Radio Taiwan International
Date: 19 November, 2020
By: Paula Chao

[The view from Washington D.C.][/caption] Washington insider Derek Mitchell tells us how he believes the Biden administration will deal with China and Taiwan. Mitchell was a top Pentagon official on Asia policy in the Obama administration and knows those in the Biden team. He is currently the president of the National Democratic Institute.

Taiwan reiterated Sunday its desire to join the CPTPP, and negotiators are in Washington this week hammering out a potential free trade agreement with the United States.The Diplomat
Date: November 19, 2020
By: Nick Aspinwall

The world’s largest free trade agreement was signed on Sunday and includes 15 Asia-Pacific nations. Taiwan is not among them. But the country has reasons for optimism in its quest to forge international trade accords despite its ongoing formal diplomatic isolation.

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) includes all 10 ASEAN members along with Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, and China. The latter’s presence in RCEP, Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry said Sunday, all but eliminates any chance of Taipei joining the free-trade pact.

But Taiwan is active in Washington this week, participating in multiple dialogues that could lay groundwork for a long-discussed free trade agreement with the United States.

Taiwan and the United States held talks on Tuesday centered on overseas infrastructure investment, opening a series of meetings on economic issues involving a Taiwanese delegation led by Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs Chen Chern-chyi.    [FULL  STORY]

Riding bicycle on sidewalk punishable by NT$300-600 fine

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/11/19
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Taipei Police Department’s Traffic Division will clamp down on those riding scooters and bicycles on sidewalks in the near future, as such offenses accounted for 90 percent of the city's sidewalk-related traffic accidents from January to October.

The division pointed out in a news release on Tuesday (Nov. 17) that 42 traffic accidents took place on Taipei sidewalks in the first 10 months of this year, of which 38 involved scooters or bicycles being ridden illegally on the sidewalks.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 11/19/2020
By: Chang Ming-hsuan and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, Nov. 19 (CNA) All passengers arriving in Taiwan who are unable to provide a report of a negative COVID-19 test result within three days prior to boarding a plane as requested, will be allowed to pay for a test upon arrival, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said on Thursday.

According to new COVID-19 prevention measures announced on Wednesday, starting Dec. 1, all inbound and transit passengers must submit a negative COVID-19 reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) report within three days of their flight to Taiwan.

However, the new policy sparked concerns among overseas Taiwanese business people who might not be able to return to Taiwan because the countries they operate in do not have facilities or trained health workers to implement the tests.

In response, CECC spokesman Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) told a press briefing on Thursday that as far as he knew, up to 90 percent of countries have generally made self-paid COVID-19 testing available, while about 10 percent only offer such tests for people from certain countries or for those who have symptoms.    [FULL  STORY]

DECLINING ENROLLMENTS: Premier Su Tseng-chang said the draft act addresses the closure of private senior-high schools and universities struggling to survive

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 20, 2020
By: Lee Hsin-fang and Rachel Lin / Staff reporters

The Executive Yuan yesterday passed a draft act to govern the closure of private schools, in a bid to address low enrollment caused by Taiwan’s low birthrate.

The act — which would apply to all private senior-high schools and universities that are struggling to survive due to low enrollment — would authorize the Ministry of Education to set up a fund to help them gradually cease operations; subsidize students’ education, accommodation and transportation expenses; and pay the salaries and insurance of faculty.

Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) told the weekly Cabinet meeting that the government expects some of these private educational institutions to encounter financial problems within 10 years, but that the act would ensure that their closures are smooth transitions.

The act would also protect students in schools that are closing, he said.   [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 18 November, 2020
By: Natalie Tso

Taiwan has grounded its entire fleet of F-16 fighter jets for thorough checks. That’s after one of Taiwan’s F-16s went missing Tuesday night just two minutes after taking off from Hualien Air Base on the east coast.

A joint air and sea search for the missing pilot and plane is still underway. 

At the Legislature on Wednesday, Vice Defense Minister Chang Che-ping was asked about the possibility that the pilot may have been exhausted, as he was taking part in a night time exercise after attending meetings earlier in the day.

Chang said that pilots need eight hours of rest prior to the start of any mission. He said the military will look into this issue as it investigates the cause of the incident.    [FULL  STORY]

Newasweek
Date: 11/18/20
By: John Feng

The U.S. flew two supersonic heavy bombers into China's air defense identification zone (ADIZ) on Tuesday in an apparent show of force, amid regional uncertainty during the presidential transition period.

U.S. Air Force B-1Bs MAZER01 and MAZER02 were dispatched from Anderson Air Force Base in Guam and entered China's East China Sea ADIZ, northeast of the island of Taiwan, military flight tracker Aircraft Spots noted on Twitter.

The long-range bombers were refueled by KC-135 Stratotankers PEARL21 and PEARL22 in the Philippine Sea, the account said.    [FULL  STORY]

Girl had been crying for her father from window before slipping

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/11/18
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Lin Feng-tien (林峰田), a technician at a home appliance store in Tainan, made the most important catch of his life on Wednesday afternoon (Nov. 18) when he caught a little girl falling from the third floor of an apartment, saving her life.

Lin later reflected on the critical moment and said, “I’m thinking to myself, ‘I’ve got to catch her!’”

Tainan Fire Bureau received reports at 3:56 p.m. on Wednesday that a little girl had fallen from the third floor of an apartment building on Zhonghua South Road in the city’s South District but was caught by a store worker on the first floor, according to CNA. Medical personnel were dispatched to the scene right away, where they found the girl scared but conscious and with no apparent traumas; even so, she was sent to a hospital for examination.

Witnesses said the three-year-old was crying on a window sill on the third floor with her feet hanging in the air, saying she was looking for her father.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 11/18/2020
By: Liang Pei-chi and Matthew Mazzetta

Taipei, Nov. 18 (CNA) Taiwan and the United States held talks in Washington Tuesday on plans to jointly invest in overseas infrastructure, in the first of several meetings scheduled this week to discuss economic issues, according to the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA).

Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs Chen Chern-chyi (陳正祺) held virtual discussions with Mitchell Silk, U.S. Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for International Markets, to discuss potential infrastructure investments in America and Southeast Asia, the MOEA said in a Facebook post.

The meeting took place under a cooperation agreement the two sides signed in September to identify and establish markets for infrastructure and energy in their respective regions, the ministry said.

Chen, who arrived in the U.S. on Monday, will participate in the first-ever Taiwan-U.S. Economic Prosperity Partnership on Friday and is expected to sign a memorandum of understanding on bilateral economic cooperation.    [FULL  STORY]

SUPPORT: Reporters Without Borders said that it stands behind the legitimacy of the commission’s probe and that press freedom does not mean the absence of oversight

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 19, 2020
By: Shelley Shan / Staff reporter

National Communications Commission (NCC) commissioners yesterday reached a unanimous decision to reject CTi News’ (中天新聞台) license renewal application on the grounds that the channel’s frequent contraventions of media regulations showed that it has a malfunctioning internal control mechanism that cannot be rectified.

This was the first time since it was established in 2006 that the commission denied a license renewal to a news channel.

NCC Chairman Chen Yaw-shyang (陳耀祥) announced the landmark decision at the commission’s weekly media briefing.

The commission denied the renewal request because the news channel was fined a total of NT$11.53 million (US$400,932) for 25 breaches of media regulations between 2014 and this year — significantly more than other news channels, Chen said.    [FULL  STORY]