Focus Taiwan
Date: 10/30/2020
By: Matt Yu and Matthew Mazzetta

Taipei, Oct. 30 (CNA) Three Chinese military aircraft entered the southwestern part of Taiwan's air defense identification zone (ADIZ) on Friday, the 29th such maneuver since mid-September, according to Taiwan's defense ministry.

Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense (MND) said the three Chinese planes were models from the Shaanxi Y-8 family — an electronic signals intelligence variant, an electronic warfare variant and an electronic reconnaissance variant.

In response, Taiwan's military scrambled planes to monitor the Chinese aircraft, issuing radio warnings and mobilizing air defense systems, the MND said.

According to MND records, the incident was the 29th incursion by Chinese military aircraft into Taiwan's ADIZ or across the median line of the Taiwan Strait since Sept. 16, a day before the ministry began regularly revealing on its website Chinese military movements near Taiwan.
[FULL  STORY]

BUNGLED ABDUCTION? Police said they found bloodstains and female underwear in the car of the suspect, who told them he strangled the woman to death by accident

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 31, 2020
By: Jason Pan / Staff reporter

Kaohsiung resident Liang Yu-chih (梁育誌) was yesterday questioned by police after a Malaysian woman studying at Chang Jung Christian University (CJCU) in Tainan was strangled to death.

Liang, 28, was arrested late on Thursday and police found the woman’s body shortly afterward.

Yesterday afternoon, police escorted him in handcuffs and leg shackles from Tainan’s Gueiren Police Precinct to Kaohsiung’s Ciaotou District Prosecutors’ Office for further questioning.

Precinct Chief Yang Ching-yu (楊慶裕) said that the woman, surnamed Chung (鍾), was abducted as she walked home from classes at about 8pm on Wednesday.    [FULL  STORY]

LGBT rights and defensive weapons… what do they have in common?

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 29 October, 2020
By: Paula Chao

Both are forms of power for Taiwan. In today’s show: a look at how Chinese boats surrounded a Taiwanese island, and the latest US arms package. Also, will China attack Taiwan? Natalie Tso turns to top defense expert, Dr. Lee Che-chuan of the Institute for National Defense and Security Research to find out what he thinks. 

Island has world's best record fighting the virus; rigorous contact tracing among reasons
Straits Times
Date: Oct 30, 2020

TAIPEI • While many places around the world are hitting new highs in coronavirus cases, Taiwan has achieved a different kind of record – 200 days without a locally transmitted case.

Taiwan holds the world's best virus record by far and reached the new landmark yesterday, even as the pathogen explodes anew in Europe and the United States.

Taiwan's last local case was recorded on April 12; there has been no second wave.

What did this island with 23 million people do right? It has had 550 confirmed Covid-19 cases, with only seven deaths.    [FULL  STORY]

Transportation Bureau said as well as punishing it would reward drivers who assist passengers with disabilities

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/10/29
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Three Taichung City bus drivers who snubbed a school student with disabilities will be held accountable for their discrimination, according to a CNA report.

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) city councilman Hsieh Ming-yuan (謝明源) on Wednesday (Oct. 28) cited a complaint he had recently received from a high school student with disabilities. Hsieh said the student had been turned away by three bus drivers within a 15-minute span.

He added the bus drivers stopped to pick up other passengers, but closed the door on the student with disabilities and drove off. This is against the law.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 10/29/2020
By: Wu Hsin-yun, Wen Kuei-hsiang and Ko Lin

Taipei, Oct. 29 (CNA) The annual National Prayer Breakfast in Taiwan will be canceled this year, the first time in 20 years, following controversy over a recent social media post by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) supporting the LGBT community.

In a statement issued Thursday evening, the event's preparatory committee said in order to prevent further disputes and misunderstandings between members, the annual prayer meeting will not be held this Friday.

The National Breakfast Prayer in Taiwan, which has been held since 2001, is jointly organized by different Christian church denominations and organizations in the country.

Themed "Love without borders," this year's breakfast prayer was supposed to take place at the Miracle Top Church's Mehas Complex Hall in Xindian District, New Taipei.   [FULL  STORY]

TAKEOFF INCIDENT: Chu Kuan-meng was a member of a band and loved fishing, the military said, adding that he was to be promoted from captain to major

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 30, 2020
By: Hsieh Chun-lin, Aaron Tu and Jake Chung / Staff reporters, with staff writer

Air force pilot Captain Chu Kuan-meng (朱冠甍) was killed yesterday after ejecting from his F-5E jet over the sea off Taitung County.

He was 29.

The jet from the 7th Tactical Flight Wing crashed into the water after Chu ejected. He was retrieved from the water and taken to Taitung Mackay Memorial Hospital, where he was declared dead.

He is survived by a wife and a one-year-old daughter.    [FULL  STORY]

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

Head to the hills! That’s what crowds of Taiwanese photographers do each year during the fall.

In the mountains, you might catch a glimpse of fall foliage, something not found in Taiwan’s lowlands. And around one particular mountain in central Taiwan’s Nantou County, you can also see a spectacular phenomenon that only occurs around this time of year.

Footage shot from drones may make it look high up, but Dalun Mountain in central Taiwan’s Nantou County only rises to 1500 meters above sea level—positively diminutive in Taiwan terms.

Still, during the autumn months, beginning in October each year, photographers flock here to take in an eerily beautiful sight unique to this spot.    [FULL  STORY]

Business Insider
Date: October 28, 2020
By: Ryan Pickrell 

• Days after a proposed $1.8 billion arms sale to Taiwan, the US State Department notified Congress of a possible $2.4 billion sale of hundreds of Harpoon anti-ship missiles and launchers to the island, which faces rising pressure from mainland China.
   
• With one of the world's largest militaries, China could destroy Taiwan if it really wanted, but taking the well-defended island is a lot more complicated. Harpoon anti-ship missiles could frustrate an amphibious assault, a likely requirement for a successful invasion.
   
• Arms sales to Taiwan have angered Beijing, which argues that they are a challenge to its national interests and has threatened to retaliate.

If Taiwan gets its hands on the hundreds of anti-ship missiles the US has proposed selling to the island, it could frustrate a future Chinese invasion.

Less than a week after it authorized a $1.8 billion arms sale to Taiwan, the US Department of State notified Congress on Monday of another possible Foreign Military Sale to Taiwan for $2.4 billion that includes hundreds of Harpoon anti-ship missiles and launchers.

The big sale, if approved by Congress, would give Taiwan 100 Harpoon Coastal Defense Systems (HCDS) and 400 RGM-84L-4 Harpoon Block II Surface-Launched Missiles, very capable all-weather weapons that can search for and take out ships as far as half-way across the Taiwan Strait.    [FULL  STORY]

CCP uses Mandarin to tell one story, English to tell another: Pompeo

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/10/28
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The new foreign language learning website launched by the U.S. State Department uses an image of Taipei 101 as its masthead.

On Wednesday (Oct. 28), this prompted a Taiwanese legislator to ask the government to assess the possibility of working with the State Department to promote Mandarin learning, according to a Liberty Times report .

In promoting the website, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that "the State Department offers a range of programs to help Americans learn foreign languages critical to national security and economic prosperity." He especially mentioned learning Mandarin, saying that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) uses Mandarin to tell one story and English to tell another, so it’s important for the U.S. to understand the full picture.

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) said that given that the U.S. has so many allies around the world, the fact that the U.S. Department of State uses a Taiwan image as the masthead of its foreign language learning website is notable.
[FULL  STORY]