Taipei Times
Date: Oct 14, 2020
By: Chiu Shu-yu, Chiu Chih-jou
and Dennis Xie / Staff reporters, with staff writer

Residents are invited to donate secondhand goods for a Nov. 21 flea market, with all of the proceeds to benefit the city’s less-privileged children and teenagers, the New Taipei City Environmental Protection Department said on Monday.

The annual charity sale, in its sixth year, is part of the city’s effort to recycle resources to help those in need, the department said, adding that the past five events have generated NT$3.08 million (US$106,501) in sales.

People can donate by handing functioning items to city staff on garbage trucks or at garbage collection sites, it said, adding that preferred donations include toys, bags, small home appliances and furniture, and bicycles.

The department said that it would set up stalls featuring goods from overseas to give people the feeling of being abroad, as the COVID-19 pandemic has made it impossible for most to travel to other countries.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 12 October, 2020
By: Andrew Ryan

Sashimi tuna, served for a god's birthday at Nansheng Temple in Pingtung's Wandan Township.[/caption] How do you celebrate a god’s birthday? Well, if you’re in southern Taiwan, then you do it the old-fashioned way, with what’s called a liushuihsi, a catered banquet cooked right on site. And for one temple, that meant serving one of the most prized fishes in the sea. 

People stand in long lines, holding their plates; they’re cueing up for fresh sashimi from a 68-kilo yellowfin tuna! And the reason for the free banquet? They’re celebrating the birthday of a god who’s worshipped here at Nansheng Temple in the southernmost county of Pingtung.

This woman says: "Only at Nansheng Temple will you find such a massive serving of sashimi."

A temple official says a lot of people came to celebrate and they wanted them to share in the happiness and blessings.    [FULL  STORY]

The Hill
Date: 10/12/20
By: Rebecca Kheel

The Trump administration has sent Congress several arms sales to Taiwan to review, a congressional aide confirmed to The Hill on Monday.

The aide did not confirm the specific sales, but Reuters, which first reported the informal notifications, said the three sales include a Lockheed Martin-made truck-mounted rocket launcher called a High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, Boeing-made air-to-ground cruise missiles called Standoff Land Attack Missile-Expanded Response and external sensor pods for F-16 fighter jets.

Informal notifications of arms sales approvals are sent to the House Foreign Affairs and Senate Foreign Relations committees ahead of a formal notification to the full Congress to give leaders of those committees time to provide input.

Typically, the formal notification happens 30 days after an informal notification is received, unless a lawmaker raises concerns. Conversely, if a sale is widely supported, the timeline can be accelerated.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwanese president's call for peaceful dialogue met with live fire exercise slated for Tuesday

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/10/12
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — On the same day that Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) delivered a speech calling on China to engage in peaceful dialogue with Taiwan, Beijing announced it would be holding live-fire exercises in the Taiwan Strait.

During her speech marking Taiwan's National Day in front of the Presidential Office Building on Saturday (Oct. 10), Tsai offered an olive branch to the Chinese Communist Party by saying that "if Beijing can heed Taiwan's voice, change the way it handles cross-strait relations, and jointly facilitate cross-strait reconciliation and peaceful dialogue, I believe that regional tension can surely be resolved." Her offer of peaceful dialogue came amid the 16th intrusion of Chinese warplanes into Taiwan's air defense identification zone that day.

China’s Taiwan Affairs Office responded to Tsai's speech that day by doubling down on Beijing's insistence that she first recognize the "1992 Consensus" before any cross-strait dialogue can be resumed. China has been seeking to punish Taiwan since Tsai refused to acknowledge the alleged consensus when she first came to office in 2016.

According to a ban on navigation issued by the Management Committee of the Gulei Port Economic Development Zone in Zhangzhou, Fujian Province, a People's Liberation Army (PLA) unit is scheduled to conduct live-fire exercises in the waters east of Fujian's Gulei Peninsula from Tuesday to Saturday (Oct. 13 to 17).    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 10/12/2020
By: Lin Chang-shun, Huang Li-yun
and Joseph Yeh

Taipei, Oct. 12 (CNA) A Taiwanese law firm on Monday confirmed it has been hired by a Hong Kong man suspected of killing his girlfriend in Taiwan in 2018 to represent his interests in the case.

The Taipei-based law firm, Lee and Li Attorneys-at-Law (理律法律事務所) said in a press statement that going forward it will be responsible for defending Chan Tong-kai (陳同佳) in any legal proceedings in Taiwan.

The company has informed the Shilin District Prosecutors Office, which is in charge of the case, that it will be representing Chan, according to the statement.

However, the legal firm would not disclose further details concerning the case, citing attorney-client privilege.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 12, 2020
By: Staff writer, with CNA

Academics on Saturday offered different takes on President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) Double Ten National Day address, with some praising her efforts to maintain cross-strait stability, while others remained skeptical on whether it was enough to placate Beijing.

Tsai, who said she was willing to have a “meaningful dialogue” with the leadership of Beijing, sent a message that showed she wanted to maintain peaceful Taiwan-China relations, so long as parity and dignity are assured, said Chao Chun-shan (趙春山), a professor emeritus at the Institute of China Studies at Tamkang University in Taipei.

Tsai also exercised restraint in not highlighting growing Taiwan-US relations in her speech, to avoid angering Beijing, he added.

Tsai might want to create opportunities for peaceful dialogue with Beijing, evident in her echoing of China’s video message to the UN General Assembly that Beijing would never seek hegemony, expansion or a sphere of influence, Tamkang University Graduate Institute of China Studies associate professor Chang Wu-ueh (張五岳) said.    [FULL  STORY]

Deutsche: Welle (DW)
Date: 10.10.2020

Authorities have arrested nine people who allegedly helped a group of pro-democracy activists flee the former British colony for Taiwan. Police have said the suspects provided a getaway boat and cash for the fugitives.

Hong Kong police have arrested nine people accused of helping pro-democracy activists flee the former British colony for Taiwan.

The group allegedly supplied a speedboat for the 12 anti-Beijing demonstrators to make their escape attempt, as they feared prosecution by authorities there.

"Their roles include ownership of the boat, financial backing, providing accommodation before the trip, transportation to the pier and arranging their lives after arriving in Taiwan," a police spokesperson was quoted as saying by the Agence France-Presse news agency on Saturda
[FULL  STORY]

ANI
Date: Oct 10, 2020

Taipei [Taiwan], October 10 (ANI): Asserting that democracy and peace in Indo-Pacific are currently facing serious challenges, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen on Saturday said they will "continue to show resilience" against the "growing internal and external changes seen in decades".

She was speaking on the occasion of the country's 109th Double Tenth National Day Celebration on Saturday.

"To address the greatest internal and external changes we have seen in decades… the government will take the helm and lead the way forward with three major strategies to create the new Taiwan economy we all aspire to," she said in her National Day address titled "2020 Proud of Taiwan".

"As commander-in-chief, I always have the future of our military and our military of the future in my heart. We will continue to modernise defensive combat capabilities and accelerate the upgrading of our asymmetrical capabilities to deal with military expansion and provocation from the other side of the Taiwan Strait," she added, referring to China.    [FULL  STORY]

National Day celebrations held in multiple countries across the globe

Taiwasn News
Date: 2020/10/10
By:  Central News Agency

Celebrations of the National Day of the Republic of China (Taiwan) on Oct. 10 were held in countries around the world this week, including a first-of-its-kind event in Somaliland and a charity meal for homeless residents of the Vatican.    [FULL  STORY]