Radio Taiwan International
Date: 27 January, 2020
By: Leslie Liao

The Ministry of Education is updating its U-start plan, which encourages innovation and entrepreneurship among students. Two major changes will come to the U-start program this year. Firstly, the number of industry categories that teams can apply under has been expanded. Secondly, the program has partnered with the Council of Indigenous Peoples to encourage applicants to incorporate indigenous elements in their innovation and ideas.    [FULL  STORY]

Breitbart
Date: 27 Jan 20202
By: John Hayward

The people of Taiwan have been largely sympathetic to the protest movement in Hong Kong, not least because the Taiwanese see Hong Kong as a cautionary tale about Beijing’s “one country, two systems” assimilation offer.

The South China Morning Post (SCMP) on Monday reported on some Taiwanese organizations and businesses that are very active in supporting the Hong Kong protests, to the point of sending them hundreds of thousands of dollars in supplies.

One major Taiwanese backer of the Hong Kong protests is the Chi-Nan Presbyterian Church, which has offered assistance to Hong Kongers fleeing the city as well as supporting those who remain to demonstrate against the government. The church knows exactly what the demonstrators need – its aid shipments to Hong Kong have included gas masks, helmets, and supplies to help recover from exposure to tear gas and pepper spray.

Volunteer Kong Chao-ksun told the South China Morning Post the church may establish a full-blown non-governmental organization (NGO) in Hong Kong to facilitate further assistance to the protesters. The church has sent over half a million dollars in aid so far.    [FULL  STORY]

Other Chinese groups should leave by Jan. 31

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/01/27
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – All tour groups from the coronavirus-stricken Chinese province of Hubei have left Taiwan, while other Chinese groups should return home by the end of the month, the Tourism Bureau said Monday (Jan. 27).

The last two groups of tourists visiting from Hubei, totaling 37 people, had left Taiwan Monday, CNA quoted a news release from the Tourism Bureau as saying.

The demand for their departure had been issued last Jan. 24 as the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) had been expanding in China and reaching Taiwan. So far, the island has recorded five cases, while in China, the official number has exceeded 2,000, with 80 deaths announced.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 01/27/2020
By: William Yen

Filip Grzegorzewski, head of the European Economic and Trade Office in Taiwan unveiling a presentation of the European Union pavilion that will be seen at the 2020 Taipei International Book Exhibition / Photo courtesy of the Taipei International Book Exhibition

Taipei, Jan. 27 (CNA) The annual Taipei International Book Exhibition (TIBE) will include a large international section exploring culture and literature from Europe and parts of Asia when it kicks off next week.

Book lovers can embark on a journey of adventure across multiple destinations around the world by flipping through the pages of their favorite books and listening to talks by guest speakers at the TIBE which will be held at the Taipei World Trade Center from Feb. 4 until Feb. 9.

The European Union pavilion will display books written in all 24 of its official languages with particular emphasis on literature from nine of its member states — Austria, Czech Republic, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden.

One section of the pavilion will also showcase 14 outstanding and emerging literary talents who received the "European Union Prize for Literature" in 2019.    [FULL  STORY]

Anadolu Agency
Date: 26.01.2020
By: Burak Dag

Taiwan offered on Saturday its condolences to Turkey after an earthquake in the country's east left at least 35 people dead and more than a thousand injured.

The 6.8-magnitude quake shook Turkey's eastern Elazig province late Friday. Tremors were also felt in neighboring countries including Syria and Georgia.

The Taiwanese Foreign Ministry voiced sorrow at the loss of lives from the earthquake, according to a statement.

The statement recalled how Turkey was among the few countries which dispatched a rescue team to Taiwan 20 years ago when it suffered a similar earthquake.

“The Taiwanese society until today still remembers the efforts provided by Turkey. According to the messages left on Taiwan mission’s Facebook page, many of them already made donations to Turkey’s disaster relief organizations, in appreciation of Turkey’s assistance in 1999, ” the statement concluded.    [FULL  STORY]

President Tsai and a senior U.S. official called for Taiwan’s inclusion in the WHO as the nation confirmed its first coronavirus case on Tuesday.

The Diplomat
Date: January 24, 2020
By: Nick Aspinwall\

Taiwan has confirmed its first Wuhan coronavirus case and closed its borders to all residents of Wuhan amid concerns that the country’s exclusion from the World Health Organization (WHO) is keeping it from receiving timely updates on the deadly epidemic.

Chinese authorities imposed a lockdown on Wuhan and two neighboring cities on Thursday, effectively barring residents from leaving the cities. All direct flights between Taiwan and Wuhan were canceled as of Thursday, with Taiwanese carriers China Airlines and Mandarin Airlines announcing cancellations through February 27.

Taiwan’s Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said on Tuesday a 55-year-old woman working in Wuhan tested positive for the coronavirus after arriving at Taoyuan International Airport on Monday and telling quarantine officials she was suffering from a fever.

A CDC spokesperson said on Wednesday that the woman has experienced slight shortness of breath while walking but is in stable condition.    [FULL  STORY]

An 11-year-old girl and a 38-year-old woman recently traveled to China’s Suzhou and Shanghai, respectively

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/01/26
By: Teng Pei-ju, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A total of four people in Taiwan’s offshore archipelago of Penghu are now being kept in quarantine due to suspected infections of a novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), which is believed to have spread from the Chinese city of Wuhan since last December.

Penghu County Magistrate Lai Feng-wei (賴峰偉) made the announcement via Facebook on Saturday evening (Jan. 25).

The first suspected case is an 11-year-old girl who traveled to China’s Suzhou City from Jan. 11-18. The girl was hospitalized on Saturday after having coughs and a fever measuring 38.7 Celsius degrees.

A 38-year-old woman who recently returned to Penghu from Shanghai has also suffered similar symptoms. The woman and her husband and child, along with the 11-year-old girl, are being accommodated separately in the negative-pressure isolation wards of the Tri-Service General Hospital Penghu Branch.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 01/26/2020
By: Chen Cheng-wei and Joseph Yeh

Taipei, Jan. 26 (CNA) A weather front that arrived in Taiwan on Sunday has sent temperatures lower and brought rain to most of the country, with snow likely in mountainous areas, according to the Central Weather Bureau (CWB).

Due to the weather front, daytime highs in low-lying areas are expected to range between 18 and 21 degrees Celsius in northern Taiwan and between 21 and 25 degrees in other parts of the country, the CWB said.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 27, 2020
By: Yang Yuan-ting and Dennis Xie  /  Staff reporter, with staff writer

The Forestry Bureau’s new “Forest of Wood” calendar is following the success of 2018’s

“Forest of Food” edition that featured edible plants, with more than 20,000 copies of this year’s calendar sold.

January’s page in this year’s calendar features Taiwanese wooden folk toys, because the bureau wants to raise awareness of ecological conservation among young people in urban areas with the calendars, Director-General Lin Hwa-ching (林華慶) said.

“A calendar is a good way to open a dialogue with the public. Before we can convince people how important it is to conserve forested areas and win their support, we must let them know that the bureau exists,” he said.

Most people know very little about the bureau, but it is the central government body that promotes ecological conservation, managing nearly half of the total land in the nation, including 1.62 million hectares of government-owned forests and protected forests, he said.

The bureau issued many publications and hosted speeches and seminars, but never managed to reach a wider audience than those who were already interested in forestry, so he decided to use a different approach when he took office in 2016, Lin said.

Drawing on his experience at the Ministry of Culture, he replaced photographs in the annual calendar with hand-drawn illustrations, because he thought young people would like the more lively style, he said.    [FULL  STORY]