Focus Taiwan
Date: 06/03/2020
By: Fan Cheng-hsiang and Matthew Mazzetta

Taipei, June 3 (CNA) A member of Taiwan's Legislature and a civic group urged the government on Wednesday to set age, insurance and vehicle registration requirements for electric bicycles, citing their involvement in a rising number of road accidents and a heightened risk to minors.

E-bikes, which do not require a driver's license to operate and have thus become popular with students, were involved in 3,095 accidents last year, causing 2,679 injuries and deaths, Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安), an opposition Kuomintang (KMT) lawmaker, said at a press conference.

Of those, minors aged 15-17 accounted for 493 accidents and 420 injuries and deaths, more than double the respective figures of 189 and 156 from five years ago, Chiang said.

In response, Chiang and the Jing Chuan Child Safety Foundation called for strengthening regulations in four areas, including setting a minimum age of 14 to operate the bikes and requiring people applying for the approved government rebate after purchasing an e-bike to pass a safety course.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan nternational
Date: 02 June, 2020
By: Natalie Tso

Taiwan did not have any new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday. It has seen 51 consecutive days of no new cases.

Health Minister Chen Shih-chung said that Taiwan is safe from the new coronavirus, but the rest of the world is still dealing with a serious pandemic. He said as Taiwan gradually opens, it is important that people continue with personal hygiene habits to help prevent them for getting infected.    [FULL  STORY]

Beijing and Taipei‘s nebulous common understanding is not what it used to be.

The Diplomat
Date: June 02, 2020
By: Derek Grossman

For nearly 30 years, China has routinely touted Taiwan’s recognition of the “1992 Consensus” as the sole basis for maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. However, the consensus — an alleged agreement between Taiwan’s then-governing and now opposition Kuomintang (KMT) and Beijing on the existence of only “one China” — may hold less relevance for both sides today than in the past.

Significantly, during his delivery on May 22 of a government work report to China’s National People’s Congress (NPC), Premier Li Keqiang left out the 1992 Consensus — the first time this has happened in nine years, dating back to KMT President Ma Ying-jeou’s tenure when he laid the issue to rest by recognizing the agreement. But subsequent NPC work reports on May 23 and 26 reinserted 1992 Consensus language, suggesting it remains Chinese policy. On the Taiwan side, in her inaugural address on May 20 newly re-elected President Tsai Ing-wen omitted any mention of the 1992 Consensus, whereas she spent three paragraphs explaining her views of the consensus during her first inaugural address in 2016.

China’s mixed messages on the consensus and Taiwan’s elimination of it entirely are likely rooted in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s January 2019 speech commemorating the 40th anniversary of a “Message to Compatriots in Taiwan.” In his speech, Xi for the first time conflated the 1992 Consensus with the “one country, two systems” arrangement. This arrangement, under which both Hong Kong and Macau are governed, would entail Taiwan’s recognition of the existence of only one China as ruled from Beijing in exchange for maintaining semi-autonomous status.    [FULL  STORY]

'I will ask her to talk less': Ko

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/06/02
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Peggy Chen (陳佩琪), wife of Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), and a councilwoman have been butting heads over Taiwan's claim that it warned the World Health Organization (WHO) about possible human-to-human transmission of COVID-19.

Chen took to Facebook on Sunday (May 31) to criticize as "far-fetched" the Ministry of Health and Welfare's (MOHW) claim that it sent an e-mail to the WHO warning about the new coronavirus epidemic in Wuhan, China, according to a report in China Times.

In response, Taipei City Councilor Chien Hsu-pei (簡舒培) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) complained about Chen during a city council meeting, saying that her comment did not make sense and asking that the mayor's wife avoid further comment on the matter, lest it affect city administration. To appease the councilwoman, Mayor Ko said that he "will ask her to talk less," according to China Times.

However, the mayor's wife made more Facebook posts Monday night, explaining that she is not working for the city government and certainly not on its payroll    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 06/02/2020
By: Chen Yun-yu and Emerson Lim

Taipei, June 2 (CNA) The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) gave its assurance Tuesday that the country's health will remain a priority amid the COVID-19 pandemic when the government discusses mutual relaxation of border restrictions with other countries.

"The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) will continue to assess the domestic and global outbreak situation comprehensively and professionally," MOFA spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) said during a regular press briefing.

"The results of these assessments will then be used as a basis for MOFA to discuss the timing of opening up its borders to those from other countries," Ou said.   [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 03, 2020
By: Lai Hsiao-Tung and Dennis Xie / Staff reporter, with staff writer

National Taiwan University of Arts (NTUA) yesterday said that students can apply to keep the campus’ ‘Lennon wall,’ where notes and flyers are posted in support of Hong Kong’s democratic movement.

The statement came in response to students’ accusation that the university had undermined their freedom of speech by ordering the wall’s removal.

The controversy broke out after the NTUA student association president on Sunday wrote on Facebook that the school had demanded that the wall be torn down, drawing students’ criticism.

The Hong Kong Outlanders, a group of Hong Kongers living in Taiwan, backed the students on Facebook, saying that the wall’s removal would reduce the space where students could express their opinions.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 01 June, 2020
By: Natalie Tso

Health officials are preparing a new quarantine measure that will require foreign visitors to undergo different levels of quarantine. 

Centers for Disease Control（CDC) Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang said on Monday that Taiwan is looking to set varying levels of quarantine requirements for foreign visitors, depending on which country they arrive from. Visitors from countries like New Zealand and Palau, which have very few COVID-19 cases, will only be required to monitor their health after arriving in Taiwan. 

Visitors from low-risk countries, such as Vietnam and Brunei, would only have to undergo a 5-day quarantine. Countries like Japan, Australia and Thailand would represent the next level of severity, and visitors from those countries will have to undergo longer quarantine periods.
[FULL  STORY]

US-made torpedoes on the way to Taiwan can sink China's mini-aircraft carriers that would be used in an invasion

Asia Times
Date: June 01, 2020
By: Frank Chen

Taiwan has embarked on a procurement drive to buy cutting-edge technology and assets from the US and France, while Chinese deputies and generals from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) up their rhetoric about defending their country’s territorial integrity.

Powerful torpedoes, missiles, coast defense systems and kits to upgrade existing frigates are among the items on the self-governing island’s shopping list announced in recent weeks. The Taiwanese military says talks with suppliers are ongoing and progressing.

Shortly after the PLA commissioned the second ship of the Type 075 amphibious assault vessel family at the end of April, the US Pentagon approved a potential sale of 18 MK-48 Mod 6 Advanced Technology Heavy Weight Torpedoes.

The Type 075 ships are dubbed “mini-aircraft carriers” as the largest of their kind among Asian navies. They are believed to be tailor-made for landing on Taiwan’s rocky shores.
But PLA engineers and staff will likely have to rejig their combat plans in light of the latest arms sale.    [FULL  STORY]

Encroachment on sexual autonomy and interference with privacy cited by court as reasons for the change

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/06/01
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) —Five people jailed for adultery have been released and a total of 162 ongoing court cases involving affairs are expected to be dropped after criminal punishment for adultery was ruled unconstitutional by Taiwan’s Constitutional Court on May 29.

The court explained that classifying adultery as a criminal offense encroaches on people’s sexual autonomy and interferes with their privacy, CNA reported.

The ruling has in essence voided Article 239 of Taiwan’s Criminal Code, which stipulates that “A married person who commits adultery with another shall be sentenced to imprisonment for no longer than one year; the other party to the adultery shall be subject to the same punishment.”

Ministry of Justice data showed that a total of five people serving jail terms for adultery in prisons across Taiwan have been set free following the ruling.    [FULL  STORY]