Radio Taiwan International
Date:10 February, 2020
By: Leslie Liao
Beware of online misinformation regarding the novel coronavirus
You’d think that the novel coronavirus outbreak is giving people enough to worry about. But there’s an outbreak of another sort that’s playing on public fears: an outbreak of misinformation.
This post circulating on messaging apps claims that people can fend off novel coronavirus as long as they drink hot water. Experts say that that’s too good to be true.
The victory for Bong Joon Ho’s film at the Oscars has nothing to do with representation of people like me.
The New York Times
Date: Feb. 10, 2020
By: Walter Chaw
Bong Joon Ho, the director of “Parasite,” accepting one of the four Oscars the film won on Sunday at the Academy Awards.Credit…Noel West for The New York Times
As children during China’s 1949 revolution, my parents, like so many Chinese of their generation, fled the Communist takeover of the mainland. Many of them planned to return when the Communist leadership collapsed. It doesn’t appear that any of them will live to see it. Both sides of my family landed for a while on Taiwan and then, in the early 1970s, my parents came to the United States, where I was born not long after.
I grew up in Colorado as the only person of Asian descent in most of the environments I lived in, and so learned to assimilate into American culture while rejecting, sometimes violently, my parents and their culture. And so I looked on with anxiety — and some measure of fear — as the South Korean film “Parasite” won four Academy Awards on Sunday evening, including the biggest prize of all, best picture.
The victory of “Parasite” is a stunning moment that may not also be a watershed moment. It’s certainly cause for celebration that an organization with notoriously questionable taste seems to have gotten it right this year, and it’s unquestionably huge for the South Korean film industry. But despite the initial euphoric reaction from many Asian-Americans, the “Parasite” victory has nothing to do with Asian-American representation. [FULL STORY]
Excluding Taiwan from WHO could make it a 'blind spot': Taiwanese YouTuber
Taiwan News
Date: 2020/02/11
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer
(Ray Du YouTube video screenshot)
Ray Du (都省瑞), co-founder of popular YouTube channel Ray Du English, which has nearly 2.5 million subscribers, on Monday uploaded a video titled "An open letter to the World Health Organization (from Taiwan)." Du began by pointing out that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, seven American senators, and the EU, have all backed Taiwan's participation in the group since the outbreak of the Wuhan virus began.
Du said that "disease knows no boundaries" and argued that Taiwan's participation in the organization is critical for both Taiwan and the outside world. Du said that because the disease has already spread to many countries around the world, excluding Taiwan from the organization could make it a "blind spot" in the international response to the illness.
He argued that if Taiwan had been included in the WHO during the SARS break out, the country might have been able to prevent the 73 deaths attributed to the sickness. Du then said that "Taiwan can help" because the country's health care system is frequently lauded as one of the best in the world with standards that are on a par with top countries. [FULL STORY]
Focus Taiwan
Date: 02/10/2020
By: Huang Li-yun and Joseph Yeh
Taipei, Feb. 10 (CNA) Three female suspects were questioned Sunday on suspicions that they spread a rumor of a toilet paper shortage in Taiwan, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said Monday.
Under questioning, the chief suspect surnamed Liao (廖) admitted she was responsible for starting the rumor, said Hsiao Jui-hao (蕭瑞豪), deputy chief of the CIB's 3rd Investigation Corp., at a press conference.
According to Hsiao, Liao said she read reports of the shortage of surgical masks and panic-buying in Taiwan amid fears of the spread of the coronavirus epidemic and was convinced that all products made of paper, including toilet paper, would eventually be in short supply.
The 60-year-old Liao, who works for a Kaohsiung-based direct sales company, therefore decided to urge her acquaintances via the Line messaging service to buy more toilet paper, sanitary napkins and kitchen towels from her company, according to Hsiao. [FULL STORY]
COMPENSATION NEEDED? The assets committee said in one case, the KMT overstayed the lease and then bought the land under the names of Hsu Li-te and Wu Shui-yun
Taipei Times
Date: Feb 11, 2020
By: Chen Yu-fu and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writer
The Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee is to hold a hearing on Tuesday next week to
A wall bearing the name of the Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee is pictured on June 2 last year.
Photo: Taipei Times file photo
The buildings on one property once housed the KMT’s former cultural affairs department. The Housheng building, the original headquarters of the party’s Department of Productive Enterprise, and the Chongsheng building, which used to house the party’s Taipei chapter headquarters, are on the other two properties.
The committee said that it wished to clarify whether the properties were obtained by the KMT in contravention of the bounds of a political party, or other democratic or legal principles.
If the properties — which have already been sold — were ill-gotten, it wanted to know whether the state should demand that the KMT pay it for them and how such compensation should be calculated, the committee added. [FULL STORY]
Radio Free Asia (RFA)
Date: 2020-02-07
AFP
President Tsai Ing-wen said Chinese officials had excluded some of its most vulnerable nationals from the first evacuation flight to leave Wuhan since the outbreak left the city paralyzed last month.
She also hit out at China's insistence that the World Health Organization (WHO) refer to Taiwan, which has never been part of the People's Republic of China, nor been ruled by the Chinese Communist Party, as "Taipei and environs."
"We in Taiwan are on the front line of epidemic prevention and deserve the respect of the international community," Tsai said. "In particular, our participation in the WHO is the key to a very important network for international epidemic prevention work." [FULL STORY]
Dancers gathering in MRT underpass encouraged to wear masks to prevent coronavirus transmission
Taiwan News
Date: 2020/02/08
By: Ching-Tse Cheng, Taiwan News, Staff Writer\
Student dancers dance in MRT Shuanglian station underpass. (Youtube screenshot)
Student dancers in Taipei and New Taipei are known to hold practice sessions in Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) underpasses — in particular, those of Shuanglian, Ximen, and Banqiao stations. Since the announcement of the extension of winter break, hundreds of these students have chosen to spend their time busting moves in these underground areas each day.
The MOE has pointed out that most underpasses do not have high-quality airflow even when air conditioners are on, sparking concerns that assemblies of unmasked students could create clusters of viral transmission, which is what the postponed semester was meant to avoid in the first place. The MOE has therefore encouraged students to meet outdoors instead or, at the very, least wear masks during practice.
The Secretary of the New Taipei Department of Education, Ou Jen-Hao (歐人豪), said that the government was considering closing all the city's campuses but that it has decided to keep the basketball courts and tracks open to nearby communities. He said that people should avoid being in MRT stations for long periods of time to prevent the accumulation of large crowds.
[FULL STORY]
Focus Taiwan
Date: 02/08/2020
By: Wang Shu-fen and Ko Lin
Photo for illustrative purposes only / CNA file photo
From Feb. 10, direct ferry services connecting Taiwan's Taipei, Taichung and Keelung to Fujian's Pingtan and Xiamen and Zhejiang's Damaiyu Port will be temporarily suspended amid mounting concerns over the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak that is spreading rapidly around the world.
The announcement came one day after the MAC said that ferry services between Taiwan's outlying islands and China's Fujian Province will be suspended from Monday.
According to Taiwan's top government agency responsible for handling cross-Taiwan Strait affairs, the resumption of transportation links across the Taiwan Strait will depend on how the overall situation evolves. [FULL STORY]
STAYING INDOORS: The charity said that volunteers at some stalls outnumbered customers, while sales were down 45 percent from last year
Taipei Times
Date: Feb 09, 2020
By: Tang Shih-ming / Staff reporter
Lantern sales at an annual bazaar held by the Taiwan Fund for Children and Families’
Staff from the Taiwan Fund for Children and Families’ Changhua branch yesterday sell paper lanterns at the annual lantern bazaar in Changhua County.
Photo: Tang Shih-ming, Taipei Times
The bazaar, which ends today, reported about NT$70,000 (US$2,324) in sales at a stall at the city’s Carrefour, representing a 70 percent drop from last year, while sales at a stall in Sanmin Market fell 60 percent compared with the previous year, the organization said yesterday.
As of yesterday, sales at stalls nationwide stood at about NT$1.8 million, down 45 percent from last year’s NT$3.1 million, it said.
Since 2013, the fund’s local branches have sold lanterns leading up to the Lantern Festival, with proceeds going to the education and healthcare of children from disadvantaged families, branch director Wang Chen-kuang (王震光) said. [FULL STORY]
Fears over the novel coronavirus epidemic have led to a surge in racially motivated attacks abroad
Taiwan News
Date: 2020/02/07
By: Ching-Tse Cheng, Taiwan News, Staff Writer
Taiwanese students have been picked on in Russia due to coronavirus outbreak. (Pixabay photo)
Ever since the Wuhan virus started in December, there has been a rising number of coronavirus-related attacks on Asians in foreign countries. Following news of Chinese tourists being spat on in Italy, two Taiwanese students in Russia have shared their stories.
One of the students, surnamed Tsai (蔡), said he was attacked on a subway train in Moscow for wearing a mask and having Asian looks. He said he was picked on by a Russian male as soon as he entered the train compartment and was verbally assaulted.
Tsai said it seemed the man mistook him for being a Chinese national and called him a "virus." He added the man repeatedly struck him around the head while the other passengers watched on. [FULL STORY]
