Radio Taiwan International
Date: 23 September, 2020
By: Natalie Tso

People in Taiwan can now pre-order a Czech-designed T-shirt printed with a phrase that translates to “I am Taiwanese”. The T-shirt was designed and produced by Czech company politikunatriku.cz after Senate speaker Miloš Vystrčil’s high profile trip to Taiwan.

The phrase on the T-shirt is shown in both Romanized Chinese “Wo shi Taiwan ren”  and in Czech. Many people in Taiwan inquired about the T-shirt after Vystrčil’s high profile visit and speech at the legislature. Vystrčil spoke at the legislature on September 1. During the speech, he said “I am Taiwanese” in Mandarin, recalling US President John F. Kennedy’s 1963 “I am a Berliner” speech.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Free Asia
Date: 2020-09-23
Reported by Hwang Chun-mei for RFA's Mandarin Service, and by the Cantonese Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

President Tsai Ing-wen of of Taiwan has been named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of 2020 for her insistence that the democratic island's 23 million people have no interest in being ruled by China.

"President Tsai Ing-wen is a signal lamp casting out China’s looming shadow, conveying to the world that Taiwan will not acquiesce to the Chinese Communist Party," Republican Senator Ted Cruz wrote in his description of Tsai on the magazine's website.

He said that while Taiwan lies just 100 miles off the coast of China, Tsai has managed to carve out her own path, neither losing her way politically, nor being drawn into Beijing's rhetoric.

Taiwan still bears the official name of the 1911 Republic of China after Kuomintang forces occupied the island at the end of World War II.    [FULL  STORY]

Car crashed through guard rails, stopped after 200 meters on wall: Police

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/09/23
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A man who later tested positive for alcohol drove his Mercedes on the wall of a tunnel in Taipei City over a distance of 200 meters before coming to a standstill, reports said Wednesday (Sept. 23).

The incident happened before 5 a.m. Wednesday in the Kangle tunnel in the capital’s Neihu District, CNA reported.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 09/23/2020
By: Lin Chang-shun, Chen Yi-hsun and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, Sept. 23 (CNA) The operator of an unlicensed nursing home in Taipei was charged Wednesday with negligent homicide and endangering public safety, after three people died in a fire that broke out at the facility the previous day.

The 58-year-old woman, surnamed Ting (丁), was questioned by prosecutors, charged and released on bail of NT$300,000 (US$10,305), in the investigation into the deadly fire at the nursing home, which housed three bedridden residents, in the city's Neihu area.

During questioning, Ting said that she was not at the nursing home when the fire broke at out at around 2:30 p.m. but had turned off all power sources before leaving the facility, which occupied the basement and ground floor of a four-story building.

She said she did not know what had caused the fire but could recall an incident some time ago, in which one of the three male residents had set fire to his blanket. That fire was immediately doused, she said.    [FULL  STORY]

EFFICIENCY: The rules for Philippine arrivals were revised after 17.6% of arrivals with symptoms tested positive, compared with 0.7% of those with no symptoms

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 24, 2020
By: Lee I-chia / Staff reporter

Starting today, Chinese spouses who hold a reunion permit can apply to enter Taiwan and travelers without symptoms from the Philippines do not need to be tested for COVID-19 upon arrival, but are to be tested after a 14-day quarantine, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday.

Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said that from today, Chinese who are married to a Taiwanese citizen and hold a reunion permit can apply to the National Immigration Agency for entry into Taiwan.

Chinese who are married to a foreign national and hold an accompanied reunion permit and their minor children can also apply, but all travelers that arrive in Taiwan would need to undergo a 14-day home quarantine, he said.

Deputy Minister of the Interior Chen Tsung-yen (陳宗彥), who is deputy head of the center, said that 740 people are eligible to apply: 666 Chinese spouses that hold a reunion permit and 74 Chinese spouses that hold an accompanied reunion permit.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 22 September, 2020
By: Shirley Lin

Foreign Minister Joseph Wu on Tuesday condemned Beijing for breaking the status quo after it denied the existence of a median line in the Taiwan Strait. Wu was responding to a statement made by China Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin a day earlier. Wang said the median line does not exist because Taiwan is part of China’s territory.

Wu said it is a fact that the Republic of China, Taiwan’s official name, is a sovereign country whose government has jurisdiction over its territory. Wu said for many years, the median line of the Taiwan Strait has served as a symbol for maintaining peace and stability and for avoiding military conflict between the two sides.

Wu said Beijing is destroying the status quo just as it has destroyed the “one country, two systems” principle in Hong Kong by establishing a new national security law.   [FULL  STORY]

Beijing left out certain important possibilities and there are many unknown unknowns.

The National Interest
Date: September 22, 2020
By: Kris Osborn

Could the Chinese military destroy all of Taiwan’s ground-based air defenses and missiles launchers and achieve air and sea superiority in approximately two hours? Could such a quick attack could occur before launching a dual-carrier air attack on the island followed by a successful amphibious landing within twenty-four hours?

This optimistic assessment, however realistic, is the reported result of a computer simulation published by the Chinese government-backed Naval and Merchant Ships magazine.

“The PLA could launch intensive waves of missile and rocket attacks that would neutralize most of Taiwan’s air defense capabilities and airfields within five minutes after the operation starts and PLA warplanes would then seize air superiority,” the simulation finds, as reported by the Chinese government supported Global Times newspaper. 

Additional simulation results published by the magazine include the prediction that two aircraft carriers would “counter foreign intervention” with “suppressive attacks,” creating conditions for an amphibious landing within twenty-four hours.     [FULL  STORY]

Driver behind wheel of bus that swerved onto Taipei sidewalk admits to taking amphetamines

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/09/22
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writ6er

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The driver of a bus which suddenly careened onto a Taipei sidewalk, killing one motorist and injuring a police officer, on Tuesday (Sept. 22) admitted that he had recently been taking drugs.

At 8 p.m. on Monday, police and firefighters received a report that Sanchung Bus Blue 26 had swerved onto a sidewalk on Section 1 of Neihu Road in Taipei's Neihu District. It smashed 24 parked scooters, collided with a 54-year-old man riding a scooter, surnamed Hsu (許), and struck a police officer.

Hsu suffered severe injuries and died on the way to the hospital. The 38-year-old police officer surnamed Cheng (鄭), who works at Xihu Police Station, suffered injuries to his neck, back, hands, and waist.

Witnesses said that before the accident, the 47-year-old driver, who is also surnamed Hsu (許), appeared to have fallen asleep, as the bus had swerved from side to side. Indeed, video footage from within the bus shows the driver nodding off just before the accident occurred.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 09/22/2020
By: Matt Yu and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, Sept. 22 (CNA) Two Chinese military Y-8 anti-submarine airplanes entered Taiwan's air defense identification zone (ADIZ) on Tuesday, the Air Force Command Headquarters said, the fifth intrusion of its kind in six days since Sept. 17.

The Air Force responded by scrambling jets, issuing radio warnings and mobilizing surveillance and air defense assets, the command headquarters said.

Meanwhile, on the Ministry of National Defense (MND) official website, on which real-time information on Chinese warplane movements is posted, the latest update showed that the two Y-8s entered Taiwan's southwest ADIZ.

It marked the fifth intrusion of Chinese warplanes into Taiwan's ADIZ in six days, the ministry noted, including one just the previous day, which also involved two Y-8s entering Taiwan's southwest ADIZ.    [FULL  STORY]

PENGHU INSPECTION: Taiwan cannot let its enemies strut around in its airspace, Tsai said, one day after a Chinese spokesman denied a median line exists in the Taiwan Strait

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 23, 2020
By: Lin Chia-nan / Staff reporter

Following China’s assertion on Monday that there is no “median line” in the Taiwan Strait, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday pledged to defend the nation’s airspace during a visit to an air force base in Penghu, saying that Taiwan cannot allow others to flex their military muscle in its territorial airspace.

Tsai praised the “heroic performance” of the pilots of the Indigenous Defense Fighters who have been intercepting Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force planes in recent days.

“I have a lot of confidence in you. As soldiers of the Republic of China [ROC], how could we let enemies strut around in our own airspace?” she said, implicitly rejecting Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Wang Wenbin’s (汪文斌) comment on Monday that the median line of the Taiwan Strait does not exist, because ‘Taiwan is an inalienable part of China.”

“I’m aware that facing the provocative behavior of the communist planes that have encircled the island and damaged regional peace in recent days. Your duty at the front line of the airspace in Penghu must be even heavier,” Tsai told the members of the Tien Chu (天駒, Heavenly Colt) unit, who are stationed at Penghu Airport from April to September every year.
[FULL  STORY]