Taiwan Insight
Date: 25 June 2020
By: Najee Woods.

COV-19 has changed the global order as we know it. This deadly Coronavirus, first found in Wuhan, China, approx. 394k patients have died, while the Coronavirus infected another 6.4 million. While the world is engulfed in this pandemic, one nation has stepped up its humanitarian aid and provided a light of hope to the world, Taiwan. The Taiwanese government has taken up the mantle and provided an essential piece of cloth to combat COV-19: surgical masks.

In the beginning stages of COV-19, Taiwan’s mask supply was not enough to generously donate to other countries. The Taiwanese government initially banned exporting face masks when COV-19 was at its peak in East Asia. The reasoning behind this decision was because Taiwan could only manufacture approx. 1.88 million masks per day in late January. The low amount of mask supplies in Taiwan, led to the Tsai Administration implementing a mask rationing system, which not only equally distributed masks to citizens but also prevented certain individuals from hoarding Taiwan’s mask supply.

Since late January, Taiwan has ramped up its mask production from 1.88 million to 20 million masks a day. This was only possible due to Taiwan setting up additional production lines within a short period. With a steady amount of mask supply in Taiwan, this has allowed the government to begin donating face masks to countries hardest hit by the Coronavirus. Taiwan has also become the second-largest mask producer in the entire world, only behind the People’s Republic of China.    [FULL  STORY]

Suspect traced through surveillance footage, confesses to murder of old man after arrest

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/06/25
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The First Precinct of Kaohsiung City's Sanmin District announced on Thursday (June 25) that they cracked the Love River dismemberment case after tracking down the suspect through a review of surveillance footage.

The precinct said that the suspect, surnamed Luo (羅), who is unemployed, allegedly strangled the 80-year-old victim, surnamed Wang, after Luo's attempts to borrow money from Wang failed, CNA reported. The suspect dismembered the victim, placing the body in two duffel bags before tossing them into the Love River on June 22.

Weng Shi-min (翁士閔), chief of the Criminal Investigation Squad at the precinct, said at a press conference on Thursday that officers working on the case assumed the suspect dumped the body deep in the night. Therefore, they paid extra attention to the late-night surveillance footage around the spot where the body was found.

While reviewing the video, police locked in on a man riding a scooter and acting suspiciously in the wee hours of June 22. They then tracked down Luo, 60, to the city's Lingya District, arresting him around 2 a.m. Thursday.    [FULL  STORY]

ONE NEW PATIENT: A man who twice tested negative in Guatemala became the latest imported COVID-19 case in Taiwan after he told airport staff of his symptoms

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 26, 2020
By: Sherry Hsiao / Staff reporter

The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reiterated its COVID-19 testing policy amid concerns that not enough was being done after a Japanese student who last week returned home from Taiwan was confirmed to have the disease.

Taiwan on Tuesday received notice from Japanese authorities of a confirmed case of COVID-19, a female student in her 20s who had returned to Japan from Taiwan and was asymptomatic, the CECC said on Wednesday.

The student traveled to Taiwan in late February and had been studying in southern Taiwan, it said.

She returned to Japan on Saturday last week and tested positive upon her arrival there, it said.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 24 June, 2020
By: Paula Chao

[Want a bite? We’ve got zongzi… ]

Join us as we celebrate with a dragon boat quiz and a race for Taiwanese items in the home between Miss Asian America Stephanie Lin and TaiwaneseAmerican.org Founder Ho Chie Tsai!
 

[FULL  STORY]

Voice of America
Date: June 24, 2020
By: Ralph Jennings

TAIPEI – Taiwan says Chinese military planes have flown into its air defense space six times in a single week and eight times this month, so far.    

Although Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense escorts each aircraft away and alerts the public on an island that has long distrusted China, analysts believe leaders in Beijing are warning people as far away as Washington while helping to train their own troops in case of conflict in Asia.   

The U.S. government has saddled China with a 2-year-old trade dispute, accused it of ignoring COVID-19 for too long earlier in the year and sailed its navy vessels in Asian waters to check Chinese expansion.  

U.S. naval ships have sailed six times so far this year through the strait separating Taiwan from China, an irritant to Beijing. China claims sovereignty over self-ruled Taiwan and resents other countries for supporting it. The U.S. navy has also carried out four “freedom of navigation operations” in the South China Sea near Taiwan so far in 2020.      [FULL  STORY]

TPP nominates Kaohsiung city councilor who is member of PFP

 Taiwan News
Date: 2020/06/24
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Kuomintang (KMT) had their candidates register for the Aug. 15 mayoral by-election in Kaohsiung Wednesday (June 24), while at the last minute the Taiwan People's Party (TPP) presented a member of another group as its candidate.

The by-election was called after incumbent KMT Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) lost a June 6 recall vote by a wide margin. The winning candidate will serve out the remainder of Han's term, until Dec. 25, 2022.

The ruling party has nominated Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁), who lost to Han in the Nov. 2018 election, leading to the end of 20 years of DPP rule in the city. After his defeat, he was appointed vice premier, a post in which he served until the current campaign started.

On the KMT side, the search for a suitable candidate covered several female members of the Kaohsiung City Council, ending with the choice of Jane Lee (李眉蓁), 41, on Tuesday (June 23). The announcement in effect dashed the hopes of the TPP, headed by Taipei City Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), for a joint candidate to oppose Chen.    [FULL  STORY]

LOCAL TRANSMISSION? The student came to study in Taiwan in late February and 125 people who came into close contact with her have been put in home isolation

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 25, 2020
By: Lee I-chia / Staff reporter

A Japanese student in her 20s has tested positive for COVID-19 after returning home from Taiwan on Saturday last week, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday, raising concern that it could be the first case of a local transmission since April 12.

The student arrived in southern Taiwan in late February and 125 people who came into close contact with her have been put in home isolation, while 15 other people have been placed under self-health management, said Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the CECC.

She has not been listed as a domestic case as the center must confirm the test result with Japan, but it might have been a case of local transmission, Chen added.

In related news, the CECC yesterday announced that foreign travelers from today can transit through Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, while border controls would be loosened on Monday next week to allow special entry to people from Hong Kong and Macau, and those with special humanitarian or emergency needs.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 23 June, 2020
By: Shirley Lin

School in Hualien holds graduation ceremony of a different kind[/caption] Graduation time is here. Some schools in Taiwan decided to have a different kind of graduation ceremony for a change. That means a break from the usual indoor event with students walking on stage and being handed their diplomas.

A school in Hualien had an unforgettable graduation ceremony. The Experimental Primary School of National Dong Hwa University had their students get on their knees and get dirty as they scrambled through a military style obstacle course amidst sprays of water and mud. But that was not all.    [FULL  STORY]

LRT
Date: 2020.06.23

Chinese Ambassador Shen Zhifei has asked an explanation from Lithuania about a recent speech of Taiwan's representative at the country's parliament.

Andy Chin, the head of Taiwan's mission in the Baltic states, was invited to the Lithuanian parliament, Seimas, to take part in a discussion on the coronavirus last Thursday.

Read more: Lithuania's support for Taiwan draws ire from Beijing

Ambassador Shen Zhifei met with Juozas Bernatonis, the chairman of the parliamentary Committee of Foreign Affairs, to discuss it on Monday.

“Since Taiwan's official representative was standing on the Seimas platform and this way, as China believes, the ‘one-China policy’, which is envisaged in out treaty with China, was violated, he expressed his opinion,” Bernatonis told BNS on Monday.    [FULL  STORY]

Attempts to overturn life sentence in favor of death penalty may yet lead to Supreme Court

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/06/23
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A man who raped and killed a female model in Taipei's Nangang District in 2017 avoided a death sentence in a second trial that concluded on Tuesday (June 23).

In February 2017 Cheng Yu (程宇) invited the then 23-year-old woman surnamed Chen (陳) to a photo shoot set for early March. To make the invitation, Cheng used the Facebook account of his girlfriend at the time, who was surnamed Liang (梁).

On the day of the photo shoot, Cheng took Chen to the basement of a building, where he raped and strangled her. Cheng stole the victim's cell phone and credit cards, with which he made purchases.

Prosecutors sought the death penalty for Cheng. In the first trial, the Shilin District Court sentenced Cheng to life in prison for the murder; four years for raping a different female model; and a total of 15 months for other crimes, such as theft, robbery, forgery, and fraud, all of which added up to concurrent life sentences.    [FULL  STORY]