Focus Taiwan
Date: 07/05/2020
By: Chen Wei-ting and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, July 5 (CNA) A Filipino woman who tested positive for COVID-19 in Hong Kong after transiting through Taiwan on Friday was probably infected in the Philippines, but not in Taiwan, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said Sunday.

According to information obtained by the CECC, the woman flew from Manila to Taiwan on Friday then transferred the same day to a flight to Hong Kong, where she was confirmed on Saturday to have contracted COVID-19, CECC spokesman Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) told reporters.

Under Taiwan's current regulations pertaining to transit passengers, they are permitted to remain in the country's main airport for no more than eight hours, he said.

Given that the woman tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday after her arrival in Hong Kong the previous day, it is highly unlikely that she had contracted the virus in Taiwan, Chuang said.
[FULL  STORY]

PROBE LAUNCHED: An officer who served as a supervisor in the drill died in an apparent suicide after the accident, which was caused by unexpected waves

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 06, 2020
By: Staff writer, with CNA

Two marines who were on Friday injured in a military exercise in the waters off Kaohsiung passed away yesterday, Navy Command said.

The marines — surnamed Tsai (蔡), 26, and a sergeant surnamed Chen (陳), 36 — were in a seven-member Marine Corps team that encountered rough seas during a simulated response to enemy forces landing on Taiwan. Their rubber craft overturned in waters off Taoziyuan (桃子園) beach in Zuoying District (左營), injuring four of the marines.

They were rushed to hospital, where three of them — Tsai, Chen and a 34-year-old sergeant — were taken to an intensive care unit with pulmonary edema, a condition caused by an excessive amount of fluid in the lungs.

Kaohsiung Armed Forces General Hospital’s Zuoying branch confirmed that Tsai was declared dead 36 minutes past midnight after his family decided to cease resuscitation efforts.
[FULL  STORY]

LiveMint
Date:  04 Jul 2020

Despite the impact of coronavirus in New York, the demonstration saw dozens of Indian origin Americans standing in solidarity with members of the Tibetan community and Taiwanese Americans.

Indian Americans have called for 'Boycott China', a protest demonstration against China at the iconic Times Square in New York.

This protest comes in the aftermath of the deadly border clash in the Himalayas that left 20 Indian soldiers dead and 76 injured. Despite the impact of coronavirus in New York, the demonstration saw dozens of Indian origin Americans standing in solidarity with members of the Tibetan community and Taiwanese Americans.

Since the Galwan standoff between India and China, anti-China protests have broken out in several cities in the United States and scenes in New York looked no different as people were seen holding placards, raising the Indian and Tibetan national flags along with chanting pro-India and anti-china slogans.    [FULL  STORY]

War Is Boring
Date: July 4, 2020
By: Shishir Gupta, Hindustan Times, New Delhi

The US Navy is deploying its two nuclear-powered aircraft carriers – USS Nimitz and USS Ronald Reagan – to conduct exercises in the South China Sea, piling pressure on an ambitious Beijing that has opened multiple fronts including one with India along the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh. The US supercarriers are reported to be crossing Luzon Strait, the strait between Taiwan and Luzon island of the Philippines that connects Philippine Sea to the South China Sea.

The US deployment comes after Beijing’s People’s Liberation Army Navy conducted military drills in the contested waters, provoking a sharp reaction from neighbouring states and Washington. The US navy has said its operations in the South China Sea were designed to “support free and open Indo-Pacific”.

“The purpose is to show an unambiguous signal to our partners and allies that we are committed to regional security and stability,” Rear Admiral George M Wikoff commander of the strike group led by USS Ronald Reagan told Wall Street Journal, which first reported the exercises.

China claims 90% of the South China Sea through which about $3 trillion of trade passes each year. Over the last decade, Beijing has gone ahead to build man-made islands and set up military installations including military-grade airfields in several areas.    [FULL  STORY]

Result indicates highest proportion since poll first conducted, only 17.6 percent self-identified as Taiwanese in 1992

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/07/04
By: Huang Tzu-ti, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Around 67 percent of people in Taiwan identify as Taiwanese, the highest figure since the poll began in 1992, according to National Chengchi University's Election Study Center.

The survey, which investigates changes in Taiwanese identity, saw the proportion of those who self-identify as “Taiwanese” soar to 67 percent in 2020, a sharp rise from 56.9 percent last year. The figure marks the highest point over the past 28 years, when only 17.6 percent held the view in 1992.

People who regard themselves as “both Taiwanese and Chinese” dropped to 27.5 percent in 2020, the lowest since records began, which was 46.4 percent. Those who prefer to be called “Chinese” logged 2.4 percent this year and this reflects a flattened curve since 2008.

Separately, an opinion poll on Taiwan’s fate suggests an upward trend toward formal independence. Around 27.7 percent favor “maintaining the status quo and moving toward independence,” the highest since 1994 and a steep uptick from 15.1 percent in 2018 and 21.8 percent in 2019.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 07/04/2020
By: Wu Po-wei and Ko Lin

Taipei, July 4 (CNA) More than 4.7 million people in Taiwan have applied for the government-issued stimulus vouchers, since pre-ordering opened Wednesday, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) said Saturday.

As of 4 p.m. Saturday, some 4.77 million people had placed pre-orders for the NT$3,000 vouchers, either online or at convenience stores, MOEA data showed.

Of that number, 3.66 million people had chosen the printed version of the vouchers, while the others had opted for digital versions, according to the ministry.

Among those choosing the digital options, 761,738 people had linked the vouchers to their credit cards, 238,260 to stored value cards, and 107,838 to some form of mobile payment, the ministry's data showed.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 05, 2020
By: Wu Po-hsuan and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writer

A record number of people in the nation now regard themselves as “Taiwanese,” rather than “Chinese,” a survey released on Friday by National Chengchi University’s Election Study Center showed.

A record 67 percent of the population identify as “Taiwanese,” while only 2.4 percent consider themselves to be “Chinese,” the center said, citing the survey’s findings.

The center has been conducting the survey once or twice a year since June 1992, and uses the data to study trends in the self-identity of Taiwanese, it said.    [FULL  STORY]

Former White House national security adviser says US should further criticize repression in Hong Kong, Xinjiang

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/07/03
By: Eric Chang, Taiwan News, Contributing Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan is enjoying its best international status for more than 70 years and is vital to East Asia, according to former White House National Security Adviser John Bolton.

The United States should fully recognize Taiwan diplomatically and express its dissatisfaction with Beijing’s continued oppression of Hong Kong and the Uighurs in Xinjiang, Bolton said in a Foreign Press Association (FPA) USA video conference with FPA President Ian Williams on Thursday (July 2), according to CNA. Bolton was invited to discuss his new book, “The Room Where It Happened,” U.S. foreign policy, U.S.-China-Taiwan relations, and Hong Kong’s new security law.

In mid-April, Bolton tweeted the U.S. should consider giving Taiwan full diplomatic recognition. He said during Thursday’s interview these types of messages easily attract attention, but also suggested various means should be used to “asymmetrically pressure” Beijing.

Bolton said in May when he was still national security advisor, he met with Taiwan’s then Secretary-General of the National Security Council Li Ta-wei (李大維) at the New Executive Office Building (NEOB) in Washington, D.C. which caused an uproar in China.
FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 03 July, 2020
By: Shirley Lin

US Congress member Mike Gallagher has submitted a bill called the Taiwan Defense Act to the US House of Representatives.

The bill would ensure that the US upholds its obligations to Taiwan — as listed under the Taiwan Relations Act — in the face of Chinese military threats. It would also require the US Department of Defense to intervene and defend Taiwan against invasion from China.    [FULL  STORY]

China’s new national security legislation for Hong Kong will only harden Taiwan citizens’ determination to resist Beijing’s unification offer.The Diplomat
Date: July 02, 2020
By: T.Y. Wang

Chinese President Xi Jinping has signed a new national security law for Hong Kong, which covers four categories of offenses, including “secession, subversion, terrorist activities, and collusion with a foreign country or external elements to endanger national security.” The new legislation aims to “stop and punish activities endangering national security” and “oppose[s] the interference … by any foreign or external forces.” It allows the Communist government to establish security agencies that can openly operate in the city. As the move has placed the former British colony firmly under Beijing’s control, observers worry that it will further curtail the political freedom and the rule of law that the “one, country, two systems” unification plan has promised. This development has wider implications that go beyond Hong Kong, as the same plan has been repeatedly pitched to Taiwan by Chinese leaders who view the island as a renegade province.

At the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949, the two sides of the Taiwan Strait were divided and embarked on different paths. Since then, Taiwan has transformed itself from a one-party authoritarian regime to a full-fledged democracy while China has continued on its way of communism. Chinese leaders, nevertheless, have always considered “Taiwan’s return to the motherland” as an important step toward national rejuvenation. To entice Taipei into unification talks, Beijing has offered the “one country, two systems” framework. Essentially, the plan prescribes that the island be unified with China, and Beijing will be the central government, while Taiwan becomes a local special administrative region (hence the “one country”). After the proposed unification, the Chinese mainland would continue the practices of communism while Taiwan retains its capitalist system and enjoys a high degree of autonomy (hence the “two systems”). In attempting to force Taipei to accept its unification proposal, Beijing has isolated Taiwan internationally, backing up its claim over the island with the threat of military force.
[FULL  STORY]