Radio Taiwan International
Date: 08 December, 2020
By: Leslie Liao6

Taipei Zoo zookeepers were growing nervous as a missing anteater had not turned up over the past few months. They breathed a sigh of relief last weekend, when someone called in saying they had sighted an anteater in the mountains.

Three months ago, the anteater Xiao Hong mounted a daring escape from her enclosure at the Taipei Zoo. She jumped into a moat with her baby, and made a break for it. Zookeepers found Xiao Hong’s baby, but the anteater mama must have practiced magic in captivity, because she went ‘poof’. Xiao Hong’s daring getaway had zoo staff scratching their heads. Just where did she go? Caretakers were concerned about the impending cold weather and were worried she’d run into wild animals. 

On Sunday, zoo officials received a tip from locals saying an anteater had been spotted in the mountains close to the zoo. They dispatched 36 people to catch Xiao Hong. That might seem excessive, but when you’re dealing with a seasoned escape artist you can’t be too careful. Zookeepers searched the mountains for over an hour before finding Xiao Hong huddled up in a tree. Get in that kennel ya rascal.     [FULL  STORY]

Education is critical to confronting the climate crisis, and Taiwan offers an example of how to encourage kids to care about their environment.

Yes! Magazine
Date: DEC 8, 2020

Climate change is one of the biggest challenges that the world faces. A United Nations report has cautioned that greenhouse gas emissions from human activity are at a record high, “with no signs of slowing down.” Many nations are recording weather extremes, higher average temperatures, and rising seas. Meanwhile, the first wave of increasing numbers of climate refugees points to how a changing environment will reshape human life.

The changes in climate may have been caused by previous and current generations of adults, but the future generations will have to deal with its worst effects. Today’s children will play a critical role in protecting the environment.

Confronting the crisis will require much change—and education is an urgent first step.

As experts have said, this education will need to start early, so that environmentally friendly practices become habits at a young age.   [FULL  STORY]

Filipino man left hotel for 8-seconds, incurring severe penalties that have been criticized by foreign media

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/12/08
By:. George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The heavy fine of NT$100,000 (US$3,500) imposed on a Filipino worker in Taiwan who stepped out of his room in a quarantine hotel for only eight seconds has attracted significant foreign media coverage.

The ticket was issued by Kaohsiung City Department of Health to the man in November. The news has made headlines on foreign news sites, including CNN and NHK, the latter of which pointed out that Taiwanese media have so far refrained from criticizing the fine while the news has prompted a hot debate in Japan.

Regarding the severity of the penalty, Kaohsiung City Department of Health Senior Specialist Pan Chao-ying (潘炤穎) said on Tuesday (Dec. 8) that the NT$100,000 fine was imposed according to the standards stipulated by the Ministry of Health and Welfare in the Communicable Disease Control Act.

Both foreigners and Taiwanese nationals are treated equally under the same standards, he claimed. He went on to urge people under quarantine to abide by the rules.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 12/08/2020
By: Louis Liu

Taipei, Dec. 8 (CNA) Jimmy Lai (黎智英), the founder of the Apple Daily newspaper, received the Special Prize at the 2020 RSF Press Freedom Awards Ceremony organized by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on Tuesday in Taipei.

According to RSF, the jury bestowed the prize on Lai because his media is one of the few Hong Kong media that widely covered last year's pro-democracy protests there and dares to criticize the Chinese regime.

The award was received on his behalf by his son, Sebastian Lai (黎崇恩), as his father was arrested in August and denied bail on fraud charges.

Cédric Alviani, RSF's East Asia bureau head, told CNA that "it is very important that democracies unite to support Hong Kong."    [FULL  STORY]

COMMUNICATIONS UPGRADE: Thanking Washington for the potential sale, Taipei said it would further strengthen the Taiwanese military’s strategic and defense needs

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 09, 2020
By: Lin Chia-nan / Staff reporter

US President Donald Trump’s administration on Monday announced that it had approved a US$280 million arms sale package to Taiwan, with local experts saying the sale would upgrade military telecommunications and stimulate industrial development.

The package includes a Field Information Communications System, consisting of 154 communication nodes, 24 communication relays and eight network management systems, the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a press release.

It also involves verification testing, personnel training and training equipment, an initial repair and return program, technical and logistics support services, and contractor-provided training, it said.

The proposed sale is designed to provide mobile and secure communications, the agency said, adding that it has notified the US Congress as required.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 07 December, 2020
By: Leslie Liao

Taiwan’s government has unveiled plans to create a quantum technology hub in Southern Taiwan. The country’s top research institute — Academia Sinica — announced the plans along with the technology and economics ministries. 

The new quantum technology hub will be based in the southern city of Tainan. Technology Minister Wu Tsung-tsong says there is currently no hardware for quantum technology. Therefore, he says, Taiwan will instead focus on developing talent and the skills needed in the budding new industry.     [FULL  STORY]

New York Post
Date: December 7, 2020
By: Emily Jacobs

Taiwan believes China intends to invade the island nation, its foreign minister said Monday.

The revelation came from Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Joseph Wu in an interview with the Guardian, in which the nation’s top diplomat urged international unity to prevent Beijing from “expand[ing] its authoritarian order.”

Wu, who has been at the forefront of Taiwan’s ramped-up diplomatic efforts this year, warned that if his country were to “fall prey to China,” it would expand Beijing’s reach into the Indo-Pacific region and severely impact world order.

The Chinese Communist Party views Taiwan as a rogue province and publicly argues it should not be afforded the status granted to sovereign states, such as inclusion in the World Health Organization. The Chinese Communist Party also maintains that Taiwan must one day return to the mainland as an inalienable part of their territory.    [FULL  STORY]

Hsiao Bi-khim urges global community to ensure vaccine distribution to disadvantaged countries

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/12/07
By: Ching-Tse Cheng, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan's top representative to the U.S., Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴), said Monday (Dec. 7) that global organizations should ensure fair allocation of coronavirus vaccines around the world and support countries lacking resources to counter the pandemic.

Speaking at the Asia 21 Younger Leaders virtual summit organized by the Asia Society on Sunday (Dec. 6), the Taiwanese envoy noted that several international pharmaceutical companies have reported promising results from their coronavirus vaccine trials recently. She said this accomplishment was made possible by countries with heavy financial resources but that those without should also be granted equal access to the medication.

Hsiao said although the COVAX global initiative was developed to ensure that the most vulnerable populations can receive their fair share of affordable vaccines, many countries lack the money to pay deposits to the vaccine alliance. She said she hopes the World Health Organization (WHO) can come up with proper solutions to the problem.

Meanwhile, Hsiao encouraged members of the global community to be more accepting of one another. She stressed that they are all in the pandemic together.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 12/07/2020
By: Chen Wei-ting and Chiang Yi-ching

Taipei, Dec. 7 (CNA) A study carried out earlier this year by the Changhua County Public Health Bureau and National Taiwan University (NTU), which involved testing people for COVID-19 antibodies, has been found to have violated research laws, a health official said on Monday.

Speaking to reporters, Liu Yueh-ping (劉越萍), head of the Department of Medical Affairs at the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW), said the study was found to have violated the Human Subjects Research Act.

Under the act, researchers have to submit their research plans to an Institutional Review Board (IRB) and obtain board approval before they can begin the research process.

However, officials at the Changhua health bureau and researchers at NTU's College of Public Health began their research process before NTU's IRB approved of their plan, making the research illegal, Liu said.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 08, 2020
By: Chen Yu-fu and Kayleigh Madjar / Staff reporter, with staff writer

The number of Hong Kongers applying for residency in Taiwan skyrocketed 71.7 percent in the first 10 months of the year compared with a year earlier, National Immigration Agency data showed yesterday, as an expert predicted more waves of immigration after the COVID-19 pandemic eases.

In October alone, 1,974 Hong Kongers applied for residency and 128 applied for permanent residency, not only setting a record, but more than doubling the figure from previous months, the agency said.

The number of Hong Kongers applying for residency or permanent residency this year could surpass 10,000, as 8,746 had applied in the first 10 months, already higher than the 7,332 who applied in the whole of last year, it added.

Following Hong Kong’s passage of the National Security Law on June 30, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) in July opened the Taiwan-Hong Kong Services and Exchanges Office to help Hong Kongers who plan to study, work, invest, start a business or settle in Taiwan.
[FULL  STORY]