Focus Taiwan
Date: 10/21/2020
By: Tyson Lu and Joseph Yeh

Taitung, Oct. 21 (CNA) A long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that was developed in Taiwan was launched on a rare test flight over the ocean off the east coast of the country Tuesday.

The medium-altitude Teng Yun UAV took off from Taitung Air Base around 5 p.m. Tuesday, heading out over the Pacific Ocean, then returned to the base around 7 p.m.

It was a rare long distance test flight for the UAV, which was developed by the military's top research unit, the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST), and normally takes only short flights over the Taitung Air Base.

The unusual test flight gave rise to speculations among military observers in Taiwan that it was linked to the Air Force's annual Tien Lung drill that kicked off on Oct. 19 and will continue until Oct. 30.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 22, 2020
By: Staff writer, with CNA

Former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) on Tuesday said that Taiwan

must not take sides in the US presidential election, adding that the nation’s security has to be its top priority amid a confrontation between the US and China.

“Taiwan must adhere to its own position in the face of the confrontation between the US and China. Taiwan’s national interest must be its first concern and cross-strait peace is the most important issue,” Chu said in response to media queries for comments after attending a video conference on US-China-Taiwan ties and the US presidential election hosted by Shelley Rigger, a professor at Davidson College.

Chu said he is sure that President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) is fully aware of the danger posed by Taiwan siding with either candidate in the election and warned that to do so would risk catastrophe.

US academics taking part in the meeting also urged Taiwan not to take sides in the election, he said.    [FULL  STORY]

NEW YEAR’S EVE: Examples from South Korea and Japan show that 15 local COVID-19 infections could emerge in a short period if measures are not taken

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 22, 2020
By: Lee I-chia / Staff reporter

The Taipei City Government would cancel its New Year’s Eve Party and all large events if 15 or more confirmed cases of COVID-19 are reported in the city within a week, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said yesterday.

Addressing the Taipei Cross Border E-Commerce Annual Convention, Ko said the COVID-19 pandemic has brought many uncertainties to society, and that e-commerce is on a path of no return and would continue to grow.

Many countries have not effectively controlled their COVID-19 outbreaks, and although Taiwan implements strict border controls and there have been few inbound passengers, the pandemic is unlikely to end soon, so people have to adapt to “the new normal,” Ko said.

“The world is not the same anymore and there is no way of returning to [the way things were] before,” Ko said, adding that people have to practice risk management in this new situation.

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 20 October, 2020
By: Shirley Lin

Taiwan’s survival and security is key to the United States’ ability to maintain freedom in the Indo-

Pacific region. That was the word from former US defense official Randall Schriver on Monday.

Schriver described Taiwan as a modern day Asia “Fulda Gap”. That means it’s strategically meaningful for the region.  The Fulda Gap was a region at the borders of East and West Germany during the Cold War. It was the area where the US and Soviet Union would most likely clash if a war were to break out. 

Schriver said that Taiwan’s present position in the Indo-Pacific region  is what drives the current US administration to support Taiwan. He said this includes the normalization of US arms sales to Taiwan and the recent visits to Taiwan by top US officials.

When asked if China will attack Taiwan using force, Schriver said he believes that China uses its military prowess to threaten Taiwan. But he said he doubts if China is able to invade Taiwan because of Taiwan’s topography and the difficulty of transporting its army across the Taiwan Strait.    [FULL  STORY]

USNI News
Date: October 20, 2020
By:: John Grady

Xi Jinping’s go hard approach to bringing Taiwan to heel isn’t about to let up, but “it would be highly risky” for China to believe the United States would not intervene if it launched an all-out cross-straits invasion, a former senior Trump administration Pentagon official said.

Speaking Monday at an Atlantic Council online forum, Randall Schriver, now chairman of Project 2049, compared the island to the Fulda Gap, a pivotal point in the defense of Western Europe during the Cold War.

While “the PLA [People’s Liberation Army] is getting better” at amphibious warfare, moving “tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands” of troops “across 80 nautical miles of water” and then successfully fighting an active resistance in mountainous terrain is not likely, Schriver said.

China “prefers to win without fighting,” he added. That does not mean Xi is backing down on eventual reunification, a goal he wants to reach by the centennial of the communist takeover of the mainland, which is next year.    [FULL  STORY]

US provided military support to Taiwan in 1960s to defend against Chinese incursions

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/10/20
By: Huang Tzu-ti, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Spokesperson Amanda Mansour (孟雨荷) recently paid a trip to Kinmen, during which she emphasized the friendship between Taiwan and the U.S.

The spokesperson of the de facto American embassy traveled to the outlying island county last week, making stops at a host of tourist attractions and the Kinmen Defense Command. She also delivered a speech at National Quemoy University, reported CNA.

She spoke about AIT's role in promoting bilateral exchanges in culture, economics, education, and security cooperation. During the Q&A session, Mansour assured attendees that the U.S.-Taiwan bond, forged over many years, will not change from one administration to the next.

In a series of Facebook posts, Mansour shared her adventures in the Taiwanese islands, which served as a fortress in the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis in 1958 and withstood shelling from China. “Kinmen is the backdrop of many years of fascinating U.S.-Taiwan cooperation,” she said.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 10/20/2020
By Fan Cheng-hsiang and Frances Huang

Taipei, Oct. 20 (CNA) Lin Shu-fen (林淑芬), a lawmaker from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), on Tuesday expressed concern over plasticizer content in plastic floor mats and urged the government to make inspections of such product mandatory.

At a news conference, Lin recalled that she received complaints from consumers who said they suspected plastic floor mats made in South Korea contained excess plasticizer as they have a strong smell of plastic.

Following such complaints, Lin asked the Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspections (BOSMI) under the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) in August to inspect floor mats sold in Taiwan, several of which were found to contain excessive amounts of plasticizer.

Currently, Taiwan has plasticizer standards for floor mats, but no inspections are required to be conducted to ensure public safety, Lin said.    [FUILL  STORY]

TOO LITTLE DATA? The Consumers’ Foundation said that the government would hopefully take the public’s concerns seriously after many people sign the petition

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 21, 2020
By: Yang Mien-chieh and
Dennis Xie / Staff reporter, with staff writer

The Consumers’ Foundation and several civic groups yesterday launched an online petition to demand that the government scrap its executive order easing restrictions on imports of US pork containing the leanness-enhancing agent ractopamine.

Ractopamine is harmful to animals and there is insufficient data on its effects on the health of humans, the foundation said.

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 traces of the animal feed additive, as well as beef from cattle aged 30 months or older.

Seeing the number of people who sign the petition, the government would hopefully take what people are saying more seriously, the foundation said, adding that the government could use the petition as a bargaining tool in economic and trade negotiations with other nations.
[FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 19 October, 2020
By: Leslie Liao

The Agriculture Council has invented a new machine that makes passion fruit juicing easy![/caption] Passion fruit is delicious, but the juice is hard to extract. “Not anymore!” says the Agriculture Council. They’ve developed a new machine that saves people all the mess and hassle.

Passion fruit is a favorite flavoring in Taiwan’s beverage scene. It’s no wonder, considering the tropical fruit is sweet, tangy, and a whole lot of nutrition. But, passion fruit juice is surprisingly troublesome to extract. 

Doing it by hand is slow and messy. Some people choose to crush passion fruit using hand presses, but the quality of the juice produced by that method is inconsistent. It can also cause pesticides on the fruit’s skin to leak into the final product.     [FULL  STORY]