Focus Taiwan
Date: 08/16/2020
By: Lu Chun-gang and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, Aug. 16 (CNA) The head of a pharmaceutical supply chain has been detained and held incommunicado for selling surgical masks from unknown sources and falsely labeling them, the Hsinchu Prosecutors Office said in a statement on Saturday.

The office said it began investigating the case after the Hsinchu City Public Health Bureau received complaints from several members of the public that the supply chain, which owns several stores in the Hsinchu area, was selling surgical masks from unknown sources that were not clearly labeled.

The city bureau found on Friday that the store chain had violated the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act and levied a fine of NT$1 million (US$33,964).

Upon being informed of the case, the Hsinchu District Prosecutors Office formed a special investigation team with the Criminal Investigation Bureau and Hsinchu police, the office said, searching eight branches of the store in Hsinchu County and city and seizing more than 16,900 suspicious masks.    [FULL  STORY]

Hsu helped frequently suicidal youth turn her life around, remains in touch many years later

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/08/16
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A Taiwanese social worker who has accompanied many drug addicts, alcoholics, and people with mental illness through the darkest periods of their lives has shared a story about how she helped one young girl turn her life around.

Hsu Ru-yue (許如悅), who received an award from the Ministry of Health and Welfare for her achievements in social work this year, is a medical social worker at the Tri-Service General Hospital’s Psychiatry Department, according to a CNA report. With 17 years of experience as a social worker, she has long been dedicated to helping those struggling with addiction and mental illness.

Hsu believes that social workers can change and even save lives. She also considers her field to be a stabilizing force in society.

More than 10 years ago, Hsu encountered a case that left a deep impression on her. It was a young girl, diagnosed with bipolar disorder, who made weekly visits to the emergency room.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 08/16/2020
By: William Yen

Taipei, Aug. 16 (CNA) Hundreds of Filipinos of Ilocano lineage gathered in Hsinchu on Sunday to celebrate their heritage with presentations of dance, music, food and inspirational talks by a leading official from the Philippine representative office and other Filipino community leaders.

The Ilocanos are one of the largest ethnolinguistic groups in the Philippines and trace their origins to the provinces along the northwestern seaboard of Luzon.

Some 500 Filipinos gathered at Hukou Township's He Shing Citizens Activity Center to celebrate the 13th anniversary of the Taiwan chapter of the Confederation of Ilocano Association, Inc., Samahang Ilokano (CIASI).

The celebrations kicked off with speeches from Filipino officials and leaders, including Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO) Deputy Resident Representative Gilberto F. Lauengco.
[FULL  STORY]

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION BID: To protect natural and Aboriginal areas, the county is to impose new rules for individual travelers and guided tours

Taipei Times
Date: Aug 17, 2020
By: Chiu Tzu-juo and Lin Yi-chang / Staff reporters

A registration system to limit visitors to the Hayou River (哈尤溪), a popular destination in the mountains of Pingtung County, is to be imposed to reduce the environmental impact of tourism, the Pingtung County Government said

Hayouxi Hot Spring (哈尤溪溫泉) with its colorful cliff formations has attracted ever more visitors in the past few years despite its remote location.

The county government in a press release on Friday said it has designed Wutai Township (霧台) a “Natural Environment and Cultural Scenic Area,” including the river as well as the Aboriginal Labuwan (大武部落), Adiri (阿禮部落) and Kabalelradhane (神山部落) communities, covering 14.35km2, featuring hiking trails, mountain lakes and waterfalls.

Most tourists visit the area by scooter or car, but after new rules go into effect in November, visitors would need to register in advance, and hiking would only be allowed for guided tours, a county government official said, adding that those who enter the area without registration would be fined between NT$3,000 and NT$30,000, based on stipulations of the Act for the Development of Tourism (觀光發展條例).    [FULL  STORY]

• ‘Washington did not want to provoke Beijing to the point that it could spark a military conflict,’ academic says
• Beijing’s relatively muted response to minister’s visit was because it ‘doesn’t want to do anything that would boost Trump’s chances in the November presidential election’, he says

South China Morning Post
Date: 15 Aug, 2020
By: Lawrence Chung

The recent visit to Taiwan by US Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar was carefully managed not to cause unnecessary upset to Beijing, while still showing Washington’s support for the self-ruled island amid growing US-China tensions, observers said.

Despite the timing of the trip, and the fact Azar is the highest-ranked official to visit since 1979, Wang Kung-yi, a political-science professor at Chinese Culture University in Taipei, said the US was not looking to start a fight.

“Washington did not want to provoke Beijing to the point that it could spark a military conflict,” he said.

“By sending the health secretary instead of the state or defence secretary, Azar’s trip was carefully managed to avoid crossing Beijing’s red line.”    [FULL  STORY]

Town Hall
Date: Aug 15, 2020
By: Erik Gartzke

OPINION

For the first time in 40 years, a U.S. cabinet official has visited China. No, not that China, the other “China”—Taiwan. Two Chinas? Confusing, right? This is the problem. 

For decades, the United States has maintained an ambiguous relationship concerning the defense of Taiwan. The intentional ambiguity of this bargain has outlived its usefulness, however, becoming a toxic threat to stability in the Eastern Pacific.  

This was not always the case. Taiwan was the central sticking point in the negotiations that eventually re-established diplomatic relations between Beijing and Washington. Mao Zedong, Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party, insisted that Taiwan was a province of China, legally subject to mainland rule, and PRC authority. Washington, for its part, backed the Nationalist Kuomintang regime that retreated to Taiwan in 1949.

Decades later, in a brilliant bit of diplomatic finesse sponsored by then-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, the United States and China agreed to maintain that Taiwan was part of China, though they agreed to disagree about what this actually meant in geo-strategic terms. Beijing could maintain that it had the right to govern Taiwan, while Washington could continue to assist Taiwan in practicing effective autonomy, if not de facto independence.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/08/15
By:  Reuters

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – A U.S. Navy aircraft carrier conducted exercises in the contested South China Sea on Friday, the U.S. navy said in a statement.

A strike group led by the USS Ronald Reagan conducted flight operations and high-end maritime stability operations and exercises, the statement said.

“Integration with our joint partners is essential to ensuring joint force responsiveness and lethality, and maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific,” U.S. Navy Commander Joshua Fagan, Task Force 70 air operations officer aboard USS Ronald Reagan, was quoted as saying.

The drill comes amid heightened tensions between the United States and China. Washington has criticised Beijing over its novel coronavirus response and accuses it of taking advantage of the pandemic to push territorial claims in the South China Sea and elsewhere.   
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 08/15/2020
By Chen Chao-fu, Yang Ssu-jui,
Kuo Chu-chen and Frances Huang

Taipei, Aug. 15 (CNA) Former Vice Premier Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) easily won a mayoral by-election in Kaohsiung on Saturday, helping the DPP achieve its goal of taking the city back from the opposition Kuomintang (KMT).

The by-election was held after a recall vote in early June to remove the KMT's Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), who won election in November 2018 and ended the DPP's 20-year hold on the city.

Chen lost the 2018 race by a 9 percent margin, but after Saturday's victory, he will serve out the remainder of the term, which ends in December 2022.

Before the by-election, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), who doubles as the DPP Chairwoman, urged the party's members to unite behind Chen to bring back "the glory of Kaohsiung."
[FULL  STORY]