Financial Express
Date: November 29, 2020
By: fe Features

The needs of people with disabilities are often overlooked and the pandemic has only made this worse. But now, small steps are being taken to rectify the situation

People with autism now have a cool place to hang out in Taipei City in Taiwan, as the nightclub Chess Taipei has started hosting events for them. For one party, guests were given masks and guided by an instructor to dance the night away. About 30 people showed up at the club, which is for people aged 18 and above. Tsai Ping-kun, the deputy mayor of Taipei, called the event the first of its kind in Asia. “The reason we are doing this is because of an important belief,” Ping-kun told Associated Press. “The belief in equal rights. Each person should have the opportunity and the right to use all kinds of facilities in this city.”

The needs of people with disabilities are often overlooked. And the pandemic has only made things worse. In fact, a majority of the population may have experienced by now what it feels to be socially excluded and isolated. Needless to say, it’s imperative that activities and community events are organised for those living in solitary confinement, so that they can meet like-minded people.

Adam Yi is one of the organisers of the Chess Taipei initiative through the charity he volunteers with called Sport and Recreational Activity Association for People with Autism. Yi was already looking for something like this and now he’s a part of creating it. The chairman of the organisation, Lee Tong-lin, found the event to be moving. “This is helpful for people with autism, very helpful,” Tong-lin told Associated Press. “As you might have seen, they were all pretty excited when dancing. They were very happy, and they were interacting with each other.”
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date:11/28/2020
By: Wang Shu-fen and Lee Hsin-Yin

Taipei, Nov. 28 (CNA) The Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) will launch a three-day train package tour on New Year's Eve featuring a refurbished Chu-kuang Express trains, the train that heralded a new era in Taiwan rail travel.

Lion Travel, which the TRA outsourced to operate the service, said earlier this week that the two "Future Express" trains will debut on Dec. 31, one departing late at night from Taipei and the other from Taichung in central Taiwan, to celebrate New Year's Eve aboard.

Both trains will leave from the TRA's Nangang Station in Taipei and Taichung Station at 11:50 p.m., and arrive at Taimali in southeastern Taiwan's Taitung County at 5 a.m. on New Year's Day, the travel agency said.

A total of 220 passengers will be able to watch the first rays of the sun of 2021 at around 6:36 a.m., the agency said.    [FULL  STORY]

STOCK MANIPULATION: The PJ Asset Management Co executive allegedly told a labor fund manager that he would pay him for buying shares at above market prices

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 29, 2020
By: Staff writer, with CNA

A PJ Asset Management Co executive accused of bribing a Ministry of Labor official in charge of managing a labor fund was yesterday released after posting NT$300,000 (US$10,413) in bail, the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said.

The executive, surnamed Chiu, allegedly bribed ministry official Yu Nai-wen (游迺文) to manipulate select stocks by making purchases from the labor fund’s pool of money, prosecutors said.

Because he gave Yu bribes, Chiu was charged with breaches of the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例) and the Securities and Exchange Act (證券交易法), they said.

The charges came yesterday after the prosecutors’ office launched a second investigation into the case.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 26 November, 2020
By: John Van Trieste

Taiwan recorded two new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, bringing the total number of cases it has recorded so far up to 625. Both new cases were imported.

One patient is a Taiwanese citizen who returned to Taiwan on Tuesday after having studied in the US. He developed symptoms of COVID-19 while still in the US, and informed airport health officials of them upon his arrival in Taiwan. A test administered at the airport came back positive on Thursday.

The other patient is Indonesian. She presented no symptoms of COVID-19 after arriving in Taiwan from Indonesia on November 9. She began feeling unwell on November 22, while still in quarantine, but believed her condition was mild and continued to report that she had no symptoms.    [FULL  STORY]

Epoch Times
Date: November 26, 2020
By: Frank Fang

AIPEI, Taiwan—The Taiwanese government has condemned the regime in Beijing for its harsh treatment of a Taiwanese citizen who was sentenced in China to four years in prison.

Shih Cheng-ping, a retired assistant professor at the island’s National Taiwan Normal University, was recently found guilty of espionage and sentenced by the Intermediate People’s Court in Anshan, a city located in eastern China’s Anhui Province. The conviction was announced during a daily briefing on Nov. 25 by Zhu Fenglian, spokesperson for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO), an agency under the cabinet-like State Council.

Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), in a statement on Nov. 25, described Shih’s sentencing as “malicious political entrapment,” and an act that tarnished academic exchanges between the two sides. The MAC is a government agency responsible for cross-strait affairs.

MAC criticized Beijing for making false statements when it said that Shih’s litigation rights were being protected, when, in fact, his basic human rights were ignored, since his family members weren’t allowed to visit him.    [FULL  STORY]

Five excursion train models will cater to various passenger needs

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/11/26
By: Huang Tzu-ti, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) is introducing a tourist train fleet featuring various sightseeing themes that will enter service in the coming years.

The fleet will include five types of trains, according to a rail tourism strategy drafted by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC). The plan was submitted for legislative review on Thursday (Nov. 26), wrote CNA.

Under the strategy, the company will launch two types of train models on Jan. 1 of next year. They include the “Future” (鳴日號) railcars that bear a vibrant design of black and orange and provide high-end dining services as well as another train designed with a jaunty, blue theme to provoke nostalgia.

2022 will see the introduction of another two types of excursion trains, one running along the coasts, the other offering rides through mountainous scenery. The most luxurious travel experiences can be expected in 2024, when a fleet of newly purchased sleeping cars will provide passengers with overnight accommodation.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 11/26/2020
By: Chen Yun-yu, Yang Shu-ching and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, Nov. 26 (CNA) Nine more staff members at Taiwan's representative office in the United States tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday (U.S. time), after two cases were reported the previous day, forcing the closure of the office's consular hall, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA).

The office has arranged for all staff to take a second test to confirm the results and the building has been closed for disinfecting, MOFA said Thursday (Taipei time), adding that consular services are currently being processed by mail only.

After two staff members were diagnosed with COVID-19 on Tuesday, the Washington office arranged tests for their close contacts which returned a further nine positive results, MOFA said.

Taiwan's representative to the U.S. Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴), who had contact with some of the infected staff members, has tested negative and been in self-isolation at home, according to MOFA.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 27, 2020
By: Jason Pan / Staff reporter

The Economic Democracy Union yesterday accused travel agency ezTravel of maintaining ties to Chinese government agencies and receiving funding from Beijing in exchange for leaking customer data.

EzTravel is effectively controlled by Singapore-based Trip.com, union secretary-general Chiang Min-yen (江旻諺) told a news conference at the Legislative Yuan.

“While all nine members on Trip.com’s board of directors are Chinese, two of them also serves as consultative members to the Chinese Communist Party,” Chiang said, adding that Eztravel’s ties to Trip.com might contravene Taiwanese law.

Three members on ezTravel’s board of directors are Chinese, he said, adding that “they would probably pass on personal information of Taiwanese travelers to the Chinese government, if Beijing demands it.”    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 25 November, 2020
By: Paula Chao

Taiwan reported five new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday. This brings the total number of cases Taiwan has recorded so far up to 623.

All five cases are imported. Three of the patients are from Indonesia and the other two come from the Philippines.    [FULL  STORY]

Or do these small warships not really post a threat?

National Interest
Date: November 25, 2020
By: Kris Osborn

Armed with surface-to-air missiles, 30mm guns and even anti-ship missiles, a group of Chinese Type 022 stealth missile boats fired weapons, conducted combat operations and moved in a deliberately threatening way in the South China Sea and near the coast of Taiwan. 

A flotilla of the boats (fast-attack craft that have been in existence since 2004) are trained in “comprehensive attack and defense, air defense and anti-terrorism,” according to a story in the Chinese-government backed Global Times. The war preparations, the report continued, should “serve as a strong deterrent to Taiwan secessionists and forces with ulterior motives in the South China Sea.” 

While referred to as “stealth,” the Type 022 missile boats exhibit many shapes, antennas and protruding structures likely to generate a return radar signature, a configuration which would appear somewhat less stealthy. The 140-ft fast attack craft are built with slightly rounded or curved hull shapes and very few sharp edges on the exterior, yet the boats do operate with a protruding mast and a range of vertical structures easily detectable to enemy radar. 
[FULL  STORY]