Focus Taiwan
Date: 06/05/2020
By: Chen Yi-hsuan and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, June 5 (CNA) People using Taipei mass rapid transit (Taipei metro) and public bus services will no longer be required to wear face masks all the time when they are at stations, in metro cars or buses from June 7, the city's deputy mayor announced Friday.

The mask requirement on public transport in Taipei, the capital of Taiwan, will be eased on the same day the central government is scheduled to relax COVID-19 control measures on trains and domestic flights, with no new domestically transmitted coronavirus cases reported for nearly two months, Huang Shan-shan (黃珊珊) said.

"As long as social distance protocols are followed," passengers using the Taipei metro and public buses in the city can remove their masks while at stations, in metro cars or buses if there is enough distance between passengers, but will still have to wear masks when entering a station or boarding a bus, Huang noted.

Metro and bus drivers, as well as personnel working at transport stations, will still be required to have their temperature checked and wear masks when on duty, according to the Taipei City Public Transportation Office.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 06, 2020
By: Chang Hsuan-che, Chang Jui-chen and Dennis Xie / Staff reporters, with staff writer

Vedan Enterprise Corp on Thursday made 12 bowls of vegetarian instant noodles — which it had stopped producing years ago — for a stage 4 cancer patient after discovering that she particularly missed the product.

The firm learned of the patient’s plight after a friend, surnamed Chen (陳), on Wednesday sought the help of other Facebook users after failing to find the instant noodles in any stores.

Her friend, who had been diagnosed with stage 4 brain cancer, had asked Chen to find the instant noodles, as she missed the taste.

A package of vegetarian instant noodles, which went out of production years ago, but which was reproduced by Vedan Enterprise Corp for a cancer patient, is pictured in Taipei on Thursday.

Photo courtesy of Vedan Enterprise Corp via CNA

After seeing the post, other Facebook users embarked on a search for the product, including visiting brick-and-mortar stores and e-commerce sites, as well as contacting people they knew who worked at Vedan or its affiliated businesses, Vedan public relations official Chang Hsiung-hui (張雄輝) said on Thursday.    [FULL  STORY]

Radiio Taiwan International
Date: 04 June, 2020
By: John Van Trieste

New statistics from the National Health Insurance Administration show that the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a drop in the number of patients going to see doctors.

From January to March, Taiwanese people made five million fewer trips to see a doctor than they did during the same period in 2019.

Administration official Lee Chun-fu says this may be in part because of a decision to increase the size of prescriptions, a decision taken after the pandemic began. This has allowed patients to go longer without the need for a checkup appointment in order to get a refill. Lee also said that widespread hand-washing and the wearing of surgical masks may have reduced the number of illnesses needing a doctor’s attention.    [FULL  STORY]

Business Insider
Date: June 4, 2020
By: Wen-Yee Lee, Elizabeth McCauley and Mark Abadi 

• Taiwan has largely kept its coronavirus outbreak under control, with only around 440 confirmed cases and seven deaths.
• But critics say the success have come at the expense of its citizens' privacy.
• To curb the spread of the virus, the Taiwanese government instituted a tracking program and regular police check-ins with known carriers.

While some governments around the world have struggled to contain the coronavirus, Taiwan has kept its outbreak under control.

But some of the tactics the Taiwanese government has used to curb the spread, including frequent police visits and the tracking of quarantined residents, have raised questions over privacy and excessive surveillance.

Located just 80 miles from mainland China, where the outbreak began, Taiwan been wildly successful at containing the virus, reporting a total of 443 cases and seven deaths. As of June 3, Taiwan has reported only three new cases in three weeks.    [FULL  STORY]

Keelung City Government building joins Presidential Office as target for potential Chinese attack on Taiwan

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/06/04
By:  Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Chinese military has built a full-scale model of the Keelung City Government building for use during its drills, reports said Thursday (June 4).

Over the past few years, Chinese troops have been seen staging mock attacks on a replica of Taiwan's Presidential Office Building in Inner Mongolia, but the recent picture, revealed by the Facebook group TWsoldiers, was the first model of a local government building.

The same complex also featured an imitation of an Indian military base, CNA reported. The news of the mock-ups came as China's tensions with both Taiwan and India have been rising.

Beijing has often threatened the use of force against Taiwan if the island nation attempts to pivot from de facto to de jure independence. Amid the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and its passage of a national security law for Hong Kong, China has still repeatedly sent warplanes and ships close to Taiwan.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 06/04/2020
By: Wang Cheng-chung and Joseph Yeh

Taipei, June 4 (CNA) The government will soon offer rewards of up to NT$ 20,000 (US$ 663) for information leading to the arrest of foreign nationals who have overstayed their visas, the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) announced Thursday.

The MOI said the new rewards soon to be officially rolled out will include NT$2,000 for information that leads to the arrest of one overstayer; NT$5,000 if it leads to the arrest of 4-6 overstayers.

The reward rises to NT$10,000 for the arrest of 7-9 and is NT$20,000 for 10 or more foreign nationals who have overstayed their visas, the MOI added.

However, employers or employment agency workers who work with overstaying foreign nationals will not be eligible for the rewards, the MOI said.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiowan International
Date: 03 June, 2020
By: John Van Trieste

KMT Chairperson Johnny Chiang is calling on President Tsai Ing-wen to express concern to the US government over its response to an ongoing wave of protests.

KMT Chairperson Johnny Chiang is calling on President Tsai Ing-wen to express concern to the US government over its response to an ongoing wave of protests.

The catalyst for the nationwide protests was the killing of African-American George Floyd by a white police officer in the state of Minnesota.    [FULL  STORY]

Would that work?

The Natiopnal Interest
Date: June 3, 2020
By: Peter Suciu

Last week the Taiwanese Ministry of National Defense announced that it is seeking to purchase Harpoon coastal batteries from the United States. Deputy Defense Minister Chang Che-ping confirmed the military’s intentions to lawmakers at a committee meeting, which was reported by the local media in Taiwan.

The island nation, which the government in Beijing sees as a breakaway province, has already developed its own anti-ship missile, the Hsiung Feng II (HF-2), which was developed in the 1990s. As far back as 20 years ago there were plans to replace the HF-2 with the American made RGM-84 Harpoon. It serves in dozens of countries on a number of platforms.

Taiwan has also developed its Hsiung Feng III, a supersonic missile that uses solid-fuel propellant as a booster and liquid fuel to power a ramjet. It was originally conceived as an anti-ship missile, but its range is limited to just 75 to 90 miles. With that in mind, Taipei has taken another look at the American Harpoon—and it isn’t the only power in Asia that sees the potential of the aging U.S. missile platform.

In April, the United States Department of Defense (DoD) Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) announced that the State Department had approved the foreign military sales of the AGM-84L Harpoon to India.    [FULL  STORY]

11 lucky winners came away with NT$10 million Taiwan receipt lottery Special Prize

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/06/03
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The March to April round of the Taiwan receipt lottery has produced 11 lucky winners of the NT$10 million (US$334,000) Special Prize, with one hitting the jackpot after spending a mere NT$15 on a beverage at 7-Eleven.

The lucky winner of the NT$10 million Special Prize spent a measly NT$15 on a bottle of tea at a 7-Eleven in New Taipei City's Taishan District, according to the Ministry of Finance (MOF). Of the 11 people who won the Special Prize in this round, 10 made purchases of NT$100 or less.

The next lowest amount spent among the Special Prize winners was a PX Mart customer in Changhua, who only paid NT$23 after using a cash voucher worth NT$200. The third-lowest amount spent was by a customer who craved an NT$35 chocolate bar at 7-Eleven in Taipei City's Wenshan District.

In addition, this draw of the receipt lottery saw 16 Grand Prize winners. Of these winners, the one who spent the least was a customer who bought instant noodles for NT$25 at a FamilyMart in Taichung. The second-lowest amount spent by a winner was NT$30 paid for a parking spot in a City Parking garage in Taoyuan City's Zhongli District.    
[FULL  STORY]