LEARNING FROM MISTAKES: The first bid at ending vaccinations in 2009 and getting off the OIE list failed as the foot-and-mouth virus was still present in the environment

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 15, 2020
By: Chien Hui-ju and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writer

Taiwan’s success in eliminating foot-and-mouth disease has been due to respect accorded animal health experts, Council of Agriculture (COA) Minister Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲) said yesterday, amid speculation that the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) is ready to remove the nation from a list of countries free of the disease without vaccination, perhaps as early as today.

Removal from the OIE’s list means that Taiwan would be able to export fresh pork products once again.

Taiwan had been free of foot-and-mouth disease for more than 68 years before an outbreak of the disease in March 1997, forcing the culling of millions of pigs and crippling the nation’s pork industry.

The council first tried ending the use of foot-and-mouth vaccines for pigs in January 2009, but the following month seven cases of the disease were reported, Chen said.    [FULL  STORY]

Global Times
Date: 2020/6/14
By: Yang Sheng

Taiwan's separatist Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authority has delayed announcing its plan to receive and resettle Hong Kong separatists and illegal activists who plan to escape to Taiwan due to new national security legislation for Hong Kong.

Experts from the Chinese mainland noted that the DPP authority won't sincerely help these lawbreakers as they can only be useful if they stay in Hong Kong and interrupt the "one country, two systems" principle.

If they tried to escape, they would be useless and an encumbrance to Taiwan. Most of them have neither money nor talent, so most of them will surely be abandoned. 

On May 28, the regional leader of the island, Tsai Ing-wen, vowed to "proactively rescue" those who could be punished by the new national security law due their illegal activates in Hong Kong. The plan was handed to the executive branch of the authority, and the mainland affairs council of Taiwan said that the plan would be announced within a week. So far, however, nothing has been announced.    [FULL  STORY]

Epoch Times
Date: June 13, 2020
By:  Epoch Video

Han Kuo-yu is the first Taiwan mayor ever removed from the office. Some netizens prepared a short film showing how Han dishonored his promises, as well as his various misstatements, and more importantly, his close relationship with the CCP.

Why did Kaohsiung citizens vote to oust Han in 2020? In November 2018, Han was elected as the mayor of Kaohsiung, the third-largest city in Taiwan; but started a campaign for president less than five months later. He also made a lot of misstatements, making him a controversial figure. It was revealed in 2019 that Han was part of the Ph.D. program of Government and Management at Peking University in China from 2001 to 2009. Thus, he is basically an agent trained by the CCP. Although Han Kuo-Yu denies it, his relationship with the CCP has always been in question.

In a press conference with reporters on November 27, 2019.

A reporter asked: “Do you think the CCP has intervened in Taiwan’s elections? Will you call on the CCP to not interfere with Taiwan’s election?”    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/06/14
By:  Central News Agency

Taiwan needs to be better prepared for offensives by China's state-supported maritime militia, which Beijing uses to further its political, economic and military goals in the region, Taiwanese security analysts said in a recent study.

China's maritime militia has been harassing or attacking vessels from other countries in the region, and Taiwan must take steps to counter the threat, Paul Huang (黃恩浩) and Hung Ming-te (洪銘德) wrote in a paper titled "China's maritime militia and the gray zone conflicts" published on June 5.

Huang and Hung, researchers with the government-funded Institute for National Defense and Security Research (INDSR), said the use of this armed fishing militia is part of Beijing's "gray zone" tactics to defend its interests without having to wage a conventional war.

The tactic prevents the offending party from responding militarily, they said, citing two recent examples.    [FULL  STYORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 06/14/2020
By: Liu Kuang-ting and Joseph Yeh

Taipei, June 14 (CNA) Taiwan has extended a helping hand to an Indonesian migrant worker with a severe autoimmune disease, making it possible for her to get a much needed bone marrow transplant, according to a local non-governmental organization (NGO).

The case emerged in February when the Indonesian national, Nina Herlina, called the Taiwan International Workers' Association (TIWA), a local NGO that promotes migrant workers' rights, after her broker wanted to terminate her contract and send her home without giving a reason.

The TIWA later learned that the decision was made after doctors suspected she had aplastic anemia, an autoimmune disease in which her body fails to produce blood cells in sufficient numbers, the NGO said in a recent Facebook post.

With the help of the TIWA, the 23-year-old Indonesian was given the chance to stay in Taiwan, where she had been since October 2018 while working as a caregiver.
[FULL  STORY]

POTENTIAL SAFE HAVEN: A rights advocate said that the law should be changed to make it clear to those in need what they would need to do to resettle in Taiwan

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 14, 2020
By: Jason Pan / Staff reporter

Civic groups yesterday urged the government to set up a humanitarian assistance program for Hong Kongers in need and a mechanism for those seeking political asylum.

At a rally at Liberty Square in Taipei marking the one-year anniversary of the start of a Hong Kong protest movement against a now-withdrawn extradition bill in the former British colony, representatives from the groups displayed banners that read: “Taiwan and Hong Kong are partners together, the struggle remains unfinished.”

Other banners said that the fight was “against the expansion of Chinese imperialism,” and that “Taiwan should have programs to assist Hong Kongers after China approves new national security legislation.”

They highlighted “police brutality against Hong Kong protesters.”    [FULL  STORY]

Magnitude 6.0 temblor rocks Yilan, all of Taiwan proper feels shock waves

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/06/14
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck off the coast of northeast Taiwan at 4:19 this morning (June 14), according to the Central Weather Bureau (CWB).

The epicenter of the temblor was located 85.3 kilometers southeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 54.8 km, according to CWB data. Taiwan uses an intensity scale of 1 to 7, which gauges the degree to which a quake is felt at a specific location.    [FULL  STORY]

ABC Radio Australia
Date: 12 Jun 2020
By: Evan Wasuka on Pacific Beat

A Solomon Islands province has been reprimanded for accepting COVID-19 donations from Taiwan, with China urging Malaita Province to refrain from contact with Taipei.

Solomon Islands switched diplomatic ties from Taiwan to China last year, ending its 36-year-long relations with Taipei.

But the donations of soaps, masks and bags of rice this week, and a statement by Malaita Premier Daniel Suidani referring to Taiwan as a state has drawn criticism.

Solomons' Foreign Minister Jeremiah Manele chided the premier for breaching the One China Policy which recognises Taiwan as a province of China.    [FULL  STORY]

• Han Kuo-yu went from the Kuomintang’s great hope to its big disappointment in just two years, as the pro-independence camp gained momentum
• Beijing’s hardline position on the island is a barrier to peaceful cross-strait links, analysts say

South China Morning Post
Date: 13 Jun, 2020
By: Kristin Huang

Less than two years ago, Han Kuo-yu was the great hope of Taiwan’s Beijing-friendly Kuomintang party.

Running on a platform of economic prosperity for all and playing down the party’s traditional pro-unification views, Han stormed home in a traditional Democratic Progressive Party stronghold to become mayor of Kaohsiung – the island’s second-biggest city – in late 2018.

His win raised hopes within the party that he could be the one to lead them out of the electoral wilderness and forge a path towards better relations with the mainland.

In March 2019, despite no official links across the Taiwan Strait, Han made a rare trip to mainland China and held talks with top officials from the Taiwan Affairs Office.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 06/13/2020
By: Lee Hsin-Yin

Taipei, June 13 (CNA) Around 500 Taiwanese and foreign nationals flocked to the 228 Peace Memorial Park in Taipei on Saturday to show their support for the global Black Lives Matter movement, with participants saying it was a good educational opportunity.

Holding banners such as "White supremacy is the deadliest virus," "We stand with you," and "Silence is violence," event participants sang songs and knelt in tribute to Black Lives Matter and George Floyd, who was killed during an arrest by police in Minneapolis on May 25.

"We can't continue to live in a world that kills people randomly, which is just terrible," said Linda Chou, who attended the rally with her husband, child and sister.

People must do all they can to show solidarity with the black community, she said, adding that as a mother, she hoped the occasion could educate people on the importance of equality.
[FULL  STORY]