Radio Taiwan International
Date: 21 October, 2020
By: Natalie Tso

The US House of Representatives' “China Task Force” has introduced seven pro-Taiwan bills as part of a broader package of 137 proposed laws it's calling the “China Task Force Act".

This raft of proposed legislation is intended among other things to counter the negative global influence of China's communist party, to promote a position of leadership for the US in the designation of 5G standards, and hold accountable those members of UN mechanisms that exert a negative influence.

3The acts supporting Taiwan include the Taiwan Defense Act, which would call for the US military to prevent China from taking over Taiwan.    [FULL  STORY]

Asia One
Date: October 21, 2020
By: Cyndi Wang

TAIPEI — Taiwanese singer and actress Cyndi Wang recently revealed that she prefers portraits of the left side of her face; thus, explaining why most of her photos are shot from the left at a 45-degree angle.

“Most people have asymmetrical faces, and my best side happens to be my left one,” Wang recently said during a talk show. Wang usually asks professionals to select photos that feature her left side which she considers more flattering.

While on the TV show 36 questions, Wang was also asked how she dealt with online bullying. “It’s impossible to feel nothing, but I’m grateful that I don’t have the best memory so I make an effort to let unhappy feelings go away pretty quickly,” she answered.

Wang also said that at the start of her career, she had aimed to be a “soft, but strong” artist, and has since faced her fair share of tragedies, including the passing of friend and fellow actor, Godfrey Gao and the more recent death of Alien Huang.

After going through these tough times, Wang felt that nothing could ever truly take her down, and holds on to the sentiment that all things will pass eventually.    [FULL  STORY]

Chang allegedly recruited retired colleagues to pass documents to Chinese security officials

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/10/212
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A court ordered the detention Wednesday (Oct. 21) of a retired military intelligence colonel in connection with allegations that he and three former colleagues passed on secrets to China.

Prosecutors accused Chang Chao-jan (張超然) of having introduced other former Military Intelligence Bureau (MIB) officials to Chinese security agents as potential sources for classified information. The Taipei District Court agreed with the prosecutors’ explanation that he posed a flight risk or might collude to destroy evidence, thus ordering his detention, CNA reported.

Two other suspects, former Major General Yueh Chih-chung (岳志忠) and retired Colonel Chou Tien-tzu (周天慈) were freed on bail of NT$150,000 (US$5,200) each early Wednesday following questioning.

In 2013, Chang accompanied another retired MIB colonel surnamed Fu (傅) on a flight to China to meet Chinese national security officials. Chang, Yueh, and Chou traveled to China several times between 2016 and 2018, with Chou on one occasion asking Yueh to hand over documents to the other side.    [FULL  STORY]

Focuas Taiwan
Date: 10/21/2020
By: Liu Chien-pang and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, Oct. 21 (CNA) Taiwanese police, working in collaboration with their counterparts in Malaysia and Vietnam, have brought five wanted Taiwanese fugitives back to Taipei, despite the global COVID-19 pandemic, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said Wednesday.

Despite the reduction in the number of international flights due to the pandemic, the CIB's cooperation with police in other countries remained, resulting in the deportation of the five Taiwanese, the CIB said in a statement.

The fugitives include two men, surnamed Chen (陳) and Wang (王), wanted for their involvement in smuggling 1.45 million tablets of the controlled hypnotic drug nimetazepam, also known as erimin, into Malaysia.

In joint operations by Taiwanese and Malaysian police, the two men were arrested and detained. They were sent back to Taiwan in September and October, respectively, according to the CIB.
[FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 21 October, 2020
By: John Van Trieste

Deputy Chief of the General Staff Li Ting-sheng has made a trip to the Dongsha Islands in the South China Sea to inspect conditions for troops stationed there.

Li’s inspection tour is being seen as a demonstration of Taiwan’s continued ability to supply the islands after Hong Kong air traffic control recently denied a military-chartered aircraft entry into nearby air space.    [FULL  STORY]

Flight Global
Date: 21 October 2020
By: Garrett Reim

In a move that is sure to provoke a backlash from Beijing, the US State Department has approved a package of weapons for a possible Foreign Military Sale to Taiwan, including dozens of anti-ship missiles, rocket artillery and long-range airborne reconnaissance pods.

The Defense Security Cooperation Agency delivered the required certification notifying the US Congress of the possible sale, it says on 21 October.

The possible sales package includes 135 examples of the Boeing AGM-84H Standoff Land Attack Missile Expanded Response (SLAM-ER), 11 Lockheed Martin High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) launchers and six Collins Aerospace MS-110 multispectral airborne reconnaissance pods.

The SLAM-ER package is estimated to cost $1 billion, the HIMARS are $436 million and MS-110 are $367 million. The final cost will likely be lower, depending on Taiwan’s final requirements, budget authority, and signed sales agreement. Ultimately, the weapons buy has to be accepted by Taipei as well.    [FULL  STORY]

Kaohsiung city councilor produces photos of moldy produce, urges Shoushan Zoo to take animals' health seriously

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/10/21
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — New Power Party Kaohsiung City Councilor Lin Yu-kai (林于凱) on Tuesday (Oct. 20) accused the southern city’s Shoushan Zoo of feeding low-quality, moldy food fruit and vegetables to its animals.

Shoushan Zoo said it has four procedures for managing the storage of animals' food, which is stored at temperatures between 5-10 degrees Celsius, according to a CNA report. In response to the city councilor's accusation, Kaohsiung Tourism Bureau Director Chou Ling-wen (周玲妏) promised to tighten oversight of the food, saying that controls, penalties, and an inspection mechanism will be incorporated into next year’s bidding process.

She added that the budget for zoo animal food will also be increased next year.

Lin said he had warned the city’s tourism bureau about the food in August and that the bureau had said it would remedy the problem with different types of sustenance.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 10/21/2020
By: Flor Wang and Wang Chao-yu

Taipei, Oct. 21 (CNA) More fuel rods at a mothballed nuclear power plant in New Taipei were shipped back to the United States on Wednesday as part of government efforts to honor its promise to make Taiwan nuclear-free by 2025.

Five or six trucks carrying an unknown number of unused fuel rods from the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant arrived at Keelung Port in the early hours and were then loaded into several containers that departed for the U.S. at around noon.

However, the authorities in charge did not disclose whether this is the last batch of fuel rods being sent back to America.

A Legislative Yuan resolution that was passed in 2018 demands that state-run Taiwan Power Co. (Taipower) must send back all 1,744 unused fuel rods from the plant to America by the end of this year.    [FULL  STORY]

CLEAR BEFORE LEAVING: Two baby boys and a woman in her 30s tested negative before departing for Japan, but tests taken after their arrival came back postive

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 22, 2020
By: Lee I-chia / Staff reporter

Three Taiwanese tested positive for COVID-19 when they arrived in Japan earlier this month, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday as it reported a new imported case.

Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), head of the center, said that one of the three cases in Japan is a Taiwanese baby under the age of one, whose parents work in Japan.

The infant came to Taiwan with his parents in January, and the parents paid for the family’s COVID-19 tests on Oct. 10 ahead of their planned return to Japan on Monday last week, he said.

The boy and his parents have not developed any symptoms of COVID-19, but the baby’s antigen test upon arrival was positive, while his parents’ were negative.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 20 October, 2020
By: Shirley Lin

Imagine playing with science experiments while on a train. Taiwan has exactly that: a four day train ride around the island of Taiwan while you get to do all kinds of scientific experiments on the moving train. 

The Ministry of Science and Technology is organizing an event where students get to do science experiments while taking a train around Taiwan. The activity is in its fifth year. It’s so popular that despite the COVID-19 pandemic, 18 teams of students from 10 schools will participate this year from October 26 to 29. They are doubling the number of cars on the train to eight cars to accommodate all the students. 

The purpose of the event is to help young school students get involved in science and technology and learn about its relevance to our lives. The ministry hopes the activity can inspire more young people to be interested in scientific research and development when they grow up.
[FULL  STORY]