• He may have won the KMT’s leadership election, but the 48-year-old politician has only 14 months to resolve its financial and election woes
• If Chiang is to be anything more than a transitional leader he must win the public’s trust and re-establish strong ties with Beijing, observers say

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

After Johnny Chiang easy victory in his party’s leadership election, Taiwan is asking if he is the man to save the island’s century-old Kuomintang (KMT).

The 48-year-old, US-educated politician defeated his sole opponent – former party vice-chairman and Taipei mayor Hau Lung-bin – in a poll that saw a record low voter turnout of less than 36 per cent.

Chiang has been in politics for just a decade and is largely unknown outside Taiwan. But the question now is whether he can save the troubled party, which suffered a humiliating defeat in 

January’s presidential and legislative elections, and is facing serious financial troubles and dwindling public support.    [FULL  STORY]

Dr. Timothy Brewer: Don't hoard the TP — and don't panic. Taking care of each other will get us through this

Salon.com
Date Marxch 15, 2020
By: Paul Rosenberg

In recent weeks a number of alarming stories have circulated suggesting that "You're Likely to Get the Coronavirus," as an article from the Atlantic put it. That story reported that Harvard epidemiologist Marc Lipsitch predicted that "some 40 to 70 percent of people around the world will be infected" within the coming year, though "many will have mild disease, or may be asymptomatic." What's more, a comment in The Lancet calculated that "approximately 60% of the population would become infected."

Having written about global warming since the 1990s, I'm profoundly accustomed to scientists warning us of dire things to come, while politicians and the media blithely ignore them. So I certainly didn't want to do that myself. But this time felt different. COVID-19 is a horrific public health threat. It's entirely possible that hundreds of thousands of people will die, conceivably millions. But at the same time, China's infection rate has been plummeting, and nearby nations like Taiwan and Singapore never saw an infection spike to begin with. South Korea's infection rate was declining as well. Here in the U.S., the Trump administration's bungling has been disastrous, but local public health responses have been vigorous, despite the fact that we're flying blind from lack of widespread testing. 

So I wanted to get a sober assessment from a knowledgeable expert — not to dismiss worst-case fears, but to help put them into perspective, and shed light on how we might best avoid both the very real dangers of the virus itself, and additional dangers from over- or under-responding in various different ways. So, I reached out to Dr. Timothy Brewer, at UCLA's Fielding School of Public Health, who currently serves as chair of the board of directors for the Consortium of Universities for Global Health. The interview was conducted by phone on March 12, and has been edited for clarity and length.

A recent comment in The Lancet began by stating that governments won't be able to minimize both deaths from COVID-19 and the economic impacts. Keeping mortality low will be the highest priority for individuals; so governments must look at measures to address or ameliorate the inevitable economic downturn. What's your view of this from a public health perspective?    [FULL  STORY]

Tainan County rattled by magnitude 4.2 temblor Sunday morning

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/03/15
By: Chris Chang, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A magnitude 4.2 earthquake shook southern Taiwan's Tainan County at 9:52 a.m. this morning (March 15), according to the Central Weather Bureau (CWB).

The epicenter of the temblor was located 43.3 kilometers east-northeast of Tainan City Hall at a depth of 13.2 kilometers. Taiwan uses an intensity scale of 1 to 7, which gauges the degree to which a quake is felt at a specific location.

The quake’s intensity registered as a 4 in Tainan County, a 3 in Kaohsiung City and Chiayi County, a 2 in Yunlin County, and a 1 in Pingtung, Nantou, and Changhua counties. No injuries resulting from the quake have been reported at the time of publication.    [SO-URCE]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 03/15/2020
By|: Matt Yu and Emerson Lim

Taipei, March 15 (CNA) The designation of Taiwan on the website of the International Chopin Piano Competition has been changed to "Chinese Taipei," after Taiwan protested the previous use of two other names, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said Sunday.

Last week, when the contestants who qualified for the preliminary round were named on the competition's official website, the country of origin for the Taiwanese competitors was listed as "PRC Taiwan" and was later changed to "China Taiwan."

Screen shot from the International Chopin Piano Competition website

However, after Taiwan's representative office in Warsaw lodged a protest with the organizers and held discussions with them, Taiwan's designation was revised Saturday to "Chinese Taipei," MOFA spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) said.

She said Taiwan competes in the Olympic Games and several other international events under the name "Chinese Taipei" to safeguard the rights of its contestants and distinguish them from Chinese competitors.    [FULL  STORY]

Maritime Bulletin
Date: March 14, 2020
By: Nikolay Torkin

UPDATE: The ship sank at around 1500 Beijing time Mar 14, of 13 crew, 10 were rescued, 3 are missing.

Cargo ship JING WEI 188 sank reportedly, on Mar 14 or 15, in southern Taiwan Strait south of Xiamen, 3 crew are missing. The ship was en route from Macau to northern China. No other details available.
Cargo ship JING WEI 188, MMSI 413322570, dwt 5200, flag China.   [FULL  STORY]

Fire believed to have started in restaurant early Saturday morning

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/03/14
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Five people died and one was listed in critical condition after a fire raged through a restaurant and an old apartment building in Taipei City’s Wanhua District, reports said Saturday (March 14).

According to the fire department, the blaze started around 6 a.m. in a building located inside an alley off Huaxi Street, a tourist destination in an older part of town. When firefighters arrived, the first and second floors were alight, but within an hour the blaze was put out.

However, when the firefighters entered the building, they found nine people inside, including three who were only slightly injured, CNA reported. A restaurant occupied the first and second floor, where the fire is believed to have started, while the third and fourth floors were subdivided into between 16 and 20 apartments.

Initially, six people did not show any signs of life. At the hospital, four were declared dead while attempts to revive two others continued. However, later in the afternoon, one person was also confirmed as having passed away, reports said, leaving one in critical condition.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan0
Date: 03/14/2020
By: Lee Hsin-Yin

Taipei, March 14 (CNA) The Presidential Office on Friday tweeted a blistering criticism of a United Nations entity that produced a map, in collaboration with another organization, showing the global rankings of women in government, executive and parliamentary positions but excluded President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).

On the map, created by the U.N. Women and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and released March 10, Taiwan is shaded in the same color as China, suggesting that they are one country.

"Hello @UN_Women: If you really want to empower women around the world, you may need 2 things: 1) NEW GLASSES so you can see past your prejudices; 2) MORE COURAGE so you can face reality & acknowledge #Taiwan's widely admired head of state, President @iingwen!" the Presidential Office tweeted.

The Presidential Office also posted a map, showing Taiwan as one of 21 countries that have a female as head of state or government leader.    [FULL  STORY]