Focus Taiwan
Date: 04/19/2020
By: Matt Yu and Emerson Lim

Taipei, April 19 (CNA) Taiwan's Navy on Sunday apologized for a cluster infection of the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on a goodwill mission in the Pacific, but it defended the mission and the preparations made.

Navy Deputy Commander Mei Chia-shu (梅家樹) made the apology at a Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) briefing on Sunday and said the incident would not affect the Navy's combat readiness.

As of Sunday, 24 people on the mission had been confirmed as having COVID-19, the first cases of the disease to hit Taiwan's military.

The infected sailors were all serving on the Panshi Fast Combat Support Ship, part of a three-ship flotilla that visited Palau from March 12 to 15 for this year's goodwill and midshipmen training mission.
[FULL  STORY]

Taiwan warned WHO over the possibility of human-to-human transmission in the virus outbreak in Wuhan back in late December. Perhaps if Taiwan was a member of WHO, its warning would have been heeded.

The National Interest
Date: April 18, 2020
By: Gary Sands

As health care professionals struggle to fight severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and the disease it causes (COVID-19), which has infected over 2 million worldwide and killed over 140,000,  the Trump administration has now stepped up several initiatives in a hope to stem the proliferation of the deadly virus.

 

One such initiative includes the sharing of information among countries battling the coronavirus. To that end, U.S. deputy secretary of state Steve Biegun initiated a video conference on March 21 among members of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (the Quad), which was initiated in 2007 by Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe in response to the growing economic and military might of China. The latest gathering of the Quad (Australia, India, Japan, and the United States) included New Zealand, South Korea, and Vietnam to help address the new challenges brought by the coronavirus. Representatives of these seven Indo-Pacific nations (Quad-Plus) agreed to meet weekly to discuss “vaccine development, challenges of stranded citizens, assistance to countries in need and mitigating the impact on the global economy.”

Among the invitees, Japan, South Korea, and Vietnam have all been lauded in international media for their efforts to control the spread of the virus, yet another nation that has won international praise for its successful efforts appears to have been left off the guest list, Taiwan.

With an aged and dense population within proximity (80 miles) to China, along with extensive cross-strait exchanges, Taiwan was expected to have the second-highest number of cases of COVID-19, especially since the outbreak coincided with increased travel for Lunar New Year celebrations. China has also long been the number one destination for Taiwanese seeking work overseas, with some 400,000 Taiwanese working in China, Hong Kong, and Macau. Some 2.7 million Chinese traveled to Taiwan from China in 2019, despite Beijing imposing restrictions on individual travel around mid-year.    [FULL  STORY]

Could this be the best China defense strategy?

The National Interest
Date: April 18, 2020
By: Nicholas Hanson

Time is running out for Taiwan. Under the leadership of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Chairman Xi Jinping, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has been increasingly aggressive in both poaching Taiwan’s few remaining diplomatic allies and using the growing proficiency of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) for messaging the inevitable: reunification with the mainland.

Xi Jinping has made it clear that he is the transformational leader that can make it happen. As the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission wrote in its annual report: “In 2019, General Secretary Xi Jinping made clear his increasingly uncompromising stance toward Taiwan’s independent status and sense of urgency regarding unification.” Chairman Xi’s enhanced pressure campaign carries significant risks for both himself and the CCP. If the PLA is commanded to seize the island and fails, the legitimacy of Xi Jinping’s leadership and that of the Communist Party holistically, will be called into question. Such a crisis could very well lead to the downfall of both.

A Preordained Outcome

To guarantee victory, the CCP ordered a massive reorganization of the PLA in 2016. Coupled with an aggressive modernization plan designed to be “basically completed” by 2035, this endeavor is intended to put it on track to “world-class” military status by 2049. Part of a broader vision in what Chairman Xi has termed the “Chinese Dream,” this world-class PLA has one goal: surpass the U.S. Military in capability and capacity, and if necessary, defeat it in battle.

This “if necessary” caveat is focused on one issue: Taiwan. As the Defense Intelligence Agency has written:    [FULL  STORY]

Sentenced to death in 1980s despite dearth of evidence, Chiou Ho-shun remains a hole in Tsai administration's transitional justice narrative

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/04/18
By Micah McCartney, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — One week after Taiwan saw its second execution during the tenure of President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), a coalition of NGOs, lawyers, and academics sent her a petition for a presidential pardon for another inmate — Chiou Ho-shun (邱和順), who over three decades ago was sentenced to death on the basis of confessions extracted through torture during police interrogations.

A living reminder that the quest for transitional justice is far from over

Taiwan has won accolades from the international community in recent memory for being a democratic success story in the shadow of authoritarian China; for becoming the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage; and at this moment, for the adeptness and openness with which it has tackled the coronavirus pandemic. Meanwhile, the island is making visible efforts to redress some of the darkest episodes of its past.

Soon after her inauguration in 2016, Tsai formally apologized for the historical mistreatment of the island's indigenous peoples. Two years later, her administration established the Transitional Justice Commission to investigate and make public human rights violations during Taiwan's martial law period, with an online database of victims being launched this year on the 73rd anniversary of the 2/28 Massacre.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 04/18/2020
By: William Yen

Taipei, April 18 (CNA) Three new cases of the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) were confirmed in Taiwan on Saturday, all of whom were naval cadets who had spent time on a military ship, according to the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC).

The three newly confirmed patients, who are all in their 20s, were cadets interning on one of Taiwan's naval ships and likely contracted the disease overseas, said Health Minister Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who also heads the CECC, at a daily briefing in Taipei.

The ship was part of a three-ship fleet identified by the Navy as its Dunmu fleet, recently described as the "Fleet of Friendship" that carried around 750 officers, servicemen, and cadets from Taiwan's Naval Academy on a goodwill visit to the diplomatic ally of Palau.

It was the fleet's 14th visit to the Taiwanese ally in the western Pacific Ocean, reports said.   
[FULL  STORY]

THREE CASES: Crews of Taiwan’s ‘Friendship Flotilla’ were not allowed to disembark until 30 days after leaving Palau and medical staff reported no infections

Taipei Times
Date:  Apr 19, 2020
By: Lee I-chia / Staff reporter

The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday announced three new COVID-19 cases, three men interning on a navy vessel, and said that more than 700 navy officers and sailors would be taken to centralized quarantine facilities and tested for the novel coronavirus.

With the new cases, Taiwan has confirmed a total of 398 infections, with six fatalities.

Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said that the three men are in their 20s and shared a sleeping compartment on the vessel.

They on Feb. 21 boarded the vessel, whose 337-strong complement visited Palau from March 12 to 15, before continuing on a tour that ended when they disembarked in Kaohsiung on Wednesday, he said.
[FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 17 April, 2020
By: Leslie Liao

The government extended the stay for travelers who arrived in Taiwan before March 21 on a visa waiver, visa free, or landing visa program by an additional 30 days

The foreign ministry says it is granting a 30 day extension to the amount of time certain foreign nationals in Taiwan can stay. This is the second such extension the government has granted: the first took effect March 21.

The extension has been made in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Both extensions apply to those who arrived in Taiwan on or before March 21. The extension only applies to foreign nationals allowed into Taiwan as part of a visa-waiver program, those allowed to apply for visas on arrival, and those holding visitor visas.    [FULL  STORY]

The Diplpomat
Date: April 17, 2020
By: Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan

In my column for The Diplomat last week, I looked at China’s military activities and resultant confrontation with its Southeast Asian neighbors, Indonesia and Vietnam. Despite the Indo-Pacific region reeling under the coronavirus pandemic, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has been active farther east as well. There have been reports of several Chinese naval and air intrusions in Taiwan and Japan. 

Back in the first half of February, the PLA Eastern Theater Command started sending its fighter jets and bombers around Taiwan. In response, Taiwan’s Air Force had to scramble its own fighters to shadow the Chinese aircraft. On February 10, Chinese jets reportedly briefly crossed “an unofficial middle line in the Taiwan Strait.” The same day, the PLA Eastern Theater Command stated that its military has been engaged in “air-ground assault and fire support drills to further refine and test their multi-service joint combat capabilities.” Further, Zhang Chunhui, Air Force spokesman of the PLA Eastern Theater, said that “following the February 9 sea-air combat readiness cruise, the theater forces organized a joint exercise of sea and air forces in the sea area of ​​southeastern Taiwan on February 10, mainly carrying out air-ground assault, firepower support and other actual combat training, further tempering and testing the joint combat capabilities of multiple arms in the theater.” 

Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a tweet asked Beijing to stop threatening Taiwan militarily, and instead focus on the coronavirus. Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) in a statement affirmed that “provocations by PLA warships and planes which have frequented the vicinity of the Taiwan Strait in recent years to seek unification through military force gravely undermine the status quo in the Taiwan Strait and heighten regional tensions.” Commenting on the situation, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs R. Clarke Cooper said, “It was completely inappropriate of China to take such an aggressive act.” Elaborating on the impact on the security of the Indo-Pacific, Cooper said that “there should be responsible behavior to make sure that the region is free and open — not just for navigation but also for trade and for relationships. Such coercive, aggressive behavior is counter to having a free and open Indo-Pacific region.”    [FULL  STORY]

World is paying price for isolating Taiwan during SARS and COVID-19: WMA

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/04/17
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The World Medical Association (WMA) wrote a letter to the World Health Organization (WHO) calling for Taiwan to be allowed to attend the World Health Assembly (WHA), reports said Friday (April 17).

The letter followed growing questions about the handling of the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic by WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who has been accused of towing the Chinese government’s line while engaging in a war of words with Taiwan.

According to the WMA letter, the virus outbreak has “illustrated with terrible consequences how wrong and damaging for global health it is to exclude Taiwan from unrestricted and effective participation in the World Health Organization.”

Both during the 2003 SARS crisis and the current pandemic, the WHO failed to pay sufficient attention to Taiwan, leaving the world “paying a high price,” said the letter signed by WMA Council Chairman Frank Ulrich Montgomery and WMA President Miguel Jorge.   [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 04/17/2020
By: William Yen

Taipei, April 17 (CNA) Medical face masks will no longer be delivered to National Health Insurance Administration-contracted pharmacies or local government health centers on Sundays, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said Friday.

The decision was made to give logistics personnel, pharmacists, and health center staff a day off after preparing and organizing masks for long lines of people throughout the week, the CECC said in a statement that day.

Ever since Taiwan's mask rationing program started on Jan. 31, pharmacy operators have been working every day to make sure the public can purchase masks, Health Minister Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who also heads the CECC, told reporters at a daily briefing in Taipei.

"Everyone has two days off a week, but pharmacists do not," Chen said. "We ask the public to be understanding if they want a rest on Sundays."    [FULL  STORY]