police officers were nice to me and I believe they were forced by national security authorities to handle the protest with violence. It’s the national security authorities that are uncivilized,” National Chengchi University professor Hsu Shih-jung (徐世榮) said at the Taipei City Council.

Dapu houses torn down amid protests

DEMOLISHING TRUST:：A demolition squad with hundreds of police in tow destroyed the houses as family members and their supporters were in Taipei
By Loa Iok-sin and Mo Yan-chih  /  Staff Reporters
Fri, Jul 19, 2013 - Page 1

While protesters against forced demolitions in Miaoli County’s Dapu Borough (大埔) demonstrated in front of the Presidential Office in Taipei yesterday, the county government sent in a demolition squad escorted by hundreds of police officers to tear down the Dapu houses, leading to waves of clashes.

“Stop the demolition. Keep the promise. Keep the houses,” almost 100 protesters supporting the resistance of four families in Dapu chanted as they ran through the police line toward the Presidential Office yesterday morning, upon hearing the news that the county government had started demolishing the houses while some members of the families and their supporters were in Taipei protesting.

Court rejects request to halt Dapu demolitions

By Chris Wang and Jake Chung  /  Staff Reporter, with Staff Writer and CNA
Sat, Jul 13, 2013 - Page 1

The High Administrative Court in Greater Taichung yesterday rejected a request by four house owners in Dapu (大埔) in Miaoli County’s Jhunan Township (竹南) to halt the pending demolition of their homes by the county government. The court ruled that the demolition would not constitute “irreparable damage” as the residents claimed.

The four families said their forced relocation would not only infringe on their rights of property and residence, but also degrade their dignity as well as infringe on their rights of family, privacy and living.

Dapu residents maintain vigil

By Loa Iok-sin and Shih Hsiu-chuan  /  Staff reporters
Thu, Jul 04, 2013 - Page 1

Residents of Dapu Village (大埔) in Miaoli County’s Jhunan Township (竹南) continued their sit-in protest outside the Executive Yuan for a second day yesterday ahead of tomorrow’s deadline for four families’s homes to be demolished.

“I have brought tofu desserts and sweet green bean soup that I made myself for Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) to show my sincerity,” Peng Hsiu-chun (彭秀春), a member of one of the four families that received a demolition order from the Miaoli County Government last month, told Executive Yuan Ethics Office official Chang Shih-jen (張世仁) as she held a bowl of dessert.

Wu and Jiang broke pledge to farmers: DPP

DAPU DECEPTION?The DPP used a short video clip to highlight its demand that the vice president and premier keep the promises that they made in 2010
By Chris Wang  /  Staff reporter

Vice President Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) and Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) have betrayed pledges made three years ago to farmers of Dapu (大埔) in Jhunan Township (竹南), Miaoli County, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday.

DPP officials told a press conference in Taipei that the party supports the farmers of Dapu, who began a new round of protests outside of the Executive Yuan yesterday morning over a renewed order to demolish their homes.

Filmmaker files suit over bird flu

By Chris Wang  /  Staff reporter

Citizen journalist and documentary filmmaker Kevin Lee (李惠仁) yesterday morning filed a lawsuit against eight government officials, including Council of Agriculture (COA) Minister Chen Bao-ji (陳保基), over the alleged cover-up of three recent avian flu outbreaks.

Lee’s lawsuit, filed at the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office, accuses incumbent and former council officials of malfeasance and document forgery in connection with three avian flu outbreaks last month and this month for reporting the highly pathogenic cases to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) as “of a low pathogenic level.”

DPP pushes candidate for Jhunan by-election

By Chris Wang  /  Staff reporter

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has turned its focus to the Jhunan Towship (竹南) mayoral by-election in Miaoli County on Saturday, following a bittersweet loss in a Greater Taichung legislative by-election over the weekend.

The party is calling on voters in the township to support its candidate, Lee Chen-hua (李震華), and to ignore other candidates’ smear tactics, DPP Deputy Secretary-General Lin Yu-sheng (林育生) said.

Former president urges pension program review

By Chris Wang  /  Staff reporter, in Miaoli County

It will take a complete review and reform of various social insurance and pension programs to resolve their financial difficulties, and high-ranking officials should clearly point out the direction of reform, former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) said in Miaoli County yesterday.

Speaking to the media during a question-and-answer session, Lee said it would be wrong to individually fix or save financially-challenged pension programs, which have sparked heated public discussion recently.

“It would take a thorough review, planning and reform to adjust those programs altogether,” he said.

Lee touts vital role of art, religion

By Chris Wang  /  Staff reporter, in Miaoli County

Art and religion play an equally important role in a country as politics and the economy, former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) said yesterday in Sanyi Township (三義), Miaoli County.

The 89-year-old former president was speaking to a group of woodcarving artists at Sanyi Woodcarving Museum, saying that art and religion are important in the 21st century because “technology cannot solve everything.”

Police in Miaoli accused of using excessive force

EXECUTIVE POWER:One group said the Miaoli County commissioner reduced the minimum legal distance between cemeteries and schools to help the industry
By Chris Wang  /  Staff reporter

Residents of HoulongTownship (後龍) , Miaoli County, yesterday accused police of physically assaulting them for protesting the construction of funeral facility and cemetery park and accused Miaoli County Commissioner Liu Cheng-hung (劉政鴻) of illegal colluding with the private developer of the project.

A video recording shown at a press conference organized by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers Wu Yi-chen (吳宜臻) and Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) showed hundreds of Miaoli police officers pushing their way into the crowd to guard the entrance to the site and clashing with the protesters, most of whom were elderly farmers, at about 6am on Wednesday.

2012 ELECTIONS: Tsai makes final push in Hakka areas

By Chris Wang  /  Staff Reporter

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) campaigned yesterday in Miaoli and Hsinchu counties, hoping to make a last push in the Hakka-populated area before Saturday’s presidential election.

The DPP chairperson appealed for the support of Hakkas and hoped to win at least 45 percent of the votes in Miaoli County, a feat the DPP has never accomplished.

In an election that could be decided by as few as tens of thousands of votes, every vote counts for Tsai, particularly in the Hakka constituencies, which have traditionally been dominated by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).

2012 ELECTIONS: Tsai promises to work with Hakka and Aborigines

PRIDE OF TAIWAN:The DPP presidential candidate said that she would seek to turn Hakka areas into cultural tourist spots to benefit the local economy
By Chris Wang  /  Staff Reporter

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday said that if she were elected next month, her administration would work with Hakka and Aborigine communities to regain the glory of minority groups in Taiwan.

The rich Hakka and Aborigine cultures would no longer be ignored because in the age of “glocalization,” they enrich Taiwan’s characteristics and become Taiwanese assets, both of which would boost the local economy and restore “ethnic” pride, she told supporters at separate settings on her campaign trail.

2012 ELECTIONS: Tsai calls for a renewed focus on LED industry

GLOWING REVIEW:Tsai said that as the LED sector looks to develop, it could learn from the bicycle industry, which has done much to improve its global competitiveness
By Chris Wang  /  Staff Reporter

The LED industry should be one of the nation’s strategic industries and the government should play a lead role in helping the industry with integration and marketing, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday in Miaoli.

If elected next month, her administration would actively engage in assisting the industry with its vertical integration and the elimination of trade barriers to improve its global competitiveness, Tsai said on the first of her five-day visit to local industrial centers.

2012 ELECTIONS: DPP eyeing big victory in south

POLL GOALS:：The DPP expects to lose in the Nantou County, the birthplace of Premier Wu Den-yih, but the margin could be smaller than most people think
By Chris Wang  /  Staff Reporter, in Chiayi County
Fri, Dec 09, 2011 - Page 3

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) will have to secure 700,000 votes more than the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in the south to win the presidential election next month, a senior aide in the DPP’s campaign team said.

The forecast reflected the nation’s basic electoral map, in which the DPP is dominant in the south and the KMT controls the north and east. Central Taiwan is a toss-up, said the aide, who wished to remain anonymous.

If DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) fails to win by more than 700,000 votes in the counties south of Yunlin — Yunlin, Chiayi and Pingtung counties, Greater Tainan and Greater Kaohsiung — “we are toast,” the aide said.

2012 ELECTIONS: Tsai wraps up visit to Hakka constituencies

By Chris Wang  /  Staff Reporter

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday wrapped up a four-day visit to Hakka constituencies, saying that she would designate it a national-level cultural preservation area if she is elected president in January.

Tsai, who is of Hakka descent, said she had learned a lot by meeting people who have been able to create a new way of life through a combination of tradition and innovation.

“The Hakka people glorify the adventurism of Taiwanese with their determination to safeguard their homeland, overcome any hardship and embrace the unknowns in the same way their predecessors have always done in the past,” she told thousands of supporters at her final stop in Sinwu Township (新屋), Taoyuan County.

Tsai touting her Hakka credentials on campaign tour

By Chris Wang  /  Staff Reporter, in Miaoli County

Beginning her four-day visit to Hakka-centric constituencies yesterday, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said she would be a better president than Presidential Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) because of her Hakka background.

“I would bring the spirit of frugality, perseverance and solidarity, as well as the Hakka people’s determination to safeguard their homeland, to the Presidential Office with me,” Tsai said in Shihgang District (石岡), Greater Taichung, the first stop of her tour.

DPP is confident of Hakka vote

CRUCIAL CONSTITUENCY:Party officials say that they believe Tsai Ing-wen’s Hakka ancestry may help her win the vote in the vital Hsinchu, Miaoli and Taoyuan districts
By Chris Wang  /  Staff Reporter, in Taoyuan County

As Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) presidential election campaign trip took her to areas with heavy Hakka populations in northern Taiwan yesterday, the party said it feels that it has never had as good an opportunity as this year to make strides in securing Hakka votes in the election.

One of the main reasons for that confidence is that, unlike previous standard-bearers, Tsai is of Hakka descent.

Tsai said yesterday in Hsinchu, one of the three main Hakka constituencies in northern Taiwan, along with Miaoli and Taoyuan, that her party planned to promote the Hakka language and eventually designate it as one of the national languages if she were elected president in January.

Interior minister underlines new mentality of spatial planning

Taipei, Oct. 6 (CNA) The Taiwan government needs a new mentality to tackle the vital issue of spatial planning in a challenging time of climate change and financial crisis, Interior Minister Jiang Yi-huah said Wednesday.

"Taiwan, like any other country in the world, is now at the juncture of having to deal with extreme weather caused by climate change and the task of boosting its economy after the financial crisis, " Jiang said in a speech at Shih Hsin University.

It is a massive challenge from which Taiwan cannot shy away, he told around 200 university students, especially after a series of recent disasters caused huge damages to Taiwanese people, including Typhoon Morakot, the deadliest typhoon in the country's history, widespread flooding caused by torrential rains in southern Taiwan last month.

The cases of controversial farmland expropriation in the central town of Dapu, Miaoli and disputed land takeover in the Central Taiwan Science Park this year have both brought nationwide discontent, the minister said.

"That's why we have to embrace the future with a brand new mentality. It will be difficult, but we have to get it done, " he stressed.

After the disasters and incidents, Taiwan's government has taken a step back to review its national spatial planning policy, which in the past was doomed by administrative failure, systematic errors and negligence, according to Jiang.

To avoid the same mistakes, the ministry has laid out priorities. Jiang said the first priority would be to protect farmers and agriculture with measures such as requiring agricultural agencies to give approval before farmland can be developed for commercial use.

One of the new mentalities also includes more civic participation in the policy-making process, which would ensure all policies are well thought-out before being implemented, he said.

"National spatial planning is important because it always involves people's lives and property, " he said, but lamented that the National Spatial Planning Act has not been screened by the Legislative Yuan.

Government officials will have to make things happen even without the appropriate legislation, he said.

"If we think it's the right thing to do, we will do it and we should do it within our administrative power."

In the future, land development and land expropriation plans will all be reviewed on the basis of fairness, justice and public interest, he said. (By Chris Wang) enditem/bc