Jurist
Date: August 19, 2020
By: Muskan Yadav

The Taiwanese government said Monday that it has revised certain regulations to increase scrutiny of mainland Chinese citizens who are residents of Hong Kong or Macau and seek to relocate to Taiwan, ensuring they do not engage in spying or other illegal acts.

The revisions have been made to Regulations Governing Permits for Hong Kong and Macao Residents Entering the Taiwan Area and Setting up Residence or Registered Permanent Residence in R.O.C. [Republic of China, or Taiwan]. The Ministry of the Interior made the amendments with the aim of “strengthening the management” of such citizens of mainland China, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), the government agency responsible for policymaking between Taiwan and mainland China said.

Taiwan welcomed people seeking to leave Hong Kong following the imposition of the new national security law and opened an office to help Hong Kong residents seeking asylum and opportunities move to the island in July. Officials have expressed concern that some of these people might be spies.

The MAC said that the measures aim to prevent such people from “carry[ing] out infiltration, united front [the Chinese Communist Party’s United Front Work Department tasked with co-opting overseas Chinese and non-communists], disturbance or spying activities.”
[FULL  STORY]

Document will allow him to join Taiwan's national team: Reports

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/08/19
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwanese-American basketball star Jeremy Lin (林書豪) has obtained a Taiwanese passport, making him eligible to join the national team, reports said Wednesday (Aug. 19).

Lin, born in the United States to Taiwanese-American parents, was the focus of the “Linsanity” phenomenon in 2011-2012, when he became the first American of Taiwanese descent to play in the National Basketball Association (NBA).    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 08/19/2020
By: Chang Ming-hsuan and Chiang Yi-ching

Taipei, Aug. 19 (CNA) A Vietnamese migrant worker, who recently tested positive for COVID-19 in his home country after leaving Taiwan, was likely infected while he was in quarantine there, Vietnam health authorities told Taiwan on Wednesday.

The message was delivered via the National IHR Focal Point, a communication channel set up under the World Health Organization's International Health Regulations, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said.

The patient, a Vietnamese national in his 40s who was working in northern Taiwan, returned home on Aug. 7, according to the CECC.

He tested negative for COVID-19 at the airport upon arrival, before being transported to a Vietnamese government-run quarantine facility, where he was put in a room with two other people, the CECC said.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Aug 20, 2020
By: Lin Chia-nan / Staff reporter

Bringing “the Republic of China (Taiwan)” onto the global stage is essential to the government’s diplomatic efforts, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday, after the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) criticized a social media post by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs allegedly praising the absence of the “Republic of China” (ROC) title on an official name plate.

The ministry in a Facebook post on Monday celebrated the opening of the Taiwan Representative Office in the Republic of Somaliland.

A Chinese-language hashtag in the post read that it was a “pleasant” sight that the office’s name plate only uses “Taiwan” without “other redundant words.”

The ROC is recognized by 15 countries, former KMT spokeswoman Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) wrote on Facebook on Tuesday, asking if the nation’s loss of seven allies over the past four years resulted from the ministry’s efforts to remove redundancy.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 18 August, 2020
By: Natalie Tso

The US has been bolstering Taiwan's status. That was the title of a New York Times article written by Edward Wong on Tuesday. 

He said a recent visit by US Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar and the sale of advanced torpedoes are recent moves that have strengthened ties. Last week, President Tsai also gave a video talk hosted by two policy research groups in Washington. She stressed the need to strengthen military ties and establish a free-trade agreement.

Wong believes these are attempts by the Trump administration to highlight Taiwan’s striving democracy and counter China’s attempts to weaken Taiwan’s diplomatic status.  China claims Taiwan to be part of its territory, though Taiwan has been self-governed since 1949. 

Taiwan is a part of the US’s competition and confrontation with China. A former top US defense official Elbridge A. Colby said, “Taiwan is the most important thing from a military and credibility point of view.” Wong said this is especially true as China has tightened control on Hong Kong through the national security law.     [FULL  STORY]

Throughout his 97 years, Lee took on multiple identities as a Japanese, Communist, Chinese, Christian, and, finally, Taiwanese independence activist – matching the island’s many changes.

The Diplomat
Date: August 18, 2020
By: James Baron

“It was one of the few days in my life when I wore a suit,” remembers Hans Breuer.

Back in 1996, Breuer, then a freelance translator, was contacted to work as an interpreter for German TV network ZDF, which was in Taiwan to cover the first-ever democratic presidential election in a Chinese-speaking country.

More likely to be seen in shorts and sneakers at the time, Breuer opted for a makeover. “Considering the importance of the occasion, I thought I’d better make an effort,” says Breuer, who arrived in Taiwan in 1989.

The election of Lee Teng-hui, who died July 30, was a tension-fraught affair. China had been hostile for months prior. Having fired missiles toward the port city of Keelung in July the preceding year, conducted similarly menacing “tests” the following month and naval exercises in November, Beijing resumed its belligerence in the week leading up to the election. More missiles were launched, landing near Keelung, again, and off the coast of Taiwan’s second city Kaohsiung in the south. It was a warning: a vote for Lee, Taiwan’s first native-born president, spelled trouble.

“It was supposed to intimidate people,” says Breuer, who spent election day interviewing voters. “But it totally backfired.” This assessment was backed by polls showing a 5 percent spike in support for Lee.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwanese man recently returned from China skips quarantine, faces up to NT$1 million fine

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/08/18
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A man from western Taiwan is facing a fine of up to NT$1 million (US$34,000) after he was found to have skipped out on his quarantine to sing in a KTV bar on Sunday (Aug. 16).

While carrying out spot checks on snack bars, KTV clubs, and other entertainment venues under its jurisdiction, officers from the Beigang Precinct of the Yunlin County Police Bureau happened upon a man who was supposed to be undergoing the mandatory 14-day quarantine at home. In order to prevent the potential spread of the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19), all persons who were singing with the man were also ordered to begin a 14-day home quarantine.

Wu Ming-fang (吳明芳), head of the Beigang Precinct's investigative unit, said that at 3:15 a.m. on Sunday he led his officers on an unannounced inspection of a KTV club in Beigang Township, reported UDN. When they arrived on the scene, they spotted a man who was smoking in the doorway and began questioning him.

When they ran his name through the database, the system flashed a red warning indicating that he is supposed to be undergoing home quarantine. Police then confirmed that he had not yet completed his 14-day quarantine in his residence in Beigang Township.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 08/18/2020
By: Flor Wang and Pan Tzi-yu

Taipei, Aug. 18 (CNA) Taiwan will become a super-aged society by 2025, meaning that one in five citizens will be aged over 65, due mainly to a falling birth rate and a fast-aging population, the National Development Council (NDC) reported on Tuesday.

In 2025, one in every citizen will be aged over 65 years, and more than half of Taiwan's population in 2034 will be aged above 50, the NDC estimated in a biennial population projection (2020-2070) report published that day.

Based on the country's latest census on births, deaths and migration data, the NDC estimated that Taiwan's population will begin to register negative growth this year after peaking at 23.6 million in January, chiefly because there will be more deaths than births and less international migration due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

With persistent falling numbers among children aged from birth to 14 and longer life expectancies, senior citizens — those older than 65 — will account for over 20 percent of Taiwan's total population by 2025, the NDC said.  [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Aug 19, 2020
By: Dennis Xie / Staff writer, with CNA

The Ministry of Labor’s Minimum Wage Review Committee yesterday proposed raising the minimum monthly wage to NT$24,000 and the minimum hourly wage to NT$160.

The decision was reached at the committee’s annual session, with representatives from labor, management, government and academia taking part.

The committee said it would send the proposal to the Executive Yuan for approval.

The current minimum monthly wage is NT$23,800 and the minimum hourly wage is NT$158.
[FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 17 August, 2020
By: Leslie Liao

Police have cracked a counterfeiting operation in Yunlin County, central Taiwan. The counterfeiters were creating fake stimulus vouchers that were intended to help offset the negative effects of COVID-19 on the economy.

Police make their way through stacks of NT$500 stimulus vouchers. They’d be worth about US$17 each… if only they were real. That’s right, these are counterfeit vouchers. The person behind the operation is a 70-year-old man, surnamed Su. 

Su had nearly 1,900 fake vouchers on hand, worth NT$2.5 million (~US$85,000). Authorities say that Su had enough materials and equipment to print approximately NT$370,000,000 (approximately US12.6 million) worth of fake vouchers. 

The government started handing out vouchers last month as a way to kickstart the economy. They’re as good as cash and can be used to purchase many consumer goods. 
[FULL  STORY]