Radio Taiwan International
Date: 02 October, 2020
By: Leslie Liao

MAC hits back at retired general’s comment about military

Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council has hit back at a disparaging comment about Taiwan’s combat capabilities made by a former army commander-in-chief.

During an event held Tuesday at Taiwan’s Military Academy, the retired General Chen Ting-chong remarked that Taiwan’s current military combat capabilities are at “zero”. He also described feeling pride at his “Chinese heritage”.    [FULL  STORY]

Epoch Times
Date: October 2, 2020
By: Cathy He

Fifty bipartisan U.S. senators called on the Trump administration to start negotiating a bilateral trade agreement with Taiwan, as part of growing efforts by lawmakers to impose tougher U.S. action against the Chinese regime.

The group of 42 Republicans and eight Democrats on Oct. 1 sent a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, citing Taiwan’s record as a longstanding U.S. economic partner and security ally as a reason to begin the process of negotiating a comprehensive trade agreement.

“We are confident that a U.S.-Taiwan trade agreement would promote security and economic growth for the United States, Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific as a whole,” the senators wrote.

Taiwan has long sought a free trade agreement with the United States, its most important supporter on the international stage, but Washington has complained about barriers to access for U.S. pork and beef.    [FULL  STORY]

Media reports suggest murder suspect who sparked Hong Kong protests intends to surrender to Taiwan authorities

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/10/02
By: Ching-Tse Cheng, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Hong Kong murder suspect Chan Tong-kai (陳同佳), whose case indirectly led to the anti-extradition bill protests in the special administrative region last year, has expressed a desire to turn himself into the Taiwanese authorities sometime this month, reported hk01.

According to the news agency, Chan said he has informed his lawyers in Taiwan about returning to the country and is willing to face the legal consequences for the alleged murder of his girlfriend Poon Hui-wing (潘曉穎) in Taipei, in 2018. He stressed that he has never changed his mind about taking responsibility for his misdeeds.

Despite having confessed to murdering Poon, Chan has been staying in a safe house in Hong Kong due to the lack of an extradition treaty between the governments of Taiwan and the former British colony. While Taiwan has offered to send officers to escort him, the Hong Kong authorities turned down the proposal because it would imply Taiwan is not a breakaway Chinese province as Beijing claims.

The case returned to the spotlight last month when Poon's mother broke her silence and urged Chan to surrender himself to Taiwanese prosecutors. She has promised to ask for leniency for him if he returns to Taiwan to face the charges, reported New Talk.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 10/02/2020
By: William Yen

Taipei, Oct. 2 (CNA) Taiwan Power Company (Taipower) will open a repair and maintenance facility in Taipei's Nangang District to guided tours for the first time in its 36-year history during the city's annual "Nuit Blanche" all-night arts festival on Saturday.

The half-hour guided tours at "Power Equipment Repair and Maintenance (PERAM) Taipower" will be conducted starting at 6:30 p.m., 7:30 p.m., 8:30 p.m., and 9:30 p.m. with a maximum of 20 people per group, the Nuit Blanche website said.

The tours are free of charge but people should register online beforehand. Information on registration is available on the Nuit Blanche Facebook page.

The PERAM is considered one of the highlights of this year's Nuit Blanche program, given that it has never been opened to the public since it was established in 1984.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 01 October, 2020
By:\ Paula Chao

Taiwan’s representative to the US, Hsiao Bi-khim, says that Taiwanese female NGO workers have received unfair treatment from NGOs under the UN framework. Hsiao was speaking Wednesday at a webinar entitled “Women’s Leadership: Redesigning the Post Covid-19 Era.”

The online seminar was co-hosted by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in New York and the government-sponsored Foundation of Women’s Rights Promotion and Development.

Hsiao said that while Taiwanese female NGO workers have been working hard to connect Taiwan with the rest of the world, they have been barred from attending UN-related events. Taiwan is not a UN member, and Taiwanese citizens have often been excluded from UN-related events due to pressure from China.    [FULL  STORY]

With tensions between China and Taiwan rapidly increasing, the tone of China's official media has also become progressively more strident, observes former senior RA&W officer and China expert Jayadeva Ranade.

rediff.com
Date: October 01, 2020
By: JAYADEVA RANADE

Large sustained doses of nationalism in the State-owned media when other news sources are blanked out invariably incite popular sentiments.

When sovereignty or territorial issues are involved this quickly transforms into 'militant nationalism' as evident in today's China.

With tensions between China and Taiwan rapidly increasing, the tone of China's official media has also become progressively more strident.

So have the comments by Chinese commentators and official spokesmen, which include intemperate threats to decapitate the Taiwanese leadership.    [FULL  STORY]

Animal will be released back into the wild once its injuries are healed

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/10/01
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A Formosan black bear who had walked into a trap set up to catch wild boar and monkeys was freed after intervention by veterinarians, reports said Thursday (Oct. 1).

A farmer in the Heping district of Taichung City found the animal in his orchard caught in wires set up to prevent other animals from stealing fruit, CNA reported.

When police, forestry workers, and veterinarians from the Endemic Species Research Institute Conservation Education Center arrived on the scene, they found the bear had injured himself while trying to break loose from the wires.

Police prevented more people from approaching the site amid concern the bear would panic and harm itself even more seriously. After the veterinarians put it under anesthesia, they found ear markings showing that the animal had been caught before in 2018 and that its range was unexpectedly large.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 10/01/2020
By: Chang Ming-hsuan and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, Oct. 1 (CNA) Taiwan on Thursday reported two new confirmed cases of indigenous dengue fever that are believed to be part of a cluster infection associated with a farm in Sanxia, New Taipei, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

The two new patients — a man, in his 50s and a woman in her 60s — both live in Sanxia and have no recent overseas travel history, the CDC said in a statement issued Thursday.

The man fell ill with fever, headache and muscle pains on Sept. 27, a few days after he visited a bamboo shoot farm in Sanxia, and he tested positive for the dengue virus on Thursday, according to the CDC.

In the case of the woman, she had been going to the farm quite often but had stopped after Sept. 19 when she learned of the cluster of dengue fever cases believed to have originated there, the CDC said.    [FULL  STORY]

CONTINUITY: Former and current mayors of the capital highlighted their shared experiences in working toward improving the public infrastructure in Taipei

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 02, 2020
By: Yang Hsin-hui and Kayleigh Madjar / Staff reporter, with staff writer

Current and former mayors of Taipei yesterday attended a special exhibition to celebrate the city’s centennial, saying that today’s successes can be accredited to its hard-working leaders, who have “passed the baton” down throughout the years.

Many familiar faces came to see the exhibition at Shuxin Hall in Nishi Honganji Square in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), titled “Journey of a Century,” including former presidents Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) vice chairman Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), former KMT chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) and others, all of whom have passed through the mayor’s office at some point during their careers.

Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) hosted of the event, which he touted as a special chance for the ideologically distant mayors to mark a rare milestone together.

Bringing society together is the core philosophy of government, Ko said, adding that although they all hold different views, everyone shares the same land and should live in harmony.
[FULL  STORY]