FOUR-DAY BREAK: Freeway driving would be toll-free between 12am to 5am on June 25, 26 and 27, but from 12am to 10am on the final day, a senior official said

Taipei Times
Date: May 27, 2020
By: Shelley Shan / Staff reporter

An easing of the nation’s COVID-19 outbreak might persuade more people to take short-distance road trips during the Dragon Boat Festival holiday next month, creating freeway congestion, the National Freeway Bureau said yesterday.

The festival is on the fifth day of the fifth month on the lunar calendar.

“It generally falls between the end of May and mid-June, but because this year the fourth month of the lunar calendar is a leap month, the festival is later than usual.

The holiday weekend is to run from June 25 to 28.    [FULL  STORY]

Straits Times
Date: May 26, 2020

TAIPEI • They are some of the biggest names in Taiwan's show business and fans got excited when Rainie Yang posted photos of dinner with fellow singers Wilber Pan and Jolin Tsai. "Having dinner with my elder brother and elder sister. Thanks to Handsome Pan for the treat," Yang, 35, wrote on social media on Sunday, along with photos with Tsai and Pan, both 39.

Some fans remarked that the photos evoked memories of the stars' younger days, such as when Tsai wowed fans with songs such as Magic (2003), 36 Tricks Of Love (2004) and Dancing Diva (2006).

Meanwhile, Pan shot to prominence with songs such as Gecko Stroll (2002) and Wu Ha (2004); and Yang with songs like Ambiguous (2005) and Magic Door (2007).

However, some fans noted Taiwanese singer-host Show Lo was not seen in the photos with the trio. Pan had taken a similar photo with Lo, Tsai and Yang in 2015.   [FULL  STORY]

The Age
Date: May 26, 2020
By: Peter Hartcher

It doesn't seem to make much sense. China's President Xi Jinping tried to get tough with Hong Kong and Taiwan last year. The people in both places responded emphatically. They stood up to his bullying. They rejected his efforts to push them around.

The only thing Xi achieved was to alienate the smartest and freest Chinese populations within Beijing's claimed sphere. Many ordinary middle-class people were so incensed that they turned out to vote and to protest for the first time.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has ratcheted up the heat on Hong Kong and Taiwan.CREDIT:AP

Xi's response? His regime has now made new threats against both Taiwan and Hong Kong. And formalised them in the executive's annual work report to the National People's Congress over the past few days.

"It's sad to hear," says the veteran Hong Kong-based political analyst Willy Lam, "a nation going down the wrong path". It also seems bizarre that Xi should want to persist on such a losing course.    [FULL  STORY]

Nearly 300 foreigners stranded in Taiwan form Facebook group to seek help with housing, work

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/05/25
By:  Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A group of over 100 foreign travelers who became stranded in Taiwan after the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic broke out have formed a support group and are seeking assistance with their new life in Taiwan.

On Feb. 25, just as the coronavirus outbreak was beginning to accelerate, Lea, a 31-year-old Argentinian real estate agent, told Taiwan News that she had a layover scheduled in Taiwan during a tour of southeast Asia. As fate would have it, this was her last flight as countries closed their borders due to the pandemic, and she soon found herself having to make plans to stay in Taiwan indefinitely.

Fortunately, Lea managed to contact a Frenchwoman willing to let her stay in her apartment, as the woman was unable to return to Taiwan. After meeting a growing number of foreigners in the same boat — given airports across the globe shutting down — on April 8 Lea decided to set up a Facebook group called "Stuck in Taiwan – Best Place to Be."

The purpose of the group is to connect those willing to help out with foreigners in need of assistance. Over 279 members have joined the group thus far from countries such as Argentina, Turkey, Lebanon, France, and the U.S.   [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 05/25/2020
By: Chen Wei-ting and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, May 25 (CNA) Taiwan is planning to lift a ban on surgical mask exports on June 1, but the decision will not be finalized until later this week, according to an official with the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC).

Once the CECC has confirmed the volume of face masks it needs to requisition, it will finalize the plan to open up mask exports, likely later in the week, said Deputy Health Minister Hsueh Jui-yuan (薛瑞元), who heads the CECC's medical response division, on Monday.

At the onset of the COVID-19 outbreak, face masks were in short supply, and the government had to requisition the entire national mask production to ensure that medical facilities and consumers around the country had access to the product.

Taiwan instituted a rationing system in February that allowed people to buy two masks per week, then three masks per week and then nine masks every two weeks as mask production increased from about 3 million per day to about 18 million per day.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: May 26, 2020 page2
By: Staff writer, with CNA

Companies have placed more than 22,000 workers on unpaid leave nationwide as of Friday, including more than 10,000 in the manufacturing sector, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect the domestic and global economy, the Ministry of Labor said yesterday.

A total of 1,285 companies have implemented unpaid leave programs in cooperation with their employees, up from 1,189 on May 18, ministry data showed.

The total number of workers on furlough at those companies as of Friday was 22,500, compared with 21,067 four days earlier, the data showed.

In the export-oriented manufacturing sector, the number of workers on unpaid leave rose by 1,383 over the four-day period, to 10,169, the highest figure among the nation’s major industries, the ministry said.    [FULL  STORY]

• Taiwanese missiles are increasing in range and are capable of striking cities in inner China, including strategic targets
• A boost to the weapons would allow island to brace for the PLA’s first advance before an ally stepped in to help, analyst says

South China Morning Post
Date: 23 May, 2020
By: Lawrence Chung

Taiwan is expected to step up the development of missiles able to strike mainland China in the face of growing military threats by Beijing.

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen vowed during her inaugural speech on Wednesday to bolster the self-ruled island’s defences by emphasising the development of asymmetrical warfare, apparently foreseeing bumpy cross-strait ties in her next four years in office.

In asymmetrical warfare, one side uses non-traditional weapons against a more powerful enemy. Analysts said a boost to Taiwan’s missile programme would mean the island could brace for the mainland’s first advance before the United States came to its rescue.

“Weapons listed in this [asymmetrical warfare] category include missiles, torpedoes, unmanned aerial and navy drones and cyberweaponry. But missiles are by far the most effective to strike and intimidate the enemy,” said Chieh Chung, senior researcher of national security at Taipei-based National Policy Foundation, a think tank of the opposition Kuomintang party.    [FULL  STORY]

Epoch Times
Date: May 23, 2020
By: Jocelyn Neo

When Yang Chih Chiao was successfully transferred to the National Taichung University of Education in Taiwan in her second year, her former classmates treated the joyful news as a joke. They never imagined that a student who once ranked last in their class would be on her way to becoming a teacher.

For young Yang—who is now a kindergarten teacher—life was never smooth sailing since she was little. Her childhood was filled with gray and blurry memories, as she suffered from amblyopia, a vision-development disorder—also known as lazy eye—in which one eye fails to achieve normal visual acuity. However, after 18 years of Yang suffering from the condition, a set of events helped restore her health.

Plagued With Eye Disorder

Recalling her painful childhood incident, Yang told Minghui.org that once her elementary school teacher showed them how to distinguish $5 and $10 bills.

“I couldn’t tell the difference at all,” the 31-year-old Yang said. “I couldn’t get the ball while bouncing it. That was when my parents found out that I had weak eyesight.” 
[FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/05/23
By:  Central News Agency

Over 3,000 people remained under evacuation orders from mountainous areas of Kaohsiung City Saturday amid fears of mudslides, after much of southern Taiwan was hit by downpours from a plum rain front the previous day.

As of 6 a.m., a total of 3,485 Kaohsiung residents had been evacuated, including 1,056 from Namaxia District, 842 from Liugui District and 758 from Taoyuan District, according to the city's Civil Affairs Bureau.

The city, which has set up a disaster response unit to deal with the rain damage, said it will wait until landslide warnings for the affected areas are lifted before assessing whether it is safe for the evacuated residents to return to their homes.

Meanwhile, the Pingtung County government has estimated that agricultural losses from the rain will exceed NT$8 million (US$265,854), after extensive damage was reported to the area's rice, bitter melon and luffa crops.    [FULL  STORY]

‘DIFFERENT CULTURES’: The main hall of Taipei Railway Station is a public area, but its openness became an issue due to the pandemic, Station Master Huang Jung-hua said

Taipei Times
Date: May 24, 2020
By: Cheng Wei-chi and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writer

More than 400 people yesterday protested at Taipei Railway Station after the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) said it would permanently ban sitting on the floor of the station’s main hall.

The protesters were joined by students from Hong Kong who are studying in Taiwan and took the opportunity to support the Hong Kong democracy movement. The students waved Hong Kong independence flags and banners that read: “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times” — the slogan used in Hong Kong social movements since 2016.

“The TRA will gather public opinions and draft plans that facilitate everyone’s needs for the station as soon as possible,” TRA Deputy Director-General Feng Hui-sheng (馮輝昇) said.

In response to the protesters, the station yesterday sent 25 staff members to walk around the main hall with placards reminding people to wear masks and practice social distancing, as required by the government to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.    [FULL  STORY]