Radio Taiwan International
Date: 21 September, 2020
By: Leslie Liao
Mainland Affairs Council Deputy Minister Chiu Chui-cheng
Wang said that Taiwan’s current political course of action sacrifices the well-being of people on both sides of the strait in favor of economic gains. He said the Taiwanese independence movement sows discord and invites intervention from Western powers. [FULL STORY]
CNN
Date: September 21, 2020
By: Brad Lendon, CNN
Hong Kong (CNN)Taiwan's President has accused Beijing of purposefully inflaming tensions in East Asia, after Chinese warplanes crossed the sensitive median line across the narrow strait that separates the mainland and the self-governing island almost 40 times on Friday and Saturday.
Taken together, the repeated incursions, which came from multiple directions and involved a combination of sophisticated fighter jets and heavy bombers, is without modern precedent and marks a significant escalation in cross-strait tensions.
"What we are seeing now is not just a situation across the Taiwan Strait, but a regional situation. China's recent military activities, especially in the past few days, clearly constitute a threat of force, which is part of their verbal attacks and military threats (against Taiwan)," President Tsai Ing-wen told reporters Sunday.
The uptick in Chinese military activity came as Keith Krach, the United States under secretary of state for economic, energy and environmental affairs, held meetings in the island's capital Taipei, ahead of a memorial service on Saturday for former Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui.
[FULL STORY]
Only Chinese-approved political views allowed on forum's agenda
Taiwan News
Date: 2020/09/21
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer
Chinese Communist Party Politburo member Wang Yang at a previous cross-strait forum (CNA photo)
The affair was more subdued than ever before, with the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic keeping people home, and even Taiwan’s main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) stayed away due to insulting remarks by a Chinese television anchor.
Even the supposed host of the event, Wang Yang (汪洋), the chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, only addressed the Sept. 16 meeting via videoconference.
While officials emphasize that the forum is a grassroots event relying on private citizens, the preconditions are purely political, with China’s view of Taiwan’s status a prerequisite. Right from the opening address, the speeches emphasize unification and condemn independence for Taiwan, CNA reported. [FULL STORY]
Focus Taiwan
Date: 09/21/2020
By: Huang Li-yun and Elizabeth Hsu
Taipei, Sept. 21 (CNA) A public bus rode onto a sidewalk in Taipei's Neihu District on Monday evening, causing the death of a scooter driver and injuring a police officer, according to city police and fire fighters.
They received a report at around 8 p.m. that a Sanchung Bus Blue 26 bus had jumped the curb and rode on the sidewalk of Section 1 of Neihu Rd., ramming into more than 20 parked motorcycles, the police and fire fighters said.
After rushing to the scene, they found a man without any vital signs and a police officer who was standing on the sidewalk with moderate injuries after being hit, the police and fire fighters said.
The two were taken to a nearby hospital, at which the man without vital signs was pronounced dead, they said. [FULL STORY]
TWO CASES: The five allegedly conspired with conglomerates, threatening the nation’s governance and subverting the rules of ethical conduct, a deputy chief prosecutor said
Taipei Times
Date: Sep 22, 2020
By: Jason Pan / Staff reporter, with CNA
Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office Deputy Chief Prosecutor Chen Yu-ping speaks at a news conference in Taipei yesterday.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators Chen Chao-ming (陳超明) and Sufin Siluko (廖國棟), Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Su Chen-ching (蘇震清) and former New Power Party legislator Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明) were indicted for allegedly taking bribes from Lee, the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said.
Also indicted were Lee, Su’s former aide Kuo Ke-ming (郭克銘) and four of the lawmakers’ aides, as well as Trend Survey and Research Co (趨勢民意調查股份有限公司) general manager Wu Shih-chang (吳世昌), who is accused of helping Lee hold public hearings.
Deputy Chief Prosecutor Chen Yu-ping (陳玉萍) said that the five politicians allegedly conspired with wealthy conglomerates for personal profit, which had endangered the nation’s governance based on fairness and justice, and subverted the rules of ethical conduct for officials and civil bureaucrats. [FULL STORY]
China has hurt its technological and economic edge, but private Taiwan companies stand to come out ahead.
National Interest
Date: September 20, 2020
By: Patrick Mendis Hon-Min Yau
Editor’s Note: This is the second part of a two-part series; you can find the first part here.
It is obvious that the Sino-American tech war is an extension of realist politics and is part of the Republican re-election campaign to portrait its leader as the Teflon president. The strategic competition between the Trump administration and the Communist Party of China (CPC) in information communication and technologies industries (ICTs) is all about the dominance of who defines the nature and rules of the global game for the future governance of technology. In fact, it seems that the United States is not simply apprehensive of Huawei’s innovations and quality of products, but rather, it is concerned about China’s increasingly dominant status in the ICTs sector as it cedes to Beijing’s unique power of control through the of agenda-setting of the global politics.
For example, the development of the future mobile communication standard is led by an industrial standard-setting consortium, the 3rd Generation Partnership Project, but its three most important Technical Specification Groups (TSG) are already populated with representatives from China’s enterprises. Ai Ming from Datang Mobile Communications Equipment Company Limited—funded by China’s State Council—is the vice-chairman of TSG CT (Core Network and Terminals). Huawei senior official, Georg Mayer, is the chairman of TSG SA (Service and System Aspects). Xu Xiaodong from China Mobile is the vice-chairman of TSG RAN (Radio Access Network).
Most important of all, the International Telecommunication Union is responsible for internationalizing communication standards, and its current secretary-general, Zhao Houlin, has been holding this position since 2015 with the full support from China. In response to all these perceived China threats, one of the fifty-one items on President Trump’s re-election platform announced in late August is to “win the race to 5G and establish a national high-speed wireless internet network” in his second term. (Although that plan is widely considered “as a short-term public relations ploy” to win the election.) [FULL STORY]
Moves no help to China's image, she says after two days of Chinese sorties during US diplomat's visit
Straits Times
Date: Sept 2020
China’s air force on Saturday put out a video showing exercises by its nuclear-capable H-6 bombers (above), which have been involved in many Chinese fly-bys of Taiwan.PHOTO: ROCAF
Multiple Chinese aircraft flew across the mid-line of the Taiwan Strait and into Taiwan's air defence identification zone on Friday and Saturday, causing Taiwan to scramble jets to intercept. China claims Taiwan as its own territory.
At a news conference in Beijing on Friday about China's United Nations peacekeeping efforts, China announced combat drills near the Taiwan Strait and denounced what it called collusion between the island and the United States.
The exercises took place as US Undersecretary for Economic Affairs Keith Krach was in Taipei, the most senior State Department official to visit in four decades.
Defense analyst says Chinese jet incursions will give ‘Taiwan issue’ more publicity
Taiwan News
Date: 2020/09/20
By: Ching-Tse Cheng, Taiwan News, Staff Writer
Chinese J-10 fighter jet. (Wikimedia Commons photo)
On Friday (Sept. 18) and Saturday, 37 Chinese warplanes crossed the midline of the Taiwan Strait and entered into multiple sectors of Taiwan's ADIZ. The Ministry of National Defense (MND) said the Chinese jets were extremely close to penetrating Taiwan's sovereign airspace and the incursions were likely China's attempt to warn against U.S. Undersecretary of State Keith Krach's trip to Taiwan. [FULL STORY]
Focus Taiwan
Date: 09/20/2020
By: Chen Chun-hua and Evelyn Kao
President Tsai Ing-wen (left) and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga (right)/CNA, Kyodo News file photos
The idea of direct contact was brought up by former Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori on Friday in Taiwan during a meeting with Tsai, when he relayed a message from Suga saying he hoped to talk with her by telephone.
Tsai said Sunday after attending an urban renewal exposition in Taipei, however, that she did not discuss the issue with Mori and that there was no plan at the moment for a telephone call.
There is ongoing cooperation between Taiwan and Japan and discussions are held whenever an issue arises, and that will not change, Tsai said. [FULL STORY]
DEFENSE ONLY: After China’s recent incursions, Taiwan wants to prevent its pilots from doing anything to accidentally trigger a cross-strait war, a military source said
Taipei Times
Date: Sep 21, 2020
By: Aaron Tu / Staff reporter, with CNA and Reuters
President Tsai Ing-wen speaks at an event in Taipei yesterday.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Multiple Chinese aircraft flew across the median line of the Taiwan Strait and into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone on Friday and Saturday. The Ministry of National Defense scrambled jets to intercept them.
Beijing on Friday announced combat drills near the Strait and denounced what it called collusion between the nation and the US.
The exercises took place while US Undersecretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy and the Environment Keith Krach was in Taipei. Krach is the most senior US Department of State official to visit the nation in four decades. [FULL STORY]
