National health program has been operating in the red, reserve fund will be depleted next year

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/11/192
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan is poised to raise its National Health Insurance (NHI) rates as the national health program has been operating in the red and its reserve fund will be depleted next year.

It’s estimated that the losses of the NHI program will reach NT$7.71 billion (US$2.57 billion) by the end of next year, which has prompted the National Health Insurance Committee to hold a meeting on Friday (Nov. 20) to discuss the possibility of raising the insurance rate from the current 4.69 percent to over 5 percent, per CNA.

It’s reported that two proposals have been on the table, with the consumer's version recommending a raise of the rate to 5.47 percent, while the medical community’s version recommends hiking it to 5.52 percent.

The consumer's version will raise the monthly premium for people with a monthly salary of NT$42,000 from NT$591 to NT$689, or NT$98 more, while the medical community’s version will cost the same group of people NT$104 more, or a monthly premium of NT$695.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 11/19/2020
By: Hsiao Po-wen and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, Nov. 19 (CNA) The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau's (MJIB) maritime affairs unit will take full responsibility for the loss of 6.5 kilograms of amphetamines when it was transferred to a laboratory in the bureau's forensic science unit, Investigation Bureau Director-General Leu Weng-jong (呂文忠) said 6Thursday.

The case stems from the seizure of a haul of amphetamines by the Maritime Affairs Field Division's Keelung Field Office in March 2019, which was found to be missing earlier this month during an internal check by the division.

An investigator in charge of the case Chan Meng-lin (詹孟霖) reported that the haul was lost in November last year after being sent to a MJIB forensic laboratory in Hsintien, New Taipei. It was supposed to be delivered by another investigator Cheng Yi (鄭翊), but never reached the lab.

Leu said during a legislative committee meeting that the incident was caused by problems in the Keelung office's internal control system and the bureau will review and further tighten its drug and evidence management and control measures.    [FULL  STORY]

PRESS FREEDOM URGED: The NCC’s ruling was a warning to media outlets not to defy the government, a former GIO director during Chen Shui-bian’s administration said

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 20, 2020
By: Shelley Shan / Staff reporter

Dozens of CTi News’ supporters yesterday rallied outside the National Communications Commission (NCC) in Taipei to protest the commissioners’ decision on Wednesday not to renew the news channel’s license.

Calling the decision political, protesters sprayed red paint over a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) flag, and urged members of the public to defend freedom of speech and press freedom by attending a rally in Taipei on Sunday.

At the protest, former Chinese National Party (KMT) legislator Shen Chih-hwei (沈智慧) said the government had used the commission to shut down a news channel, and the reasons that it gave for the decision went completely against freedom of the press.

The commission even told the public which channel should replace CTi News in the channel No. 52 slot, Shen said.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 11/18/2020
By: Chen Wei-ting and Joseph Yeh

Taipei, Nov. 18 (CNA) All migrant workers coming from Indonesia to Taiwan will be required to undergo 14-days of quarantine at government-designated sites starting Nov. 20 due to a spike in the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases from that country in recent days, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said Wednesday.

Currently, only migrant workers hired by local social welfare sector, such as caregivers, and individuals re-entering the country from Indonesia are required to undergo such quarantine while those hired by local industries have to undergo quarantine for two weeks at their residence in Taiwan as arranged by their employers.

According to the CECC, from March 27 to Nov. 16, a total of 4,180 Indonesian migrant workers underwent compulsory two-week quarantine at government-designated locations while another 2,382 did so at their residence.

Meanwhile, the CECC also announced its decision to suspend four Indonesian employment agencies from sending Indonesian migrant workers to Taiwan starting Nov. 20, after at least 20 have been found by Taiwanese health authorities to have contracted the coronavirus in recent days.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 17 November, 2020
By: Natalie Tso

The 2020 Taiwan Documentary Film Festival in Thailand was held in six cities in Thailand. (photo: Ministry of Culture)

The Taiwan Documentary Film Festival in Thailand was a great success this month and it is going online for the world to view beginning November 20. 

This is the third time the annual festival was held in Thailand. It featured nine films and three shorts and was held in six cities. The festival was very popular and saw the three showings of the premiere sold out in five days. 

The nine Taiwanese films featured are “Blood Amber”, “Light”, "Swimming on the Highway”, “The Shepherds”, “The End of the Track”, “Our Youth in Taiwan”, “Turning 18”, “Opening Closing Forgetting”, and “14 Apples”. 

The festival was organized by Taipei Economic and Culture Office in Thailand, Taiwan Film Institute, Taiwan Docs, Thailand Creative & Design Center (TCDC), the Thailand Documentary Club and other professional film and art organizations in Thailand.     [FULL  STORY]

Newsweek
Date: 11/17/20
BY: JOHN FENG SHARE

The Chinese Navy released footage of a simulated beach assault on Tuesday as state media says President Xi Jinping is preparing for wars on multiple fronts.

Chinese Communist Party newspaper Global Times also voiced its support for the release of a so-called "Taiwan secessionists" blacklist, just two weeks after a former Taiwanese intelligence officer warned that such an announcement would be a precursor of a cross-strait armed conflict.

The official People's Liberation Army video was captured off the coast of China's southern province of Guangdong, where joint armed forces exercises are being held between November 17 and 30, the state-run tabloid said.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan No.7 source of foreign students in the US

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/11/17
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The number of Taiwanese studying in the United States has increased for five years running, according to the 2020 Open Doors Report mentioned by the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Tuesday (Nov. 17).

During the 2019-2020 academic year, a total of 23,724 Taiwanese students were enrolled at U.S. colleges and universities, or 1.5 percent more than the previous year. Taiwan was listed as the seventh largest source of foreign students in the U.S. for the sixth consecutive year, behind China, India, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Canada, and Vietnam.

The proportion of graduate students from Taiwan fell slightly, by 0.4 percent to 39.3 percent of all Taiwanese students in the U.S. The number of undergraduates went up by 1.7 percent to reach 31 percent.

The report noted much more significant shifts in the proportion of Taiwanese students attending Optional Practical Training (OPT) programs, rising 7.9 percent to reach 23.2 percent, and in those enrolled in non-degree programs, plunging 8.3 percent to 6.4 percent.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 11/17/2020
By: Chen Wei-ting and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, Nov. 17 (CNA) People in Taiwan may be able to obtain a COVID-19 vaccine, developed and produced by international companies, by mid-2021, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said Tuesday.

An experimental vaccine developed by the American biotech company Moderna Inc. has yielded striking early results, showing close to 95 percent efficacy, it was announced Monday, one week after Pfizer and BioNTech reported promising results in their joint COVID-19 vaccine trials.

Asked about Taiwan's plans to acquire COVID-19 vaccines, CECC spokesman Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said Tuesday that while the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines are in the third stage of human trials, there are other candidates.

Taiwan will not focus on any one vaccine candidate but rather would try to acquire them through the COVAX allocation plan, domestic research and development programs, and from international drug makers, he said.    [FULL  STORY]