The Economic Times
Date: Dec 27, 2020
Wistron’s iPhone factory
Speaking to reporters after meeting the officials of Wistron Corp, Hebbar said, "I have spoken to the company officials and they have indicated that in the next 20 days the factory would be operational." [FULL STORY]
At the heart of this debate, though, lies a mistake that threatens to blind the US to its options and, in doing so, could lead to a stance that increases the risk of conflict.
The National Interest
Date: December 27, 2020
By: Simon Cotton
As Joe Biden’s inauguration approaches, debate about the US’s China policy is intensifying. At issue are the traditional pillars of strategy ambiguity and dual deterrence. Strategic ambiguity means that the US reserves the right to assist Taiwan militarily in the event of a conflict with China but does not commit itself to doing so. Dual deterrence means that the US doesn’t only seek to deter China from an unprovoked attack on Taiwan; it also seeks to deter Taiwan from provoking an avoidable conflict by declaring independence.
Biden has endorsed both pillars in the past. In a 2001 Washington Post op-ed, he wrote that while he remained a strong supporter of Taiwan, ‘The United States has not been obligated to defend Taiwan since we abrogated the 1954 Mutual Defense Treaty’. He also stressed that ‘there is a huge difference between reserving the right to use force and obligating ourselves, a priori, to come to the defense of Taiwan’.
Yet a growing number of commentators and policymakers argue that China’s power is now so great, and its ambitions so extensive, that the US should move away from strategic ambiguity and towards what Richard Haass and David Sacks described in Foreign Affairs as ‘strategic clarity’. In short, they suggest that to better deter China the US should make an unequivocal public commitment to aid Taiwan in any conflict.
At the heart of this debate, though, lies a mistake that threatens to blind the US to its options and, in doing so, could lead to a stance that increases the risk of conflict. [FULL STORY]
Perceived temperature forecast to be zero degrees Celsius in New Taipei’s Tamsui during countdown
Taiwan News
Date: 2020/12/27
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer
(CNA photo)
The forecasted temperatures in New Taipei’s Tamsui on New Year’s Eve will be around zero degrees Celsius, while high mountains in northern Taiwan, including Yangminsghan in Taipei, will have a chance of snow between Dec. 30 and Jan. 1.
CWB forecaster Chen Chien-an (陳建安) told CNA that the cold air mass would cause the mercury to fall from morning till night on the 30th, with temperatures hovering around 17 degrees during the day and at lows of seven or eight degrees at night in northern and northeastern Taiwan. Lower temperatures are expected for open areas along the coast on the same night, Chen added.
The forecaster said temperatures in Taipei’s Xinyi District on New Year’s Eve would be around seven degrees, with the perceived temperature being around five degrees. He added that perceived temperatures for the coastal areas in Taoyuan, Hsinchu, and Miaoli, as well as Tamsui in New Taipei, would be zero degrees due to windy conditions. [FULL STORY]
Focus Taiwan
Date: 12/27/2020
By: Wu Rui-chi and Lee Hsin-Yin
CNA photo Dec. 27, 2020
As of press time, of the five passengers and 13 crew members that had been tested, four passengers were found to have been showing symptoms, while one another has a fever and has been sent to hospital, Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) deputy head Chen Tsung-yen (陳宗彥) said, noting that none of the crew exhibited symptoms.
Flight CI 082 landed at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 5:36 p.m., carrying 114 passengers — 90 Taiwanese, one Chinese, 21 British and two American people.
Upon landing, the passengers were separated from other arriving passengers and taken to an airport lounge, with ground staff members fully protected by masks and protective suits, according to the CECC. [FULL STORY]
NEW VIRUS STRAIN: Chunghwa Post Co said that from today it would no longer deliver or accept airmail or packages to and from the UK due to a lack of flights
Taipei Times
Date: Dec 28, 2020
By: Wu Liang-yi / Staff reporter, with CNA
Staff wearing protective gear prepare to welcome passengers arriving at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
Upon landing at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, the 114 passengers on Flight CI-82 — 90 Taiwanese, one Chinese and 23 foreign nationals — were led to an airport lounge and greeted by ground staff wearing masks and protective suits, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said.
Passengers with symptoms received a COVID-19 test on site, while the others were sent in six buses to the quarantine centers, where they also received COVID-19 tests before they began 14 days of quarantine, the CECC said, adding that the results would be available today.
All passengers would be tested a second time before they complete their quarantine, it said, adding that the 13 flight personnel were required to quarantine at home for 14 days.
[FULL STORY]
The visit to her mother’s homeland helped Lee understand her own place in the world
CBC
Date: Dec 24, 2020
By: Pauline Holdsworth
Jessica J. Lee’s book Two Trees Make a Forest intertwines nature writing and memoir, rooted in the forests and flatlands of Taiwan. (Hamish Hamilton, Paul Capewell)
* This story was originally published on September 18, 2020
Jessica J. Lee grew up in Ontario — a world away from the volcanoes, mangrove forests and mountain peaks of her mother's homeland, Taiwan.
Her grandparents fled to Taiwan during the Chinese civil war, and then immigrated to Canada with her mother in the 1970s. They didn't speak much about their complicated pasts, and Lee grew up thinking of Taiwan as a mythical place.
But after her grandfather's death, she started visiting the island — trying to understand the landscape that had shaped her family, and in turn, shapes her.
Why Jessica J. Lee sees swimming as a catalyst for emotional change and acceptance of fear
"I'm trained as an environmental historian, and I realized that the language gap for me wasn't about Mandarin, necessarily, and it wasn't about filling all the gaps in my grandparents' stories. It was about finding the thing we have in common, and that was this connection to place," she told The Sunday Magazine's host Piya Chattopadhyay. [FULL STORY]
Voice Of America
Date: December 26, 2020
By: Nike Ching, State Department Correspondent
From a new bilateral economic dialogue to high-level visits by American officials and arms sales, the ties between the U.S. and Taiwan under the Trump administration have been ascendant. This is in sharp contrast to Washington's relationship with Beijing which has deteriorated to its worst point in decades. State Department correspondent Nike Ching reports.
[FULL STORY]
Total of 39 Vietnamese suffocated to death in the back of refrigerated truck last OctoberTaiwan News
Date: 2020/12/27
By: NEWS WIRES, France 24
A portrait of 20-year-old Nguyen Dinh Luong, who was among the 39 people found dead in a truck in Britain, is kept on a prayer altar at his house in …
The discovery of so many dead people—some as young as 15—shocked Britain and Vietnam, and shone a spotlight on the illicit global trade that sends the poor of Asia, Africa, and the Middle East on perilous journeys to the West.
As oxygen levels fell in the back of the truck, some tried desperately to escape, but in vain. Others used mobile phones to say their last farewells to devastated relatives on the other side of the world.
"This is an unimaginably tragic case: 39 vulnerable people desperate for a new life were driven to put their trust in a network of unscrupulous people smugglers," said Russell Tyner, a prosecutor in the Organised Crime Division. [FULL STORY]
Focus Taiwan
Date: 12/26/2020
By: Hou Wen-ting and Chung Yu-chen
CNA file photo
Of the 18 people known to have had contact with the woman, 10 were instructed to undergo the mandatory 14-day quarantine on Dec. 12 — the date the Filipina tested positive for the coronavirus, according to the department.
The 10 individuals, nine of whom had a hotpot meal on Dec. 11 with the infected woman, received COVID-19 tests themselves early Friday upon completion of their quarantine, the results of which came back negative later that day, the department said.
According to the department, the 10 individuals are required to undergo seven days of self-health management after their quarantine period, meaning that they need to wear a surgical mask at all times in public and have their temperatures taken twice a day as mandated by the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC). [FULL STORY]
Taipei Times
Date: Dec 26, 2020
By: Hung Mei-hsiu and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writer
Photo: Hung Mei-hsiu, Taipei Times
“Our No. 1 priority is our residents and the security of their data. If the central government cannot reassure us about the information security concerns, this government will be inclined to delay the pilot program,” the statement said.
“The city government has heard the voices of many citizens and experts who expressed concerns and made suggestions about the eID program, as we continue to communicate with the central government,” it said.
The city’s Department of Civil Affairs had told the public that it should not worry about the security of the cards because a password is required to view personal data, such as the cardholder’s address and family members’ names, stored on the chip. [FULL STORY]
