Focus Taiwan
Date: 05/10/2020
By William Yen

Taipei, May 10 (CNA) The government will begin supplying face masks for children under the age of four, starting next week, via its online ordering system and at convenience stores, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said Sunday.

The smaller face masks — 12.7 centimeters by 8 centimeters — will be available for ordering May 18-20 and can be picked up May 25 to June 7, Health Minister Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the CECC, said at a daily press briefing.

Parents need only provide the details of their children's National Health Insurance cards to buy the masks, the CECC said, following a government decision on April 23 to supply smaller sized masks.

Currently, the masks sold at designated pharmacies, convenience store kiosks, and on the government's eMask website and Express mobile app are all for adults and children 4-8 years of age.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: May 11, 2020
By: Chen Yun / Staff reporter

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) members are calling for KMT Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) to “lead the charge” by joining a possible mayoral by-election amid a bleak outlook for Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) in a recall vote scheduled for June 6, party sources said on Saturday.

If Han of the KMT is recalled — which would trigger a mayoral by-election — it would deal a serious blow to the party, in which case a strong mayoral candidate would be needed to shield the party from further damage, a KMT legislator said on condition of anonymity.

If the party’s candidate in a mayoral by-election cannot win 890,000 votes as Han did in the 2018 local elections at the height of his popularity, they would need to win at least the 600,000 votes that Han garnered in the city when he ran as the KMT’s presidential candidate in the Jan. 11 elections, the lawmaker said.

If Chiang throws his hat in the ring, he would be helping the party through its darkest hour a second time, which would resolve the Han issue and boost morale within the party, as well as his own popularity, they said.    [FULL  STORY]

Delay cost the world 4 to 6 weeks: BND

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/05/09
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Chinese leader Xi Jinping (習近平) asked World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to suppress news about the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, the German intelligence agency BND found, according to a report by German magazine Der Spiegel.

During a conversation on Jan. 21, Xi reportedly asked Tedros not to announce that the virus could be transmitted between humans and to delay any declaration of a coronavirus pandemic.

It took until the end of January before the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak needed to receive international attention. Because of China’s delay, the world wasted four to six weeks it could have used better to counter the virus from spreading, the BND concluded.
[FULL  STORY]

Tsai Ing-wen's speech will take place inside Taipei Guest House instead of outside stage

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/05/09
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Presidential Office will reveal more details about the plans for President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) May 20 inauguration at a news conference scheduled for Monday (May 11).

The president has already announced she will keep Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) as her premier beyond the start of her second and final term in office. However, little else is known about her plans for the swearing-in event, which has been scaled down due to the threat of the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Even though the contents of her inauguration speech have not been made known yet, Tsai will take the outbreak as the starting point to discuss her long-term plans, CNA quoted a presidential spokesman as saying Saturday (May 9).

After the swearing-in inside the Presidential Office Building at 9 a.m. on May 20, the traditional inauguration speech is not expected to take place outside on a specially erected podium, in front of crowds, as is usual. Instead, it will be held inside the Taipei Guest House, a short distance away on Ketagalan Road, the spokesman said.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 05/09/2020
By: Flor Wang and Wu Hsin-yun

Taipei, May 9 (CNA) A non-governmental organization in Taiwan has launched a fundraising campaign, as part of an effort to give migrant workers greater access to Chinese language learning.

The initial goal of the "Book & Host" fundraiser is to obtain 1,000 sponsors for a one-year Chinese language program for migrant workers, mainly from Indonesia, said Huiyee Chiew (周慧儀), public relations officer with One-Forty, a group dedicated to building vocational skills among migrant workers.

Migrant workers accepted for the online Chinese classes will receive free tuition and a learning pack of textbooks and workbooks, Chiew said.

The course content will focus on everyday life in Taiwan, including conversation in traditional markets, she told CNA.   [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 08 May, 2020
By: Leslie Liao

The Legislature has passed a supplemental budget for COVID-19 relief, allocating an additional NT$150 billion (US$5 billion). This additional funding brings the total set aside for COVID-19 relief so far to NT$210 billion (US$7 billion).    [FULL  STORY]

France24 Television
Date: 08/05/2020
By::Marc Perelman
 

In an interview with FRANCE 24, Taiwan's Vice President Chen Chien-jen, an epidemiologist by training, discussed his country's handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, while criticising the response of China and the World Health Organization. Chen refused to rule out the "possibility" that the coronavirus originated in a Chinese laboratory in Wuhan. He also expressed concern about a second wave of the virus appearing in autumn or winter.

Taiwan has some 440 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and so far only six deaths, despite being relatively close to the epicentre of the virus. Vice President Chen Chien-jen told FRANCE 24 his country had been able to control the pandemic because it took a very early decision to quarantine travellers from the Chinese city of Wuhan and quickly isolate and trace confirmed cases. He explained that this rapid reaction was a result of the experience of the SARS outbreak in 2003.

Reacting to the Trump administration's claims that the virus had most likely originated at a laboratory in Wuhan – and not a seafood market as claimed by China – Chen said this theory could not be ruled out but that the only way to know was a thorough scientific probe. "The origin of the virus has to be examined scientifically and so far we can see that the virus originated from Wuhan. Whether it is from a laboratory or from the natural infection sources needs further confirmation," he said, adding that the laboratory theory was "one of the possibilities".

He said that China clearly did not give the true figures of victims of the pandemic, saying that in the early stages, "only severe pneumonia cases were isolated and treated in hospital", thereby underestimating the real figures.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 05/08/2020
By: Emerson Lim

Taipei, May 8 (CNA) Calls by some "left-leaning" legislators in Paraguay, Taiwan's only diplomatic ally in South America, to shift formal ties to Beijing are opposed by public opinion in the country, Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said Friday, reiterating the long-standing friendship between the two countries.

According to the latest issue of Americas Quarterly, published on May 7, the Paraguayan Senate took a vote on April 17 in a virtual session on whether to urge the president to change diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing.

Confirming the report, MOFA spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) said seven Paraguayan senators associated with the left-leaning party caucus "Frente Guazú" petitioned on March 30 to establish formal ties with Beijing in exchange for medical supplies from China and direct access to China's market.

The 45-seat Paraguayan Senate voted against the proposal, 25-16, on April 17, with four absent, Ou said in a statement, adding that the ministry is closely watching developments.
[FULL STORY]