PREPAREDNESS: A CECC adviser said that information about the drug has been positive, so most specialists support its import, which will help if the virus surges

Taipei Times
Date: May 31, 2020
By: Lee I-chia / Staff reporter

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has conditionally approved the antiviral drug remdesivir to treat people with severe COVID-19, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday.

At the CECC’s daily news conference in Taipei, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said that no new cases have been confirmed, while 421 people have been released from isolation after contracting the novel coronavirus.

“Taiwan remains the same — with no new domestic cases reported in 48 consecutive days,” Chen said. “However, the COVID-19 situation globally is still serious and almost 6 million cases have been confirmed, so we have to be extra careful about border controls.”

After a specialist meeting on Friday, the FDA approved remdesivir to treat people with severe COVID-19, Chen said.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 29 May, 2020
By: John Van Trieste

Taiwan reported a new case of COVID-19 on Friday, bringing its total number of cases so far up to 442.

The patient in this case is a student in his 20’s who went to study in Russia during February. He is one of 95 Taiwanese nationals who returned from Russia via Japan on May 26.

The patient had developed COVID-19 symptoms before leaving Russia. He informed airport staff of these symptoms upon arrival in Taiwan, and was tested for COVID-19.

While this initial test came back negative, he was later tested again as a precaution. This is because he listed a loss of smell and taste, one distinctive sign of COVID-19, among his symptoms. This second test has come back positive. The patient is now in a hospital receiving medical treatment.    [FULL  STORY]

CNN
Date: May 29, 2020
Opinion by Abraham Wen-Shang Chu

(CNN)History has shown that attempting to scapegoat one race, creed or gender for any reason always has a bad outcome. What starts as name-calling often evolves into discrimination, exclusion, and then injury and death.

Abraham Wen-Shang Chu

Unfortunately, this is what the Asian community is experiencing today during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Last month, Emily Lui, associate director of employer relations at Emory University's Goizueta Business School, wrote for CNN that while "most Americans are staying home, trying to navigate virtual work and worrying about paying bills, Asian Americans are doing all of that while also fearing for our safety." PBS's News Hour reported that the pandemic "has Americans across the country fearful for their personal health and well-being, but for Asian Americans, the virus has stirred up another threat: a wave of verbal and physical attacks.

CBS News offered an example: A 16-year-old in California who "was physically attacked this week by bullies in his high school who accused him of having the coronavirus — simply because he is Asian American." In San Francisco, an Asian-American woman told The New York Times she was spat at by a middle-aged man while walking to the gym. Human Rights Watch has compiled reports of Asian Americans having slurs hurled at them. The New York Daily News reported that a stranger approached an Asian man on the subway, accused him of being "infected," and tried to drag him off the train.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan's military always prepared for worst, according to Defense Minister Yen De-fa

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/05/29
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — China’s passage of a national security law for Hong Kong not only introduced rule by fear for the former British territory, but also revealed its attitude toward the South China Sea and Taiwan, The Economist wrote Thursday (May 28).

While Beijing initially hoped to use its “one country, two systems” formula for Taiwan, it has begun to threaten the island nation more openly and directly, the British magazine reported. Even though the United States is bound to intervene on Taiwan’s behalf in the event of an attack, China is no longer reticent about trying out its military power by targeting Taiwan.

“The rest of the world should worry, too,” The Economist wrote.

In Taipei, Defense Minister Yen De-fa (嚴德發) said the military would prepare itself for the worst-case scenario, CNA reported. He noted that since the beginning of the year and despite the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, China had conducted eight rounds of training and other military activities that were clearly aimed at Taiwan.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 05/29/2020
By: Lai Yen-hsi and Ko Lin

Taipei, May 29 (CNA) President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) visited Causeway Bay Books in Taipei on Friday to express her support for Lam Wing-kee (林榮基) and his first store opening in Taiwan, after his shop in Hong Kong was closed due to political persecution.

While there, Tsai thanked him for his work to support human rights and freedom in Hong Kong and said her administration has set up a task force to assist people in Hong Kong whose security and freedoms are at risk due to political factors.

Her comments came a day after China passed a national security law that could undermine freedom and rule of law in Hong Kong.

President Tsai visits the Causeway Bay Books in Taipei to express her support for Lam on Friday.

The proposed law is widely seen as an effort by the Chinese government to take full control of Hong Kong after a year of pro-democracy protests in the special administrative region.
[FULL  STORY]

DETERRENT DEBATE: Lawyers were divided over whether the rules that were cut helped protect families, while one justice disapproved of Interpretation No. 791

Taipei Times
Date: May 30, 2020
By: Wu Cheng-feng, Chang Wen-chuan and Jake Chung / Staff reporters, with staff writer

Adultery was decriminalized in Taiwan yesterday after the Council of Grand Justices issued Constitutional Interpretation No. 791, declaring that Article 239 of the Criminal Code and a proviso clause for Article 239 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (刑事訴訟法) are unconstitutional and considered null and void, effective immediately.

The 15 justices issued the interpretation after hearing debate on the article, which said that both people convicted in a case of adultery face up to one year in prison, although no trial was possible without a complaint by the spouse.

The clause says that in the case of an offense specified in the Criminal Code, the withdrawal of a complaint against an accused spouse is not the same as the withdrawal of a complaint against the other party in the alleged adulterous relationship.

The interpretation was issued after 18 judges and a man convicted of adultery this year asked the Council of Grand Justices to overturn Interpretation No. 554, which found the Criminal Code article constitutional.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 28 May, 2020
By: John Van Trieste

Premier Su Tseng-chang is calling on Cabinet ministries to work towards giving Taiwan a strong economy after the COVID-19 pandemic ends. Su was speaking at the Cabinet Thursday.

Su said that Taiwan’s early action to keep COVID-19 under control has meant that Taiwan’s economy has taken less of a hit from the pandemic than the economies of other countries.
[FULL  STORY]

Asia News
Date: 05/28/2020

Taipei plans to offer humanitarian assistance to Hong Kong citizens. Japan and South Korea have expressed concern. The Chinese embassy in Seoul is the scene of protests. India and ASEAN members have not yet reacted.

Hong Kong (AsiaNews) – Taiwan is the only Asian country to strongly condemn China’s Hong Kong security law.

China’s National People's Congress yesterday approved a new security law for Hong Kong that punishes acts and activities that seriously endanger national security.

Under the new legislation, Hong Kong residents may be arrested for subversion, secession, terrorism and collaboration with foreign powers interfering in the Special Region’s affairs.
[FULL  STORY]

Gay couples in Taiwan continue to fight for adoption, reproductive rights despite legalized marriage

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/05/28
By: Chris Chang, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — CIVICUS, a global alliance of civil society organizations, published its annual State of Civil Society Report, which touted Taiwan's legalization of same-sex marriage as a milestone for LGBTQI+ rights in Asia, despite its continued opposition by some on the island.

In the third chapter of the report, titled "challenging exclusion and claiming rights," CIVICUS talked with Audrey Tang (唐鳳), Taiwan's first transgender government minister, about the development of Taiwan's LGBTQI+ rights and why the country is only halfway to ensuring the basic rights of sexual minorities.

"In 2003, the Taipei government gave support to the first LGBTQI+ protest organised in the whole of Asia, gathering more than 2,000 participants. Since then, this event has been organised regularly on the last Saturday of October every year; in 2018, a total of 137,000 people took part in the demonstration," Tang said.

In 2017, Taiwan's Constitutional Court ruled that the existing marriage laws discriminated against same-sex couples, but the momentum for changes soon experienced a massive setback; one year later, conservative groups won an advisory referendum against the court's ruling.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 05/28/2020
By: Yeh Su-ping, Lai Yen-hsi, Chen Chun-hua and Chiang Yi-ching

Taipei, May 28 (CNA) President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said Thursday that a national security law approved by China earlier in the day would undermine freedom and rule of law in Hong Kong and that her administration was planning how best to assist asylum seekers from the special administrative region.

The "draft decision" on establishing a national security law in Hong Kong was passed in China's National People's Congress (NPC) Thursday in a 2,878-1 vote, with 6 abstentions.

Now that the proposed law has been approved, the NPC's Standing Committee will draft the legislation, which will then be included in Hong Kong's de facto Constitution, the Basic Law, entirely bypassing Hong Kong's legislature.

When the law is enacted, it will prohibit acts of secession, subversion, terrorism and conspiring with foreign influences in Hong Kong, and allow Beijing's security forces to operate in the region.    [FULL  STYORY]