Focusn Taiwan
Date: 10/10/2020
By: Emerson Lim

Taipei, Oct. 10 (CNA) A Chinese military anti-submarine (ASW) aircraft entered Taiwan's southwest air defense identification zone (ADIZ) on Saturday, while the country was celebrating its National Day, also known as Double Ten Day.

According to the Ministry of National Defense (MND), the Shaanxi Y-8 ASW entered the airspace between southwest Taiwan and the Taiwan-controlled Dongsha Islands, also known as the Pratas Islands, in the South China Sea.

Taiwan's military responded by scrambling planes to monitor the Chinese aircraft, issuing radio warnings and mobilizing air defense systems, the MND said.

According to MND records, the incident marked the 16th incursion by Chinese military assets into airspace or waters near Taiwan since Sept. 16, a day before the MND began regularly revealing Chinese military movements on its website.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 10, 2020
By: Jake Chung / Staff writer, with CNA

New Power Party (NPP) Legislator Claire Wang (王婉諭) on Thursday proposed an amendment to the Mental Health Act (精神衛生法) in the hope of providing better community services for people with mental illness.

The law, enacted about two decades ago, aims to assist people to live independently and ultimately reintegrate with society, but does not spell out how the government is to help communities to accommodate people with mental illness, she said.

Wang said that her proposal clarifies the kinds of social support that people with mental illness need and increases the standards of services offered by communal mental health centers.

A system for assessing people’s needs would be set up and local government units would be encouraged to increase cross-department collaboration, she said, adding that the amendment would legally mandate regular doctors’ visits for people with mental illness.  [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 08 October, 2020
By: Paula Chao

A final batch of Black Hawk helicopters for use in rescue missions has arrived in the southern city of Kaohsiung.

The six helicopters arrived in the city as part of an agreement between the defense ministry and the National Airborne Service Corps. Under the 2010 agreement, the military will give the service corps 15 Black Hawks. It has already given the corps nine of these helicopters.

At midnight on Thursday, six Black Hawk helicopters were hauled from Kaohsiung’s harbor side to a hangar. For military buff, it was a spectacle to behold. It took about 200 people three hours to move the helicopters to the hangar.

An official with the National Airborne Service Corps, Cheng Rong-fong, says that despite the workload involved, moving the helicopters into the hanger has its advantages, in particular reducing the risk of damage from typhoons.    [FULL  STORY]

• Plea for information on official flight operating soon before mainland coastguard’s interception of boat carrying those wanted for protest-related crimes
• Police deny any involvement in the capture of the fleeing residents, city leader accuses activists of smearing the force

South Chins Morning Post
Date: 8 Oct, 2020
By: Jack Lau and Danny Lee

Opposition activists have urged the Hong Kong government to disclose details about an official aircraft they say police used to monitor a speedboat carrying 12 fugitives fleeing the city to Taiwan soon before they were arrested by mainland China’s coastguard.

Campaigners for the dozen, who were trying to escape prosecution over their roles in Hong Kong’s anti-government protests

, staged a demonstration on Thursday outside the Government Flying Service (GFS) headquarters to accuse city authorities of colluding with their mainland counterparts over the sea capture.

Citing leaked information obtained from a whistle-blower, the group of activists and family members of the detained Hongkongers said a government plane was flying on August 23 under police orders off the coast near Po Toi O Village in Sai Kung, which police previously gave as the location from where the speedboat departed at 7am that day.  [FULL  STORY]

Chinese authorities arbitrarily change Taiwan Tourism Bureau name, prompting Taiwan to pull out of event

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/10/08
By: Kelvin Chen, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan Tourism Bureau confirmed Thursday (Oct. 8) the nation had withdrawn from this year’s Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Travel Mart exhibition due to Chinese interference.

Chou Ting-chang (周廷彰), deputy director of the Tourism Bureau, stated that since PATA was sponsored this year by the Culture, Radio, Television and Tourism Bureau of Leshan City in Sichuan, China, Taiwan’s name was changed to the “Taiwan Strait Tourism Association” — without authorization or prior notice. Chou stated the bureau did not accept the name change and protested several times, with bureau director Chang Hsi-tsung (張錫聰) writing a letter to the Chinese sponsor.

Huang Shifang (黃勢芳), head of the international sector of the Tourism Bureau, said that Taiwan usually participates in the annual exhibition under the name “Taiwan Tourism Bureau.” Huang said that after director Zhang wrote a letter to protest, PATA informed the main reason for the change in designation was due to China.

The organization also wrote a letter of apology stating that it would strive to allow Taiwan to participate in the exhibition under the name of the Taiwan Tourism Bureau, CNA reported. However, the name was never changed back, prompting the nation to withdraw from the event.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 10/08/2020
By: Wu Che-hao and Ko Lin

Rescue workers searching for missing hikers in mountainous areas in Nantou's Renai Township in 2017. (CNA file photo for illustrative purposes only, provided by a member of the public)

Taipei, Oct. 8 (CNA) The body of a Vietnamese migrant worker was found by rescue workers on Thursday, one week after he went missing after falling down a mountain slope in Nantou County.

According to the police, the victim was a migrant worker who went into the woods with two friends on Oct. 1 during their day off, to look for Ganoderma lucidum, also known locally as lingzhi mushroom.

The fungus species is highly valued and commonly used in East Asia as a health food.

The three ventured that day into an indigenous tribal village situated 2,000 meters above sea level on a mountain called Zaishengshan, which is located in the county's Renai Township.
[FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 07 October, 2020
By:Natalie Tso

Opening up to imports of US pork containing ractopamine will have a limited impact on Taiwan’s market. That was the word from Council of Agriculture Minister Chen Chi-jung on Wednesday. Chen was speaking at the legislature as Taiwan gets ready to lift its restrictions on US pork imports that contain the leanness-enhancing additive.

Chen said that the four major exporters of US pork don’t use ractopamine. Chen also said that the use of ractopamine in US pork has dropped from about 60-80% in 2012 to only 22%.
[FULL  STORY]

New fiery rhetoric from Beijing at a proposal by Taiwan’s opposition party comes amid an ongoing and provocative trip to the region by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

US News and World Report
Date: Oct. 7, 2020
By: Paul D. Shinkman, Senior Writer, National Security

CHINA ON WEDNESDAY levied new threats at Taiwan and appears poised to escalate its military efforts to bring to heel what it considers a renegade province, following an attempt by the island nation's opposition party to bring it into closer cooperation with the U.S.

Beijing was already angered by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's ongoing tour through Asia to shore up support for containing China before the Taiwanese Kuomintang Party, or KMT, on Tuesday launched a new effort for the government there to reestablish diplomatic ties with the U.S.

"The only way forward is for the mainland to fully prepare itself for war and to give Taiwan secessionist forces a decisive punishment at any time," Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief of the Chinese state-sponsored Global Times, wrote in a column Wednesday morning. "As the secessionist forces' arrogance continues to swell, the historical turning point is getting closer."  
[FULL  STORY]