Radio Taiwan International
Date: 31 December, 2020
By: Paula Chao

Taiwan has reported two new cases of COVID-19, both of them imported. These new cases bring the total number of COVID-19 cases Taiwan has recorded so far up to 799.

The Central Epidemic Command Center said on Thursday that one of the new patients had come from India, while another had come to Taiwan from the UK.    [FULL  STORY]

The willingness (or lack thereof) to embrace Taiwan is a bellwether of how serious liberal democracies are about countering CCP threats to their ideals.

The Dioplomat
Date: December 31, 2020
By: David Green

In June 2018, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen called for global democracies to stand together to counter Chinese aggression.

Speaking at the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy in Taipei, Tsai stressed the need for international cooperation to counter Chinese intimidation over trade, politics, and territory, and placed Taiwan front and center in a global struggle to resist authoritarian efforts to undermine human rights, the rule of law, and freedom of speech.

In December 2020, Taiwan’s foreign minister, Joseph Wu, extended the theme, warning in a Guardian interview that Chinese military aggression in its near seas, incursions in India, and crackdowns in Xinjiang and Hong Kong are precursors to an invasion of Taiwan.

Calling attention to increasingly frequent People’s Liberation Army incursions into Taiwan’s airspace, Wu cautioned that Chinese aggressions would continue to proliferate if left unchecked, ultimately resulting in the use of force to export Chinese authoritarianism to Taiwan and beyond.    [FULL  STORY]

5-minute fireworks display from Taiwan's iconic skyscraper held in front of crowds amid global pandemic

Taiwan News
Date: 2021/01/01
By: Chris Chang, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — While New Year's Eve events in many cities across the world have been canceled or went virtual in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, Taipei 101's annual fireworks show welcomed the arrival of 2021 with 16,000 fireworks and the tens of thousands of viewers who had gathered in celebration.

Titled "Embrace the world with love; ignite the future with hope," the five-minute fireworks display was divided into five parts. It was a tribute to Taiwan's frontline medical workers and meant to convey a message of unity to the world.

Designed in 360 degrees, the spectacular fireworks show could be viewed from all angles around Taiwan's tallest building. Taipei 101 has been hosting the fireworks event since 2005, and thanks to the country's effective measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus, the municipality gave the green light to the mass gathering to celebrate the new year.

According to the Taipei Metro, the city's subways transported more than 3.2 million passengers over 24 hours starting at 6 a.m. on last year's New Year's Eve, 1.2 million people more than the average daily ridership.    [FULL  STORY]

Foxcuas Taiwan
Date: 12/31/20201
By: Liu Shih-i and Ko Lin

Taipei, Dec. 31 (CNA) A Taiwanese businessman was found guilty of working with Chinese intelligence and handed a three-month jail sentence or payment of a fine by the Taipei District Court Thursday, though the case can still be appealed.

The man, surnamed Huang (黃), was found guilty of violating Article 2-1 of the National Security Act, which stipulates that individuals are prohibited from collecting confidential information or developing an organization for another country, such as China, to serve its military or for other purposes.

According to the Taipei District Prosecutors Office, Huang moved to Ningbo, China in 2000, and befriended local government officials there in the hope of advancing his business career.

He was recruited to arrange meetings with Taiwanese government and military personnel, with the goal of helping collect information on Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party and the Falun Gong religious movement.    [FULL  STORY]

‘NO MORE MESS’: Minister Without Portfolio Lo Ping-cheng said that the nation must have unified food safety standards so that producers can comply with the regulations

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 01, 2021
By: Lee Hsin-fang, Lo Chi and Kayleigh Madjar / Staff reporters, with staff writer

Local government ordinances banning meat products containing traces of ractopamine are nullified from today, while new rules are to be rejected, the Executive Yuan said yesterday, calling them unconstitutional and “chaotic.”

Since President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Aug. 28 announced that the government would from today lift a ban on the importation of pork containing traces of ractopamine and beef from cattle more than 30 months old from the US, 17 local governments have passed autonomous ordinances requiring all pork to be certified as ractopamine-free.

The Executive Yuan decided to nullify the ordinances as they are illegal and implausible, Minister Without Portfolio Lo Ping-cheng (羅秉成) told a news conference in Taipei.

The nation needs unified food safety standards so that producers can comply with the regulations, but the local ordinances state different standards, structures and penalties, Lo said.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 30 December, 2020
By: Natalie Tso

China's Taiwan Affairs Office says that it will push for cross-strait peace and unification in 2021. That was the word from offices spokesperson Zhu Fenglian during a routine press conference on Wednesday.

Zhu said in the New Year, China will continue to stick firmly to its stance on "One China" and the "1992 Consensus" and strongly oppose Taiwan independence. Zhu said China will push for peaceful development of cross-strait relations and moving towards unification.
[FULL  STORY]

The US Navy said the guided missile destroyers USS John S. McCain and USS Curtis Wilbur had "conducted a routine Taiwan Strait transit Dec. 31 in accordance with international law."The Jerusalem Post
Date: December31, 2020
By: REUTERS   

Two US warships sailed through the sensitive Taiwan Strait on Thursday drawing protest from Beijing, the second such mission this month and coming almost two weeks after a Chinese aircraft carrier group used the same waterway.

China, which claims to democratically run Taiwan as its own territory, has been angered by stepped-up US support for the island, including arms sales and sailing warships through the Taiwan Strait, further souring Beijing-Washington relations.

The US Navy said the guided missile destroyers USS John S. McCain and USS Curtis Wilbur had "conducted a routine Taiwan Strait transit Dec. 31 in accordance with international law."

"The ships' transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the US commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific. The United States military will continue to fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows."

This is the 13th sailing through the strait by the US Navy this year.

 

Kaohsiung, Taichung, Taoyuan, and Tainan shift to online broadcasts, Taipei limits plaza crowd to 40,000

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/12/310
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — With fears of a resurgence of the Wuhan coronavirus and its latest mutant strain from the UK reaching a fever pitch, multiple cities and counties across Taiwan are moving their New Year's Eve celebrations fully online, imposing strict crowd limits, postponing them, or ending them early.

On Wednesday (Dec. 30), Taoyuan City, Tainan City, Chiayi City, Kaohsiung City, Taichung City, and Keelung City announced that they will cancel the in-person viewing of their New Year's Eve activities. Instead, they are encouraging the public to stay home and watch the festivities via livestream.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 12/31/2020
By: Chen Yu-ting and Matthew Mazzetta

Taipei, Dec. 31 (CNA) Taipei will hold its New Year's Eve countdown event as scheduled on Thursday, but will limit attendance in the main venue at Taipei City Hall Plaza in light of the heightened COVID-19 risk, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) has announced.

Ko said the plaza, one of the prime viewing points for the annual Taipei 101 fireworks show, will open to the public at 3 p.m.

All attendees will be required to wear face masks, have their temperatures taken, register their names and ID numbers, and sanitize their hands at one of three main checkpoints before they can enter the venue, he said.

The number of attendees in the plaza area will also be limited to 40,000, Ko said, down from the 80,000 limit the city government had announced earlier this week.    [FULL  STORY]

MORE CONTAGIOUS: Quarantine rules would also be changing after a Taiwanese teenager who returned from the UK was found to have the new variant of the virus

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 31, 2020
By: Lee I-chia / Staff reporter

1Starting from tomorrow, all non-resident foreign nationals are temporarily banned from entering Taiwan for a month, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) announced yesterday, as it confirmed Taiwan’s first case of the new COVID-19 variant from the UK.

Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said that border control and quarantine measures would be tightened to prevent the new, more contagious coronavirus variant, which was first reported in the UK and has since spread to other continents.

“Starting from Jan. 1, all foreign nationals, except those holding an Alien Resident Certificate or under special conditions, will be temporarily banned from entry,” he said, adding that the ban would cover travelers with a flight scheduled after midnight.

Exemptions to the entry ban also include foreigners who are Alien Permanent Residence Certificate holders, diplomatic and service passport holders, business personnel who are fulfilling contractual obligations, humanitarian visa holders, the spouses or minor children of Taiwanese, and people who have special government approval.    [FULL  STORY]