PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT: The Ministry of National Defense denied rumors that jets and helicopters flying over the capital were part of a Chinese invasion force

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 25, 2020
By: Jake Chung / Staff writer, with CNA

Jets and helicopters flying over Taipei yesterday were no cause for alarm, as they were part of Double Ten National Day preparations, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said, adding that more rehearsals are set for Tuesday next week, Oct. 6 and Oct. 8.

“This morning, the alarm clock for Taipei sounded somewhat different. This was the sound of [Taiwan’s] military aircraft flying over,” Tsai wrote on Facebook in Chinese.

One UH-60M Black Hawk, two CH-47 Chinook helicopters, three F-16Vs and three AT-3 training jets flew over Taipei as part of rehearsals for the Oct. 10 celebrations.

Aside from those participating in the rehearsals, all of the nation’s military units are on duty at their respective posts and performing their duties to defend Taiwan, Tsai wrote.
[FULL  STORY]

Incident marks 6th People's Liberation Army Air Force incursion into ADIZ since Sept. 17

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/09/24
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Two Chinese anti-submarine aircraft violated Taiwan's air defense identification zone (ADIZ) on Wednesday (Sept. 23) in the sixth incursion by People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) aircraft since Sept. 17.

On Wednesday evening, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) announced that two Shaanxi Y-8 anti-submarine warfare aircraft had entered the ADIZ off the southwest coast of Taiwan earlier that day. The Taiwanese Air Force responded by scrambling fighter jets to drive the planes away, broadcasting radio warnings, and tracking the aircraft with its land-based anti-aircraft missiles.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 09/23/2020
By: Chang Ming-hsuan,
Chen Wei-ting and Matthew Mazzetta

Taipei, Sept. 23 (CNA) A recent study carried out by the Changhua County government, which involved testing people for COVID-19 antibodies, was found to have violated public health policies but will not result in disciplinary action, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said Wednesday.

At the CECC's weekly press briefing, Health Minister Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said that was the conclusion reached after an ethics investigation into the Changhua County Public Health Bureau.

The investigation was launched after the county's health authorities embarked on a COVID-19 study, in which they tested 4,800 people between June and August for antibodies produced by the human body following exposure to COVID-19.

The CECC, which had objected to the study from the start, said the investigation found that the Changhua health bureau had flouted national epidemic prevention policies by testing people in home quarantine who did not have COVID-19 symptoms and by asking them to break quarantine, as they had to leave their homes to get the tests.    [FULL  STORY]

FATAL FIRE: The health department is trying to contact the inspector who visited the site of the illegal nursing home to ask why they did not advise follow-up checks

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 24, 2020
By: Lee I-chia / Staff reporter

The Taipei City Government yesterday said that a health department inspector last year had visited the site of a long-term care facility in Neihu District (內湖) after receiving a report questioning its status. A fire broke out at the facility on Tuesday afternoon, killing three people.

The Taipei Fire Department said that it received a report about a fire on the first floor of a four-story residential building on Kangning Road Sec. 1 at 2:38pm on Tuesday, firefighters arrived at 2:43pm and the fire was put out by 3:07pm.

The firefighters found three men in beds and rushed them to hospital for emergency treatment. Two of the men died on Tuesday and the third man died yesterday morning.

The city’s departments of social welfare and health issued a joint news release late on Tuesday evening, saying that the long-term care facility was operated by a woman surnamed Ting (丁) and that it was not legally registered.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 22 September, 2020
By: Paula Chao

Paint used for oil painting might cause lead poisoning[/caption] Oil painters beware! Those who have come into contact with the chemicals used in oil painting on a long term basis could be susceptible to lead poisoning. That’s after a female oil painter was found having a high level of lead in her body.

Oil paintings are built with various layers. But since the paint used contains lead white, zinc white, and titanium dioxide, the chemicals could pose a health hazard if used over a long time. It could also be dangerous if paint gets stuck in one’s fingernails.

Recently a female oil painter was diagnosed with a high level of lead, after complaining about abdominal pain and a headache.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwanese media seemed to mock a video of the soldiers for crying, interpreting it as a sign of fear against deployment at the border with India amid the ongoing tension in eastern Ladakh.

Hindust0an Times
Date: Sep 23, 2020
By: Sutirtho Patranobis

A bizarre war of words has broken out between mainland Chinese and Taiwanese media over a video of People’s Liberation Army (PLA) recruits being sent to the Sino-India border, with some of them appearing to be in tears.

The video, published online last week by a local network in the eastern Chinese province of Anhui, showed the young soldiers inside a bus and singing a well-known Chinese military song “Green Flowers in the Army”. Nearly all of them seemed emotional, with some crying.

Taiwanese media such as Liberty Times and Taiwan News, known for their pro-independence, anti-China stand, seemed to mock the soldiers for crying, interpreting it as a sign of fear against deployment at the border with India amid the ongoing tension in eastern Ladakh.
[FULL  STORY]

Aircraft believed to be Chinese spy plane appeared near southwest Taiwan Tuesday noon

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/09/22
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The suspected appearance of two Chinese Xi’an H-6 bombers near Orchid Island in Taitung County was not confirmed by the Ministry of National Defense, reports said Tuesday (Sept. 22).

Intrusions by Chinese warplanes into Taiwan’s Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) have grown more frequent over the past few months, with 37 such incidents during just two days last week as United States Undersecretary of State Keith Krach visited Taiwan.

According to observers of military affairs who listen in to broadcasts, two Chinese bombers flew east of Taiwan from north to south, and when they passed close to Orchid Island after 7 a.m. on Tuesday, the Air Force scrambled jets to ward them off, UDN reported. However, the Ministry of National Defense did not provide any comment on the reports.

Just before noon, the Twitter handle CANUK78 reported the presence of an unidentified plane inside the southwestern corner of Taiwan’s ADIZ, the scene of numerous previous violations. The site specul.ated the aircraft might be a Chinese spy plane.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 09/22/2020
By: Matt Yu and Ko Lin

Taipei, Sept. 22 (CNA) Taiwan's military conducted a joint air defense drill on Tuesday simulating a response to an enemy air attack, involving all of Taiwan's air bases, as well as naval and surface-to-air missile units, according to the Military News Agency.

The drill began at dawn, with the Air Force scrambling F-16, Indigenous Defense Fighter (IDF) and Mirage 2000 fighter jets to intercept a simulated air attack by hostile forces, the agency said.

The nation's ground and maritime forces were also deployed in the joint operation, with the aim of testing the country's air defense abilities.

The drill came in the wake of recent incursions by Chinese warplanes into Taiwan's air defense identification zone (ADIZ) or over the median line of the Taiwan Strait, resulting in Taiwan's Air Force having to scramble jet fighters to intercept and monitor their movements.
[FULL  STORY]

POLLUTANTS: Discarded fishing gear, especially gillnets, can threaten navigation safety and marine life, and can also decompose into microplastic debris, releasing toxins

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 23, 2020
By: Lin Chia-nan and Kayleigh Madjar / Staff reporter, with staff writer

The Kuroshio Ocean Education Foundation yesterday held a news conference in Taipei to highlight the environmental dangers posed by fishing waste and urge the government to take swift and systematic action.

Forty environmentalists from the foundation and environmental consultancy IndigoWaters Institute surveyed 19 coastal communities to produce the nation’s first illustrated report on fishing waste, finding that gillnets pose a particularly urgent threat to marine ecology.

While the Environmental Protection Administration is in charge of onshore waste produced from daily consumption, there is no systematic disposal among government agencies of waste fishing gear that poses a danger to marine life, foundation executive director Chang Hui-chun (張卉君) said.

The Hualien-based foundation over the past year worked with IndigoWaters to document the fishing gear that is often discarded nationwide and interview fishers at ports in eastern Taiwan to produce the report, she said.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 21 September, 2020
By: Leslie Liao

A small airport in southern Taiwan is looking to charter flights to bring it new life. The airport — Hengchun Airport — is located in the southernmost county of Pingtung. It’s not far from Kenting National Park, home to some of Taiwan’s most popular beaches. But, since its opening in 2004, Hengchun has faced a number of challenges, leading to a decline in passengers. Now, the local government is getting ready to test a new plan that would bring in more passengers from abroad.

Eager onlookers await the arrival of a plane from the Philippines. The Platinum Skies charter jet lands at Hengchun Airport, but it just sits on the tarmac. Nobody disembarks. The plane can seat 31 passengers, but for now, it’s empty. 

This might seem like the work of rogue pilots with too much time on their hands, but this flight is like a breath of fresh air for the Pingtung County Government. It’s the first international test flight on a new route that will bring passengers from the Philippines.    [FULL  STORY]