Focus Taiwan
Date: 10/25/2020
By: Shine Chen and Chiang Yi-ching

Hanoi, Oct. 25 (CNA) A group of Taiwanese businessmen on Friday delivered food and water to areas of Vietnam that have been hard hit by recent floods, a member of the group told CNA on Sunday.

Since the start of October, back-to-back tropical storms have brought heavy rain to central Vietnam, resulting in one of the worst floods the Southeast Asian country has seen in decades.

At least 119 people have been confirmed dead and tens of thousands have been displaced, according to local media reports.

With another tropical storm set to make landfall in Vietnam soon, the Ha Tinh branch of the Council of Taiwanese Chambers of Commerce in Vietnam decided to take advantage of the brief lull in rainfall over the past few days to deliver supplies, Yeh Fu-kuo (葉富國), the group's vice president, told CNA on Sunday.    [FULL  STORY]

‘BRING THEM BACK’: Taiwan stands on the first line of defense against China’s authoritarianism and must stand with Hong Kong, the DPP’s Lin Fei-fan said at the rally

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 26, 2020
By: Sherry Hsiao / Staff reporter, with AP

Thousands of people yesterday marched in Taipei calling on Beijing to release 12 Hong Kongers who were detained in August while allegedly attempting to flee to Taiwan, organizers said.

The participants, many dressed in black and wearing masks, held signs bearing statements such as “Free Hong Kong, revolution now,” “Save 12 Hong Kong youths,” and “Bring them back,” among other messages.

Black and yellow balloons were arranged to read: “Save 12.”

Tsang Cheung-kui, who moved from Hong Kong to Taiwan in February, said it was important to him to demonstrate as a Hong Konger    [FULL  STORY]

And it could hit the Chinese homeland in a war if it came down to it.

The National Interest
Date: October 24, 2020
By: Peter Suciu

This year Beijing has all but made its intentions crystal clear about its relationship with Taiwan, which has long been seen as an illegal, breakaway providence whose de facto government it does not recognize. China has not been shy about the saber-rattling against Taiwan in recent months.

This has included increasing its naval presence in the Taiwan Strait, while the People’s Liberation Army Air Force has frequently cut into Taiwan’s Air Defense Identification Zone. The threatening posture has also included warmongering editorials in the state-run media, but yet Taipei has remained vigilant against this aggression.

Help could be on the way, as the U.S. State Department approved the potential sale of three weapon systems to the Republic of China (aka Taiwan), which include sensors, missiles and artillery systems in a deal worth a reported $1.8 billion. This Foreign Military Sales (FMS) was approved less than two weeks before the U.S. presidential election and was delivered electronically to Congress from the Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency on Wednesday.

It likely will only further intensify tensions between Washington and Beijing, but Taiwan has long been seen as the first line of defense for America’s interest in the region, while the arms sale is just the latest attempt to contain China’s military aggression and expansion.
[FULL  STORY]

U.S. public support for Taiwan’s defense – as evidenced by a recent CSIS study – is also critical to deterring Chinese military action.The Diplomat
Date: October 23, 2020
By: Bonnie S. Glaser and Mathew P. Funaiole

President Tsai Ing-wen’s re-election in Taiwan in January has been met with growing assertiveness from China. Beijing’s ramped up military pressure against Taiwan has renewed questions about whether the United States would intervene if the island faced a blockade or invasion. Although the U.S. Congress has consistently signaled strong support for Taiwan, there has historically been less enthusiasm among the American public. However, new data suggests these views may be changing.

Annual surveys conducted by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs (CCGA) consistently show tepid enthusiasm for Taiwan’s defense among the American public. The recently released 2020 poll revealed that a mere 41 percent of Americans backed military action were China to invade Taiwan. Although hardly a ringing endorsement, these results show the highest level of support for Taiwan’s defense since CCGA first posed the question to the public in 1982.

Were a contingency to arise in the Taiwan Strait, public pressure could hamstring a robust U.S. response and prove disastrous for Taipei. The CCGA surveys suggest that views among the public are slowly changing, and a newly released study by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) offers further insight into how these perspectives are evolving.

This summer, CSIS surveyed the American public and thought leaders in the United States, Asia, and Europe to map perspectives on China and U.S. defense commitments in the Asia-Pacific (the authors were part of the research team). We asked respondents to gauge on a scale of 1 to 10 how important it is to defend U.S. allies and partners in the Asia-Pacific should they come under threat from China. These questions were designed so that a score of “1” meant it was not worth taking any risk to protect an ally or partner, and a “10” meant it was worth taking a significant risk.
[FULL  STORY]

Taiwanese American groups supporting Joe Biden gather at Liberty Square in Taipei

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/10/24
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwanese Americans living in Taiwan held a rally in Taipei on Saturday (Oct. 24) to garner support for Joe Biden in the coming U.S. presidential election.

The event was organized by Taiwanese Americans for Biden and Indivisible Taiwan and was held at noon on Saturday in front of the main gate at Liberty Square, which is situated next to Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei's Zhongzheng District. Organizers estimate the event was attended by 30 people, who originated from states such as Florida, California, Maryland, Oregon, New Jersey, New York, Texas, Pennsylvania, Nevada, and Washington D.C.

The rally, titled "Taiwanese Americans and Indivisible Taiwan Rally for Biden on National Day of Action," was held simultaneously with seven other events in the U.S. and will be the only one overseas. Everyone who was questioned on the scene told Taiwan News they had already mailed, emailed, or faxed their ballot.

41or Taiwanese Americans for Biden, this was the first official group event held in Taiwan since its founding. The grassroots volunteer organization was created in September and has joined Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) for Biden as one of more than 14 official affinity groups.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 10/24/2020
By: Elaine Hou and Matthew Mazzetta

Singapore, Oct. 24 (CNA) A former U.S. defense official has said he sees a growing risk of military conflict between China and Taiwan, and urged Taiwan to demonstrate a commitment to its own defense in order to justify U.S. security guarantees.

Drew Thompson, who served as director for China, Taiwan and Mongolia in the Office of the Secretary of Defense from 2011 to 2018 and is now a visiting research fellow at the National University of Singapore, made the appeal Saturday during an interview with CNA.

Thompson said Taiwan has faced growing military and political pressure from China for the last six years, which he ascribed to a People's Liberation Army (PLA) force that is larger and better-funded than ever before.

Many on the Chinese side, including the editor of the state-run Global Times newspaper, have also predicted an increased risk of war, he said, reflecting a calculation in Beijing that military force is now an option for resolving its issues with Taiwan.    [FULL  STORY]

COMPENSATION DENIED: Locals and environmentalists cheered the news, but were divided on how to proceed, with some suggesting that the structure be demolished

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 25, 2020
By: Jason Pan / Staff reporter

An arbitration tribunal on Friday ordered the Taitung County Government to pay NT$629 million (US$21.75 million) to Miramar Resort Hotel Co (美麗灣公司) to take ownership of the company’s coastal resort as locals and environmental groups claimed partial victory in their more than a decade-long fight against the build-operate-transfer (BOT) project.

Taitung County Commissioner Yao Ching-ling (饒慶鈴) at a news conference yesterday called the ruling fair and reasonable.

The tribunal saw fit to return the coastal site to Taitung residents, Yao said.

The resort was built on a beach at Shanyuan Bay (杉原灣) in the county’s Beinan Township (卑南).    [FULL  STORY]

Newsmax
Date: 23 October 2020
By: Tauren Dyson

China has threatened retaliation if the United States completes its multi-billion weapons deal with Taiwan, according to Fox Business.

The Chinese Cabinet’s Taiwan Affairs Office issued a statement that insisted Tsai’s Democratic Progressive’s Party stop its ''plotting'' with the United States to ''refuse unification through arms.''

The statement didn't elaborate on what the consequences would be for carrying on with the deal, but the announcement is the latest display of erosion in diplomacy between China and the United States.

It said Taiwan should cut off the deal to ''avoid serious repercussions for relations between China and the U.S. and their armed forces and peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.''
[FULL  STORY]

While Washington keeps repeating the same historic mistakes in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, Beijing has surely learned from the Americans

South China Morning Post
Date: 24 Oct, 2020
By: Alex Lo

Suddenly, some very important people in the West are warning mainland China may invade Taiwan. It reminds me of other Western VIPs who thought the People’s Liberation Army would roll in the tanks at the height of violent unrest in Hong Kong last year.

Back then, sensible local businesspeople and informed expatriate commentators had argued otherwise. Doing so would mean the PLA had to take over the city, and Beijing would have to take ownership of all of the city’s domestic problems.

Similarly, despite Beijing’s sabre rattling, they won’t invade Taiwan without provocation. In any case, should it happen, it wouldn’t be an “invasion” but a civil war, something that strikes terror in the heart of every Chinese.

Influential Financial Times columnist Gideon Rachman warned, though, that “a distracted US is dangerous for Taiwan”.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/10/24
By:  Central News Agency

.A series of illustrations commissioned by Taiwan's Centers for Disease Control (CDC) showing various diseases as anime characters has caught on in the United States after being uploaded on the meme sharing platform 9GAG.

The series, which was launched in 2018 to build public health awareness among people under 35, has rolled out illustrations of26 diseases to date, the most recent of which, released last week, was COVID-19.

Each re-imagined illness appears as the cover model on the magazine "Disease," with their appearance, outfit, accessories, and even the background art representing aspects of the disease pathology, while the cover blurbs offer tips on how to stay healthy.

After capturing the interest of Japanese netizens last year, the illustrations caught on in the U.S. this week after a user uploaded them to 9GAG, which shared them on its Facebook page under the caption "Why are they so attractive?"    [FULL  STORY]