How Taiwan Won 2020: By Trusting Its Citizens, and Distrusting the Chinese Communist Party Posted: 30 Dec 2020 08:58 PM PST National Review
Date: December 30, 2020
By: Jack Butler
 Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen arrives at the launch of the first of a new generation of coast guard patrol ships in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, December 11, 2020. (Ann Wang/Reuters) As 2020, a year defined by a coronavirus pandemic that originated in Wuhan, China, and was able to spread worldwide because the Chinese Communist Party suppressed evidence about it, comes to a close, you might think Western media would be a bit more wary of the regime. You’d be wrong. Because the same totalitarian government that caused the outbreak in the first place managed to brute-force its population back to something of a warped status quo, Axios sees fit to explain to us “How China Won 2020.” And that it does so in the same breathless, bullet-point, who’s-up-who’s-down manner that many political media prefer using to cover domestic politics suggests a casual refusal to reckon with the depravity of its regime, as well as the threat it poses. Axios’s year-end paean is sadly only one of the last entries of many in the genre this year. 2020 saw many sufficiently consumed by a strange combination of America- (or self-) loathing as to be willing to gaze enviously upon the CCP. Often, as here, these efforts take on the appearance of propaganda, which is surely how the CCP views them, at any rate. Such pieces seem, at times, to be little more than power worship, a disturbing tendency that preexisted 2020 but has surely been exacerbated by it. That might help to explain why media coverage on coronavirus recovery worldwide tends to focus on China’s supposed successes while ignoring the far freer nation of Taiwan. The Axios report homes in on China’s apparent return to economic growth during the year. Well, Taiwan managed that too. Axios praises China for reportedly handling its coronavirus outbreak. Guess what: Taiwan did that, too. And it did so without resorting to the outright tyranny that the CCP prefers. In fact, it did so precisely because that regime’s past behavior, particularly its designs on Taiwan, had given Taiwan’s government reason to distrust it. Because of Chinese influence, the World Health Organization simultaneously shut out Taiwan and promulgated Chinese deceptions about the virus and its spread, deceptions that Taiwan ignored. If the rest of the world had acted similarly, the toll of the coronavirus pandemic would have lightened considerably. [FULL STORY]  | A New Year’s Taiwan wish list for President Biden: William Stanton Posted: 30 Dec 2020 08:52 PM PST Taiwan News
Date: 2020/12/29
By: William A. Stanton, Taiwan News, Contributing Writer
 President-elect Joe Biden speaks at The Queen theater on Dec. 28, 2020, in Wilmington, Del. (AP photo) With only a few weeks to go before Joseph Biden becomes president of the United States, Taiwan’s American friends need to press hard for the policies we want to see the new administration pursue toward Taiwan. Most important, we must continue to strengthen Taiwan’s security As Randall Schriver, chairman of the Project 2049 Institute, and Ian Easton, senior director at the same institute, have recently reiterated, we must counter the enormous military threat the People’s Republic of China (PRC) poses to Taiwan, Asia, the United States, and the world. Like President Trump or not, his administration and the U.S. Congress have done more to strengthen Taiwan’s security over the past four years than any previous American administration. [FULL STORY]  | Taiwan headline news Posted: 30 Dec 2020 08:45 PM PST Focus Taiwan
Date: 12/31/2020 Taipei, Dec. 31 (CNA) The lead stories in major Taiwan dailies on Thursday are as follows: @United Daily News: Teenager returning from U.K. confirmed with new COVID-19 variant; Taiwan to close border for one month starting Jan. 1 @China Times: New COVID-19 variant invades Taiwan @Liberty Times: Taiwan to restrict entry of foreigners starting Jan. 1 @Apple Daily: Taiwan reports first case of new COVID-19 variant @Economic Daily News: Taiex sees seven bright spots in 2020 @Commercial Times: Foreign institutions buy net NT$26.8 billion- worth of Taiwan shares @Taipei Times: Taiwan bans non-resident foreigners [FULL STORY]  | Changhua girl overcomes challenges, gets into NTU Posted: 30 Dec 2020 08:37 PM PST Taipei Times
Date: Dec 31, 2020
By: Liu Hsiao-hsin and Kayleigh Madjar / Staff reporter, with staff writer
 Student Chen Chien-ying, front center, her counselor Yu Chih-ting, left, school principal Lin Yi-hsien, right, and another student are pictured at National Lukang Senior High School in Changhua County on Monday.
Photo: Liu Hsiao-hsin, Taipei Times High-school student Chen Chien-ying (陳芊穎) said she hopes to help others after so many helped her overcome the limitations of cerebral palsy, once she obtains a psychology degree from National Taiwan University (NTU). On Thursday last week, Chen became the first student from Changhua County’s National Lukang Senior High School to be accepted into the prestigious university through its program to help disadvantaged students. Born with cerebral palsy, Chen said that she has always found movement difficult. When she was an infant, her parents thought that she was just developing slowly, but after she was diagnosed at one year old, her parents took her to different specialists in the hopes of taking advantage of an early intervention. [FULL STORY]  | COVID-19 vaccinations may begin as soon March Posted: 30 Dec 2020 08:29 PM PST Radio Taiwan Iternational
Date: 30 December, 2020
By: John Van Trieste
 Health authorities say that Taiwan is working to purchase 20 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine, and that vaccinations could begin as soon as March. The Central Epidemic Command Center says that Taiwan is working to purchase 20 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine, and that vaccinations could begin as soon as March. Taiwan has ordered over 4.7 million doses from COVAX and an additional 10 million from AstraZeneca. Health authorities are also in talks with a third vaccine maker, as well as with a number of companies with vaccines that are already in third-stage clinical trials. [FULL STORY]  | Funny ad unveils challenges in making Taiwan bilingual Posted: 30 Dec 2020 08:24 PM PST The China Post
Date: December 30, 2020
By: Vivian Hsiao
 An ad for an English cram school ladened with wrong word-usage and bad grammar. As Taiwan aims to become a bilingual nation in 2030, many cram schools and educational institutions are gearing up to meet the new requirements. A Taiwan expat who recently came across an English cram school advertisement, however, pointed out many mistakes in a local promotion ad. This left him to wonder whether Taiwan will truly succeed in achieving its goal in ten years' time. In a Twitter post, the English cram school ad showed a Caucasian teacher talking to a group of elementary-aged students in a supermarket, with the caption, “English using at the mall, outing with fun we learn more!” Aside from the apparent misuse of the word “mall,” which usually refers to an “indoor shopping centre anchored by department stores,” the grammatical errors were also ridiculed by the foreigner who added a “face with tears of joy” emoji to the post. [FULL STORY]  | Taiwan News’ 2020 wrap up Posted: 30 Dec 2020 08:19 PM PST Taiwan News
Date: 2020/12/31
By Taiwan News
 (Taiwan News image) (Taiwan News image)[/caption] TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — As 2020 draws to a close, Taiwan News looks back at stories that made global headlines this year. From the outbreak of the coronavirus in Wuhan, China, to the California wildfires, the world entered the 2020s with a bang. We have compiled a list of 21 of the year's most newsworthy events to be remembered on the eve of 2021. [FULL STORY]  | Temperatures in Taiwan’s low-lying areas drop to lowest this season Posted: 30 Dec 2020 08:11 PM PST Focus Taiwan
Date: 12/30/2020
By Chang Hsiung-feng, Worthy Shen,
Yeh Chen and Chung Yu-chen
 Rime ice was seen on trees in Taipingshan National Forest Recreation Area. Photo courtesy of Luodong Forest District Office. Taipei, Dec. 30 (CNA) Low-lying areas across Taiwan on Wednesday recorded their lowest temperatures this winter, with the arrival of a cold front, and the mercury is expected to drop further in the early hours of Thursday, according to the Central Weather Bureau (CWB). The weather station in Fugui Cape, New Taipei, registered a temperature of 7.7 degrees Celsius at 5 p.m. Wednesday, the coldest among the 18 weather stations in low-altitude areas where the season's lows were recorded, CWB forecaster Lin Ting-yi (林定宜) said. He forecast that the mercury will drop further late Wednesday night into Thursday morning, falling to around 6-8 degrees in northern and eastern Taiwan, with low-lying areas near mountainous areas seeing temperatures of 1-2 degrees. In central and southern Taiwan, temperatures of 9-10 degrees can be expected, Lin said. As the cold front enveloped Taiwan, rime ice was seen Wednesday on trees in Yilan County in northeastern Taiwan, including in Taipingshan National Forest Recreation Area, which is about 1.9 kilometers above sea level. [FULL STORY]  | Taipei book exhibition to feature Nobel laureate Posted: 30 Dec 2020 08:06 PM PST BELATED: South Korea would be the fair’s guest nation of honor, as originally planned for this year’s event, which was moved online due to COVID-19, the organizers said Taipei Times
Date: Dec 31, 2020
By: Staff writer, with CNA
 Taipei Book Fair Foundation director Wang Hsiu-yin, second left, and other organizers of next month’s Taipei International Book Exhibition promote the show at a news conference in Taipei on Tuesday.
Photo: CNA Nobel Prize in Literature winner Kazuo Ishiguro and Stephenie Meyer, author of the famed Twilight series, are to hold virtual talks at the Taipei International Book Exhibition next month, the event’s organizers said yesterday. The two writers are among the 46 international authors who are to address audiences via videoconferencing or prerecorded speeches, Taipei Book Fair Foundation director Wang Hsiu-yin (王秀銀) said. In a prerecorded video Meyer would on Jan. 31 discuss her new book Midnight Sun, which tells the love story of the two main characters in the series from the male perspective, Wang said at a news conference. Meanwhile, 2017 Nobel laureate Ishiguro, whose bestselling books include The Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go, would also appear in a prerecorded video address, Wang said, adding that the author is slated to speak on Jan. 30 on the subject “Creating with Humanity.”
[FULL STORY]  | TAO: China will push for cross-strait peace and unification Posted: 30 Dec 2020 08:00 PM PST Radio Taiwan International
Date: 30 December, 2020
By: Natalie Tso
 China's Taiwan Affairs Office Spokesperson Zhu Fenglian (CNA photo) China's Taiwan Affairs Office says that it will push for cross-strait peace and unification in 2021. That was the word from offices spokesperson Zhu Fenglian during a routine press conference on Wednesday. Zhu said in the New Year, China will continue to stick firmly to its stance on "One China" and the "1992 Consensus" and strongly oppose Taiwan independence. Zhu said China will push for peaceful development of cross-strait relations and moving towards unification.
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