Focus Taiwan
Date: 07/07/2020
By Wu Po-wei, Yen Su-ping, Lai Yen-hsi, Elizabeth Hsu and Joseph Yeh

Taipei, July 7 (CNA) President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said Tuesday that if necessary, her administration will consider countermeasures to the newly implemented rules under Hong Kong's national security law, which state that authorities there can ask Taiwanese "political groups" to provide evidence in the investigation of potential violators.

The law on "safeguarding national security in the Hong Kong Special Administration Region" was passed by China's national legislature in June and took effect on the last day of the month, prohibiting acts of secession, subversion, terrorism and conspiring with foreign influences in the region.

The law is widely seen as an effort by the Chinese government to take full control of Hong Kong after a year of pro-democracy protests in the special administrative region.

On Monday, Hong Kong authorities made public the implementation of a rule under Article 43 of the national security law, which authorizes the territory's police force to take measures if necessary when handling cases related to endangering national security.

HONG KONG SECURITY: The president blasted regulations requiring Taiwanese agents or political organizations to provide information on their Hong Kong-related activities

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 08, 2020
By: Chung Li-hua, Lin Ching-hua and Jake Chung / Staff reporters, with staff writer

President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday warned of countermeasures should controversial Chinese national security legislation imposed on Hong Kong undermine or harm Taiwanese interests.

Article 43 of the legislation empowers the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to serve written notices to Taiwanese political organizations or individual agents to furnish information on their Hong Kong-related activities, including their personal particulars, finances, assets, expenditure and capital in the territory.

Failure to comply or providing false or incomplete information can result in a fine of HK$100,000 (US$12,903) or imprisonment of six months or two years respectively.

Tsai said that Taiwan would keep a close watch on how the national security legislation is implemented in Hong Kong.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 06 July, 2020
By: Leslie Liao

The Somaliland government has refused to cut off exchanges with Taiwan amid pressure from the Chinese government. Last Wednesday, the two countries announced that they would be opening representative offices within each other’s borders. 

Media reports say that the Chinese Ambassador to Somalia met with officials in Somaliland twice in an attempt to hamper ties between Somaliland and Taiwan. 

Somaliland officials were told that if they ceased exchanges with Taiwan, then the Chinese government would establish a liaison office in Somaliland’s capital, Hargeisa.   [FULL  STORY]

OilPrice.com
Date: Jul 06, 2020
By: Gregory R. Copley

The People’s Republic of China (PRC) seemed to be considering, by July 2020, whether to risk early military conflict as a means of moving its declining strategic fortunes back from the precipice. Its momentum thus far in challenging the U.S. and the market societies has been based on non-kinetic amorphous warfare. Now, PRC Pres. Xi Jinping was being forced by a range of circumstances — a declining economy, the socioeconomic impact of the coronavirus epidemic, and a range of natural and demographic disasters and trends — to take precipitate military action before the final window on the path toward global dominance closed for the PRC.

Pres. Xi had moved into a situation similar to, but far more grave than, the 11th-hour desperation which faced Lt.Gen. Leopoldo Galtieri, the Argentine military ruler, in 1982.

Any delay in a decisive gesture by Xi at this stage would see Taiwan’s strength continue to rise, the PRC’s economy continue to slide, and the PRC’s isolation increase still further. The tacit alliance of its adversaries and former dependent trading partners were now gathering against Beijing.

The alternative to precipitate action by Pres. Xi could well only be his retirement from office, one way or another, or his transformation of priorities back to domestic control.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan welcomes visit by Dalai Lama if he sends request

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/07/06
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — On Sunday (July 5) the Dalai Lama expressed his wish to make another visit to Taiwan, a move that was welcomed by Taiwan's government, but would likely anger China.

The Dalai Lama on Sunday, the eve of his 85th birthday, delivered a session on mind training to over 1,000 followers in Taiwan via a live video stream. During his talk, he said that since the first time he visited Taiwan, "I felt Taiwanese are very close to my mine and many [Taiwanese] are my good friends."

He added that "Everyone in Taiwan, young and old, are in my mind all the time." Towards the end of the talk, the Dalai Lama indicated a trip to Taiwan is a possibility: "As the political scenario changes, I may be able to visit Taiwan. I hope for that, but it is difficult to say this at this point in time. But whether I am able to physically able to come or not, in my spirit I am with you."

In response, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) Spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) on Monday (July 6) pointed out that the Dalai Lama is a respected religious leader who won the Nobel Prize in 1989. She said that he has many followers in Taiwan who hope that he can come to the country again to teach Dharma.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 07/06/2020
By: Matt Yu and Emerson Lim

Taipei, July 6 (CNA) Taiwan's military will temporarily halt landing drills involving inflatable raiding crafts pending safety reassessments, following a fatal accident on July 3, a Navy official said on Monday.

The announcement came after the accident in waters off Taoziyuan beach in Kaohsiung City which left two Marine soldiers dead and one in critical condition as of Monday evening.

The landing drill was part of the preparation for the annual Han Kuang military exercises, which test the capabilities of Taiwan's armed forces in repelling a potential invasion by China.

However, joint landing drills involving other subjects under the annual Han Kuang military exercises, slated for July 13-17, will proceed as planned, said Vice Admiral Sun Chang-teh (孫常德), the navy's political warfare chief, speaking at a news conference.    [FULL  STORY]

CAUTION: Taiwan had zero cases of death from food poisoning for six years until last year, when two people died after eating wildlife, an FDA official said

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 07, 2020
By: Lin Hui-chin and Dennis Xie / Staff reporter, with staff writer

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) yesterday urged the public not to eat wildlife or unidentified wild plants, as they could be fatal, with nearly 7,000 people affected by food poisoning last year, including two deaths due to wildlife consumption.

The number of food poisoning incidents increased by nearly 50 percent last year, from 398 cases involving 4,616 people in the previous year to 503 cases involving 6,944 people, FDA data showed.

That figure was the second-highest in history, the FDA said, adding that the highest number was recorded in 1997, with 7,235 people.

Among the 503 cases, 87 were food poisoning clusters affecting 4,019 teachers and students, due to contaminated food provided by caterers, the agency said.    [FULL  STORY]

Remember to pick up your vouchers from July 15 to 31

The China Post
Date: July 5, 2020
By Dimitri Bruyas, The China Post

TAIPEI (The China Post) — President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) stopped by a local convenience store on Sunday afternoon to order her share of the government-issued spending vouchers.

It was “quick and easy,” she said on Facebook before ordering a coffee.

The “Triple Stimulus Voucher” (三倍券), which can be used starting July 15 on a wide range of products, will help boost local spending to help make up for weakened consumption in the first five months of the year due to coronavirus outbreak.

Under the NT$50 billion (US$1.69 billion) program, which is not open to foreign residents unless they are married to a Taiwanese national, you must spend NT$1,000 to buy NT$3,000 in vouchers.    [FULL  STORY]

OPINION: Hong Kong's new China-mandated 'national security' law is a threat to democratic values. The United States should have a strong response.

USA Today
Date: July 5, 2020
By: Marion Smith, Opinion contributor

Communist China has officially taken over Hong Kong. The passage on Tuesday of Beijing’s so-called “national security law” effectively absorbs the formerly autonomous city in the totalitarian system of the Chinese mainland, threatening its freedoms with extinction. Everyone is now looking to the United States — the leader of the free world — for a strong and principled response.

The White House has already restricted some trade with Hong Kong and announced travel resurrections on some Communist officials, while Congress is moving forward with an unprecedented sanctions bill. All these actions are useful, but they’re not nearly enough. Communist China’s unprecedented repression deserves an unprecedented response.

That’s why President Trump should travel to Taiwan.  [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/07/05
By:  Central News Agency

One of the supervisors of a Navy anti-landing drill in Taiwan that went fatally wrong on Friday has committed suicide, the military said Sunday.

Navy Lieutenant Commander Yang (楊) was found hanging by the neck in his room at the Kaohsiung Zuoying naval base early Sunday, hours after one of the soldiers injured in the drill died in hospital, according to a Navy press release, which did not give Yang's full name.

Yang was immediately taken to hospital but could not be resuscitated and was pronounced dead, the Navy said.

Yang, a member of the Navy's Education, Training and Doctrine Development Command, was one of the instructors and supervisors in the military anti-landing drill held off Taoziyuan beach in Kaohsiung on Friday, the press release said.    [FULL  STORY]