Focus Taiwan
Date: 06/23/2020
By: Matt Yu and Emerson Lim

Taipei, June 23 (CNA) The Navy held an exercise recently to hone its troops' skills in naval mine warfare amid increasing Chinese military activity around Taiwan, a military source confirmed Tuesday.

According to a Facebook post by the Navy on Friday, the 192nd Fleet, also known as the Navy Minesweeper Fleet, conducted drills on deploying, detecting and sweeping for sea mines in strategic waters around Taiwan.

At least one of the mines used in the drills was the WSM-II, indigenously developed by the state-owned National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST).

The annual exercise, aimed at improving the Navy's capabilities in detering hostile naval vessels from invading Taiwan, came at a time when the Chinese military is becoming more active around Taiwan.    [FULL  STORY]

TOUGH TIMES: Tourism subsidies have raised occupancy rates in central and southern Taiwan, but rates at hotels in metropolitan areas this month remained low at 20%

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 24, 2020
By: Shelley Shan / Staff reporter, in Taitung County

The government plans to allocate an additional NT$2 billion (US$67.49 million) in subsidies for a second phase of “disease prevention tours” — scheduled to start on Wednesday next week — given high demand, Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday.

Lin, who made the announcement on a trip to Taitung to promote domestic tourism, as Taiwan’s borders remain closed to international tourists, participated in a tour of the pineapple harvest in Luye Township (鹿野鄉) and learned how to make pineapple jam.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, many people this summer would be visiting local tourist attractions, instead of going abroad, Lin said.

The ministry had budgeted NT$3.9 billion for the second phase of disease prevention tours, Lin said, referring to subsidies of domestic tours from next month to October.
[FULL STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 22 June, 2020
By: Natalie Tso

People in Taiwan were treated to a rare annular solar eclipse on Sunday. A similar eclipse won’t occur in Taiwan for another 195 years.

Crowds gathered at museums, parks and schools to attend special eclipse-viewing events. Others watched from street corners, using protective eye gear.

People in Yunlin, Chiayi, Tainan, Kaohsiung, Nantou, Hualien and Taitung cities and counties, as well as the outlying islands of Penghu and Kinmen, could see a full eclipse. 

In Chiayi, the eclipse started at 2:49 p.m. and ended at 5:25 p.m. The moon's shadow obscured 99% of the sun at 4:14 p.m., forming a "ring of fire", where only the sun's outer rim was visible.   [FULL  STORY]

The Standard
Date: 22 Jun 2020

A 411.6-kilogram giant pumpkin, grown by a farmer from Tamsui district, won narrowly in the weight division of an annual giant pumpkin contest in New Taipei on Sunday.

The farmer, Lin Chien-hsun, took home a prize of NT$90,000 (US$3,011) for his winning 411.6kg entry in the competition, which was held by the Tamsui District Farmers' Association, CNA reports. The cecond prize went to a farmer from Taoyuan, whose pumpkin weighed only 6kg less than Lin's.    [FULL  STORY]

Chinese warplanes threaten Taiwan's airspace for 8th time this month

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/06/22
By: Keoni Everington\

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A Chinese bomber and fighter jet approached Taiwan's airspace on Monday (June 22), marking the 8th time People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) warplanes have menaced the country in less than two weeks.

Taiwan's Air Force on Monday announced that a PLAAF Xi'an H-6 strategic bomber and a Chengdu J-10 were detected entering the southwest corner of Taiwan's air defense identification zone (ADIZ) at noon, reported CNA. The Air Force responded by issuing a warning to the aircraft and dispatched aerial reconnaissance and patrol aircraft to intercept them.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 06/22/2020
By: Matt Yu and Emerson Lim

Taipei, June 22 (CNA) Taiwanese marines have been temporarily deployed to the Pratas Islands (東沙島) in the South China Sea amid reports the Chinese military plans to conduct drills in the area in August, a defense official confirmed Monday.

The Ministry of National Defense (MND) official, who asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue, said a number of Marines are on the Pratas Islands, also known as the Dongsha Islands, for what the official described as a training mission.

He said the mission, which will only last a short amount of time, is aimed at strengthening the defense capabilities and other logistical and equipment maintenance skills of the Taiwanese Coast Guard officers stationed on the island.

The official did not reveal other details, such as the number of Marines deployed, when they arrived on the islands, and how long they will stay.    [FULL  STORY]

UNHELPFUL: Any unilateral action to change the islands’ name would not change the fact that the islands belong to the Republic of China, the Presidential Office said

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 23, 2020
By: Lu Yi-hsuan and Dennis Xie / Staff reporter, with staff writer

Taiwan yesterday protested a Japanese city’s decision to change the name of an administrative area that covers the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台).

Known as the Senkaku Islands in Japan, the group of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea is claimed by Taiwan, Japan and China.

The Ishigaki Municipal Assembly yesterday passed a bill to change the islands’ administrative name from “Tonoshiro” to “Tonoshiro Senkaku,” despite the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ assertion of Taiwanese sovereignty over the islands on multiple occasions following media reports about the Japanese proposal earlier this month.

Ishigaki Mayor Yoshitaka Nakayama said at the time that Japan hoped to rename the islands because China frequently dispatched vessels to waters around the islands, and even expelled Japanese fishing vessels in the area.    [FULL  STORY]

Asian countries are well-suited to handle the sharp rise in public debt – with some exceptions, says Bred Setser.

CNA
Date: 21 Jun 2020
By: Brad Setser

NEW YORK CITY: Social distancing has become the primary tool for protecting public health amid the coronavirus pandemic, and its inevitable impact on economic life has required governments to provide income and support to those who can no longer work, even as spending on public health rises.

Nearly all governments globally are now running large fiscal deficits, and a sharp rise in the stock of public debt globally is expected.

Asian countries, though, are well-suited to handle this increase in public debt – with some exceptions.

FISCAL SURPLUSES OF TAIWAN AND SOUTH KOREA

Economies like Taiwan and South Korea have it relatively easy. Taiwan was running a 10.5 per cent of GDP current account surplus before the virus, using its high level of savings to invest around the world. Its life insurers in particular were big buyers of risky global bonds.

Thanks to an effective public health response, Taiwan appears likely to avoid the kind of economic shock experienced by Europe and the United States.    [FULL  STORY]

NavelNews.net
Date: June 21, 2020
By:  Ryan White

According to the local military sources, PLA Navy will send the Liaoning and the Shandong aircraft carrier, with escort ships from three major fleets into a dual carrier strike group to conduct a large-scale military exercise around Taiwan and in the South China Sea this summer. Now PLA Navy officials are working on this large-scale exercise.

China’s aircraft carriers, the Liaoning and Shandong, are being deployed for the first time last month in Bohai Bay in the Yellow Sea to conduct combat readiness drills.

On May 12, Kyodo News reported that the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA’s) Southern Theater Command is planning a simulated invasion of the Dongsha islands with Hainan island as its practice field. The mock invasion will reportedly take place in August and include a large number of marines, landing ships, hovercraft, and helicopters. The new information from local sources supports the previously reported news.

China’s first home-built aircraft carrier called the Shandong formally entered service on December 17, 2019. Commissioned by President Xi Jinping, the new warship represents a major milestone in the country’s efforts to build up its naval power. It is China’s second aircraft carrier after the Liaoning, which is a refitted vessel purchased from Ukraine.
[FULL  STORY]

Wu had been missing for 6 days after snorkeling in Liuqui Township with Korean friend

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/06/21
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Reporter

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The body of a man who went missing in the island township of Liuqiu (小琉球, Xiao Liuqiu) while snorkeling was found dead by the Coast Guard on a shore of Green Island Saturday (June 20) and has been identified as a Changhua County man surnamed Wu (巫).

On June 14, Wu went scuba snorkeling with a Korean friend in the waters off Liuqiu Township, which is an island off the coast of Taiwan's southern Pingtung County, per CNA. Wu's friend was later found dead at the bottom of Liuqiu's Shanfu Fishing Harbor on June 15, but Wu remained missing.

Wu's family asked the public to aid them in their search. Desperate for information about his fate, they even offered a reward to be paid even in the event he was found dead.

On Saturday, members of the Coast Guard, who had been searching for Wu for days, found the body of a man near Jaurih Hot Spring (朝日溫泉) on Green Island, off the coast of southeastern Taiwan. The Coast Guard said that the deceased was between 50 and 60 years of age with a height of about 170 cm.    [FULL  STORY]