Taiwan Military Drill Stages Chinese Invasion Attack

Newsweek
Date: 8/8/2020
By: Matt Keeley

Tensions mount between China and Taiwan as both countries sent military units to the South China Sea this week.

Satellite images appear to show Chinese amphibious armored vehicles and mobile missile launchers gathering near the South China Sea, according to News.Com.Au. At the same time, Taiwan has sent about 200 marines to its military outpost on the Pratas Islands, according to Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post. The Pratas Islands are controlled by Taiwan. However, China also claims the islands as part of its territory, and calls them the Dongsha Islands.

The satellite images show the vehicles moving to coastal Chinese cities across from Taiwan, and the missile launchers are in range to hit any Taiwanese targets, according to News.Com.Au. The website cites an article by Kanwa Asian magazine defense editor Andrei Chang saying that the PCL191 rocket launchers deployed to the area "are able to destroy all military bases and government buildings on the island accurately."

Though Taiwan has sent marines to the Pratas outpost, Taiwanese military experts tell the Morning Post that if China were committed to taking the islands by force, it would be difficult to defend the base as there are no natural barriers. It's also difficult for Taiwan to send reinforcements quickly, due to its location.    [FULL  STORY]

Sun Moon Lake expects 20,000 swimmers for Sept. 27 event

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

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The massive annual swim across Sun Moon Lake planned for late September might have to be canceled if the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic grows worse, local officials said Saturday (Aug. 8).

An estimated 20,000 swimmers can sign up for the Sept. 27 event, but due to the pandemic, participants from overseas will already be unable to participate. Despite Taiwan’s relatively positive record in fighting the virus, a recent upsurge of infections in surrounding countries such as Japan, the Philippines, Vietnam and Hong Kong have caused concern about the autumn.

Chen Cheng-sheng (陳正昇), the deputy magistrate of Nantou County, where Sun Moon Lake is located, said that if the situation worsened, a meeting in late August or early September could not exclude scrapping the event, CNA reported.

The shores of the scenic lake were populated with numerous hikers, cyclists and sightseers Saturday, but only about 20 percent were wearing face masks, according to county officials on an inspection tour.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 08/09/2020
By: Yeh Su-ping and Lee Hsin-Yin

Taipei, Aug. 9 (CNA) President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and former Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, who led a delegation to pay tribute to late Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) Sunday, sought to reinforce ties between the two countries during a meeting at the Presidential Office that day.

During the 30-minute meeting, Tsai thanked the 16-member delegation for coming to Taiwan to pay their respects to Lee, who passed away on July 30 at the age of 97, at a time when international travel is difficult due to COVID-19.

She also praised the efforts by Lee and Japanese politicians like Mori, Japan's prime minister from 2000-2001, to promote Taiwan-Japan relations in recent years.

Bilateral visits and friendship between the two countries have increased, Tsai said.
[FUILL  STORY]

SCHEDULE: The delegation is due to meet with President Tsai Ing-wen this morning and witness the signing of an MOU on bilateral health cooperation in the afternoon

Taipei Times
Date: Aug 10, 2020
By: Lin Chia-nan / Staff reporter

US Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Alex Azar yesterday arrived in Taipei aboard a US government plane at the head of a delegation that is the highest-level visit by a US official since Washington switched diplomatic recognition to China in 1979.

Azar’s flight landed at Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) at 4:48pm, nearly one hour earlier than scheduled, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

The apron where it landed is reserved for military aircraft, the Songshan Air Force Base Command said.

The members of Azar’s delegation included HHS Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response Robert Kadlec, HHS Chief of Staff Brian Harrison and American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Chairman James Moriarty.    [FULL  STORY]

Military analysts say exercises not aimed at Taiwan, no need to overreact

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/08/07
By:  Central News Agency

Taiwanese security analysts on Friday (August 7) played down the importance of a military exercise to be staged by China in the East China Sea and ruled out a link between the drills and an upcoming visit by a U.S. official to Taiwan.

Taiwanese media have speculated that the military exercise might be a protest against Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Alex Azar's visit to the nation in the coming days. Azar will be the highest-ranking U.S. cabinet official to visit Taiwan in four decades.

Beijing likely sees the visit as Washington disregarding its "one China" principle, under which it defines Taiwan and the mainland as a part of "one China," and violating the agreements between the two sides.

On Thursday, China's Maritime Safety Administration posted a notice on its website about a three-day, live-fire exercise between 6 a.m. and 12 p.m. from Aug. 11-13 in waters off the Zhoushan Archipelago. Commercial ships are not allowed to pass through the designated area during this period of time.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 08/08/2020
By: Hsiao Po-wen and Ko Lin

Taipei, Aug. 8 (CNA) The Taipei District Court on Saturday revoked a bail decision and ordered independent lawmaker Chao Cheng-yu (趙正宇) to be detained and held incommunicado over concerns he could destroy evidence or flee the country as a result of his involvement in a bribery case.

In a statement, the district court said there was a possibility Chao could try to escape and evade trial, since the penalty for corruption carries a minimum five-year sentence.

Considering the influence he has both on the political and business scene, if free to come and go, he could also collude and exert pressure over material witnesses in order to destroy evidence, the Taipei court said.

The suspect has so far been unable to explain the origin of a large amount of cash seized during a recent raid of his home, the court said.    [FULL  STORY]

PARTNERSHIP AND LEARNING: A Princeton University health policy researcher said that the nation would be a ‘treasure trove’ of information for the US health chief

Taipei Times
Date: Aug 09, 2020
By: AP, WASHINGTON

US Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar on Friday said he wants to learn about Taiwan’s “incredibly effective” response to COVID-19, even though the nation did things that the US has fumbled, such as having a unified strategy and citizens willing to wear masks.

Azar leads a US delegation arriving today for a three-day visit to Taiwan. They are to meet with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and health system leaders, and Azar is to give a speech to public health graduates.

“The message of this trip is about Taiwan,” Azar said in an interview, deflecting a question about China. “It’s about public health, it’s about our partnership with Taiwan, but also the model that Taiwan offers to the world community of a transparent and open healthcare system. It is a model others can learn from.”

The trip is a geopolitical chess move in Washington’s contentious relationship with China, which has voiced concerns about the trip to Washington and called on the US to stop government-to-government interactions with Taiwan.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 07 August, 2020
By: Leslie Liao

A Taiwanese diplomat working at Taiwan’s representative office in France has tested positive for COVID-19. The foreign ministry said Friday that the representative office has already put emergency response protocols into action. 

The foreign ministry says that it has identified one other office employee who came into recent contact with the diplomat. That employee is now in quarantine and will be tested for COVID-19 if necessary.    [FULL  STORY]

Although Taipei could not win a war against China, they could make the cost of winning high enough to make Beijing blink.

The National Interest
Date: August 7, 2020
By: Caleb Larson

Living on China’s doorstep is an exercise in patience. As the country with the second-largest military budget in the world, China is well positioned to eventually invade Taiwan, which China sees as a rogue province rather than an independent country.

And Taiwan is in an unenviable position—the island of democracy in the South China Sea is a mere 100 or so miles—about 160 kilometers—from mainland China. The tiny republic has neither the military budget nor the manpower to guarantee a win in a potential fight against China. But, Taipei might just be able to make the cost of winning so great for Beijing, that a Chinese invasion never comes.

Taiwan Strait

Any attack by China on Taiwan is sure at some stage to include hundreds of ships sailing across the Taiwan Strait. This is where Taiwan could excel—repelling an amphibious Chinese invasion. Taiwan boasts a large assortment of missiles that have a modest 100-150 mile range and are intended to take out Chinese ships. 

Photos recently surfaced online that show Taiwanese F-16s equipped with the American-designed Harpoon anti-ship missile. The photos, published in the Taiwanese Liberty Times, showed that the Taiwanese planes were also armed with AIM-120 a beyond visual range air-to-air missile, as well as smaller Sidewinder missile. The display was considered by some as a pointed show of force for an island country that has typically tried to keep the waters between the two countries calm.    [FULL  STORY]

New Power Party uploads proposed passport designs for public to vote on

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/08/07
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Voting is now underway on a New Power Party (NPP) website for a series of new Taiwanese passport cover designs, which either minimize or entirely eliminate any mention of "China."

On July 22, Taiwan's Legislative Yuan passed a resolution to emphasize "Taiwan" over "China" on both the name of the nation's flagship carrier and its passport. The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) resolution requires the Cabinet to work out specific measures to further emphasize both the Mandarin and English words for "Taiwan" (台灣) on the passport cover so as to "safeguard the dignity" of the Taiwanese people while contributing to convenient and safe international travel.

In response, the NPP on July 30 announced that it had created a shortlist of proposed designs for the new passport and uploaded them to a dedicated website for public voting. NPP Chairman Chiu Hsien-chih (邱顯智) hoped the online vote would enable the public to discuss the future passport cover design and the image of Taiwan that the documents should present to the international community, reported Liberty Times.

Chen said the finalists for the competition were decided by National Chengchi University Institute of Taiwanese Literature Professor Chen Fang-ming (陳芳明) and five other judges. Online voting will be open to the public on the Taiwanpassport.tw website from Aug. 1 to 30.

An awards ceremony for the winner will be held in September and an exhibition of the designs will run from Sept. 3-7 at the Olympus Plaza Taipei. Chen said the five criteria for the initial selection comprised: design philosophy, aesthetics, innovation, the reflection of Taiwanese society, and imaginativeness.    [FULL  STORY]