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.

Taitung legislator expects direct DPP nomination

By Chris Wang  /  Staff reporter

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Liu Chao-hao (劉櫂豪) is expected to be directly recruited by the DPP as its candidate in the Taitung County commissioner election in the Central Executive Committee (CEC) meeting today.

Liu announced that he would accept the party’s direct nomination as candidate in a press conference held in Taitung City yesterday.

ROC Constitution no longer functioning, Lee Teng-hui says

REAL DEAL:Articles added to the ROC Constitution which call Taiwan the ‘free area’ of the ROC reflect the governance and state of the country after 1949, Lee said
By Chris Wang  /  Staff reporter, in Taitung County

The Republic of China (ROC) Constitution is no longer functioning and the real “Taiwan Constitution” is the 12 additional articles of the ROC Constitution, former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) said yesterday as he wrapped up a three-day visit to Taitung County.

He made the remark during a stop in Luye Township (鹿野) in response to a reporter’s question about President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) recent comment that, according to the ROC Constitution, cross-strait relations are not state-to-state relations.

Lee Teng-hui says he never applied for membership in CCP

By Chris Wang  /  Staff reporter, in Taitung County

Former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) yesterday sought to dispel a rumor that he had been a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) member, saying he had never applied for membership.

“However, to say that I was never involved with the CCP would be an overstatement,” he said when asked about the rumor during a question-and-answer session with reporters during a visit to Green Island (綠島).

Ex-prisoners, Lee visit Green Island park

MEMORY LANE:The former president said Taiwan had been ‘silenced’ during the Martial Law era, which is why he felt he had to make an apology when he was in office
By Chris Wang  /  Staff reporter, in Taitung County

Four former political prisoners yesterday shared their stories with former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) at the Green Island Human Rights Memorial Park and said that the nation’s tragic past should be remembered so that democracy and freedom could persevere.

“We came back here as winners, because they [the former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) regime] did not defeat us. They wanted us to die, but we survived,” said Kuo Chen-chun (郭振純), one of the four.

Lee Teng-hui to make symbolic trip to Green Island

POIGNANT VISIT:The ex-president is scheduled to attend a forum today with four former political prisoners at the Green Island Memorial Park
By Chris Wang  /  Staff reporter, in Taitung County

Former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) is returning to Taitung County’s Green Island (綠島) for the first time in 14 years where he is scheduled to make a symbolic visit to a human rights memorial park today.

As president, Lee helped raise funds to erect a monument in the Green Island Memorial Park to commemorate the thousands of political prisoners who passed through the prison on the remote island during the White Terror era under the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) regime.

Ma’s policies out of touch with public: DPP

By Chris Wang  /  Staff reporter

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday said the conditional approval of a controversial resort development and the carrying out of six executions on Friday showed that President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration is not communicating with the public, nor implementing well considered policy.

The construction of Miramar Resort Village at Taitung County’s Shanyuan Bay (杉原灣) gained conditional approval from a seventh Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) meeting on Saturday, despite heated debate over the legitimacy of the project and the EIA meeting.

Tourism industry urges action on Suhua Highway

By Chris Wang  /  Staff reporter

Members of the tourism industry in eastern Taiwan yesterday called for immediate action by the government to improve the transportation situation and relieve their imminent loss of business from the closure of the Suhua Highway.

A section of the Suhua Highway between Suao (蘇澳) and Tongao (東澳) was closed on Saturday after a road collapsed because of heavy rain, resulting in mass cancellations of hotel reservations for the Christmas and New Year holidays.

Groups urge Lanyu radioactivity checks

DODGY TESTS:The Atomic Energy Council said that the devices used in previous radioactivity checks by Japanese experts had been affected by electromagnetic waves
By Chris Wang and Lee I-chia  /  Staff reporters

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers and several academics yesterday told a press conference that the nuclear radiation level in Lanyu (蘭嶼), also known as Orchid Island, was a serious concern and demanded a complete investigation into potential radiation threats on the island.

Katsumi Nakao of J.F. Oberlin University and Yoh Kato of Tokyo Metropolitan University, who were invited by the Atomic Energy Council to conduct radioactivity tests on the island on Nov. 10 and Nov. 11, decried the detection results announced by the council, saying the real levels were significantly higher than those reported by the council.

DPP legislator blasts AEC

By Chris Wang  /  Staff reporter

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君) yesterday blasted the Atomic Energy Council (AEC) and Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) after a report confirmed Taipower’s serious nuclear waste repackaging error on Lanyu (蘭嶼), also known as Orchid Island.

“If the AEC and Taipower fail to handle nuclear waste well, nuclear safety in Taiwan is over,” Cheng told a press conference in the legislature.

Lawmakers want Orchid Island probe

FIGHTING BACK:An official said that all maintenance and inspection of nuclear waste on Orchid Island has been carried out according to the AEC’s regulations
By Chris Wang AND JAKE CHUNG  /  Staff reporter and staff writer, with CNA

Legislators yesterday demanded that the Atomic Energy Council (AEC) and state-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) immediately launch investigations into alleged malpractice concerning nuclear waste repackaging on Lanyu (蘭嶼, also known as Orchid Island) and conduct health examinations on the island’s residents over fears of possible radiation leaks.

Democratic Progressive Party lawmakers Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君) and Lin Shu-fen (林淑芬) showed a video at a press conference in Taipei that they said showed Taipower’s examination and repackaging of corroded waste drums was carried out in the open, which could lead to radiation leakage.

Ma tours Lanyu, promises quick relief

DISASTER TOUR:The president said reconstruction plans for the typhoon-hit island should strike a balance between tradition and modernization for its development
By Mo Yan-chih and Chris Wang  /  Staff reporters

President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday promised to speed up the recovery work in Lanyu (蘭嶼) as he toured the island in the wake of Typhoon Tembin, adding that the government would loosen restrictions to provide better compensation to disaster victims.

Accompanied by officials from the ministries of transportation and economic affairs and other agencies, Ma said the government had sent a task force to assist with reconstruction and recovery plans on Lanyu.

2012 ELECTIONS: REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: Tsai seeks the hearts of voters on east coast

EVERY VOTE COUNTS:：Tsai’s team said that her tour of communities that traditionally vote for the KMT, and to Orchid Island, shows the difference between her and Ma Ying-jeou
By Chris Wang  /  Staff Reporter
Sat, Nov 05, 2011 - Page 3

Perhaps the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) election campaign could have afforded to pay less attention to the counties of Hualien and Taitung, which, along with Yilan, cover the entire coast of eastern Taiwan.

From the perspective of securing votes, this massive rural area — which has a population of just 570,000, slightly more than New Taipei City’s (新北市) perennial Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) stronghold of Banciao (板橋) — probably matters little more than the outlying islands of Kinmen and Matsu.

2012 ELECTIONS: Money can’t buy trust, DPP chairperson tells KMT

By Chris Wang  /  Staff Reporter, in TAITUNG CITY

Money can buy newspaper ads, but it cannot buy people’s trust, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday in Taitung City.

The DPP presidential candidate made the remark in response to a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) newspaper ad placed by President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) re-election campaign office yesterday that said the DPP “monopolizes” peace as its own and “no peace agreement is a right one if it is not proposed by the DPP.”

Tsai apologizes for nuclear waste woes

LOCAL SOLUTION:If elected, Tsai pledged to improve infrastructure on Orchid Island and let residents reach their own consensus on how to handle the waste there
By Chris Wang  /  Staff Reporter, in TAITUNG COUNTY

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday apologized to residents of Orchid Island (蘭嶼) over the government’s “outrageous” decision in 1982 to store nuclear waste on the island, saying that she hoped the waste would eventually be transferred to an alternative site.

The DPP presidential candidate, who is on a two-day campaign trip to Hualien and Taitung, also reiterated her initiative to achieve a “nuclear-free homeland” by 2025.

In her speech, Tsai apologized three times for the decision to build a nuclear waste disposal facility on the 48km2 volcanic island off the southeastern coast without prior consultation and communication with its residents, who are mostly Tao Aborigines — one of the country’s 14 recognized Aboriginal tribes.

2012 ELECTIONS: Tsai’s campaign set to motor through the east coast

By Chris Wang  /  Staff Reporter

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) is scheduled to embark upon a two-day presidential campaign trip today to the eastern counties of Hualien and Taitung.

She plans to visit the two counties straddling the Pacific Ocean with a combined coastline of more than 370km, as well as Orchid Island (蘭嶼) — also known as Lanyu — off Taiwan proper.

DPP finalizes presidential primary process

Taipei, Jan. 12 (CNA) The opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) passed a resolution Wednesday to finalize its primary process, which will see the implementation of a national poll for nominations for the 2012 presidential election.

The decision was not reached without disagreement, as senior party members, headed by former Vice President Annette Lu, tried to persuade the party's Central Executive Committee in a meeting to include an intraparty vote to determine the presidential candidate.

The meeting passed a proposal submitted by a party task force convened by DPP Secretary-general Su Jia-chyuan, under which the party's candidate will be nominated through a national poll.

Su said that such a mechanism would help preserve party unity -- a critical factor in the DPP's chances of victory in the 2012 presidential race.

DPP Legislator Chen Min-wen, a member of the task force, told reporters after the meeting that the decision was reached by consensus and that Lu accepted the final result. The proposal, he said, will be sent to a vote in the Jan. 22 party plenary session and if passed, will then be adopted.

Lu, who is widely believed to be interested in running for the presidency, told reporters that all options have been thoroughly discussed in the meeting and that the goal of winning the 2012 presidential election was unanimous, despite previous differences of opinion on the primary process to be used.

At a press conference at the Legislative Yuan before the meeting, Lu expressed her support for using both options to give a voice to party members and ordinary citizens, saying that the primary process should consist of a series of nationwide debates held across the country, an intraparty vote, and a national poll.

"The process would be able to include the opinions of DPP members and citizens and let the voters thoroughly examine the visions of all the candidates. On top of that, the series of debates would mean that candidates would have to be fully prepared early," Lu said.

Many DPP members have suggested that a hotly contested party primary in the 2008 presidential campaign caused irreparable harm among the candidates and ultimately hurt the DPP's campaign.

The negative effect of "proxy" members, which has plagued the party in the past, also swayed the task force to reject the idea of an intraparty vote.

The DPP, which usually nominates its presidential candidate in May the year before the election, decided to nominate its candidate in March this year to give whomever is chosen more time to campaign.

In addition to Lu, incumbent DPP Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen and the DPP's 2008 presidential ticket of Frank Hsieh and Su Tseng-chang are all said to be interested in running in 2012. (By Chris Wang) ENDITEM/J

Taiwan struggling ahead of Morakot anniversary

The Taiwan government is working hard to complete a massive reconstruction plan as the anniversary of the most deadly typhoon to impact Taiwan in half a century approaches.

Typhoon Morakot hit Taiwan Aug. 8, 2009, leaving 677 dead, 22 missing and causing more than NT$100 billion in damages. The storm produced 2,777 millimeters of rainfall and mudslides that wiped out Siaolin in the southern county of Kaohsiung, killing around 500 in the village alone.

A Morakot Post-Disaster Reconstruction Council was soon established to handle a wide range of reconstruction works, including resettlement of typhoon victims, a victim employment plan, the repair of breached dikes and dredging of rivers, the distribution of relief funds and the revitalizing local industries, especially in agriculture and fisheries. A budget of NT$151.9 billion was allocated for relief and post-disaster reconstruction.

President Ma Ying-jeou, who was criticized for mishandling the post-disaster relief and subsequently suffered in approval ratings, pledged to relocate all the victims by the anniversary and reiterated the point in his weekly video address on July 31 -- but that goal will not be completed in time.

According to Premier Wu Den-yih, as of Aug. 2 only 1,480 of 2,586 affected households have moved into newly constructed permanent homes. Wu cited weather conditions in the worst-hit eastern and southern Taiwan regions for the shortfall.

The reconstruction work may not live up to people's high expectations, but Wu said on Aug. 1 that the government had done its best. Some lessons the government learned in the aftermath of the deadly typhoon were probably as important as the reconstruction work itself, the premier said, such as making disaster relief a core task for Taiwan's military forces and the integration of government agencies involved in relief efforts.

Wu also praised efforts by Taiwan's civic organizations in the past year.

All 63 repair projects in the most dangerous areas have been completed, Yang Wei-fuu, director-general of the Water Resources Agency (WRA) under the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA), said in a press conference Wednesday. Although less than 70 percent of all repair projects have been finished, they will be done by the next high-water season in 2011, Yang added.

Dredging of rivers is among the most difficult tasks, Yang said, noting that 1.2 billion cubic tons of gravel had filled river beds and reservoirs after the typhoon. The project is ongoing, but it will take years to finish the dredging, he said.

The WRA had dredged 87.2 million cubic tons of gravel -- approximately the same volume as 42 Taipei 101 buildings -- as of Aug. 1, he said. However, Dredging of the Taimali River in the eastern county of Taitung is way behind schedule, he added.

The MOEA also offered financial relief and mortgages to businesses in several towns in the worst-hit areas as well as providing assistance to businesses in the sectors of farming, fisheries, livestock and forestry.

The Council of Labor Affairs has said it has provided 13,940 employment opportunities for typhoon victims under its "August 8 Temporary Work Plan."

By Chris Wang CNA Staff Reporter

enditem/bc

Two-party system back after legislative by-election: scholars

Taipei, Jan. 9 (CNA) A two-party system is back in Taiwan's legislature after the opposition swept three by-elections Saturday, scholars said in post-election comments, and they expected that the KMT will face more challenges in the future.

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won all three seats contested in Taoyuan, Taichung and Taitung counties to boost its seat total from 27 to 30. With more than one-quarter of the seats in the 113-member Legislative Yuan, the DPP caucus is capable to launch motions to amend the Constitution or recall the president.

Results of the by-election showed that the DPP has come out from under "the lingering shadow after former president Chen Shui-bian was involved in a series of graft charges, " and it further solidified Chairman Tsai Ing-wen's status within the party, said Chen Chao-jian, a political scientist at Ming Chuan University.

"The KMT can no longer do whatever it wants, " although it still has a strong majority in the legislature, Chen said.

Being shut out in the by-election will be definitely seen as a KMT setback, said Liao Da-chi, a professor of politics at National Sun Yet-sen University. From a broader perspective, however, it could be a good thing for the people of Taiwan, she suggested.

"I really don't see how the results will jeopardize the KMT, which still has more than 70 seats in the legislature. In a broader perspective, we now have more 'balance' and party competition in the legislature, which is good for the people and democracy, " Liao said.

The seats in Taichung and Taoyuan were "basically the DPP's for the taking" because those seats were vacated after the KMT electees were convicted of vote-buying," Chen said.

The DPP's Kuo Rung-tsung and Chien Chao-tung, who lost in the previous legislative elections in 2008, beat their opponents by large margins in electoral districts in Taoyuan and Taichung counties, respectively.

"All they had to do in the campaign was ask for justice, " Chen said.

The result was another blow for President Ma Ying-jeou, whose support rate has plummeted after the U.S. beef controversy and the administration's perceived mishandling of rescue and relief operations following Typhoon Morakot in August and the H1N1 vaccination campaign.

President Ma, who also serves as the KMT chairman, "will have to launch a new wave of party reforms and a cabinet reshuffle after the by-election if he wants to have good results in the upcoming elections," he said.

Four legislative by-elections will be held next month and five special municipality mayoral elections are scheduled for later this year.

Liao looked at the impact of the by-election loss in a different light, saying that "it was probably President Ma's price to pay for his effort to reform the KMT and stop the traditional vote-buying tactics of local factions." "And I think we have to give him credit for that if he's willing to take that risk, " she said.

The negative impact will not carry over to the by-elections next month, but the KMT does need to communicate better with the local factions, Liao noted, while Chen predicted another KMT loss.

PARAGUAY COACHES TO HELP TAIWANESE SOCCER WITH TRAINING PROGRAM

Taipei, June 6 (CNA) Four Paraguayan soccer coaches started their 10-day training program schedule Wednesday in the eastern county of Taitung in hopes of developing more professional grassroots coaches to establish asolid foundation for Taiwanese soccer.

These coaches will provide their expertise in conditioning, techniques, tactics and psychology in the three-day program, which will be held in Taitung, Pingtung and Taichung from June 6 - 16.

The coaching clinic is the result of collaboration between the Embassy of the Republic of Paraguay, the Ministry of Education (MOE) and National College of Physical Education and Sports (NCPES).

Paraguay is proud of its long soccer history and achievement, the Paraguayan Embassy said, and believes the program will help the development of Taiwanese soccer thanks to the efforts of coaches Gustavo Alcibiades Blaires Ucedo, Ramon Duarte, Julio Vera Torres and Guido Armoa.

Taiwan currently ranks 167th in the FIFA (Federation of International Football Association) global ranking while Paraguay ranks 35th. The Central American country boasts seven World Cup appearances and has advanced to the final sixteen on three occasions.

According to a MOE statistics, there are more than 600 soccer teams of all levels in Taiwan, with more than 500 of them being primary school teams.