Radio Taiwan International
Date: 29 October, 2020
By: John Van Trieste
The head of Taiwan’s National Security Bureau, Chiu Kuo-cheng, says that despite tensions with China, there will not be any abrupt changes to the cross-strait status quo.
Chiu was responding to a Mainland Affairs Council official who recently told reporters that the two sides of the strait are preparing for war and warned of the possible consequences for Taiwan.
[FULL STORY]
Asia News
Date: 10/29/2020
Zhu Fenglian, from the Taiwan Affairs Bureau, was slamming the new US arms sale in Taipei when 
she was asked an embarrassing question. Caught off guard, it took her several minutes to respond with “pre-packaged” answers. Taiwanese politician notes that Beijing has not yet considered the quasi war scenario, and its press officers cannot act independently.
Beijing (AsiaNews) – Yesterday, a reporter’s question unnerves Zhu Fenglian, spokeswoman for Taiwan Affairs Office of the Chinese State Council, if China and Taiwan are in a state of "quasi war".
The official was answering a series of questions about the US approval of a new arms package for the island, the second in a week, worth a total of US$ 4.2 billion dollars.
The issue began with Chao Chien-min, dean of social sciences at Chinese Culture University in Taipei, who had said that China and Taiwan had entered a “quasi-war status”.
When asked about it, Zhu kept flipping through her notes in silence for 30 seconds before awkwardly asking reporters to move on to other questions first. [FULL STORY]
Next week will be decisive moment to determine storm's route
Taiwan News
Date: 2020/10/29
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer
Typhoon Molave hit the Vietnamese city of Da Nang Wednesday (AP photo)
At present, a tropical depression is developing southeast of Guam, and it is expected to turn into the 20th tropical storm of the season on Friday (Oct. 30), the Liberty Times reported. As such, it will take the name Atsani, the Thai word for lightning.
The most recent forecasts show the storm heading in a northwesterly direction at 19 kilometers per hour, which by the second half of next week could show it passing through an area including the Philippine island of Luzon, the Bashi Channel, and possibly south Taiwan.
Taiwanese weather expert Peng Chi-ming (彭啟明) said the movements of high-pressure areas over the Pacific seemed to indicate that the storm could pass closer to the country than previous ones. However, forecasters should wait until next week before being able to present a more accurate analysis, he said. [FULL STORY]
Focus Taiwan
Date: 10/29/2020
By: Chang Hsiung-feng and Evelyn Kao
Image taken from the Central Weather Bureau’s website
The storm is likely to intensify, but whether it brings moisture to Taiwan will depend on its future development, said CWB meteorologist Yeh Chih-chun (葉致均).
As of 2 p.m., the storm was located around 1,710 kilometers in waters east-southeast of Eluanbi, the southernmost point of Taiwan.
It was moving west at a speed of 20 kilometers per hour, carrying maximum sustained winds of 72 kph, with gusts of up to 101 kph, the bureau said. [FULL STORY]
NEWS CONFERENCE: The administration is ignoring local governments’ right to autonomy as well as blocking legislative action, Alicia Wang said
Taipei Time
Date: Oct 30, 2020
By: Sherry Hsiao / Staff reporter
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday criticized what it said was the government’s “domineering” stance on the importation of pork products containing traces of the animal feed additive ractopamine.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Aug. 28 announced that the government would ease restrictions on imports of US pork containing the leanness-enhancing drug, as well as beef from cattle aged 30 months or older.
The policy is expected to take effect on Jan. 1.
“To ensure that US pork with leanness-enhancing agents can successfully come to Taiwan on Jan. 1, the entire Tsai administration is now blocking everything,” KMT Culture and Communications Committee chairwoman Alicia Wang (王育敏) told a news conference at the party’s headquarters in Taipei. [FULL STORY]
Radio Taiwan International
Date: .28 October, 2020
By: Natalie Tso
Harpoon missiles
The US State Department on Monday gave the go-ahead to the sale of 100 Harpoon Coastal Defense Systems to Taiwan, with a price tag of US$2.37 billion. The package still has to be approved by Congress.
The Defense Ministry spokesperson thanked the US State Department, saying that the weapons can strengthen Taiwan’s combat and asymmetrical warfare capabilities. He said they will help upgrade the military's overall defense capabilities.
The new arms package includes 100 Harpoon missiles worth US$2.37 billion. [FULL STORY]
Bloomberg News
Date: Oct. 28, 2020
By: Samson Ellis and Cindy Wang
(Bloomberg) — A Taiwanese fighter jet crashed and its pilot was killed while training over the Western Pacific, highlighting concerns about the island’s aging military fleet at a time of increased pressure from China’s air force.
Rescuers are searching for a Taiwanese F-5 jet after it plunged into the sea just a few hundred meters off the east coast of Taitung county during a training exercise Thursday morning, according to a Defense Ministry spokesman. The pilot, who had ejected and was rescued, later died despite hours of emergency treatment.
The incident fuels mounting worries about the reliability of the older aircraft in Taiwan’s aging military fleet at a time of near-daily Chinese incursions into the island’s air defense identification zone.
Taiwan has scrambled almost 3,000 jets this year in response to approaches by more than 1,700 Chinese aircraft, Defense Minister Yen De-fa told lawmakers earlier this month. Chinese jets have entered Taiwan’s ADIZ 19 days in a row this month, according to Defense Ministry data.
[FULL STORY]
Focus Taiwan
Date: 10/28/2020
By: Joseph Yeh
The event in 2019. CNA file photo
Currently in its 12th year, the festival which has become one of Taiwan's most popular Halloween events, will kick off on Friday night with a parade featuring thousands of participants wearing costumes and marching behind Tienmu Elementary School Symphony Band, according to the Tianmu Marketplace Development Association.
The parade is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. in front of Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store's Tienmu Branch and proceed along Zhongcheng Road before reaching Dayeh Takashimaya Department Store.
On Saturday, a total of 250 stores and businesses in the Tienmu area will place pumpkin lanterns outside their stores to identify themselves as trick-or-treat destinations. [FULL STORY]
Taipei Times
Date: Oct 29, 2020
By Sherry Hsiao / Staff reporter
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City councilors yesterday protest against Democratic Progressive Party councilors for boycotting a deliberation of proposed amendments to the Taipei City Self-Governing Regulations for Food Safety.
Photo: Cheng Ming-hsiang, Taipei Times
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Aug. 28 announced that, starting on Jan. 1, Taiwan would ease restrictions on imports of US pork containing the leanness-enhancing drug, as well as beef from cattle aged 30 months or older.
The policy “lacks not only supporting administrative actions, but also a complete risk assessment,” Chiang said at a weekly KMT Central Standing Committee meeting in Taipei. “It directly affects the food safety environment of people.”
Two months after Tsai’s announcement of the policy, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration “is still unable to give the people a reasonable decisionmaking process and reason” for allowing the imports, Chiang said. [FULL STORY]
Focus Taiwan
Date: 10/27/2020
By Chen Wei-ting, Hao Hsueh-chin and Ko Lin
CNA file photo
CDC physician Tsou Tsung-pei (鄒宗珮) said the four individuals, who were aged between 62 and 77 years old, had all suffered from chronic illnesses such as heart disease. Medical experts believed that their deaths were related to their existing conditions and were not caused by their flu vaccinations, she said. [FULL STORY]
