Party platform implies that if China were to attack Taiwan, the US will help Taiwan defend itself

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/08/25
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Republican delegates gathered on Monday (Aug. 24) at the 2020 Republican National Convention (RNC) in Charlotte, North Carolina to formally re-nominate President Donald Trump and reaffirm the party's 2016 platform, which contains a pledge to honor the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA) and Six Assurances, according to CNA.

Under the subhead “U.S. Leadership in the Asian Pacific,” the 2016 Republican Platform states, “We salute the people of Taiwan, with whom we share the values of democracy, human rights, a free market economy, and the rule of law. Our relations will continue to be based upon the provisions of the Taiwan Relations Act, and we affirm the Six Assurances given to Taiwan in 1982 by President Reagan.” It is the first time that the Six Assurances was included in the Republican platform.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date; 08/25/2020
By: Chen Wei-ting and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, Aug. 25 (CNA) Taiwan has listed 33 people as contacts of a Taiwanese national reported in Shanghai on Sunday to have contracted COVID-19, and 14 of them have tested negative for the virus while testing is ongoing for the remainder.

Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) spokesman Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said Tuesday that all of the 14 people are close contacts and that nucleic acid tests on them came back negative.

The infected Taiwanese is an elderly woman in her 70s who lives alone in southern Taiwan, Chuang said, noting that the woman flew to Shanghai on Aug. 15, when she was tested and received a negative result for COVID-19.

The woman was then quarantined at a hotel, where she developed a sore throat on Aug. 21 and received a new test the following day, which came back positive, Chuang said, adding that the woman was isolated for medical treatment on Aug. 23.    [FULL  STORY]

HIGH-LEVEL VISIT: The Czech Senate president is to attend a supply chains forum hosted by the AIT in Taipei on Friday next week, a top foreign ministry official said

Taipei Times
Date: Aug 26, 2020
By: Lin Chia-nan / Staff reporter

A 90-member delegation led by Czech Senate President Milos Vystrcil is to arrive in Taiwan on Sunday and Vystrcil is to attend an economic forum hosted by the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) next week, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday.

It would be the highest-level visit by a delegation from Prague since it embraced democracy in 1989, Department of European Affairs Director-General Johnson Chiang (姜森) told a news briefing in Taipei.

The delegation would further boost parliamentary and trade ties between Taiwan and the Czech Republic, based on the shared values of freedom, democracy and human rights, Chiang said.

Vera Kuberova, the widow of former Czech Senate president Jaroslav Kubera, had planned to join the delegation, but she canceled a few days ago due to health reasons, he said.
[FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Aug 25, 2020
By: Jason Pan / Staff reporter, with CNA

A New Taipei City resident in his 30s was arrested earlier this month for allegedly smuggling totoaba swim bladders from Mexico to sell in China, as part of a months-long probe into an international smuggling ring that began with a tip-off from the FBI, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said yesterday.

Local police and customs authorities seized 19kg of totoaba swim bladders between July 28 and Aug. 12 that had a black market price of about US$900,000, the CIB told a news conference at its office in Taipei.

CIB Deputy Commissioner Liao Hsun-cheng (廖訓誠) inspected the confiscated haul, while FBI Legal Attache Office representative in Taiwan Nicolas Garcia made a rare public appearance.

Liao said that the main haul was seized at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Aug. 10 — 161 dried swim bladders that arrived from the US by air cargo — and CIB units followed up with searches.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 24 August, 2020
By: Leslie Liao

National Taiwan University's College of Public Health cancelled its report on a mass testing program that it conducted in Changhua County in Central Taiwan. 

The College of Public Health partnered with the Changhua County Government last month to carry out 10,000 COVID-19 antibody tests. Initially, COVID-19 antibodies were found in a few program participants, drawing attention to what the final result would be.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan is a model of democracy. It is independent. It’s not a part of PRC. And it has managed Covid-19 successfully

Hindustan Times
Date: Aug 24, 2020
By: Dr Jaushieh Joseph WuI

n 2020, the world has been hit by an unprecedented public health crisis, with the effects of Covid-19 being felt across every aspect of people’s lives. This year also marks the 75th anniversary of the signing of the Charter of the United Nations (UN). Now more than ever, the global community must make a concerted effort to forge the better and more sustainable future called for by UN and its member-states. Taiwan is ready, willing and able to be a part of these efforts.

With less than 500 confirmed cases and seven deaths, Taiwan has defied predictions and successfully contained the pandemic. This has all come in no small part due to Taiwan’s quick response measures, including the establishment of a Central Epidemic Command Centre, the implementation of stringent border controls and quarantine procedures, and transparent information-sharing. And after making sure we had enough supplies to look after our people, we started providing medical equipment and supplies to other countries in serious need.

By the end of June, Taiwan had donated 51 million surgical masks, 1.16 million N95 masks, 600,000 isolation gowns, 35,000 forehead thermometers, and other medical material to more than 80 countries, including India, the United States (US), Taiwan’s diplomatic allies, and various European nations. We have also joined forces with like-minded democracies to explore the development of rapid test kits, medicines, and vaccines. Working together for the greater good is how the world will defeat Covid-19.

In the Declaration on the Commemoration of the 75th anniversary of UN, governments and heads of States acknowledged that only by working together in solidarity can we end the pandemic and effectively tackle its consequences. They thus pledged to make UN more inclusive and to leave no one behind as the world looks to recover from the pandemic.
[FULL  STORY]

US President claims in Fox News interview that China is aware of how he will react if it attacks Taiwan

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/08/24
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday (Aug. 23) told Fox News’ Steve Hilton that China knows what he is going to do if it invades Taiwan in an interview that also touched upon U.S.-China relations and America's economy.

Hilton, host of "The Next Revolution," brought up the topic of the U.S.' relationship with Taiwan, wanting to get Trump's reaction on the issue. Hilton said that in the past there have been different attitudes toward Taiwan from the U.S. government and it seems to be "getting more important because of technology and economic aspects that a company in Taiwan is a world leader in semiconductors."

Trump chimed in, saying, “It’s coming to this country.”

Hilton then asked, “If China, and it looks like it's getting more belligerent, tries to either invade Taiwan or effectively take control of it and its important industries, would you let them get away with it?”    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 08/24/2020
By: Liu Shi-yi and Emerson Lim

Taipei, Aug. 24 (CNA) Sun An-tso (孫安佐), who was deported from the United States after being detained for 238 days for threatening to shoot up his school, was charged for attempting to manufacture firearms by prosecutors in Taiwan on Monday.

In an indictment against Sun, son of Taiwanese showbiz couple Sun Peng (孫鵬) and Di Ying (狄鶯), the Shilin District Prosecutors Office in Taipei said Sun could face a jail term of at least three and a half years, based on the "Controlling Guns, Ammunition and Knives Act."

If convicted, Sun's sentence cannot be subtracted from the 238 days he served in the U.S., because the charge against him in Taiwan differs from the charges filed by U.S. authorities, according to the indictment.

Sun was arrested in March 2018 in Pennsylvania after other students reported that he verbally threatened to carry out a mass shooting at his school a few months later. He was 18 years old at that time.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Aug 25, 2020
By: Yang Mien-chieh / Staff reporter

If Taiwan fails to curb its carbon dioxide emissions over the next 30 years, rising sea levels and storm surges would pose a threat to millions of residents in the six special municipalities, Greenpeace Taiwan said yesterday as it urged the central and local governments to take action.

The call came as the environmental group released a report on its analysis of the problems that Taiwan could face as the global sea level rises, warning that the seas around Taiwan are rising at twice the global average due to the nation’s location and influence from ocean currents.

Greenpeace climate and energy campaign director Lena Chang (張皪心) told a news conference in Taipei that the analysis showed that global warming has the potential to severely affect Taiwan, but it is not just the central government that needs to take action, but also the mayors of the six cities.

The special municipalities account for more than 70 percent of Taiwan’s population, “so their mayors have a responsibility to protect their residents’ lives and property from threats,” she said.    [FULL  STORY]

The Week
Date: August 23, 2020
By: Jessica Yarmosky

Taiwan's digital minister, Audrey Tang, is reshaping ideas about what government officials can do.

Tang, a free software programmer, was Taiwan's youngest-ever minister when she took the position at age 35 in 2016. She's also the first openly transgender member of a Taiwanese cabinet.

As the government's digital minister, Tang helps develop digital tools that connect citizens with government officials and vice versa. She's now helping Taiwan navigate the coronavirus pandemic through civic technology. Taiwan has harnessed digital platforms to keep the public updated about medical supply availability and to monitor the status of quarantining citizens.

Taiwan has kept its COVID-19 numbers low compared to other countries: It has seen fewer than 500 cases and seven deaths. Much of that success has been attributed to Taiwan's approach to technology.    [FULL  STORY]