Focus Taiwan
Date: 10/19/2020
By: Chen Wei-ting and Ko Lin

Taipei, Oct. 19 (CNA) Dengue fever is continuing to reach other parts of New Taipei, with a case of indigenous dengue fever infection now reported in the city's Linkou District, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said Monday.

The patient, a man in his 50s, developed muscle pain, dizziness and fatigue between Oct. 5 and 15, CDC deputy head Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said.

The man sought medical attention several times during the 11-day period and was eventually diagnosed with dengue fever at a local hospital on Oct. 15.

Chuang said the Linkou resident usually commutes from Zhonghu Village where he lives to Nanshi Village for work, and spends some leisure time at a nearby farm, but the source of his infection has yet to be determined.    [FULL  STORY]

TAKES THE CAKE: Chinese diplomats tried to take photographs of people attending a National Day event in Suva, before reportedly assaulting a Taiwanese diplomat

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 20, 2020
By: Lu Yi-hsuan and Dennis Xie / Staff reporter, with staff writer

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday condemned the Chinese embassy in Fiji over a fracas at its Double Ten National Day event at a Suva hotel, while a lawmaker demanded that the ministry file a lawsuit against Chinese embassy personnel for injuring a Taiwanese diplomat at the event.

The Grubsheet news blog on Sunday and New Zealand-based Asia-Pacific Report Web site yesterday reported that two members of the Chinese embassy in Suva tried to force their way into a celebration held by the Taipei Trade Office in Fiji at the Grand Pacific Hotel on Oct. 8 to take photographs of the 100 people attending the party.

The Chinese assaulted an office staffer who asked them to leave, leaving him needing hospital treatment for a head injury, the reports said.

The Chinese embassy denied the accusations and said that one of its staffers was injured.
[FULL  STORY]

The U.S.-China rivalry is turning Southeast Asia into a major potential flashpoint.

The Diplomat
Date: October 16, 2020
By: Hunter Marston and Thomas Bruce

Throughout U.S. President Donald Trump’s four years in office, the risk of war in Asia has been alarmingly high. From nuclear brinkmanship with North Korea, to ongoing disputes over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands, to escalating Chinese threats to Taiwan’s security, there are numerous potential flashpoints in Northeast Asia that will demand the next administration’s resources and attention – all amid the overarching great power competition with China.

While these threats remain pressing, the next administration would be wise to shift its attention to Southeast Asia, which has emerged as the epicenter of U.S.-China rivalry and more likely site for superpower conflict. Although the potential for smaller powers to kick off a localized conflict should not be ruled out, the real danger stems from the likelihood of the United States and China overreaching by misreading ambiguous alignment of smaller powers in Southeast Asia as they compete for influence and allies.    [FULL  STORY]

The Trump administration recently authorized major arms deals with Taiwain

The Blaze
Date: October 17, 2020
By: Paul Sacca

United States National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien delivered warnings regarding China on Friday, while also praising Hong Kong's pro-democracy protesters. Speaking at a webinar hosted by the non-partisan Aspen Institute, O'Brien expressed concern over China's iron-fisted rule in the Xinjiang region.

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"If not a genocide, something close to it going on in Xinjiang," O'Brien told the online audience. Xinjiang is home to millions of China's ethnic minority of Uighur Muslims. The northwest region of China is also home to internment camps, which the Chinese Communist Party officially calls "vocational education and training centers."

There could be as many as 3 million Uighur Muslims detained in the secret re-education camps, according to Randall Schriver, former U.S. assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs.

O'Brien said, "The Chinese are literally shaving the heads of Uighur women and making hair products and sending them to the United States."    [FULL  STORY]

Highest intensity of 4 recorded in Qigu on the Tainan coast

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/10/17
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A magnitude 4.2 earthquake struck Tainan City in south Taiwan at 8:07 p.m. Saturday (Oct. 17).

The latest quake’s epicenter was located in the district of Dongshan, 37.8 kilometers north-northeast of Tainan City, according to the Central Weather Bureau. The tremor struck at a depth of 13 km.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 10/17/2020
By: Matt Yu, Wang Shu-fen
and Matthew Mazzetta

Taipei, Oct. 17 (CNA) A retired Taiwan Air Force general warned Saturday that an incident on Thursday, in which Hong Kong turned back a Taiwan military-chartered supply plane en route to the Dongsha Islands, may have been the first move in a broader campaign by China to restrict air access to Taiwan's outlying territories.

The relevant government agencies need to put in place a response plan, in the event that aircraft are not allowed to enter the Flight Information Regions (FIRs) en route to the Taiwan's Kinmen and Matsu islands, among others, retired Lieutenant General Chang Yen-ting (張延廷) said.

In a television interview on Saturday, Chang said Taiwan's national defense, foreign and interior ministries, along with its Straits Affairs Foundation and Mainland Affairs Council, must be prepared in case China begins using similar tactics against military flights.

Chang was commenting on an incident on Thursday, in which a civilian aircraft chartered by Taiwan's military was advised by Hong Kong air traffic controllers not to enter the airspace over a group of islands in the South China Sea because "dangerous activities" were in progress in the area, according to Taiwan's Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA).    [FULL  STORY]

ATTACK UNLIKELY: China would become ‘pariahs internationally for just the wanton destruction of Taiwan’ and would have little to gain from it, Trump’s security adviser said

Tai0pei Times
Date: Oct 18, 2020
By: AFP, Washington

A top White House official on Friday urged Taiwan to build up its military capabilities to protect against a possible invasion by China, saying that Beijing would have that ability in 10 to 15 years.

US President Donald Trump’s National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien told the Aspen Security Forum that a missile attack by China against Taiwan would be much too destructive.

An amphibious attack is a possibility, although at the moment it is beyond China’s capability, he said.

However, China could combine that threat with “gray zone” operations, embargoes, harassment and other actions to intimidate the nation if Taipei does not build up its defense, O’Brien said.
[FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 16 October, 2020
By: Leslie Liao

Nearly 80% of respondents in a recent survey say they would be willing to go to war to defend Taiwan against a Chinese invasion.

The survey was conducted by the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy. The survey asked respondents whether they would be willing to fight to defend Taiwan if China attacked in an attempt at unification.

In total, 79.8% said that they would fight, while 12.7% said that they would not. 

In a separate question, the survey also asked if respondents supported defending Taiwan if a declaration of independence prompted a Chinese attack. 71.5% of respondents said they’d be willing to fight while 19.8% said they would not.     [FULL  STORY]

Whereabouts of 48 Taiwanese missing in China still unknown: Mainland Affairs Council

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/10/16
By: Ching-Tse Cheng, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said Thursday (Oct. 15) the authorities have failed to locate 48 citizens who went missing between 2016 and 2019 after traveling to China.

In light of the recent Taiwanese "spy confessions" aired on Beijing's state-run China Network Television (CCTV), MAC Spokesperson Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said during a regular press conference that the cases of 48 Taiwanese nationals who disappeared in China remain unsolved. He said the cases are being investigated and that the government has reached out to the individuals who filed the missing person reports.

According to Chiu, Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation has received 149 reports of Taiwanese missing in China since May 20, 2016. Of the missing individuals, 101 have either returned home or informed Taiwanese officials about their detention, while the whereabouts of 48 are still unknown.

Chiu emphasized that the Chinese government has repeatedly detained Taiwan citizens on the basis of unsubstantiated accusations and manipulated them to disrupt cross-strait peace. He urged Beijing to stop such malignant intimidation immediately.    [FULL  STORY]

The CCP’s sudden switch to hostage diplomacy is making a rod for its own back

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/10/16
By: David Spencer, Taiwan News, Contributing Writer

KAOHSIUNG (Taiwan News) — It’s a curious thing. At a time when Taiwan is building ever-closer ties with the West and awareness of the Chinese regime's brutality is at an all-time high, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has suddenly unearthed a steady stream of Taiwanese spies.

First there was Lee Meng-chu (李孟居), on Oct. 11, followed a day later by Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽). Both were paraded on state-run TV and forced to admit to and apologize for "separatism" and offenses that have "caused harm to the mainland."

The following day came Tony Shih (施正屏) and former South Taiwan Cross-Strait Relations Association Chairman Tsai Chin-shu (蔡金樹). Both of these men were detained in China back in 2018 but have been rolled out in front of the cameras now to admit to their heinous crimes once more.

The CCP really must take the Taiwanese and the rest of the world for idiots. None of these confessions are remotely credible.    [FULL  STORY]