How coronavirus is accelerating the emergence of a new geopolitical formation. 

New Statesman
Date: 3 May 2020
By: Jeremy Cliffe

What do these news events from the past week have in common? Two US warships sailed by the Spratly and Paracel island chains in the South China Sea. Australia announced that it would support Taiwan’s return to the World Health Organisation (WHO). In Delhi, Indian prime minister Narendra Modi hosted a ministerial meeting on how to lure manufacturing firms from China to India.

The link is summed up in a recently published book, Indo-Pacific Empire. It came out in early March, so was written before the Covid-19 pandemic struck. But it is impressively prescient.

In it Rory Medcalf, Head of the National Security College at the Australian National University, highlights an emerging formation on the geopolitical map: the Indo-Pacific, a growing web of alliances centred on the “Quad” of India, Japan, Australia and the US, but also taking in a crescent of maritime states in eastern, south-eastern and southern Asia. Looser and more multipolar than other such formations, it is unified by the quest to balance, dilute and absorb Chinese power. “The Indo-Pacific is both a region and an idea: a metaphor for collective action, self-help combined with mutual help,” writes Medcalf. Two months on from its publication, virtually all of the trends that his book draws together have advanced.

Scepticism towards China is mounting. In an escalating war of words, Australia has called for an investigation into the origins of the Covid-19 outbreak. Japan’s economic rescue package included almost 250bn yen (some $2.2bn) to support Japanese firms in moving production out of China. India has tightened investment restrictions in a move clearly aimed at shielding domestic firms from Chinese takeovers; Modi’s meeting illustrating the country's new willingness to style itself as a rival manufacturing hub.    [FULL  STORY]

FARS News Agency
May 03, 2020 4:15

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian researchers at the University of Tehran and Taiwan University of Technology in a joint study used Caspian Sea seashells to treat patients suffering from bone defects.

“One of the most important applications of this bio ceramic is orthopaedic surgery in mass or coating shape at the implant surface, spinal surgery and drug or protein carrier with controlled release capability,” Shahrou Savand, one of the Iranian researchers, said.

The researcher added that the materials produced from the Caspian Sea seashells can also be used in bone composites for the preparation of tissue engineering scaffolds and treatment of bone defects.

Musculoskeletal disorders in the elderly have significantly increased due to the increase in an ageing population. The treatment of these diseases necessitates surgical procedures, including total joint replacements such as hip and knee joints.    [FULL  STORY]

Expert says he looks forward to seeing virus less potent as temperatures warm

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/05/03
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Chang Shan-chwen (張上淳), the advisory specialist panel convener at Taiwan’s Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC), said on Sunday (May 3) that he expects the spread of Wuhan coronavirus to be slowed by the summer heat; however, he urged the public to remain cautious and observant, CNA reported.

In the past, influenza has typically broken out during the fall and winter seasons, with a comparatively low chance of it happening in summer, Chang said at the CECC daily press briefing. Therefore, he added, it's likely that the epidemic will taper off in the coming months, continuing that there is theoretical basis for the speculation.

Chang qualified his remarks by clarifying that although the above-mentioned view is valid for the temperate region, things may be different in the tropics.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 05/03/2020
By: Wang Shu-fen and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, May 3 (CNA) Several weather stations in Taitung County on Sunday recorded their highest temperature this year, with the mercury soaring to nearly 38 degrees Celsius in Jinlun Village, Taimali Township, according to the Central Weather Bureau (CWB).

Under the influence of foehn winds, the mercury in Jinlun soared to 37.9 Celsius degrees at 2:10 p.m. Sunday, the highest level recorded anywhere in Taiwan this year, according to the CWB.

A foehn wind is a type of dry, warm, down-slope wind that occurs on the lee (downwind side) of a mountain range.

The other highest weather station temperatures of the year were 37.6 degrees in Jialan Village, Jinfeng Township at 15:30 p.m. and 37.3 degrees in Dawu at 12:49 p.m.    [FULL  STORY]

FRIENDLY BACKING: In a teleconference last week, the US Secretary of Health told the Minister of Health that Washington supported Taiwan’s participation in the WHO

Taipei Times
Date: May 04, 2020
By: Staff Writer, with CNA, Geneva

Taiwan’s representative office in Geneva on Saturday said that it was grateful to countries that have shown support for the nation’s participation in WHO events, following a statement by China reiterating its long-held opposition to Taiwan’s involvement in international organizations without its consent.

The office issued a statement thanking foreign governments, members of the US Congress and friends for supporting Taiwan’s involvement with the WHO and its attendance at the upcoming World Health Assembly (WHA), the decisionmaking body of the WHO.

It also rejected the statement from the Chinese mission to the UN, which repeated its position that Taiwan’s participation in international organizations, including the WHO, requires the consent of Beijing.

The statement was released in the wake of a number of world powers, including the US and Japan, renewing their support for Taiwan’s participation in the WHA.    [FULL  STORY]

Daily Mail
Date: 2 May 2020
By: AFP

China has condemned a US tweet backing Taiwan's push for participation at the United Nations as the global body works with its 193 member states to tackle the coronavirus pandemic.

Beijing's diplomatic mission to the UN expressed "strong outrage and firm opposition" to a message on Friday by the United States calling Taiwan's exclusion an "affront" to UN principles.

The self-ruled island, which Beijing considers a wayward province awaiting reunification, has been held up as a model in fighting the virus.

Fewer than 500 cases have been detected in Taiwan despite its proximity to the Chinese mainland where the outbreak began.

"Barring #Taiwan from setting foot on UN grounds is an affront not just to the proud Taïwanese people, but to UN principles," the tweet by the US mission said.

US Ambassador to the UN Kelly Craft retweeted the message.    [FULL  STORY]

INQUIRER.net
Date: May 02, 2020
By:: Consuelo Marquez – Reporter / @CMarquezINQ

MANILA, Philippines — Philippine Labor Attaché in Taiwan Fidel Macauyag “violated all norms of decency” when he requested the deportation of a Filipino migrant worker who posted anti-Duterte sentiments on social media, Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said Saturday.

“Unang-una, ako ay dating labor secretary, ang tungkulin lang ng labor attaché ay iisa: para proteksyunan ang ating mga kababayan sa ibang dagat,” he told DWIZ when asked about Macauyag’s actions against the Filipina, who works as a caregiver in Taiwan.

(First, I was a former Labor Secretary, the role of a labor attaché is this: to protect our citizens overseas.)

“Sa akin (For me), this labor attaché in Taiwan violated all norms of decency ng sinabi niyang i-deport itong kababayan natin (when he said this fellow Filipino of ours must be deported),” he added.
[FULL  STORY]

Taiwanese spouses main reason for changing nationality

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/05/02
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — According to Ministry of Interior statistics released Saturday (May 2), a total of 3,438 foreign nationals obtained Taiwanese citizenship in 2019, with the vast majority coming from the Southeast Asian nations of Vietnam, the Philippines, and Indonesia.

A total proportion of 86.1 percent mentioned their spouse was Taiwanese as the reason for their change of nationality, with 3.84 percent children of a Taiwanese parent, CNA reported.

The total amounted to a drop of 114 compared to the year 2018. While more than half the new Taiwanese, or 2,325, came from Vietnam, their number fell by 152 compared to the previous year, the largest reduction for any nationality, the data showed.

The Vietnamese were followed by the Filipinos, with 362 acquiring a Taiwanese passport, and the Indonesians, totaling 350. Southeast Asians occupied a share of 95.84 percent or 3,295 people of all those becoming Taiwanese last year.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 05/02/2020
By: Wang Chao-yu and Lee Hsin-Yin

Taipei, May 2 (CNA) A rough-toothed dolphin, which has rarely been seen around Taiwan, remained under treatment in Keelung in northern Taiwan Saturday after being found stranded the previous day, a local government official said.

The 20-year-old, weak and undernourished dolphin is in a more stable condition than Friday afternoon, when it was found near Taoyuan by members of the public and sent to Keelung, according to Keelung City official Tsai Fu-ning (蔡馥嚀).

The 2-meter-long dolphin was found swimming in circles about 15 meters from the coast in Dayuan District and became stranded, according to Kuo Hsiang-hsia (郭祥廈) from the Taiwan Cetacean Society.

It was lethargic at the time but breathing normally, Kuo said. The society has recruited volunteers to take care of the dolphin over the weekend.    [FULL  STORY]

PUBLIC SAFETY: Wan Mei-ling said that lengthy compulsory treatment would deter people from ‘faking a mental illness’ to avoid stiff punishment for crimes they commit

Taipei Times
Date: May 03, 2020
By: Chen Yun / Staff reporter

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Wan Mei-ling (萬美玲) yesterday said that she would sponsor a bill to amend the Criminal Code to mandate that people with mental disorders who have committed a felony undergo compulsory treatment for five to 10 years.

Wan said that she drafted the bill after the Chiayi District Court on Thursday found a 55-year-old man surnamed Cheng (鄭) not guilty of the murder of police officer Lee Cheng-han (李承翰), to “prevent mental illnesses from becoming pretexts for committing felonies.”

The ruling did not meet the public’s expectations, which proves that the Criminal Code needs to be amended, she said.

Five years of treatment might suffice for offenders with mild mental illnesses, but would not be enough for those who commit a serious crime, she added.    [FULL  STORY]