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Robert Horry, an ESPN commentator and retired basketball player who is visiting Taiwan, predicted Thursday that the 2010 NBA Finals will be a matchup between the Los Angeles Lakers and Cleveland Cavaliers. Horry, who earned the nickname 'Big Shot Rob' for his clutch three-point shooting in playoffs during his 16-year career, also told the media that he would pick Oklahoma City Thunder young star Kevin Durant as the next great big shot maker. The 208-centimeter forward, who retired in 2008, is one of only two players to have won NBA championships with three different teams -- two with the Houston Rockets, three with the Los Angeles Lakers and two with the San Antonio Spurs. Horry was invited to Taiwan to endorse the official launch of the NBA's traditional Chinese character Web site. The NBA.com/Taiwan Web site, a collaborative effort by the local sports Web site Pixnet and the NBA, will be operated by Pixnet starting this month and will present live Internet streaming of games during the 2010 NBA playoff season from April to June. Doug Creighton, who played for Bank of Taiwan in Taiwan's Super Basketball League (SBL) , said it will be a great way for Taiwanese basketball fans to learn more about NBA players. Currently, Taiwan cable television channels broadcast three or four NBA games per week, featuring the more popular teams such as the Lakers, Cavaliers and Boston Celtics. The Hong Kong-based media company TOM Group Limited signed a four-year deal with the NBA in 2008 for the rights to operate the NBA Web site in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. However, Taiwanese fans complained that the company merely converted simplified Chinese text, used in China, into traditional Chinese characters for Taiwanese audiences, in disregard of the differences in Taiwan and China regarding basketball terms and the transliteration of player names. The NBA playoffs begin Saturday with 16 teams competing in the best-of-seven first round. The best-of-seven finals will be played in June. Asked about the most memorable big shot of his career, Horry said it would have to be a three-pointer at the buzzer that gave the Lakers a 100V99 win over the Sacramento Kings in Game 4 of the 2002 Western Conference Finals. The shot tied the series at 2-2 and the Lakers went on to defeat the Kings in the seven-game series to take their third straight championship. The 39-year-old veteran, who is on his first visit to Taiwan, told the media that he was very impressed by the local people's knowledge of basketball and with the Taipei 101 tower, which he said is 'like a Transformer every time I look at it.' Prompted by reporters, Horry picked his 'best starting lineup of today's NBA, ' which included himself, Utah Jazz point guard Deron Williams, Lakers shooting guard Kobe Bryant, Dallas Mavericks power forward Dirk Nowitzki and Cavaliers center Shaquille O'Neal. Horry jokingly said that as both Bryant and Nowitzki like to shoot, he would select the veteran O'Neal as center so 'I could get some shots.'

Taiwan's share prices closed lower Friday, with the weighted index -- the market's key barometer-- falling 60.37 points, or 0.73 percent, to close at 8,111.57. The local bourse opened at 8,161.85 and fluctuated between 8,090.68 and 8,162.85 during the day's trading. Market turnover totaled NT$121.17 billion (US$3.86 billion). Six of eight major stock categories lost ground, with cement issues dropping the most at 1.1 percent. Financial and banking stocks lost 0.96 percent, machinery and electronics issues moved down 0.87 percent and foodstuffs were down 0.67 percent. Textile issues fell 0.43 percent and plastics and chemicals shares lost 0.21 percent. Two major stock categories gained ground, with construction shares gaining 0.84 percent and paper and pulp issues moving up 0.65 percent. Losers outnumbered gainers 2,003 to 1,118, with 279 remaining unchanged. Foreign investors and Chinese QDIIs were net sellers of NT$1.71 billion in shares.

Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER) on Friday revised its forecast for Taiwan's GDP growth in 2010 upwards to 4.99 percent, 0.33 percentage points higher than its previous projection made last December. Wang Lee-rong, director of the CIER's Center for Economic Forecasting, attributed the revision to growing private-sector investment and increased exports amid a recovering economy. She warned, however, that if the government decides to wind down the economic stimulus measures it has used to combat the global economic slump or lower public investment to curb its budget deficit, Taiwan's growth rate could fall to 4.08 percent in 2010. The economic research body also forecast that Taiwan's GDP should grow 6.55 percent in the second quarter of the year, 4.01 percent in Q3, and 1.08 in Q4, while unemployment for the year should average 5.5 percent. Weaker growth experienced in Q4 could continue into 2011, Wang said, with the CIER revising its growth forecast for next year downwards to 4.09 percent from 4.30 percent. Wang said inflationary pressures should be moderate in 2010, with consumer prices expected to rise 1.71 percent and wholesale prices projected to increase by 5.76 percent. She stressed, however, that the CIER's projections were on the conservative side and had not taken into account the impact of a planned economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China and a possible appreciation of the Chinese yuan. Wang predicted that the yuan will gain in value in June when the G20 holds a summit of finance ministers and central bankers, and she expected that if China's currency become stronger, the Taiwan dollar would also appreciate. She did not believe, though, that the yuan would appreciate too rapidly in a short period of time. The CIER forecast that the Taiwan dollar will average 31.299 against the greenback in 2010 and that it will continue rising in 2011. Meanwhile, Wang warned that the government's finances would worsen if an industrial innovation bill, which slashes the corporate income tax rate to 17 percent (from the current 20 percent) , passes the Legislative Yuan, an outcome that could affect public investment in the future.

Israeli conductor Amos Talmon will present music from Israel's past and present when he makes his debut in Taipei this weekend. In the concert, called 'Voice of Israel -- Now and Then, ' Talmon will collaborate with local cellist Ku Mei-yu to present Max Bruch's 'Kol Nidrei' and conduct the Moment Musical Youth Orchestra in performances of Jewish composer Marc Lavri's 'Emek' and Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6 in B minor, 'Pathetique.' 'Lavri's symphonic poem 'Emek' depicts Israel's landscape and spirit through music. The other piece by Max Bruch, 'Kol Nidrei, ' is the most Jewish piece I can think of, ' said Talmon Friday. Invited to Taipei by Chiang Ching-po, the music director of the Philharmonia Moment Musical, Talmon is excited about his first appearance in Taiwan's capital, and he hopes to promote communication between young musicians in the two countries in the future. Chiang and Talmon are both committed to promoting talented young musicians, so after they met in Israel, where Chiang was invited to conduct the Israel Symphony Orchestra Rishon LeZion last Christmas, they became good friends, and Chiang invited Talmon to Taiwan. 'It's a good start for our future cooperation to introduce talented young musicians to come to Taipei or to go to Israel to present their music,' Chiang said. The 47-year-old Talmon is regarded as unique among conductors internationally because of the unusual path he's taken to making a name for himself in his profession. He had been a businessman for much of his young adult life but could not shake an interest in music that had been with him since childhood. 'So I decided to take action on music 13 years ago, and now when I look back, I feel great about my choice,' he said. Talmon launched his career by conducting orchestras in his home country, such as the Israel Philharmonic, Israel Symphony Rishon LeZion and Jerusalem Radio Symphony. As he gained fame, he later collaborated with famous orchestras outside of the country, including the Polish Radio Symphony Warsaw, Zurich Symphony Orchestra, Beijing Symphony, and the Mexico State Symphony. He also founded the Music Angels Herzliya Foundation in 2000 and was also the music director of the Grand Symphonic Series, produced by the Music Angels Herzliya Center for Performing Arts, to support and provide opportunities for young Israeli soloists. 'I would love to do the same thing here in Taiwan, ' the conductor said.

If there are cross-Strait initiatives that help Taiwan lower trade barriers and reduce protectionism, it would be beneficial to U.S.-Taiwan trade, Chris Castro, chief of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Kaohsiung Branch Office, said Friday. Asked to comment on the proposed economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) between Taiwan and China, Castro stressed that 'ECFA is an issue for Taiwan and the PRC to decide, and AIT won't interfere. 'We support any cross-Strait initiative which improves peaceful cross-Strait exchange,' he said. Some local politicians in southern Taiwan have expressed concern over the possible negative impact the framework agreement will have on certain industries after it is signed and Taiwan's market is more open to Chinese products. But Castro said that if an ECFA is signed, 'I hope leaders in the south will find the best means possible to pursue new economic opportunities while protecting vulnerable groups.'

A 21-year-old foreign worker from Vietnam has become Taiwan's first patient with an indigenous case of German measles this year, the Department of Health announced Friday. The individual, who currently works in Gueishan Township in Taoyuan County, came down with a fever, rashes, a runny nose and red eyes on April 4, the DOH's Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The victim, who has not traveled overseas recently, was admitted to the hospital for treatment and later released. The 28 people he had contact with have not shown any suspicious symptoms so far, but the CDC said it will continue to keep track of them. The CDC reported the first imported measles cases this year on April 7 -- a 26 -year-old woman and her 15-month-old daughter in Kaohsiung County. They developed the disease after visiting relatives in Vietnam from January 26 to March 23. Taiwan has had 110 German measles cases over the past three years, of which 19 were imported (six from Vietnam) and the balance originated in Taiwan.

Kuo Shan-huei, a former chairman of the Taiwan Businessmen Association Dongguan, was narrowly elected Saturday to head the Association of Taiwan Investment Enterprises on the Mainland -- seen as Taiwan's chamber of commerce in China. Kuo defeated incumbent Chairman Chang Han-wen 101-100 after two rounds of voting. A total of 203 members were present. Many voters described the three-candidate election as 'intense.' The third candidate, Lin Po-feng, lost in the first round of voting with 17 votes, while Chang received 96 and Kuo 89. A second round of voting was held because none of the competitors won more than half of the votes. Kuo is the founder of the Lacquer Craft group, one of the world's largest wooden furniture makers. He was a vice chairman of the association of Taiwanese enterprises in China when it was established on April 16, 2007. On Saturday, Kuo won a three-year term as chairman of the business group.

In the next Cabinet reshuffle, President Ma Ying-jeou should give priority to recruiting economics and finance officials capable of articulating major government policies and defending those policies in the face of opposition. The absence of such officials in Ma's economic and financial brain trust has been one of the major reasons behind his administration's often flawed and botched formulation of policy in those critical areas. We look forward to seeing resourceful and eloquent economic and financial experts join the Ma administration in the next Cabinet reshuffle, which is widely expected after Vice Premier Eric Liluan Chu resigns, probably in May, to run for mayor of Xinbei City. Ma himself should also work harder to understand the background, theoretical foundations and the pros and cons of major legislative proposals, as U.S. President Barack Obama did in pushing his healthcare reform program. Obama gave many public speeches on different occasions to lobby support for his healthcare reform initiative ahead of a congressional vote. Thanks to his full understanding of the relevant discourse and good grasp of the basic spirit and direction of the reform package, he never committed any faux pas during the grueling process. President Ma should learn from Obama's diligence in policy research.

In the musical world of Huang Chen-ming there are no limitations or boundaries. He sees no problem combining traditional Taiwanese and Chinese music with elements of Western rock, African music or Scottish folk songs. Wang, the founder of the Chai Found Music Workshop, has set himself the goal of broadening the scope of traditional music and creating more opportunities for Taiwan musicians to play all over the world. Since his return from the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada earlier this year and a tour of several United States cities, Huang thinks he has been moving closer to this goal. His life mission is to promote traditional music, he told the Central News Agency. 'I want to create limitless possibilities for traditional music and I hope more composers worldwide would join us,' he said. Since he established the music workshop 19 years ago, Huang has brought together a group of musicians that include pipa player Lin Hui-Kuan and di player Wu Chung-Hsien. As the group's artistic director and composer, Huang uses traditional Chinese instruments as a central thematic element and has created a unique musical space that not only facilitates the performance of Sizhu music -- Chinese chamber music -- but also provides other composers with an inspirational platform for experimentation. The group preserves traditional elements by fully exploiting the distinctive sounds of Eastern instruments, while also introducing light innovation into the genre of folk and world music. The aim is to create a groundbreaking expression of the diversity, vitality and richness of Taiwanese contemporary music, according to Huang. He thinks that traditional music could encompass all kinds of experimentation. One of his latest concepts is that music should not only be heard, but also be seen. With this in mind, he plans to incorporate tai-chi into his group's musical performances. 'All of our musicians will begin to learn tai-chi in May so that they can express that art form through music and with their bodies,' he said. As part of his efforts to expand the expression of traditional music, Huang last year held a composers' competition based on the theme of the ancient Chinese 'five movements' philosophy which describes the interactions and relationships among five elements -- wood, water, earth, fire and metal. The competition attracted many composers from the West and the East, eight of whom were chosen to present their works at a concert. Huang is holding a similar competition this year, this time under the theme of yin-yang, which describes the interconnectedness and interdependency of seeming polar forces in the natural world. 'In this competition, we could see quite different and very creative works from Western and Eastern composers, which could also open another window for the enrichment of traditional music,' Huang said. The winning compositions will be presented at a concert in October, he added. Over the years, Huang 's group has been invited to several international festivals such as the Barcelona Arts Festival in Spain in 1992, the Costa Rica Culture Festival in 1998, the Hoergaenge Contemporary Music Festival in Austria in 2000, the Cologne Music Festival in Germany 2001, the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival in England in 2004; and the Festival Dimension in Seoul, Korea in 2009. 'This year, we will have more opportunities to go abroad, to connect with other countries, including France where we will perform with musicians in Paris at the end of the year' Huang said. 'But this is also the year for training for a great future, ' he added. selfnews Photo 57 By Sunnie Chen selfnews Staff reporter

The first in a series of public hearings on the question of whether the death penalty should be abolished will be held April 21 in Taipei County, the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) said Sunday. The public hearing, which is expected to draw the participation of people on both sides of the death penalty issue, will focus on two main questions -- whether the 44 convicts currently on death row should be executed and what should be the government's policy on capital punishment, the ministry said in a statement. While it is Taiwan's ultimate goal to abolish the death penalty, there is no timetable for doing so, the ministry said. The priorities at the moment are to forge a national consensus on the issue, reduce the use of death penalty and give better protection to crime victims, it added. As part of the government's efforts to strengthen communication with the public, the ministry will join with district prosecutors offices to hold four public hearings on topics related to the death penalty. The first hearing will be held April 21 at a Lunshan Temple-owned culture hall Banciao City, and the other three will be held later in Taichung, Kaohsiung and Hualien, respectively. Members of the public are invited to attend the hearings to voice their views, the ministry said. The discussions will examine factors that should be considered in evaluating whether the death penalty should be phased out, the purpose and social significance of such a move, the effects of correctional education, and whether government finances and the country's image should be taken into account in making a decision on capital punishment. Other issues to be discussed will include what complementary measures should be adopted if death penalty will remain in place and how to improve the death penalty-related judicial process.

The Executive Yuan said Monday that it regretted the opposition Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP's) rejection of information on a cross-strait trade pact provided by the Cabinet ahead of a debate on the issue. The Cabinet was responding to a DPP statement in which the party reacted with disdain to information it received from the government on the cross-strait economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA). 'We asked for an apple, but we got a guava,' the DPP said. The DPP also said the documents would be thrown into the recycling bin rather than relayed to DPP Chairwoman Tsai Eng-wen to avoid wasting her time. Executive Yuan spokesman Johnny Chiang said the DPP's statement was regrettable, and indicated that if Tsai was not satisfied, she could return the documents rather than throw them away. 'Is this how an opposition party should act? ' Chiang asked. Tsai will debate President Ma Ying-jeou on the merits of the ECFA on April 25. To prepare for the showdown, the DPP requested access to a number of documents, including the early harvest list proposed by the government, the draft of the agreement, and any government- commissioned ECFA assessment reports. At Ma's request, the Cabinet provided the information on the proposed trade pact, but said it withheld the details on Taiwan's early harvest list. Chen Ching-tsai, deputy secretary-general of the Executive Yuan, carried the more than 500 pages of information to the DPP in the afternoon. DPP spokesman Tsai Chi-chang said the documents included reports given by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) and the Ministry of Economic Affairs at the legislature, the information posted on the MAC Web site, the news releases and public opinion polls. Tsai said the government has vowed to sign the ECFA in June, but the public does not have any access to the content of the pact, and 'the party wants to know on what basis both sides are negotiating the deal.'

Vice Premier Eric Liluan Chu said Tuesday that the National Stabilization Fund (NSF) might completely withdraw from Taiwan's stock market next month and that the government will set a strict standard for the fund to enter the local stock market in the future. Chu said in a televised interview that he is optimistic about the outlook for the stock market, citing the fact that the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research recently revised upward its forecast for economic growth this year to 4.99 percent, compared to the government's growth forecast of at least 4.8 percent. In addition, the ample funds in the market, the signing of a proposed economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China, and an expected cut in corporate tax are all positive factors for the stock market, Chu added. He expressed confidence that the NSF will no longer be needed to stabilize the stock market as it did in late 2008 and early 2009. According to statistics, the NSF bought about NT$59.9 billion-worth of shares between late 2008 and early 2009, and has been gradually selling its holdings since the beginning of the year, he said. The pace of selling has been very slow, Chu went on, denying media reports that the government-run fund has sold NT$10 billion to NT$20 billion in a single day. The fund earned a profit of about NT$27 billion by selling more than two-thirds of the shares it bought during the 2008-2009 period, with the rate of returns estimated at over 60 percent, he said. He continued, however, that the fund was not aimed at making profits or long term investments and was required to withdraw from the stock market following a decision by the fund's management committee in January. Chu also pointed out that stricter standards will be applied for the fund to enter the stock market in the future and that it will not be allowed to buy shares when the TAIEX drops only 200 to 300 points, or to sell shares when it surges just 400 or 500 points.

The Taipei Culture Center in Tokyo opened Wednesday, becoming the third of its kind after similar facilities in New York and Paris. Council for Cultural Affairs Minister Emile Sheng and John C. T. Feng, Taiwan's top envoy to Japan, presided over the opening at the the Tokyo-based Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office. More than 100 guests from the two countries attended the ceremony, including professional Go player Cho U from Taiwan, Japanese Dietman Takeo Hiranuma and Reijiro Hattori, president of Japan's Interchange Association. Addressing the ceremony, Feng said one of his office's top tasks this year is inaugurating the culture center to boost bilateral cultural exchanges. 'Next I'll work to organize an exhibition of treasures from the Taipei-based National Palace Museum in Japan,' he said. Noting that the Tokyo culture center was one of President Ma Ying-jeou's campaign promises, Sheng said he was happy to witness its opening prior to the second anniversary of Ma taking office. Sheng said he expects Japanese friends to better understand Taiwan through the center -- the first of its kind in Asia. Hiranuma, a long-time supporter of Taiwan and the leader of a group friendly to Taiwan in Japan's parliament, said he is planning to propose legislation in early May to secure the safety of Taiwan's national treasures if they are displayed in Japan.

Renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble arrived in Taipei Wednesday for a performance tour of three cities from April 22-25. They will also hold two workshops at which they will share their experience and expertise with local musicians. One of the workshops is geared specifically toward young people in the 12-18 age group. The concerts, to be held in Taipei, Taichung and Kaohsiung, will feature a repertoire that includes Ahmet Adnan Saygun: Partita, Opus 31, Allegretto; Persian Traditional: Ascending Bird; and Chinese Traditional: White Snow in the Sunny Spring. Ma started The Silk Road Project, a non-profit artistic, cultural and educational organization, 10 years ago. 'During this time, we have been to Taiwan, Korean, Egypt and many other countries. In these travels, we feel more part of the world and more human,' Ma said at a press conference Wednesday. The aim of the project is to promote innovation and learning through the arts, he said. 'The best students are teachers, the best teachers are students, and I think that the best thing is to share our passions, ' Ma said. The Silk Road Ensemble was established with the participation of internationally renowned performers and composers from more than 20 countries. The instrumental voices include piano, violin, pipa, erhu and many others. According to the ensemble, the goals of its virtuoso musicians are to nurture global connections while maintaining the integrity of art rooted in an authentic tradition. One of the ensemble members, Chinese musician Wu Tong who plays the sheng and bawu, said the experience of working with Ma since 2000 has changed his life. According to Wu, he was rock singer but after he met Ma he started to try different genres of music. In the process, he learned about tolerance and understanding, he said. Wu also thanked Taiwan for sending medical and relief aid to the quake-affected area of Qinghai in China. He promised to bring the best quality music to the people of Taiwan. The concerts will be held at National Concert Hall, Taipei April 22; Fulfill Amphitheatre, Taichung April 24; and at Jhihde Hall, Kaohsiung April 25.

Participants expressed their views on whether Taiwan should continue or abolish the death penalty as they pitted themselves against each other in the first of four public hearings on the controversial issue Wednesday. National Taiwan University Professor Lee Mao-sheng, who supports the abolishment of capital punishment, said the execution of death row inmates has not achieved the purpose of deterring crime. Lee argued that as it is impossible to avoid miscarriages of justice, once a death penalty inmate is executed, the dead cannot be revived. However, Lin Chih-chieh, assistant professor of National Chiao Tung University, who is opposed to abolishing or conditional scrapping of the death penalty, said the quality of judicial judgment should be upgraded to deal with the problem of wrongful convictions. Also, Lin said capital punishment should not be carried out in 'closed-door operations,' but that legal proceedings and execution proceedings should be made public. Meanwhile, a group concerned about crime victims' rights asked whether anyone who supports abolishing the death penalty have family members who have been murdered, and have had experience dealing with that excruciating pain. Sociologist Chu Hai-yuan said that the government's protection of crime victims is not enough, and that effective protection should be a good policy. Chu said the public should be educated on the cause of crime and the purpose of punishment so as to effectively prevent crimes and increase protection and care for the victims and their families. The issue of whether Taiwan should abolish the death penalty came to the fore recently when Taiwan's former Minister of Justice Wang Ching-feng openly stated her objections to the death penalty and her refusal to approve any executions as minister. Her statements led to public criticism, especially by victims' families and opposition legislators. Wang later resigned. New Justice Minister Tseng Yung-fu has said he will approve the executions of prisoners on death row if they exhaust the appeals process. In view of the controversial issue, the Ministry of Justice recently decided to sponsor four public hearings to hear the public's opinion on the matter. The hearing Wednesday was held in Banciao, Taipei County. Three others will be held in Taichung, Kaohsiung and Hualien later. Justice Minister Tseng said Wednesday at the hearing that the ministry will read through all the cases of the 44 inmates now on death row, and exhaust all relief measures before carrying out capital punishment on them. 'The execution of the death sentence will not drag to the end of this year,' Tseng said. The Ministry of Justice has not approved an execution since December 2005.

A proposed amendment to the Personal Data Protection Act recently passed its second reading in the Legislative Yuan. The most controversial aspect of the bill is a clause requiring the media and elected public officials to obtain the consent of individuals before publicizing any information about them. We urge the legislature to drop this bill before the third reading. If it is passed, it would be an unconstitutional law that could destroy Taiwan's hard-won freedom of speech and of the press. According to the bill, the media will not be allowed to seek by any means information about the private or social lives of individuals. This would leave the media with very little to report. Even worse, the bill does not specify whether the individuals it is seeking to protect are ordinary people or government officials. Under the controversial clause, all information about individuals is designated as private. However, it overlooks the fact that privacy is not an infinite or absolute right. It is evident that the architects of the bill have no idea that there are different rights pertaining to people's privacy and reputations. In media reporting, a person's privacy can only be violated if the information is accurate. Therefore, if all information about individuals is considered private and off limits to the media, there can be no accurate news stories, in which case all the media outlets will have to shut down. We could not believe our eyes when we saw the bill and we wished that our interpretation of it was incorrect. Can the Ministry of Justice and the Legislative Yuan please tell us if we have read the bill correctly? (April 22, 2010)

Vegetables and fruit from central Taiwan's Changhua County attracted a lot of attention at a promotional event in Singapore Thursday, and organizers of the event said they are planning to introduce more Taiwanese fruit and vegetables to Singapore. About NT$8 million (US$253,968) -worth of mushrooms, grapes, guavas, carrots and star fruit from the county -- one of Taiwan's main agricultural areas -- will be sold by NTUC Fairprice, a leading Singapore supermarket chain and one of the event organizers. NTUC Fairprice Managing Director Seah Kian Peng said most Singaporeans have a very good impression of Taiwan's agriculture products, so the company decided to expand the size of the promotional event this year and to continue to cooperate with Taiwan in introducing more Taiwanese vegetables and fruit. Addressing the opening ceremony of the promotional campaign, Changhua Magistrate Cho Po-yuan expressed hope that other agriculture products from his county such as flowers and seedlings can also be exported to Singapore now that the county's grapes and mushrooms have gained praise after being sold in Singapore since last year. Vanessa Shih, Taiwan's Representative to Singapore, noted that the promotional event was the third of its kind and said the Taiwanese representative office in Singapore will continue to promote Taiwanese products such as organic foods.

Former Taipei Mayor Huang Ta-chou assumed his new post Friday as chairman of the Grand Hotel, a distinctive Taipei landmark built in 1952 reportedly under Madame Chiang Kai-shek's directive and operated as a non-profit organization. Huang, who served as mayor of Taipei between 1990 and 1994, received the official seal of the Grand Hotel from acting Chairman Chen Tien-kuei, making him the 12th chairman of the prestigious hotel. Addressing the handover ceremony, which was organized by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, Huang vowed to recover and represent the hotel's former grandeur. 'With the Grand Hotel's great tradition, it is essential for us to retain its grandeur, even though we need to face new challenges in running it,' Huang said. He said the hotel has contributed significantly over the past six decades in improving Taiwan's international image, cementing relations with other countries and nurturing talent in tourism for the country. Built to a Chinese architectural design with curving tiled roofs and red pillars, the hotel was built to impress foreign diplomats and the like in the absence of any five-star accommodations in the capital at that time. Situated on a hill overlooking Taipei City, the hotel is seen as an exemplar of modern Chinese architecture and iconography.

Holland's envoy to Taiwan, Menno Goedhart, said Friday that he and his wife have decided to make Taiwan their home after he retires. At the launch of his new book 'The Real Taiwan and the Dutch' at Fort Provintia in Tainan City, Goedhart said he and his wife will resettle in the southern township of Sinhua in Tainan County when his tenure as the Netherlands' top envoy to Taiwan ends later this year. Over the past eight years, Goedhart has visited almost every corner of the Taiwan -- including some areas that are unfamiliar to many Taiwanese -- to trace the footprints of his ancestors who ruled Taiwan between 1524 and 1662. During that period, some citizens of Holland married local aborigines, mostly from the Rukai tribe that is one the 10-odd recognized indigenous groups in Taiwan. Goedhart, who has built a close friendship with the Rukai people, was given an 'elder' title by the tribe in Shantimen township in Pingtung. He is one of two foreign citizens on whom the Rukai bestowed the title, the first being also a Hollander who was given the honor in the early 20th century. Goedhart's book, published in Chinese and English, features many of Taiwan's most attractive destinations, including the counties of Hualien and Taitung in eastern Taiwan, the cities and counties of Tainan and Chiayi in the central part and the offshore Penghu County. It also focuses on the indigenous tribes around the country. According to Goedhart, he plans to make his home in Tainan when he retires and to travel around Taiwan promoting his book. All proceeds from the book will to be donated to the victims of Typhoon Morakot which devastated parts of eastern and southern Taiwan last August, he added. At the book launch, Tainan Mayor Hsu Tain-tsair dubbed Goedhart as 'the Marco Polo of Taiwan, ' citing the envoy's ambitious plan to sell Taiwan to the rest of the world. Marco Polo was a Venetian merchant and adventurer who visited China in the 13th century and wrote a book called 'Il Milione di Marco Polo, ' which gave Europeans some of their earliest information about China.

Lu Yen-hsun, Taiwan's top-ranked tennis player, advanced to the semifinals of the Status Athens Open Friday with a flawless 6-4, 6-1 victory over Japan's Yuichi Sugita. The eighth-seeded Lu has yet to lose a set in his first three matches at the 85,000 euro ATP Challenger event and remained sharp against his Japanese quarterfinal opponent, winning the match without ever facing a break point. Lu, ranked 102nd in the world, got in an uncharacteristically high 77 percent of first serves and broke Sugita four times to coast to victory in just over an hour. He will now meet world No. 257 Gilles Muller of Luxembourg in Saturday's semifinals, as he pursues his first tournament title since winning another Challenger event (second-tier events on the men's tennis tour) in South Korea last November. Lu reached a career best ranking of 55 last June, but it has since tumbled to around 100 because he has played more main ATP Tour events against the world's best players since the middle of last year, with mixed results. Teamed with Rik de Voest of South Africa, the 26-year-old Taiwanese has also reached the semifinals of the doubles event in Athens, after defeating top seeds Leos Friedl and David Skoch of the Czech Republic 6-1, 6-0 on Thursday.

President Ma Ying-jeou's spokesman rebutted Friday an accusation by opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen that the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) was the instigator of the latest brawl in the Legislative Yuan. Lo Chih-chiang said the remarks appeared to clash with the image Tsai works to maintain of being a woman of integrity. Lo made the comment in response to a report carried that day in the Liberty Times newspaper that cited Tasi as saying that the tension between the ruling and opposition parties was deliberately fomented by the KMT. Amid the approach of a widely anticipated debate between Ma and Tsai slated for April 25 on the proposed economic cooperation framework agreement with China, 'it is bad to deliberately stir up confrontation and conflict,' Tsai was quoted as saying. Lo noted that Tsai has a reputation for maintaining an image of being rational and honest, but appears now to be describing 'herself as the victim of a crime she herself committed' -- a reference to the recent violent scuffles in the Legislative Yuan blamed by the KMT on the DPP. The incident, which occurred April 21, ended with KMT Legislator Chao Li-yun, who had been presiding over a meeting to screen two controversial education bills that would pave the way for local universities to admit students from China, being taken to hospital after briefly fainting after the brawl broke out. Ma later urged Tsai not to condone her party's disruption of legislative proceedings. Regrettably, Lo said, Tsai was unrepentant and in fact accused the KMT of being the side that started the fracas.

Holland's envoy to Taiwan, Menno Goedhart, said Friday that he and his wife have decided to make Taiwan their home after he retires. At the launch of his new book 'The Real Taiwan and the Dutch' at Fort Provintia in Tainan City, Goedhart said he and his wife will resettle in the southern township of Sinhua in Tainan County when his tenure as the Netherlands' top envoy to Taiwan ends later this year. Over the past eight years, Goedhart has visited almost every corner of the Taiwan -- including some areas that are unfamiliar to many Taiwanese -- to trace the footprints of his ancestors who ruled Taiwan between 1524 and 1662. During that period, some citizens of Holland married local aborigines, mostly from the Rukai tribe that is one the 10-odd recognized indigenous groups in Taiwan. Goedhart, who has built a close friendship with the Rukai people, was given an 'elder' title by the tribe in Shantimen township in Pingtung. He is one of two foreign citizens on whom the Rukai bestowed the title, the first being also a Hollander who was given the honor in the early 20th century. Goedhart's book, published in Chinese and English, features many of Taiwan's most attractive destinations, including the counties of Hualien and Taitung in eastern Taiwan, the cities and counties of Tainan and Chiayi in the central part and the offshore Penghu County. It also focuses on the indigenous tribes around the country. According to Goedhart, he plans to make his home in Tainan when he retires and to travel around Taiwan promoting his book. All proceeds from the book will to be donated to the victims of Typhoon Morakot which devastated parts of eastern and southern Taiwan last August, he added. At the book launch, Tainan Mayor Hsu Tain-tsair dubbed Goedhart as 'the Marco Polo of Taiwan, ' citing the envoy's ambitious plan to sell Taiwan to the rest of the world. Marco Polo was a Venetian merchant and adventurer who visited China in the 13th century and wrote a book called 'Il Milione di Marco Polo, ' which gave Europeans some of their earliest information about China.

The Fisheries Administration said Friday that it will respect the decision by a group of eight Pacific island countries to ban fishing in 4.5 million square kilometers of high seas in a bid to save rapidly depleting tuna stocks. Officials from the group known as the Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA) , which controls areas responsible for a quarter of the world's tuna supply, agreed to extend the ban to new areas earlier in the day. Huang Hung-yen, a section chief at the Fisheries Administration, said Taiwan's annual haul of tuna and similar fish in the Pacific is about 200,000 tons. The figure constitutes one-sixth of the country's total coastal, deep-sea and aquacultural fishing haul of 1.3 million tons. Huang said there are already two high sea areas in the Pacific that prohibit fishing. In addition, large groups of fish often migrate into economic zones of the island nations, where Taiwan's vessels have to pay for fishing rights. But if the vessels only fish in open sea areas, the fishing haul will be greatly reduced, he said. 'Taiwan will respect the decision by the Pacific island nations and operate in the areas with a spirit of cooperation and coordination as in the past, ' he added.

Taiwan has won a silver and bronze medal at the 2010 International Cheer Union (ICU) World Championships taking place in Orlando, Florida, according to the head of the national team. Chen Hsi-hung told the Central News Agency that the team grabbed the bronze medal in the coed premier division, the toughest challenge at the championships, and the silver medal in the partner stunt division. Teams from 50 countries had applied to compete in the championships, taking place from April 22-26, but some European teams were forced to drop out after their travel plans were disrupted by the volcanic eruption over Iceland, according to Chen. The United States won the gold medal in the coed premier division while Costa Rica took silver. At the 2009 ICU world championships, Taiwan won a silver in the cheerdance freestyle division and a bronze in cheerdance jazz.

An opportunistic Lu Yen-hsun continued his hot run at the Status Athens Open Saturday, defeating Gilles Muller of Luxembourg in straight sets to advance to Sunday's final. Lu, currently ranked 102nd in the world, overcame a game challenge from the lower-ranked Muller and a short rain delay early in the second set to book his ticket to the final with a 6-4, 6-4 victory. He will face his occasional doubles partner, German Rainer Schuettler, in the final of the 85,000 euro ATP Challenger event. Schuettler is seeded seventh and has dropped two sets in his four wins leading to the final. Though the eighth-seeded Lu was rarely in trouble on his serve, losing a total of only 13 points in 10 service games, he had trouble getting break opportunities against the hard-serving Muller, who had 11 aces on the day. Lu had only six break points in the entire match, with four of them coming in the first game of the second set -- all of which were saved by Muller. Fortunately for the 26-year-old Taiwanese, he converted the other two to earn a service break in each set and the victory. Lu, whose ranking has dropped as he has played more top level ATP Tour events over the past 10 months, is hoping to rack up ranking points on the second tier Challenger tour during the main ATP Tour's claycourt season leading up to the French Open in late May. Lu has never felt comfortable on clay and rarely plays on it, so he's hoping to use the time to perform well enough in hardcourt Challenger events to propel him back into the top 100. A victory in Athens would send him back into the top 90, where he would be assured of gaining automatic entry to the main draw of grand slam events.

Around 1,000 activists from local environmental protection groups lined up to form a giant 'CO2'at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall to mark Earth Day Sunday. Taiwan Environmental Information Center (TEIC) sponsored the activities in line with events held in New York, London, Sydney, Barcelona, Tokyo and Beijing. TEIC Chairman Chen Chien-chih said Taiwan first celebrated the international Earth Day 20 years ago at the same venue. Attendees from both the private sector and government agencies took part in a run to show their commitment to protecting the earth. Activities were also held in other parts of Taiwan, including a jogging event in Changhua County and other green activities in Nantou County and offshore Penghu County. Hu Ya-mei, chairwoman of the Homemaker's Union and Foundation, urged the government to fully implement carbon-reduction measures instead of only paying lip service to the issue.

President Ma Ying-jeou pledged Sunday to uphold Taiwan's interests at all costs in negotiating an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China, an arrangement which he said is essential to reviving Taiwan's trade competitiveness. 'If the ECFA talks cannot secure Taiwan's overall economic benefits, I won't accept it (the agreement) and would rather let it fall apart, ' Ma said in his opening statement when debating opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen on the trade pact. According to Ma, the agreement will cover three main areas: tariff reductions and exemption, investment protection, and intellectual rights protection. There is a consensus between Taipei and Beijing that Taiwan will not open its market to Chinese agricultural products and laborers, and that the two sides will make the best of their efforts to protect conventional industries in Taiwan, Ma said. For the small minority of conventional industries that are likely to be impacted by the agreement, the government will set aside NT$95 billion over 10 years to assist them, he said. After Taiwan's global trade ranking declined from 14th to 18th due to a closed- door policy adopted by the DPP during its eight years in power, the ECFA will boost Taiwan's exports and investment as well as employment, Ma argued. He said Taiwan must not allow itself to be isolated and marginalized as the regional economy is becoming increasingly integrated, noting that the number of free trade agreements signed in Asia has increased from three in 2000 to 58 in 2009. In the next 10 years, he continued, a super-large free trade area comprising 17 nations and regions with total population of 3.3 billion is expected to be established. 'We cannot wait any longer. I want to lead Taiwan to recover those eight lost years and open up 10 golden years ahead,' he said. In her opening statement, however, Tsai said Ma's emphasis on the importance of signing the ECFA with China has demonstrated the thinking that 'Taiwan can only gain access to the world via China.' She challenged the president to tell the public if this is Taiwan's 'only choice' and if there is no other alternative available. According to Tsai, the DPP insists that Taiwan should follow several principles in developing economic and trade ties with China. These include that Taiwan must maintain its autonomy and that the relations should be allowed to progress gradually, she said. Also, the ties must comply with the World Trade Organization treaties, and Taiwan must maintain its trade balance and avoid overly leaning toward China, Tsai said. She argued that signing the ECFA is not a mere economic issue, because Taiwan's move will tilt the strategic balance in East Asia and even the whole of Asia. Also, Tsai expressed disappointment at Ma's failure to provide details of the ECFA talks and dismay at government publicity that outlines only the benefits of the ECFA, with no mention of its disadvantages. Once the agreement is signed, Taiwan will be subject to a 10-year time frame in which it will be required to open its market fully, Tsai warned. 'But the president has never told us how large the impact will be,' she said.

President Ma Ying-jeou urged the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Sunday not to boycott discussion in the Legislative Yuan on the pros and cons of a proposed wide-reaching trade pact with China. In a televised debate with DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen, Ma expressed regret over what he called the opposition party's repeated obstructions of reports by government officials on the initiative to sign an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China. Stressing the importance of such a deal to Taiwan's future economic development, Ma said officials of his administration have been more than willing to brief DPP lawmakers on the ECFA's essence and draft content. DPP lawmakers, however, had repeatedly boycotted such sessions in the legislature, he said. In a mature democratic country, Ma said, the legislature should be a key venue for policy debate. Instead of blaming the government for keeping the opposition party in the dark on the pact, Ma urged Tsai to order DPP lawmakers not to hinder legislative hearings on ECFA issues anymore. Ma, however, failed to respond to Tsai's question on whether his administration has any alternative plan if ECFA talks with China break down. Accusing the Ma administration of creating a false sense of urgency in concluding such a critical agreement with China, Tsai said that China may have ulterior motives for making unilateral concessions to Taiwan in ECFA talks. She also advised the Ma administration to prepare a detailed package of measures to cope with the situation if it fails to realize its goal of striking such a deal in the first half of this year as scheduled.

Opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen said in a debate Sunday that the public's sense of insecurity over a proposed trade pact with China was not 'something the DPP could create,' after her party was accused of being only good at scaring the people over the deal. In a highly anticipated debate on the economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) Sunday, President Ma Ying-jeou charged that the DPP was behind much of the negative impression people had of the controversial pact. Citing a DPP estimate on the number of white-collar workers who would be adversely affected by the ECFA that went from 3.21 million on April 6 to 5.9 million five days later, Ma asked if Tsai wanted to use public sense of insecurity to intimidate people for political ends and election gains. Moreover, as noted experts such as Michael Porter and Paul Krugman and foreign investors think that the merits of signing the ECFA are bigger than the disadvantages, Ma asked why the DPP has often had more pessimistic views. 'The DPP has always talked about going global, but why has it deliberately left out China?' Ma asked. In response, Tsai said the public's insecurity does in fact exist and was not something that a party could create. The DPP is a poor party and does not have the ample administrative resources of the KMT, so that it can only reflect and voice the deepest anxieties of the people. 'Not only the green camp led by the DPP, but between 40 and 50 percent of those in the pro-blue camp led by the KMT have had a sense of anxiety about Taiwan's future in public opinion polls conducted by the DPP,' she said. In fact, since President Ma assumed his office, he has never stood up for Taiwan's sovereignty, Tsai said. Moreover, in negotiations with China and the United States, the Ma administration has never strongly defended its position, leaving the public feeling it does not have a 'president they can trust, ' Tsai said. She said the public has not seen the ECFA's early harvest list, and the biggest issue is that the administration has never honestly addressed the issue, either by explaining the possible downside of the trade pact or releasing its internal assessments on the agreement. Tsai said the DPP was by no means trying to intimidate the people by trying to inflate the number of white-collar workers impacted by the ECFA, saying that the party had to adjust the number because it had to include those whose salary will not increase. Although Ma noted that scholars and foreign investors support the inking of the ECFA, Tsai said that as a president, Ma should consider himself as somebody of a different status and responsibility, not an economics master.

Opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen on Sunday rejected the government's argument that a trade pact with China is needed to counter the impact of the 'ASEAN plus One' free trade zone, saying Southeast Asian countries are not Taiwan's main competitors in China. In a debate on a proposed economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) between Taiwan and China, President Ma Ying-jeou said the new free trade zone, which took effect Jan. 1, has directly affected Taiwan's automobile, machinery, petrochemical and textile sectors. Those sectors are now faced with higher tariffs than their ASEAN competitors in the Chinese market, Ma said, and added that the DPP think tank's suggestion to let industrial sectors facing high tariffs move to China rather than signing the ECFA would leave some 590,000 workers in Taiwan jobless. In response, Tsai said that Japan and South Korea, and not ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries, were Taiwan's main rivals in those sectors in China. She accused the president of exaggerating and overstating the impact of the 'ASEAN plus One' zone, and said that in a mature industrial sector, quality, innovation and value-added determined profitability more than tariffs on trade. Also, once the value of the Chinese yuan rises, triggering the likely rise in the appreciation of Taiwan's currency, any gains from the tariff reductions will be offset, Tsai argued. She also challenged Ma's belief that Taiwan will be further marginalized once Japan and South Korea join 'ASEAN plus One' and make it 'ASEAN plus Three,' reportedly in 2012. 'ASEAN plus Three will not be formed within the foreseeable future, ' she predicted, because of reluctance on the part of Japan and South Korea. The two countries not only fear that their domestic industries cannot withstand competitors from China, but also that a 'China-centric East Asian economic circle' will be formed, which they believe will change the strategic balance in the region, Tsai said.

CSBC Corporation, Taiwan, the country's largest shipbuilder, will deliver three container ships to its biggest foreign customer Monday, the first time the company has made such a big delivery at once. The large delivery made by CSBC, rare anywhere around the globe, indicates that the container shipping industry is recovering, the company said in a statement. 'You will see two container ships delivered at the same time, but not three, ' said Sunny Yu, an executive of the company based in the southern port city of Kaohsiung. CSBC will hand over two ships capable of carrying 6,600 20-foot containers and one ship with a capacity of 4,200 20-foot containers to Peter Doehle Schiffahrts-KG of Germany. The Hamburg-based shipping fleet operator ordered the ships in 2006 and did not withdraw orders when the financial crisis broke out in 2008, though it did ask to put off delivery for four months, the statement said.

Taiwan will post a growth of 5.11 percent in real gross domestic product (GDP) in 2010 amid an overall economic recovery, the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER) forecast Monday, revising its previous prediction of 4.81 percent. The latest figure represents a reversal from a 1.87 percent GDP contraction recorded in 2009, the TIER said in its monthly economic report released that day. The institute also forecast that annual economic growth will reach 9.64 percent in the first quarter of the year, followed by 7.19 percent in Q2, 3.11 percent in Q3 and 1.52 percent in Q4. TIER Macroeconomic Forecasting Center Director Chen Miao said the upward adjustment of the GDP growth in 2010 was made after researchers observed trends, including an increase in corporate intention and ability to launch investment projects. Judging from that, TIER predicted that the investment growth rate will rise to 15.3 percent this year, while exports of both commodities and services will grow by 16.92 percent, Chen said. In terms of private consumption, Chen said, TIER kept its previous forecast of 2.07 percent growth unchanged because the researchers did not see any factors that would affect the growth rate. TIER President David S. Hong pointed out that the private consumption growth rate has rarely surpassed the 3 percent mark since 2000, restrained by unemployment and consumer prices. In the TIER report, Taiwan's exports are projected to grow 26.83 percent and imports by 33.87 percent this year, which would translate into a trade surplus of US$24.879 billion. TIER also forecast that wholesale prices will move higher by 5.27 percent due to increasing global demand and inflation caused by depreciation of the U.S. dollar. Consumer prices are anticipated to grow 1.77 percent year-on-year, resulted from rising costs of raw materials and fuel, the report went on. In terms of the local currency, the institute predicted that the New Taiwan dollar will see a trend of appreciation this year thanks to increasing demand for the major Asian currencies and a market situation that will put pressure on the U.S. dollar to depreciate. In this regard, the institute forecast that the local unit will stand at an average of NT$31.35 against the greenback this year.

The U.S. dollar lost ground against the New Taiwan dollar on the Taipei Foreign Exchange Monday, dropping NT$0.101 to close at NT$31.359. A total of US$1.20 million changed hands during the trading session. The U.S. dollar opened at the day's high of NT$31.460 and fell to NT$31.288 before rebounding.

Taiwan is likely to be affected by a dust storm swept over from China as early as Tuesday afternoon, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) warned Monday. According to the EPA, sand particles in the air could reach 350 micrograms per cubic meter, which is five to six times the normal amount. However, with a cold front affecting Taiwan late Monday, showers were expected across the country, which could alleviate the effects of the pollution, the EPA said, adding that the extent of the impact will depend on the actual amount of rain, as well as the wind direction. Chu Yu-chi, director-general of the EPA's environmental monitoring and information management unit, said that since the weather tends to be unstable in the spring, the routes and durations of dust storms are difficult to predict. The EPA placed further information on the dust storm on its website at http://dust.epa.gov.tw/dust/zh-tw/b0301.aspx.

The Guang Hua Digital Plaza, one of Taiwan's most famous technological and electronic goods malls, has come a long way since its original incarnation as a grubby and dank market, and now attracts more than 15,000 customers on weekdays and around 23,000 on weekends. The original Guang Hua market, which was a crowded warren of tiny aisles established in 1973 under the Guang Hua Bridge, formerly specialized in used books, athletic products and to a far lesser extent in computer hardware. When the bridge was demolished as part of a road-widening project, the market moved to its present location, a purpose-built building at the corner of Jinshan North Road and Civic Boulevard. The cluster effect of sellers has made the plaza a Mecca for 3C electronics customers and ensures that the merchandise remains competitive in terms of price and quality, market analysts said. Lin Wen-wei, owner of De Tzung Computers in the plaza, applauded the city government's relocation of the market. To make sure the plaza and the surrounding district continues to provide 3C goods, the Taipei city government is launching the second phase of a BOT project to develop the plot of land immediately to the west of the plaza into a digital theme park and an animation merchandise mall.

The Taiwan Stock Exchange's main index opened higher Tuesday than its previous close, moving up 16.71 points at 8,174.85 on a turnover of NT$3.99 billion (US$127.24 million). The weighted price index gained 153.25 points, or 1.91 percent, to close at 8,158.14 Monday.

A package of amendments to the Personal Data Protection Act were passed into law Tuesday after concerns over its potential restrictions on press freedom were smoothed out. Before the amendments cleared the legislative floor, ruling and opposition lawmakers reached a consensus on exempting mass media from the legislation's requirement that the consent of an individual has to be obtained before personal information about that person is released publicly. Based on the principle of protecting public interests, mass media outlets will now be allowed by the amendments to obtain personal information on parties involved in news reports without obtaining their consent in advance, according to the newly enacted law. Legislators, however, were not exempted from the stipulation. Controversy has brewed over the bill since last week after the Legislature's Organic Laws and Statutes Committee decided to remove a clause in the amendments that would have exempted the media from the consent requirement. The passage of the law comes after the Presidential Office issued a statement on April 22 that said freedom of the press is not only a constitutionally protected basic human right but also the bedrock of democracy. It stressed that President Ma Ying-jeou is adamant that press freedom should be protected. The newly enacted law also excludes personal blogs from the consent requirement. Nevertheless, Chin Cheng-hsiang, director of the Ministry of Justice's Department of Legal Affairs, said bloggers will be dealt with under the Civil Code if their posts damage others' reputations or use their personal pictures without obtaining prior consent. As there has been controversy over the definition of 'public interests, ' a sub- resolution was also passed Tuesday, demanding that the Executive Yuan engage in further discussion with experts and civic groups on the definition of 'public interests.'

The Taiwan Stock Exchange's main index opened lower Wednesday than its previous close, moving down 201.74 points at 7,944.7 on a turnover of NT$6.02 billion (US$191.72 million). The weighted price index lost 11.7 points, or 0.14 percent, to close at 8,146.44 Tuesday.

President Ma Ying-jeou said Wednesday that a stronger international cooperation network should be established to better protect homeland security. Addressing the opening of a two-day international seminar on homeland security, Ma said he hoped concrete measures could be proposed through discussions at the seminar to facilitate the establishment of a loophole-free international security net. The issue is more pressing today because the concept of homeland security has expanded since the 911 terrorist attacks on the United States and now covers many non-conventional security considerations. In addition to conventional military and terrorist attacks, homeland security also encompasses health and economic threats, such as the 2008-2009 global financial crisis and swine flu outbreaks, Ma said. In those two cases, the international community worked together to help mitigate their impact on various countries around the world, he noted. Stressing that Taiwan is more than willing to cooperate with other countries in addressing public health issues, Ma said Taiwan not only actively contained the spread of the influenza A (H1N1) virus through school closures but also produced vaccines for a nationwide immunization campaign. To better cope with the consequences of climate change, Ma said Taiwan has assisted the Philippines in establishing 15 automatic weather observation stations to improve the accuracy of typhoon forecasting. In terms of more conventional security challenges, the president said, Taiwan benefited from international cooperation in obtaining intelligence to prevent possible security glitches during two major international sports events held in Taiwan's two largest cities in 2009 -- the Taipei Deaflympics and the Kaohsiung World Games. The homeland security seminar brought together scholars and experts from Taiwan and five other countries to boost international cooperation in preventing security incidents. Speaking on the same occasion, Premier Wu Den-yih said global weather changes have made it all the more important for each country around the world to devote more energy and effort to ensure international peace and order as well as protect safety of human lives and property. Noting that Taiwan often encounters natural disasters and is active in international trade and other international activities, Wu said Taiwan must fulfill its obligations as a member of the international community and fully cooperate with other peace-loving democratic countries in enhancing homeland security.

Some 47 percent of Taiwanese firms are willing to hire university and college graduates from China or Hong Kong, a recent survey found. Chinese university graduates have good communication and foreign language skills as well as international vision, Taiwanese companies that have employed Chinese graduates told the 104 Job Bank, which conducted the survey March 8-19. Although graduates in Taiwan and China possess different qualifications, Fang Kuang-wei, 104 Job Bank public relations manager, said Taiwanese college students remain competitive in the local job market, as local university graduates are strong in professional expertise, respect team work and follow ethic principles. Citing the results of previous polls, Fang said the overall competitiveness of Taiwanese graduates is 1.86 times better than that of their Chinese counterparts. Vickey Chen, chief of human resources at Standard Chartered Bank, said that Taiwan acts as a 'talent bank' in Asia, exporting high-end power to China and the rest of the region. Chen praised Chinese graduates as more ambitious and braver than their Taiwanese peers. 'This is something which enterprises appraise very much when they need personnel to explore new markets,' she said. Meanwhile, graduates from National Cheng Kung University, National Taiwan University and Tamkang University are the most popular among local businesses, the survey found. Graduates from Feng Chia University and Fujen Catholic University ranked in the fourth and fifth spots, the same survey found. The job bank said graduates of private universities such as Tamkang, Feng Chia and Fujen were also highly praised by local companies. According to Fang, 62.63 percent of enterprises said students at local universities and colleges should increase their work experience. Some 47.71 percent said foreign language abilities should be improved and 42.29 percent recommended getting professional aptitude certificates. As Taiwan and China will soon sign an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China, Fang said Taiwanese students will definitely face stiffer competition from China and other countries. 'Foreign language ability is thus very important, ' he said, adding that obtaining higher degrees or spending time abroad would not necessarily improve an applicant's chances of obtaining a job. The job bank collected 1,127 valid samples for the survey, which had a margin of error of 1.98 percent.

The Government Information Office (GIO) announced Wednesday the first batch of eight local music groups that will receive its subsidies for taking part in international popular music activities. The GIO said that the local music groups, including Tizzy Bac, which is very popular among the youngsters, will take part in international music activities in the United States, Lithuania, and Germany. To upgrade the level of and help raise the international prominence of Taiwan's pop music groups, the GIO has since last year begun to subsidize local music groups to take part in international music events. This year, the subsidies have also been expanded to include participation at international music seminars, invitations extended to international music figures to travel to Taiwan for seminars, or those in Taiwan's music sector to take part in short-term courses overseas. The subsidies also will be raised from NT$600,000 to NT$1 million per case.

Premier Wu Den-yih ordered government agencies Thursday to step up monitoring of water management in southern Taiwan, as the Kaohsiung and Tainan areas would face a shortage if the current dry spell continues. Although the situation in northern Taiwan has eased after recent rainfall, Wu said the Kaohsiung and Tainan areas could see problems starting in June. 'All government agencies should cooperate in saving water and the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) should continue promoting the campaign,' the premier said after hearing a briefing on water supply situations by ministry officials at a weekly Executive Yuan meeting. According to MOEA officials, normal water supply in the two areas could be affected if the amount of rainfall fails to reach 40 percent of the annual average by the end of June. The premier also ordered relevant authorities to take full anti-flooding precautions as typhoon season approaches. Cultivation of rice for the first harvest in some central and southern counties has been suspended to save water. There has been limited precipitation in southern Taiwan since Typhoon Morakot lashed the region in August last year. The effect of government efforts at generating artificial rain has been limited.

A preliminary report on the cause of the April 25 mudslide that buried a section of the No. 3 Freeway, killing four people, will be ready by May 7, Minister of Transportation and Communications Mao Chi-kuo said Thursday. The minister told the Transport Committee of the Legislative Yuan that an ad hoc panel of experts and scholars has been set up to probe the cause of the disaster. Mao said the panel will examine whether the freeway was designed, built and maintained according to norms, and whether those norms should be revamped. A detailed joint report and recommendations will be made by the panel, working with an international panel. In order to prevent similar mudslides on other freeways and railways under the jurisdiction of Ministery of Transportation and Communications, Mao said his ministry will conduct a survey before mid-May and install monitoring devices in places with signs of landslides, such as cracks triggered by strain on retaining walls, falling rocks and dilapidated protection devices. On the same occasion, Vice Minister of Transportation and Communications Chang Chiu-chun said it is impossible to determine whether human error was involved in the mudslide before the ad hoc panel presents its report. Lin Chao-chung, chief of the Central Geological Survey under the Ministry of Economic Affairs, repeated the vice minister's line while fielding lawmakers' questions, adding that the scene of the accident was located beneath a dip slope and was thereby vulnerable to mudslides. However, lawmaker Wong Chin-chu of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said human error was to blame after learning from Chang that no monitoring devices had been set up at the scene of Sunday's disaster. Mao said his ministry would help the families of the dead to claim compensation from the government, but stopped short of agreeing with lawmakers' demands of immediate compensation, saying legal procedure must be followed. Three DPP lawmakers, led by Chai Trong-rong, called for Mao's resignation for the disaster, saying he should kneel down to the victims to allay the anger of their families. The disaster took place when a retaining wall along the National Freeway No. 3 near Chidu in Taipei County collapsed without warning, burying a section of the freeway under hundred of thousands tons of earth. Three cars were covered by the earth, while many other vehicles escaped by the skin of their teeth. A round-the-clock rescue operation began immediately after the accident. The wreckage of the three cars and the four bodies of their occupants had been found, but the route was still closed to traffic. The accident has snarled traffic to and from Keelung, the port city at the beginning of the freeway, and President Ma Ying-jeou's administration -- which was criticized for its bungled relief efforts in the wake of Typhoon Morakot last August -- has tried much harder to cope with this most recent diaster.

The Taiwan military conducted amphibious and anti-parachute maneuvers in the southern county of Pingtung Thursday as part of its annual Han Kuang No. 26 exercise. The wargames, which involve a total of 5,000 military personnel from different branches of the armed forces, are being held on the largest scale in recent years. More than 3,000 military personnel participated in the amphibious assault maneuver that took place on a beach in Jialutang with the aim of testing the military's combined land, sea and air combat capability. In the drill, an underwater demolition team from the Marine Corps used explosives to destroy obstacles prior to landing on the beach, while F-16 fighters were deployed to try to repel the attack. Another anti-parachute maneuver, carried out on a farm in Jiadong township, deployed more than 1,400 military personnel, 16 aircraft of various types, 10 vehicles, and 42 kinds of missiles and artillery. A total of 128 paratroopers dropped onto the farm from six transport aircraft to fight off invading forces. Armored vehicles and artillery were also used in the simulated battle. According to military officials, it was a great challenge for the paratroopers to maneuver on a farm where there were many pineapple plants, banana trees and betel nut palms. As a protective measure, the paratroopers were outfitted with special apparel made of puncture-resistant fabric.

Three U.S. congressmen urged the U.S. government Wednesday to negotiate a free trade agreement with Taiwan in light of the fact that China is ready to sign a trade liberalization pact with Taiwan. In a seminar organized by the Washington-based pro-Taiwan group, Formosan Association of Public Affairs, U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen said a free trade pact with Taiwan will increase U.S. exports to Taiwan by 16 percent, citing a study by the United States International Trade Commission. Taiwan's government hopes to sign a trade liberalization agreement with China - called the economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) - by June, saying it is crucial for helping Taiwan avoid economic isolation. The opposition Democratic Progressive Party, however, has warned that the agreement could make Taiwan too dependent on China, and hurt Taiwan's workers and industries. Branding ECFA as a Trojan horse which led to the fall of Troy according to Greek legend, the congressman said China is expanding its presence throughout the whole of Asia, and Washington should not sit on its hands while watching China's rising dominance in the Asia-Pacific region. Rep. Robert Andrews dismissed worries that Washington would raise eyebrows in Beijing by negotiating a free trade pact with Taiwan, asking why the U.S. should care so much about what Beijing thinks. Andrews said he is seeking sponsorship from other congressmen for an appeal for the U.S. administration to start free trade negotiations with Taiwan. Rep. Scott Garrett echoed Andrews' view, urging his congressional colleagues to sponsor the appeal in droves to show their determination. However, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Randall Schriver said he was not optimistic about a free trade pact between the U.S. and Taiwan for the time being, citing the reluctance of the U.S. Democratic administration to push for one. He suggested instead the resumption of talks with Taiwan under the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement, which was suspended after Taiwan reneged on a promise to allow previously banned U.S. ground beef and offal to be imported to the island. John Tkacik, a fomer State Department official, said the problem with the trade deal between Taiwan and China is the lack of transparency in negotiations. Citing the list of industries to enjoy the earlier tariff reduction privileges as an example, Tkacik pointed out that the list has still not been published even though the pact is set to be inked in June. Taiwan's government has said the full list cannot be revealed as doing so would jeopardize Taiwan's ability to negotiate a deal that is favorable to Taiwan. The government has said it will avoid placing on the list local industries that would need time to adjust to competition from China.

Labor rights activists renewed their call Thursday for wage earners around the country to take to the streets this weekend to protest declining wages and the rising prevalence of dispatch work. Representatives of various labor rights groups, including the Taiwan Confederation of Trade Unions (TCTU) , made the appeal in a news conference held in front of the Council of Labor Affairs. It marked the third time in the past two weeks that labor rights groups have appealed for like-minded activists to take part in the May 1 protest march to mark Labor Day. Huang Yu-teh, spokesman for a labor alliance against poverty, said the appeals against poverty and dispatch work have won the support of many workers, both blue collar and white collar. 'We believe more than 10,000 people will turn out for the anti-poverty parade this weekend,' Huang said. The demonstrators will march from Liberty Square at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall complex on Taipei's Zhongshan South Road to the intersection of Zhongshan South Road and Zhongxiao West Road near the Executive Yuan to voice their appeals, Huang said. The protest march will focus on four appeals -- 'fighting poverty and forbidding dispatched work,' 'labor union autonomy, ' 'labor participation in and democratic supervision of ECFA, ' and 'allowing all wage earners to receive monthly pensions,' he added. Dispatched workers refer to those who work for manpower agencies and are 'dispatched' full-time to companies on a contract basis. Some companies prefer this arrangement because of the flexibility it gives them in managing their work forces and because they do not have to pay benefits or severance to the contract workers.

A 32-member fraud ring operating across the Taiwan Strait has been uncovered through joint efforts by law enforcement units on the two sides of the strait, Kaohsiung city police announced Thursday. Thirteen suspects were arrested in Taiwan, including the mastermind, surnamed Yeh, along with account books, computers, cellphones, travel documents and remittance records that were used to commit the fraud. Earlier that same day, 19 accomplices were also detained in a raid carried out by Chinese public security agents in China. According to the Kaohsiung police authorities, the criminal group had made about NT$500 million (US$15.87 million) over the past six months by posing as personnel of Chinese telephone companies or public security authorities to cheat people on both sides of the strait. The public security authorities in Quanzhou City in China's Fujian Province first received complaints from local residents and passed the information to the Taiwanese authorities in line with a cross-strait cooperation mechanism that was established by the two sides to crack down on rampant cross-strait fraud. Meanwhile, Taiwan's Ministry of the Interior (MOI) reported that 4,837 attempted telephone fraud cases have been successfully thwarted over the past six years thanks to an exclusive anti-fraud telephone line under its jurisdiction. 'As much as NT$657.69 million in potentially swindled money was secured thanks to the help of the anti-fraud unit during the six-year period, ' Chiu Feng- kuang, deputy chief of the Criminal Investigation Bureau under the MOI's National Policy Agency, reported in a news conference. Between the start of this year and April 27, 422 attempted fraud incidents were stymied by the anti-fraud unit, he elaborated. Although the MOI's anti-fraud line workers took around 3.27 million inquiries from members of the public questioning whether they had been targeted by a fraud ring, more than NT$8.8 billion was still raked in by con artists working various telephone scams, he reported. According to Chiu, the public are very easily taken in by scamsters if they claim to be law enforcement personnel, such as judges, prosecutors, investigation agents or police.

The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said Thursday that the proposed economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China is purely an economic issue that has nothing to do with politics. MAC Vice Chairman Liu Te-shun made the comment following China's Taiwan Affairs Office Director Wang Yi's mention of the so-called '1992 Consensus' at a cross- Taiwan Strait entrepreneurs summit in the Chinese city of Nanjing. Addressing the opening ceremony of the summit earlier that day, Wang said that both China and Taiwan should continue to consolidate a key political foundation of opposing Taiwan's independence and supporting the '1992 Consensus' -- which will serve as a sustainable and reliable political guarantee for developing economic cooperation between the two sides. Liu responded at a press conference that there has been nothing -- either in ECFA discussions or within the content of the ECFA -- related to any political appeal. Liu said that it's understandable that Chinese officials need to make statements in line with their political positions, but added that as both sides have their own political viewpoints and directions, he also hopes that China can show empathy toward Taiwan. The '1992 Consensus' refers to an understanding the ruling Kuomintang claims was reached in Hong Kong in 1992 between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait that there is only one China, but with both sides free to make their own interpretations of what 'one China' actually means.

BUYING RATES SELLING RATES US dollar 31.170 31.570 Euro 41.00 42.00 Hong Kong dollar 3.989 4.089 Japanese yen 0.3301 0.3361 Australian dollar 29.06 29.26 Canadian dollar 31.10 31.30 Pound sterling 47.88 48.28 Singapore dollar 22.81 23.01 South African rand 4.202 4.302 Sweden krone 4.275 4.375 Swiss Franc 28.83 29.03 Thai baht 0.9554 0.9954 N. Zealand dollar 22.61 22.81 Chinese yuan 4.525 4.775 * Exchange rates for the US dollar in amounts less than US$10,000.

The ruling Kuomintang (KMT) has claimed ownership of a slush fund of NT$240 million (US$7.65 million) two days after the frozen money was collected from the court by James Soong, chairman of the now-marginalized People First Party. KMT spokesman Su Jun-pin told a news conference Thursday that the KMT decided from Soong's previous public accounts that the funds belong to the KMT and Soong had intended to return the cash to the party. 'James Soong should explain publicly, with evidence, if he now thinks otherwise,' Su said. 'The Kuomintang will deal with the issue carefully and with total transparency to avoid any damage to its image,' Su went on. He said the funds will be donated to public interest projects if they are returned to the KMT. In order to verify the party's claims, Su cited Soong as disputing an order for him to pay tax on the funds at a public rally in Nanao, Yilan County in 2002, on the grounds that the money, accumulated by Soong during his term as KMT secretary-general between 1989 and 1993, belonged to the KMT and that he therefore should not be asked to pay tax on it. The funds came to light in 1999 when Soong fell foul of then-President Lee Teng- hui, who doubled as KMT chairman from 1988 to 2000, over his bid to run for the presidency against Lee's hand-picked KMT candidate, Lien Chan. Soong, who was engaged in a three-way presidential race at the time, told a news conference Dec. 14, 1999 that the funds were entrusted to him by Lee for party use during Soong's term as KMT secretary-general. Soong did not hand over the money to his successor when he left his KMT post to take over as Taiwan provincial governor in 1994. Lee denied that he had any previous knowledge of the funds, much less entrusted it to Soong. In order to show he had no intention of embezzling the money, Soong deposited the funds with the court Jan. 25, 2000, with Lee as the receiver, after Lee rejected Soong's offer to return the money to the KMT. The KMT filed a complaint with the prosecution against Soong on Feb. 16, 2000, accusing him of siphoning off NT$360 million from the party coffers. The prosecutors decided not to indict Soong after finding no evidence to support the KMT's complaint and closed the case Jan. 17, 2005. The case made headlines again Wednesday after an attorney collected the funds from the court on behalf of Soong earlier this month. President Ma Ying-jeou, who also serves as KMT chairman, decided to deal with the issue fairly rather than turning a blind eye to it. One of his close aides said that whoever lays claim to the funds -- Soong or Lee -- should verify his claim with evidence, or the funds should go to the KMT. 'We are compelled to deal with the issue, and must show our hand,' the aide said on condition of anonymity. However, Soong, who was on a private trip to Shanghai, told reporters Friday that the KMT should not be washing its dirty linen in public. His attorney, Huang Shan-shan, who was holding the funds on Soong's behalf, said Thursday in Taipei that she was surprised by the KMT's claim of ownership. Noting that during an investigation into the case the party denied having entrusted any funds to Soong, did not claim ownership and did not try to collect the money over the last decade, Huang questioned how the party could now demand the money. Soong and Lee, who fell out during the 2000 presidential election, reconciled only recently, evidenced by Lee's consent for Soong to collect the funds from the court.

The Taipei city government has encouraged the rebuilding of low-to-mid-rise residential buildings in the city that are 30 years or more old through financial and technical assistance programs. The move, however, has drawn questions and criticism from the Ministry of the Interior and lawmakers. The critics have expressed doubts that the city government's plan can work and have claimed that it could, on the contrary, fuel the surging residential housing prices, which are already too high. However, the plan is an innovative move that has imagination and guts, given the fact that under a free and democratic system, urban renewal in Taiwan is a complicated, constantly changing and hard-to-control process. The makeover plan is worthy of support from the points of view of improving the capital city's overall look and elevating the quality of living for residents. Taipei is a rather unattractive city compared with other metropolises around the world. The numerous old residential buildings -- many of them built in the same period of time to a uniform design -- not only make the city look tired, but the outdated road system and utilities also prevent its residents from enjoying a quality of life equal to those in other modern cities. The city government's makeover plan is worthy of central government encouragement and support, as the plan will provide residents with an opportunity to renovate their own residences, help facilitate a facelift for the run down-looking metropolis, and indirectly help arrest the spiralling housing prices. Better late than never, but if the plan is procrastinated over for too long, it will be too late for the city to rejuvenate itself. (April 30, 2010).

President Ma Ying-jeou said Friday that a park being built to commemorate Japanese civil engineer Yoichi Hatta, whose work contributed greatly to the success of an irrigation system in southern Taiwan, is slated to be inaugurated May 8 next year. The Yoichi Hatta Memorial Park, located at Wushantou Reservoir in southern Tainan County, will mark another milestone in the historical and cultural exchanges between Japan and Taiwan, Ma told a group of parliamentarians from Japan led by Yoshihide Suga, a Lower House Liberal Democrat dietman who formerly served as a minister of internal affairs and communications. Wushantou Reservoir is the centerpiece of the Chia-Nan Irrigation System, a flagship civil engineering project of Hatta's that was completed 80 years ago. Ma told his guests that Hatta is revered and memorialized by farmers in southern Taiwan, where his irrigation system -- a 10,000-km water distribution system -- has played a major role in irrigating some 150,000 hectares of farmland in Tainan and Chiayi counties since 1930 following the completion of Wushantou Reservoir. Ma expressed hope that after the Hatta Memorial Park is completed next year, it will become another major tourism attraction for southern Taiwan that will help attract tourists from Japan, particularly those from Hatta's home town of Kanazawa, in Ishigawa Prefecture. The president also noted that although formal diplomatic relations between Taiwan and Japan were severed in 1972, bilateral exchanges have remained close. 'Taiwan and Japan are closely linked, both historically and geographically, and no countries in the world are as close as these two countries, which exchange 250 flights each week, ' according to Ma. Japan is one of Taiwan's three largest trade partners and the number of Japanese tourists that visit Taiwan tops the tourist numbers from all other countries in the world, Ma noted. At the same time, he went on, Taiwan is also one of Japan's major sources of tourists. Despite the close relations, however, Taiwan and Japan maintain no formal diplomatic relations, Ma continued. 'I therefore designated 2009 as the year for promoting special partnerships between Taiwan and Japan,' he said. Since then, bilateral exchanges have improved further, including the signing and implementation of a working holiday project that benefits the youth of both countries, the establishment of a branch office in Sapporo by Taiwan's representative office in Tokyo, and the launch of two-way flights between Taipei's Songshan Airport and Tokyo's Haneda Airport slated for this October, he added.

The families of the four people who were killed in a landslide on National Freeway No. 3 last Sunday are entitled to national compensation. No one could take issue with this. But as taxpayers, we are entitled to know whether any government officials were responsible for the disaster; if there were, who they were and would they be punished for failing in their duties. Under the law, there are two types of compensation that could be claimed in such cases. The first type is for damages as a result of negligence on the part of government officials, and the other is for damages in the case of fault or failure of public facilities not necessarily as a result of human error. The disaster on National Freeway No. 3 was caused by a landslide on a dip slope that had been shaved at the base to build the freeway. This cannot be categorized as a natural and unavoidable catastrophe over which government officials had no control. There was no rain or storm near the slope that day that could have triggered the landslide. In addition, the ground anchors used to retain the slope had rusted and were therefore weak, which belies the claim by government officials that human error was not a factor. It seems that the government is trying protect its officials by offering compensation under the category unrelated to human error, but this would not go down well with the public. (April 30, 2010)

The Ministry of Finance will make public on Saturday names of big tax defaulters that owe the government a total of NT$130.8 billion (US$4.15 billion) in taxes, a ministry official said Friday. The list of 1,558 defaulters will consist of individuals who owe at least NT$10 million in unpaid tax and businesses that owe over NT$50 million. The list will be posted on the Web sites of the National Tax Administration's branches around the country for seven days. At the top of the list of individual tax defaulters is Huang Juo-ku, who owes NT$3.1 billion, while a now defunct company leads the corporate category after defaulting on NT$2.7 billion in taxes.