Highest level visit in 41 years
Radio Taiwan International
Date: 13 August, 2020
By: Paula Chao
The US Secretary of Health and Human Services visited Taiwan for four days this week. Why is that significant? In today’s show, former Taiwan CDC Director Steve Kuo tells us why this was such a big visit and what the US can learn from Taiwan in fighting the pandemic.
[FULL STORY]
NTD
Date: Aug 13, 2020
By: Reuters
A CM-11 Brave Tiger tank fires during the live fire Han Kuang military exercise, which simulates China’s People’s Liberation Army invading the island, in Pingtung, Taiwan, on May 30, 2019. (Tyrone Siu/Reuters)
China has stepped up its military activity near Taiwan, which it regards as a breakaway province.
On Monday, Taiwan said Chinese fighters briefly crossed the sensitive median line of the Taiwan Strait, the same day U.S. health chief Alex Azar met President Tsai Ing-wen in Taipei. China had denounced Azar’s trip.
Tsai’s Cabinet is proposing T$453.4 billion ($15.4 billion) in military spending for the year starting in January, versus T$411.3 billion ($13.8 billion) budgeted for this year, up 10.2 percent, according to Reuters calculations. [FULL STORY]
Boyfriend of masseuse allegedly slashes her neck with knife in N. Taiwan massage parlor
Taiwan News
Date: 2020/08/13
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer
Thai massage parlor (right).
At 10:20 a.m. on Aug. 7 in Hsinchu County's Hukou Township, police received a report that a 39-year old woman surnamed Li (李) had gotten in a heated argument with her 45-year-old boyfriend surnamed Lin (林), who chased her with a knife and cut her carotid artery, causing blood to begin spurting from her neck, reported Liberty Times. Li was then seen running out of a massage parlor, but Lin dragged her back inside.
A bystander called the police and when officers arrived on the scene, they found Lin lying on a bed inside one of the parlor's rooms with a knife lodged in his chest. They then found Li lying in a corridor outside the room covered in blood and unconscious.
Both were immediately rushed to the hospital. On the way to the Catholic Mercy Hospital, Lin stopped breathing and went into cardiac arrest. [FULL STORY]
Focus Taiwan
Date: 08/13/2020
By: Yang Sz-reui, intern Ceng Shou Yi and Kay Liu
Photo courtesy of the Tainan City government
The driverless technology will bring revolutionary changes to urban transportation, including improved road safety, Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲) said at the launch of the trial program on Aug. 9.
During the ceremony, Huang thanked the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications and the National Development Council for supporting the program, which has positioned Tainan to become the country's first municipality to offer commercial autonomous bus services.
According to Tainan City Bureau of Transportation Director-General Wang Ming-te (王銘德), the trial service will operate on two routes for the next three months. [FULL STORY]
Radio Taiwan International
Date: 12 August, 2020
By: Katherine Wei
President Tsai Ing-wen speaks at the Democratic Progressive Party’s Central Standing Committee meeting on Wednesday.
Tsai was speaking about the recent arrests of Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai and his sons, as well as the arrest of high-profile activist Agnes Chow.
The president said that the Democratic Progressive Party has spoken out many times about Beijing’s refusal to listen to Hong Kong and about a national security law that gives Beijing unprecedented authority over the city.
Tsai said, “The national security law directly erodes Hong Kong’s freedom, human rights and legal foundation….If things get worse, this will not only have a chilling effect for other media outlets, but also ruin Hong Kong’s democracy, rule of law and position as a financial hub in the world.” [FULL STORY]
The Washington Free Beacon
Date: August 12, 2020
By: Jack Beyrer
Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-wen extolled the progress of the Taiwanese-American relationship
Getty Images
"The relationship between Taiwan and the U.S. has never been closer," she said. "Taiwan is on the frontlines of freedom and democracy."6
Tsai announced her focus on increasing military cooperation, multilateral engagement with "a community of like-minded democracies," and working through a new free trade agreement with the United States.
This week, Health and Human Services secretary Alex Azar visited Taiwan in what one panelist called a "gesture of goodwill" between the two countries. Azar engaged in constructive dialogue, particularly around Taiwan’s successful management of the coronavirus pandemic. [FULL STORY]
Cabinet to discuss Civil Code proposals at Thursday meeting
Taiwan News
Date: 2020/08/12
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer
Adulthood at 18 is in the cards for 2023. (CNA photo)
The change has long been demanded by human rights and social reform groups, with critics of the current situation pointing out how many other countries, in particular democracies, have set the age of adulthood at 18. [FULL STORY]
Focus Taiwan
Date: 08/12/2020
By Chen Yun-yu,
Wang Hung-kuo and Elizabeth Hsu
Taipei, Aug. 12 (CNA) Vice Premier Shen Jong-chin (沈榮津) said Wednesday that Taiwan's collaboration with the United States on COVID-19 pandemic control presents an opportunity for the development of a new industrial supply chain.
"Because of the trust between the two sides, there will be more and more opportunities for bilateral industrial cooperation," Shen said during a visit to Chang Hong Machinery Co. in New Taipei with a delegation led by U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar.
Shen said he would like to see Taiwan and U.S. industries working together to build a new industrial supply chain between the two countries.
The vice premier was the key figure in the establishment of Taiwan's National Face Mask Team, a group of private sector manufacturers commissioned by the government earlier this year to produce face masks and mask-making machines in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. [FULL STORY]
IMPRESSIVE CAPABILITY: The US secretary of health said that he discussed with local business leaders how Taiwanese firms can help the US to produce more strategic goods
Taipei Timews
Date: Aug 13, 2020
By: Lin Chia-nan / Staff reporter, with CNA
Vice Premier Shen Jong-chin, right, presents US Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar with a box of masks while visiting the Chang Hong Machinery Co factory in New Taipei City’s Wugu District yesterday.
Photo: CNA
Azar and his delegation traveled to New Taipei City’s Wugu District (五股) to visit a Chang Hong Machinery Co (長宏機械) factory and meet with Vice Premier Shen Jong-chin (沈榮津).
“We got to see the [factory’s] impressive manufacturing capability to produce face masks as well as N95 respirators,” Azar said, commending the government and private sector in Taiwan for their ability to scale up mask production “just as what we are doing in the United States.”
Some of the machines produced at the factory are to be sold to the US as part of US President Donald Trump’s plan to build up the US’ capacity for manufacturing masks and N95 respirators, he said. [FULL STORY]
Radio Taiwan International
Date: 11 August, 2020
By: Paula Chao
The Chinese man swam 7 hours across the Taiwan Strait from Xiamen, China to Taiwan’s Dadan Island.
Dadan Island was long a military outpost and belongs to Kinmen Island.
The 45-year old Chinese man swam 7 hours across the Taiwan Strait from Xiamen, China to Taiwan’s Dadan Island. He was handcuffed on Sunday morning. As the COVID-19 pandemic is still going strong, all patrol guards wore protective clothing. [FULL STORY]
