Focus Taiwan
Date: 02/06/2020
By: Hsu Fu-wei and Ko Lin

Taipei, Feb. 6 (CNA) Three more Taiwanese were confirmed infected with the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) late Thursday, just several hours after the country reported two new cases earlier in the day.

Of the three new cases, two are a married couple, both in their 50s, who transited through Hong Kong from Taiwan on Jan. 22 for Italy on vacation with two other family members, Health Minister Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said.

After their return trip on Feb. 1, also through Hong Kong, the couple developed a fever and subsequently sought medical attention, during which tests showed that they had contracted the novel coronavirus and are currently being quarantined, Chen said.

So far the two other family members have not shown symptoms of illness, according to the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC).    [FULL  STORY]

‘ENGAGE TAIWAN’: China’s delegation to a WHO executive board meeting voiced ’strong dissatisfaction’ over the ‘Taiwan issue,’ while Taipei criticized naming practice

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 07, 2020
By: Staff writer, with Reuters, GENEVA, Switzerland

The US yesterday urged the WHO to “engage directly with Taiwan public health authorities” in the

fight against the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV).

“For the rapidly evolving coronavirus, it is a technical imperative that WHO present visible public health data on Taiwan as an affected area and engage directly with Taiwan public health authorities on actions,” US Ambassador to the UN in Geneva Andrew Bremberg told the WHO’s executive board.

Japan and the EU appeared to support this.

Japanese Ambassador Ken Okaniwa told the forum: "We should not make a geographical vacuum by creating a situation where a specific region cannot join WHO even as an observer."
[FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 05 February, 2020
By: Shirley Lin

Vice President-elect William Lai says that Taiwan will cooperate with the US and the international community to achieve common goals. Lai was speaking Tuesday during a meeting on religious freedom held in Washington, DC.

Lai said Taiwan is a democratic country that respects religious freedom. He said Taiwan will work to protect religious freedom and build a world free from fear of religious persecution.

Sam Brownback, the US Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom, said Lai’s visit is historic, as he is the highest-level Taiwanese official to visit the US in years. Lai’s US trip is the first by a Taiwanese vice-president elect since the US switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979.    [FULL  STORY]

The World Health Organization should not exclude Taiwan from efforts to tackle the outbreak, writes David YL Lin of the Taipei Representative Office. David E Hanke says an anthropomorphic explanation of viruses can be dangerous. And Robert East warns about the potential effect on share prices

The Guardian
Date: 5 Feb 2020

Jennifer Rohn is right to warn that we should learn the lessons of Sars (Journal, 5 February) as the world combats the spread of the coronavirus. The issue of Taiwan’s exclusion from the World Health Organization due to pressure from China, and the loophole it created in global health, should also be brought into the spotlight. Taiwan’s Centre for Disease Control confirmed the first imported case on 21 January and immediately reported it to the WHO. We regret that Taiwan is the only country with a confirmed imported case that was left out of the WHO’s emergency committee meeting, because China is blocking Taiwan’s attendance in the UN health agency.

The situation is a fresh reminder of the catastrophic Sars epidemic in 2002-03, at which time Taiwan suffered tremendous loss, unable to engage with the WHO directly, and was forced to rely on US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials to obtain vital information from the WHO. Let’s hope history does not repeat itself. As the coronavirus outbreak has been declared a global health emergency, we call on the WHO to recognise that Taiwan is not part of China. It is time for the WHO to include Taiwan and its 23 million people, and stop damaging efforts to tackle the coronavirus outbreak and harming global health.    [FULL  STORY]

Dozens of passengers on Wuhan evacuation flight found to be Chinese spouses, non-Taiwanese

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/02/05
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer\

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Many Taiwanese are outraged after news broke on Tuesday (Feb. 4) that many of the passengers aboard a charter jet expressly arranged to evacuate Taiwanese businesspeople stranded in Wuhan were actually Chinese spouses and non-Taiwanese citizens.

After denying Taiwanese evacuation requests for a week, the Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) finally permitted 247 Taiwanese businesspeople to board a China Eastern Airlines charter jet at the Wuhan Tianhe International Airport on Monday (Feb. 3). However, local Taiwanese media outlets soon reported that many of the passengers on the plane were not on the original passenger list, with dozens actually being Chinese spouses of Taiwanese businessmen as well as non-Taiwanese citizens, including minors.

Some Taiwanese businessmen allege that Hsu Cheng-wen (徐正文), the head of the Parents Association in Taipei and member of the Kuomintang (KMT) Central Committee, who was involved in arranging the first charter flight, and the Chinese officials he worked with did not place a priority on passengers who were in urgent need, favoring relatives and children instead. According to a report by ETtoday, a businessman familiar with the matter said that many Taiwanese business executives had registered with Hsu for the evacuation.

However, when the final boarding list was revealed, the names of the businessmen did not appear. Instead, many of the Taiwanese executives brought their Chinese spouses and children on the jet. According to one source with knowledge of the incident, only when it was found that dozens of non-Taiwanese citizens had boarded the plane was it apparent that those on the list had taken their Chinese wives on board with them.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 02/05/2020
By: Chen Wei-ting and Matthew Mazzetta

Taipei, Feb. 5 (CNA) Foreign nationals living in Taiwan will be able to use their national health insurance (NHI) cards or other forms of ID to obtain surgical face masks under a new rationing system that takes effect Thursday at 9 a.m., the National Health Insurance Administration (NHIA) said Wednesday.

Foreign nationals who do not have an NHI card can present a valid Alien Resident Certificate (ARC) or entry permit to purchase the masks, the health agency said.

In a press release, the NHIA offered clarification on its policy toward the roughly 50,000 foreign nationals in Taiwan who do not have NHI cards, a matter that was not addressed when the government announced the initial version of its rationing plan Monday.

On Tuesday, the Health and Welfare Ministry told CNA that a plan was still being worked out for foreign nationals without NHI coverage.    [FULL  STORY]

RED ALERT: The Mainland Affairs Council issued its highest warning for China, urging people not to travel there, as the entire nation has become an epidemic area

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 06, 2020
By: Lee I-chia  /  Staff reporter

From today, all Chinese nationals are banned from entering Taiwan, while people who have

traveled to China, Hong Kong or Macau in the previous 14 days are to be put under mandatory home quarantine for 14 days after returning to Taiwan, the Central Epidemic Command Center announced yesterday.

The only exception would be people who travel to Hong Kong or Macau after obtaining the government’s permission, who would be “asked to perform mandatory self-care management after returning to Taiwan,” said Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who also heads the center.

The center designated China as a secondary epidemic area for the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak, while the Mainland Affairs Council issued a “red” travel advisory — its highest level, meaning “do not visit” — for China and a “yellow” travel advisory — meaning “reconsider visiting” — for Hong Kong and Macau.

Taiwan had no new confirmed 2019-nCoV infections yesterday, Chen said, but added that two Taiwanese evacuees from Wuhan, the Chinese city at the epicenter of the outbreak, showed mild respiratory symptoms and were quarantined at a hospital for further examination.
[FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 04 February, 2020
By: Paula Chao

The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) says that the Taiwanese stranded in Wuhan, China returning to Taiwan is a win-win for both sides across the Taiwan Strait. The MAC is Taiwan’s top China policy-making body.

The first chartered flight carrying 247 Taiwanese stranded in the Chinese city of Wuhan returned to Taiwan Monday night. Of them, five were immediately hospitalized and the rest will be kept in quarantine for two weeks.    [FULL  STORY]

The Hill
Date: 02/04/20
By: J. Edward Moreno

U.S. lawmakers are pushing legislation that would work toward granting Taiwan recognition in the World Health Organization (WHO) in light of the coronavirus outbreak that has left Taiwan subject to flight bans and limited information. 

The WHO — a branch of the United Nations — has relayed communication on the virus to China, which considers Taiwan a Chinese territory with an illegitimate independent government. The island’s status as a nation is a matter of international disagreement: the U.S., Japan, Canada and the European Union all recognize Taiwan as a sovereign state, while the UN and Chinese allies consider Taiwan a province of China. 

Taiwanese officials claim they have received little information on the virus from WHO while also struggling to communicate with Chinese officials as they attempted to evacuate Taiwanese citizens from Wuhan, where the virus originated. Taiwan has 10 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, and on Monday night quarantined 247 people repatriated to the island after being stranded in Wuhan.

According to Taiwan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu, flights to Taiwan from Vietnam and Italy were canceled last week based on information that grouped Taiwan as part of China. Flights from Vietnam were restored, but Taiwan is still “working through all diplomatic channels” to restore flights from Italy.     [FULL  STORY]

The UN's health agency continues to regard Taiwan as part of China

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/02/04
By:  Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday (Feb. 4) slammed China’s obstruction of Taiwan’s inclusion in the World Health Organization (WHO) as “evil.”

The harshly-worded statement from the island country’s foreign ministry came in response to comments made by its Chinese counterpart the day before. Hua Chunying (華春瑩), spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said during a press briefing that Taiwan’s participation in international organizations such as the WHO should be “arranged under the one-China principle and through negotiations between both sides of the Taiwan Strait.” Hua also claimed that Taiwan had been able to exchange instant information with the WHO regarding the latest global health issues.

Taiwan’s foreign ministry said China’s attempts to prevent Taiwan from taking part in the WHO amid the escalation of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak, which started in the Chinese city of Wuhan last December, had fully demonstrated the country’s “evil nature.” It described Beijing’s insistence on imposing its “one-China principle” as a prerequisite for Taiwan to participate in global affairs as an act of “political blackmail.”

Taiwanese health authorities currently report the country’s medical and health status, including coronavirus-related cases, to the WHO through the International Health Regulations. However, the country has been prevented from convening with other countries in the WHO’s emergency meetings regarding the coronavirus outbreak in China.    [FULL  STORY]