Taiwanese netizens poke fun at toddler 'Xinnie the Pooh' costume spotted at Taipei Costco

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/10/1547
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwanese netizens on Tuesday (Oct. 13) got a good belly laugh from a photo of a Winnie the Pooh Halloween costume for toddlers spotted at a Costco in Taipei.

On Tuesday, a member of the Facebook group Costco好市多 商品經驗老實說 (Speaking honestly about Costco product experiences), posted an image of a Winnie the Pooh outfit at a Costco in Taipei's Beitou District. Although the angle of the image makes the costume appear like it was made for giants, it was actually designed for toddlers aged 2 to 3.

In the photo, the shriveled head of Pooh appears to droop downward in dejection or following execution by hanging. In the caption above, the photographer wrote, "Sad Winnie… I'll take you home. For NT$297, I can buy you and take you back to wear as pajamas."

The price cited for the one-piece "Toddler cosplay costume," NT$297 (US$10.33), is actually a 50-percent discount off the original NT$569. Within 48 hours, the post gained 11,000 likes and 1,100 comments, the majority fixating on the fact that the anthropomorphic teddy bear is banned in China, as he has been used to mock Chinese Chairman Xi Jinping (習近平) due to the portly dictator's resemblance to the "tubby little cubby all stuffed with fluff."    [FULL  STORY8]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 10/15/20204
By: Huang Li-yun and Matthew Mazzetta

Taipei, Oct. 15 (CNA) Taiwan will grant an additional 30-day extension of stay to foreign visitors who entered the country on or before March 21 and have no record of overstaying, the National Immigration Agency announced Thursday.

The automatic extension will apply to foreign nationals who entered Taiwan visa free or on a visitor's or landing visa on or before that date.

The government has previously announced an automatic 30-day visa extension on March 21, April 17, May 18, June 15, July 17, Aug. 14 and Sept. 14, in order to avoid forcing foreign nationals to leave the country at a time when COVID-19 continues to affect the world and travel restrictions are in effect.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 16, 2020
By: Staff writer, with CNA

The international community must protect trade secrets and intellectual property rights, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) Tien Chung-kwang (田中光) told the opening day of a Taiwan-Japan-US workshop yesterday.

The Global Cooperation and Training Framework workshop includes representatives from the three nations, more than 180 law enforcement officials and experts from 19 nations in the Indo-Pacific area, attending in person and virtually.

The discussion yesterday focused on protecting trade secrets and intellectual property rights (IPR), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in statement.

At the opening ceremony, Tien urged unity to protect trade secrets and intellectual property rights, saying that they are important components of economic growth and competitiveness, the ministry said.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 13 October, 2020
By: Paula Chao

A congressional friendship association is planning to invite former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to visit Taiwan next March.

The cross-partisan association, founded by DPP lawmaker Kuo Kuo-wen, aims to promote friendship between Taiwan and Japan.     [FULL  STORY]

In episode 590 of #CutTheClutter, Shekhar Gupta looks at Taiwan's complex relationship with China and the history behind it.

ThePrint
Date: 13 October, 2020
By: ThePrint Team

New Delhi: Tensions arose between China and the Indian media last week after advertisements were placed in leading Indian newspapers by the Taiwanese government marking the China-claimed island’s national day.

The Chinese Embassy in India retorted through an email to journalists in which it said, “Regarding the so-called forthcoming ‘National Day of Taiwan’, the Chinese Embassy in India would like to remind our media friends that there is only one China in the world, and the Government of the People’s Republic of China is the sole legitimate government representing the whole of China.”

In episode 590 of ‘Cut The Clutter’, ThePrint’s Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta talked about Taiwan’s curious and complex geopolitical situation.    [FULL  STORY]

Cheng Yu-chin accused of spying for Taiwanese authorities while in Czech Republic

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/10/13
By: Sylvia Teng, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Beijing’s state-run China Network Television (CCTV) ran a program Monday evening (Oct. 12) in which the authorities claimed to have detained a Taiwanese man who used his academic post in the Czech Republic to carry out espionage against China.

Cheng Yu-chin's (鄭宇欽) "confession" was aired on CCTV one day after Taiwanese local government advisor Lee Meng-chu (李孟居), in prison garb, admitted to endangering China's national security in the same program. The 43-year-old native of Kaohsiung apologized for "secessionist and separatist activities" and for having "caused harm to the Mainland."

According to CCTV and Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece the Global Times, Cheng, who had been based in Czechia for some time and later taught at Charles University in Prague, was recruited by a Taiwanese envoy to work for Taiwan's intelligence services in 2004. Since then, Cheng has allegedly attempted to buy off Chinese scholars and diplomats within China as well as in other countries, such as the Czech Republic.

In addition, Cheng supposedly doctored essays on China in order to spread the claim that Chinese nationals, including overseas Chinese in the Czech Republic, are spies, CCTV said. Chen was arrested when he visited China in April 2019, but the exact location of his apprehension has not been disclosed.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan International
Date: 10/13/2020
By: Flor Wang and Chang Hsiung-fung

Taipei, Oct. 13 (CNA) Greenpeace Taiwan on Tuesday reiterated its call for shopping for goods without non-recyclable packaging as its annual report shows that nine major retailers and convenience store chains have still failed to provide such items for their customers.

Green Taiwan announced the results of its 2020 report at a news conference in which it said that RT-Mart, Costco, FamilyMart, PX Mart, Simple Mart, Carrefour, 7-Eleven, Wellcome and a-mart all failed in the assessment in terms of plastic reduction, cutback actions, innovative initiatives and information transparency.

Based on a score of 100 for full compliance, PX Mart topped the list with a score of 28.6, followed by FamilyMart in second place, while Wellcome ranked bottom with 9.2, behind Simple Mart and RT-Mart.

Compared with 2019, Costco and Wellcome are the only two to have gained lower rankings despite their slightly higher scores, Greenpeace Taiwan said.    [FULL  STORY]

DENGUE REMINDER: The CDC is urging people to be alert for symptoms of dengue fever, after a New Taipei City man became the 61st indigenous case this year

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 14, 2020
By: Lee I-chia / Staff reporter

A Taiwanese man who returned from China’s Jiangsu Province yesterday became the nation’s 530th confirmed COVID-19 case, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday.

The man, who is in his 40s, when to Jiangsu in February for work and returned to Taiwan on Sunday for vacation, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), who is also CECC spokesman, told a news conference in Taipei.

The man told health officials that he developed a runny nose with thick mucus on Oct. 1, but took over-the-counter medication to relieve the symptoms, and that two of his office colleagues had also had cold-like symptoms, for which they also took over-the-counter medication, Chuang said.

The man had a cough, runny nose and nasal congestion when he arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, so he was tested for COVID-19 at the airport and a positive test result was received yesterday, Chuang said.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 12 October, 2020
By: Leslie Liao

Vice President William Lai says that a video that China released depicting a Taiwanese citizen confessing to espionage will not win over any support from Taiwan. 

The Taiwanese man in the video — Lee Meng-chu — went missing in the Chinese City of Shenzhen in August of last year. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said in September, 2019, that Chinese authorities had detained Lee under suspicion of undermining national security.

China is claiming that it has exposed Taiwanese spying. But the Vice President says that China detained people with the intention of garnering false confessions to use for their own gain. He says that everyone can see through the charade.

Lai says that Taiwan’s government will do what it can to assist Lee and ensure his human rights are upheld.    [FULL  STORY]