Focus Taiwan
Date: 11/20/2020
By: Chang Ming-hsuan and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, Nov. 20 (CNA) Taiwan could buy the COVID-19 vaccine Oxford University is developing with British drugmaker AstraZeneca, a second vaccine showing promising results that the nation will be able to acquire through the COVAX allocation platform, a Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) official said Friday.

According to foreign wire reports, the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine shows an "encouraging" immune response in older adults, and 99 percent of the participants in the mid-term clinical trial developed antibodies after taking the shots.

The vaccine shows a strong immune response in individuals in their 60s and 70s, raising hopes that it can protect age groups most at risk from the virus, the BBC reported Thursday.

Asked if Taiwan can buy the vaccine, CECC spokesman Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said the center started acquisition negotiations for the vaccine in August and September, but he declined to provide any further details.    [FULL  STORY]

ONGOING BEEF: The KMT’s Lin Wei-chou said that all the premier had to do to be allowed to take the podium was apologize for the DPP’s U-turn on US pork imports

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 21, 2020
By: Chen Yun and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writer

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday once again blocked Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) from taking the podium at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei after he failed to meet its demand for an apology for the government’s handling of imports of US pork containing traces of ractopamine.

During the administration of former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) of the KMT, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), then in opposition, strongly opposed the import of US pork containing the leanness-enhancing feed additive.

However, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) of the DPP on Aug. 28 announced that the government would lift the bans on US pork containing traces of ractopamine and US beef from cattle more than 30 months old.

The policy is scheduled to take effect on Jan. 1.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 19 November, 2020
By: Paula Chao

Health Minister Chen Shih-chung says his ministry will conduct on-site inspections at pig farms in

the United States by the end of this year. Chen was speaking Thursday.

The government has lifted a ban on US pork imports containing the leanness-enhancing feed additive ractopamine with effect from January 1. However, the easing of the ban has caused a public outcry due to concerns about food safety. The health ministry has also come under fire from the opposition for not conducting on-site inspections at US pig farms as required by a

n executive order.    [FULL  STORY]

The New York Times
Date: Nov. 19, 2020
By: Lisa Friedman

WASHINGTON — Andrew Wheeler, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, plans to squeeze in two taxpayer-funded trips abroad — to Taiwan next month and to four Latin American countries in January — before President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. takes over and moves to overturn most of his policies.

Both trips have raised concerns about the taxpayer expense at a time when Mr. Wheeler no longer represents the direction of E.P.A. policy, and he and top aides are supposed to be aiding the transition to the Biden administration.

Traveling to Taiwan is expected to require a chartered flight at a cost of more than $250,000 to avoid coronavirus risks and because of the lengthy quarantines required of commercial travelers, according to three people knowledgeable about the trip. The three-day visit, scheduled for the week of Dec. 5, will cost an estimated $45,000 for a delegation of 10 people, according to E.P.A. and American Institute of Taiwan documents as well as people familiar with the planning, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the preparations.

James Hewitt, a spokesman for Mr. Wheeler, said the agency is still working through logistics but said the administrator was invited to Taiwan “to collaborate on issues including the Save our Seas initiative and marine litter, air quality, and children’s health.” Mr. Wheeler has called plastic waste a “top priority” and the E.P.A. recently released a global strategy for addressing marine litter.
[FULL  STORY]

Minister pointed out that initial judgment did not rule out spatial disorientation as cause of incident

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/11/19
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan’s military has picked up eight signals, possibly from the missing F-16 fighter jet that disappeared on Tuesday evening (Nov. 17) two minutes after it took off.

Search efforts will zero in on the source of the earliest signals emitting from 16.7 kilometers offshore, Minister of National Defense Yen De-fa (嚴德發) said on Thursday.

Colonel Chiang Cheng-chih’s (蔣正志) F-16 jet took off from Hualien at 6:05 p.m. on Tuesday for night training, but it disappeared from the radar screen at 6:07 p.m. The Air Force said a naval patrol ship picked up suspicious beacon signals at 9:03 a.m. on Wednesday, which have been used as an important lead in the continued search for the aircraft, according to CNA.

Giving a briefing on the search efforts at the country’s legislature on Thursday, Yan pointed out that based on weather, crew communication, and the aircraft's maintenance and condition, the initial judgments did not rule out the possibility of spatial disorientation as a cause of the incident. Spatial disorientation refers to a pilot’s inability to correctly interpret aircraft altitude or airspeed in relation to the Earth or other points of reference.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 11/19/2020
By: Chiang Yi-ching

Taipei, Nov. 19 (CNA) Greenpeace and 33 other human rights, environmental and labor organizations from around the world on Thursday called on Taiwan's government to initiate reforms to address the "persistent and systemic issues of forced labor" on Taiwan's distant water fishing (DWF) fleets.

The demand comes as fish caught on Taiwan-registered vessels were classified as products of forced labor for the first time this year by the U.S. State Department in October.

This is further indication that reforms are needed, the coalition said in a statement.

"We call on the Taiwanese government to initiate structural reforms, and ensure fishing vessel owners and seafood traders adhere to all relevant international human rights, labor, and environmental standards," said Greenpeace senior adviser Andy Shen, who added that businesses around the world that source from Taiwanese fishing vessels are watching closely to see how the government in Taiwan responds.    [FULL  STORY]

CONTAMINATION: Wastewater from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant might pollute habitats and hurt fisheries, the nuclear abolition advocates said

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 20, 2020
By: Kayleigh Madjar / Staff writer, with CNA

The National Nuclear Abolition Action Platform yesterday called on Japan to refrain from dumping contaminated wastewater from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant into the ocean, warning it that it might cause up to 40 years of environmental consequences.

The group held a protest in front of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Taipei, prompting the ministry to promise to relay a message to Japan through the nation’s representative office in Tokyo.

The groups first placed a large sheet featuring cutouts of marine creatures on the ground and later added radioactive warning symbols to the sheet, representing the impact of the water from the wrecked plant on the ecosystem.

After Tokyo in May began soliciting ideas on how to dispose of the contaminated water, civil organizations in Taiwan jointly sent a letter to the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry urging it not dump it into the ocean, Green Citizens’ Action Alliance secretary-general Tsuei Su-hsin (崔愫欣) said.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 18 November, 2020
By: John Van Trieste

An online platform set up to recruit volunteers for COVID-19 vaccine trials has now seen more than 20,000 people sign up.

The number of volunteers broke the 20,000 mark on Wednesday, just one week after the government launched the platform.    [FULL  STORY]

Appeals are still possible, but no suspended sentences as Lam is unwilling to forgive his assailants: Court

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/11/18
By Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Three men who plotted and executed a paint attack against Hong Kong bookseller and democracy activist Lam Wing-kee (林榮基) received prison sentences ranging from three to four months on Wednesday (Nov. 18).

Appeals are still possible against the ruling by the Taipei District Court, which said it did not issue suspended sentences because Lam had been harmed mentally and physically by the attack and did not want to forgive his assailants.

The main suspect, Cheng Chi-lung (鄭啟龍), was reportedly dissatisfied with Lam’s dissemination of ideas through his Taiwan Causeway Bay bookstore. Through the internet, he collected personal information about Lam and pictures of the bookshop’s neighborhood in Taipei City, CNA reported.

Cheng recruited two brothers, Tseng Shih-cheng (曾士晟) and Tseng Shih-feng (曾士峰), and traveled with them to the area near the bookstore on April 21. As Lam sat down outside a coffee shop to take a drink, Tseng Shih-feng poured red paint from a bottle into a cup and flung it at the bookseller, while his brother took pictures of the attack with his cellphone.   [FULL  STORY]