Focus Taiwan
Date: 10/09/2020
By: Christie Chen

Taipei, Oct. 9 (CNA) President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) will stress her administration's determination to safeguard Taiwan's national security and outline the country's post-pandemic economic strategies in her National Day address Saturday, the Presidential Office said Friday.

In the address, Tsai will stress her government's determination to keep Taiwan secure through strong defense capabilities, such as by strengthening the modernization of its defense forces and improving its asymmetric combat power, according to the Office.

The president will also outline Taiwan's post-pandemic economic strategies, including making Taiwan an indispensable part of the global supply chain, turning Taiwan into a hub for international capital, talent and digital technology, and sharing economic benefits with all Taiwan citizens, the Office said.

Also highlighted will be the Tsai administration's adherence to the principles of sovereignty and democracy, but that it will have flexible strategies and will participate more actively in the building of a new international and regional order, the Office said.    [FULL  STORY]

JETS, FIREWORKS: Events in Taipei are to conclude with a flyby, while in Tainan in the evening a fireworks display is to light up the sky for more than half an hour

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 10, 2020
By: Huang Hsin-po and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writer and CNA

About 50,000 people attended a celebration on the eve of Double Ten National Day at Keelung Harbor yesterday, while the main events today are to be held in Taipei and Tainan.

In Keelung, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said that Taiwan has successfully held the COVID-19 pandemic at bay and is helping other countries do the same.

Amid general economic decline worldwide, the nation’s economy remains strong, an achievement that is due to the collective effort of all Taiwanese, Tsai said.

“We hope that we will continue to provide a stabilizing force on international affairs,” she said.
[FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 08 October, 2020
By: Paula Chao

President Tsai Ing-wen says that Taiwan is against any unilateral and aggressive acts that threaten regional security. Tsai was speaking Thursday during the fourth annual Yushan Forum.

The Yushan Forum, organized by a local think tank, is an Asian regional dialogue that aims to deepen Taiwan’s cooperation and exchanges with other countries.    [FULL  STORY]

The Chinese embassy had circulated a ‘letter’ to Indian media personnel to saying that they should not use terminology that indicated that the island state had an independent existence.

The Wire
Date: Oct 8, 2020

New Delhi: A day after the Chinese embassy asked the Indian media not to violate ‘One China’ policy, India on Monday asserted that a “free media” will report “issues as it sees fit”.

On Wednesday, Chinese embassy circulated a ‘letter’ to media personnel to remind them ahead of Taiwan’s national day that it should not use terminology that indicated that the island state had an independent existence.

During the weekly briefing on Thursday, India’s ministry of external affairs spokesperson Anurag Srivastava was asked for a response on the instructions sent by the Chinese embassy.

“There is a free media that reports on issues as it sees fit,” replied Srivastava. He didn’t reiterate India’s ‘one-China’ policy which does not officially recognise Taiwan and refers to Tibet as part of China.    [FULL  STORY]

MC-130 special mission aircraft flies along Taiwan Strait median line

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/10/08
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — China's declaration the median line in the Taiwan Strait does not exist was upended when Taiwanese aviation enthusiasts saw an American warplane appear to "draw" the exact location of the unofficial boundary.

On Sept. 21, Beijing suddenly decided to deny the existence of the median line in the Taiwan Strait, despite the fact there has been a tacit agreement in place not to cross the line since 1955. Since September, People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) aircraft have repeatedly crossed the median line and breached Taiwan's air defense identification zone (ADIZ).

The Facebook page of Taiwanese aircraft spotter "Southwest Airspace of TW" (台灣西南空域) at 11:19 a.m. on Thursday morning stated that an MC-130J was flying north to south along the median line. The administrator of the Facebook page, surnamed Hsu (許), made a comment below noting the placement of the flight path in between Taiwan and China and wrote "this is a little weird."

At 11:24 a.m. on Thursday, aircraft spotter CANUK78 posted a tweet stated that a US Air Force Lockheed MC-130J Commando II was flying over the Taiwan Strait. The flight path included in the tweet showed the aircraft flying right down the middle of the Taiwan Strait from north to south.    [FUILL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 10/08/2020
By: Lee Hsin-Yin

Taipei, Oct. 8 (CNA) It is time for the European Union to stand with Taiwan in the face of an aggressive China, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, former Danish Prime Minister and former NATO Secretary-General, said during a virtual forum in Taipei Thursday.

"Europe cannot say 'we stand for democracy' one second and then give in to China's bullying the next second," Rasmussen said at the Yushan Forum, a multilateral platform established in 2017 for regional dialogue.

The EU should strengthen ties with Taiwan through areas of health and economy, as well as engage more widely with democratic allies in the Indo-Pacific region, he said.

"Europe must demand Taiwan's participation in the next World Health Assembly," Rasmussen said, praising the country's successful control of the spread of COVID-19.

BETTER DEFENSE: Taiwan needs to turn itself ‘into a porcupine’ militarily, as lions ‘don’t like to eat porcupines,’ US National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien said

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 09, 2020
By: Reuters, WASHINGTON

US National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien on Wednesday warned China against any attempt to take Taiwan by force, saying amphibious landings were notoriously difficult and there was a lot of ambiguity about how the US would respond.

O’Brien told an event at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas that China was engaged in a massive naval buildup probably not seen since Germany’s attempt to compete with Britain’s Royal Navy prior to World War I.

“Part of that is to give them the ability to push us back out of the Western Pacific and allow them to engage in an amphibious landing in Taiwan,” O’Brien said.

“The problem with that is that amphibious landings are notoriously difficult,” O’Brien added, pointing to the 160km distance between China and Taiwan, and the paucity of landing beaches.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 07 October, 2020
By Natalie Tso

The culture ministry says that lovers of the arts can relax and enjoy the performances of foreign artists, as they have been fully screened for COVID-19. 

The ministry was answering questions about Russian pianist Daniil Trifonov who is scheduled to perform five concerts in Taiwan beginning October 16. His last performance was in the Netherlands on October 4. This means that his quarantine period will be less than the usual 14 day requirement. 

The ministry says that performers who will be in Taiwan for less than three months can apply for a shorter quarantine period that is also granted to some business travelers. 
[FULL  STORY]

After China’s state media issued a threat against the safety of Taiwan’s president, Taiwan’s rival parties jointly called to reestablish formal diplomatic relations with the U.S.

The Daily Beast
Date: Oct. 07, 2020
By: Brendon Hong

HONG KONG—In a rare act of bipartisanship, Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) passed a resolution on Tuesday calling for the Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs to reestablish formal diplomatic relations with the United States, two and a half weeks after Chinese state media issued a threat against the personal safety of Taiwan’s president.

Multiple factors explain the two parties’ convergence for the bill, and they all point to the Chinese Communist Party’s aggression toward Taiwan. On every day for more than two weeks, warplanes dispatched by China’s People’s Liberation Army Air Force breached Taiwan’s air defense identification zone—airspace that has been managed by Taiwan since the end of World War II.

These fly-bys are part of a sustained campaign by Beijing to provoke military reactions from Taiwan and one of its closest allies, the United States, which maintains a naval presence in the Taiwan Strait. Chinese warships routinely conduct drills in the same waters.   [FULL  STORY]

China used its aircraft to disturb Taiwan in total 12 times from Sept. 16 to Oct. 6

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/10/07
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Minister of National Defense Yen Te-fa (嚴德發) on Wednesday (Oct. 7) told the Foreign and National Defense Committee in Taiwan’s legislature that Taiwan has dispatched aircraft a total of 2,972 times to monitor or intercept intruding Chinese aircraft so far this year, which has cost NT$25.5 billion (US$850 million), according to CNA.

Not only have Chinese aircraft entered Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ), but they have also at times crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait. According to the Ministry of National Defense (MND) website, incursion of Chinese military planes into Taiwan's airspace took place a total of 12 times from Sept. 16 to Oct. 6.    [FULL  STORY]