ADAPTATION: Taiwan must plan for changing climate policies, which are likely to affect supply chains, but also provide business opportunities, Camyale Chao said

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 08, 2020
By: Sherry Hsiao / Staff reporter

A group of advocates yesterday announced the formation of an alliance in Taipei called Business Action on Climate Change (BACC), aimed at facilitating a more integrated effort to fight climate change among the private sector, the government and the public.

The alliance was cofounded by Niven Huang (黃正忠), managing director of KPMG Sustainability Consulting and regional leader of KPMG Sustainability Services in the Asia-Pacific; Robert Shih (石信智), general manager of YC Consultants; and Camyale Chao (趙恭岳), executive director of the International Climate Development Institute.

At a news conference to launch the alliance, Huang said that while the global “economic lockdown” brought upon by the COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to efforts to save energy and reduce carbon emissions, wildfires last year and this year have still resulted in record-breaking concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide worldwide.

To conserve energy and reduce carbon emissions, all main sectors of the economy must transition at the same time, he said.    [FULL  STORY]

Voice Of America
Date: December 06, 2020
By: Joyce Huang

Beijing has confirmed that it is drafting a list of pro-independence advocates in Taiwan, a move that some observers say reveals the Chinese government’s intention to criminalize what it calls “Taiwan secessionists” after an anti-secession example had been set recently in Hong Kong.

Some observers argue such a blacklist, however, will be toothless unless China finds ways to exercise long-distance influence over the self-ruled island.

And it could backfire and fuel the island’s anti-China sentiment, which is already at an all-time high, they add.

A laughingstock?

“The list will be a laughingstock [to Taiwan] unless harsh economic sanctions, be it travel bans, asset freezes or even [authorized] assassinations, would be imposed to show [China’s] claws,” Chang Ching, a researcher at the Society for Strategic Studies in Taipei, told VOA this week.
[FULL  STORY]

Central Epidemic Command Center says risk of infection by Indonesian worker quite low

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/12/05
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A Vietnamese worker listed as a contact for a confirmed Indonesian COVID-19 case has gone missing, provoking a search action by police and immigration officers, reports said Saturday (Dec. 5).

The Indonesian worker, listed as case No. 688, tested negative several times after her arrival in Taiwan on Nov. 13. However, a test requested by her employer and conducted on Dec. 1 turned out positive.

Following her compulsory 14-day quarantine, the Indonesian had been asked to self-monitor her health while staying at a dormitory with 47 other workers. The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) ordered those workers to be supervised and tested at a joint facility, but one of the 47 could not be found, CNA reported.

The missing person is a Vietnamese woman in her 30s who entered Taiwan on Nov. 13 and left quarantine on Nov. 28 following two negative tests. She stayed at a dormitory designated by a migrant broker Nov. 28-30 and at her Taiwanese employer’s home from Nov. 30 to Dec. 2. On the last day, she left the house in the morning but never returned, the report said.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 12/06/2020
By: Wang Cheng-chung and Emerson Lim

Taipei, Dec. 6 (CNA) The goal of upgrading 22 of Taiwan's more than 140 F-16 A/B jet fighters to F-16Vs in 2020 remains achievable, according to a recent report by Taiwan's Air Force.

According to the report, which was submitted to the Legislative Yuan for Monday's hearing on military modernization projects, the Air Force plan to upgrade 22 older F-16s into F-16Vs in 2020 remains on schedule.

Nineteen aircraft have been upgraded as of Dec. 4, the report said.

In 2016, the Air Force launched a program to upgrade all its F-16 A/Bs into F-16Vs, which are equipped with more advanced avionics, including the APG-83 Scalable Agile Beam Radar, Helmet Mounted Cueing System, as well as other flight management and electronic warfare systems.    [FULL  STORY]

Tsai Ing-wen recognized for success in fighting COVID and legalizing same-sex marriage

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/12/05
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) was voted one of the 12 most influential women in the world by readers of London’s FT Magazine on Friday (Dec. 4), sharing the honors with the likes of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and American Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.

Earlier in the week, she was mentioned by Bloomberg in its top 50, describing her as a “COVID crusher.” She also received the International Pioneer Award of the American Legislative Exchange Council.

The magazine edition of the Financial Times published the list of the 12 “game-changing” women in no particular order, with comments from readers who named them.

Tsai “made an excellent decision to ban arrivals from mainland China early” during the COVID-19 pandemic, wrote reader “123wsd456.” The same person also lauded Tsai for her success in January’s presidential election and for managing the economy and avoiding escalation of tension with China. The reader concluded with praise for the president's support of same-sex marriage, which became legal during her term.    [FULL  STORY]

Eurasia Review
Date: December 5, 2020
By: Vijay Prashad

On August 20, 2018, El Salvador’s leftist president Salvador Sánchez Cerén announced on national television that El Salvador would break its ties with Taiwan and recognize the People’s Republic of China. This was in accord with international law, said Sánchez Cerén, and it would bring “great benefits for our country.”

Not long after, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio took to Twitter to announce that this move “will cause real harm to relationship with the U.S. including their role in #AllianceforProsperity.”

Earlier, both the Dominican Republic and Panama had made the shift, but Rubio said that El Salvador would be especially punished because it was ruled by the left-wing Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN). It did not seem to matter to Rubio that his own country, the United States, had shifted its ties to China from Taiwan in 1979.

The “Alliance for Prosperity,” which was Rubio’s hashtag, referred to U.S. President Barack Obama’s deal with several Central American countries to provide some modest development aid in exchange for a beefed-up police force and the prevention of transit of migrants toward the United States; this was border enforcement dressed up as development. Rubio’s threats were inconsequential; the money was too little, and the price paid by the populations of Central America was too steep.    [FULL  STORY]

A couple and their two children were allegedly asphyxiated by exhaust fumes

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/12/05
By:  Central News Agency

A couple and their two children were found dead inside a car on a riverside in Kaohsiung's Daliao District early Friday (12/4) in what is believed to be a murder-suicide.

The bodies of the four—a 57-year-old man surnamed Chien (簡), his 52-year-old wife surnamed Hsu (許), as well as his son, 24, and his daughter, 11, were discovered in Chien's car parked on the riverside of the Gaoping Creek in Dakeng Road. Chien's body was spotted in the driver's seat when police arrived at the scene after receiving a report at around 8 a.m., while those of the other three were lying on the rear seat, allegedly asphyxiated by exhaust fumes, police said.

No suicide note or suspicious drink was found in the car, and the case has been turned over to prosecutors and forensics authorities, who will determine the cause of death, police said. The family was categorized as a lower-middle income household. With two disabled children, the family received NT$10,130 (US$359) in subsidies per month, workers at the city's Social Affairs Bureau told CNA.

Neither Chien nor his family members had ever asked for help from the bureau, nor had his family been listed as a high-risk household, they said.
According to Daliao District chief Huang Po-hsiung (黃伯雄), Chien earned his living by taking odd jobs. In addition to being the sole breadwinner in the family, he needed to look after his cancer-stricken wife, while his son had epilepsy and the daughter suffered from aphasia, he said.
[FULL  STORY8]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 12/05/2020
By: Chen Wei-ting and Kay Liu

Taipei, Dec. 5 (CNA) The police and the National Immigration Agency are looking for a Vietnamese national, who is in Taiwan for work and needs to be placed under quarantine after having coming into contact with an asymptomatic COVID-19 patient, a health official said Saturday.

The worker, a woman in her 30s, arrived at her employer's home on Monday, but officials have been unable to contact her since Wednesday, said Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), a spokesman for the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC).

The woman was one of 47 people who stayed in the same dormitory as an Indonesian worker, who was confirmed as infected with COVID-19 Friday. As a result, she has been listed as needing to quarantine at a government designated facility.

The other 46 have already been located and placed under quarantine, Chuang added.
[FULL  STORY]