Hong Kong demanded Taiwanese staff sign commitment to Beijing’s one-China principle in visa renewals
Taiwan says it has pulled back all but one staff member from its Hong Kong trade office after they refused to sign a commitment to the one-China principle required for visa renewals.
The officials returned from Hong Kong on Sunday, leaving just one colleague at the office, which acts as Taiwan’s diplomatic presence.
Continue reading...The US donation has more than doubled Taiwan’s available vaccine stocks as it battles a rise in coronavirus infections
Taiwan has reacted with an outpouring of thanks to the United States for shipping 2.5m Covid-19 vaccine doses to the island, more than doubling its arsenal as it deals with a rise in domestic infections.
Washington, competing with Beijing to deepen geopolitical clout through “vaccine diplomacy”, initially had promised to donate 750,000 doses but increased that number as President Joe Biden’s administration advances its pledge to send 80m US-made shots around the world.
Continue reading...The island’s Indigenous people are in a race against time to save their native tongues before they are lost forever
In a modest conference room near the edge of Taiwan’s Sun Moon Lake, Panu Kapamumu holds up an unwieldy A3 booklet. The home-printed document contains every known word of Thao, the language of his Indigenous tribe. Kapamumu runs his finger down the list, reading out a selection of Thao words, meanings and translations. He reads slowly and purposefully, a man in his sixties but still just a student of his mother tongue.
Continue reading...Once a poster child for blocking coronavirus, Taiwan failed to fully prepare a pandemic response or vaccination rollout
While most of the world suffered through hundreds of millions of cases and millions of deaths from Covid-19, the 23.5 million people in Taiwan largely lived a normal life, thanks to a well-documented strong and early response that saw it go 250 days without a single local case. It lobbied for inclusion in the World Health Organization’s decision-making body off the back of its undeniable success and expertise under the slogan “Taiwan can help”.
But now the tables have turned and the island itself is in need of assistance, after an outbreak that started among airline staff in April spread across the island. The government appears to have been caught short by something it thought would never happen: the poster child for outbreak prevention had apparently failed to fully prepare an outbreak response.
Continue reading...India announces free jabs for over-18s; Norway to shorten vaccine interval
Brazil’s health ministry has reported 37,156 new cases of coronavirus in the past 24 hours, and 1,010 deaths, according to Reuters:
The South American country has now registered 16,984,218 cases since the pandemic began, while the death toll has risen to 474,414, according to ministry data, in the world’s third worst outbreak outside the United States and India and its second-deadliest.
Portugal’s foreign minister has said that Spain’s decision to require a negative coronavirus test for people crossing the border must be “a mistake”, Reuters reported Lusa news agency saying on Monday:
Portugal had asked Spanish authorities for clarification on “what could only have been a mistake”, Portugal’s foreign minister Augusto Santos Silva said.
“We have asked Spanish authorities for clarification and await it being granted as quickly as possible, because if not we will need to adopt equivalent reciprocal measures,” Santos Silva said, adding that “the epidemiological situation in Spain is, at the moment, worse than what we are living in Portugal.”
Continue reading...Offer a welcome boost for Taiwan, which says China has interfered with its attempts to secure vaccines internationally
The United States will donate 750,000 Covid-19 vaccine doses to Taiwan as part of the country’s plan to share shots globally, offering a much-needed boost to the island’s fight against the pandemic.
Taiwan is dealing with a spike in domestic cases but has been affected, like many places, by global vaccines shortages. It has also claimed that China is hindering its attempts to secure doses internationally.
Continue reading...UK currently has the strictest entry requirements of any host country; Russian president spoke as Serbia starts to produce vaccine
Here are some of the key developments over the past few hours:
A quarter of elderly black people in the UK have not been vaccinated, recent figures show, despite signs that hesitancy is improving generally.
Nearly six months after the government kicked off the country’s most ambitious vaccination campaign, almost one in four black people over the age of 70 were not vaccinated as of 26 May, compared with 97% of white people of the same age.
Related: One in four elderly black people in the UK still not vaccinated
Continue reading...The Fast & Furious star and wrestler John Cena has apologised for calling Taiwan ‘a country’ in an interview he gave to a Taiwanese broadcaster this month. ‘I made a mistake. I love and respect Chinese people,’ Cena said to his 600,000 fans on his Chinese Weibo account. The controversy began when he told the Taiwanese broadcaster TVBS in Mandarin ‘Taiwan is the first country that can watch’ his latest film, Fast & Furious 9.
China sees Taiwan as a part of its own territory, and rejects any reference to the self-governed island as an independent state
Continue reading...Fast & Furious actor and wrestler apologises profusely on social media for offending Chinese fans
Fast & Furious star and wrestler John Cena began learning Mandarin Chinese nearly a decade ago. But this month, by showing off his linguistic skill in Taiwan, he got into trouble in mainland China.
On Tuesday, Cena apologised for calling Taiwan “a country” in an interview he gave to a Taiwanese broadcaster early this month, saying that it was not appropriate.
Continue reading...Work culture of presenteeism sees some staff told to switch on GPS location tracking by distrustful managers
When Amanda asked a colleague to bring her laptop home from their tech-company office, anticipating that Taipei was about to join the ranks of global cities suddenly working remotely, managers refused to release it. She told him to grab it anyway, and soon enough the Taiwanese capital was placed under restrictions amid a shock coronavirus outbreak. Her company soon sent an office-wide email saying that 50% of staff would be staying home.
“But it still had reminders that working from home means you are working at home and your equipment must be connected at all times, and you’re expected to work eight hours and this is not a holiday,” she says.
Continue reading...A Covid-driven global shortage of microchips has put manufacturer TSMC at the heart of the world’s recovery, as well as US-China tensions
Living on an island long coveted by a large and increasingly powerful neighbour, the residents of Taiwan have given some thought to where might be the best place to go should the worst happen. Some think it might be the hills, others historic buildings that China will want to preserve. By the same reasoning, some believe it is the factory run by the world’s biggest computer chip maker, TSMC.
Taiwan has for decades been both a global strategic flashpoint and one of the world’s economic powerhouses. In an industrial park about an hour’s drive from Taipei, those twin identities merge almost perfectly in the form of the factory run by TSMC, the world’s largest maker of computer chips – a facility so vital that some Taiwanese think it could be the safest place to flee to should China one day invade.
Continue reading...Country widely considered to have had one of best pandemic responses now racing to contain outbreak
Taiwan reported 206 new local cases of Covid-19 on Sunday, breaking the previous day’s record high of 180 as authorities brought in the strictest measures yet in a bid to contain the virus.
The outbreak, which began about three weeks ago among employees of the national airline and a connected quarantine hotel, has now produced about 85% of Taiwan’s total number of locally transmitted cases since the pandemic began.
Continue reading...New restrictions, including a mandate on mask-wearing and limits on gatherings in the capital, Taipei, will stay in place for two weeks
Taiwan has reported 180 new cases of Covid-19 as it rushes to contain the worst outbreak the island has seen since the pandemic began. Authorities have raised the alert level in Taipei and the neighbouring county of New Taipei, limiting family gatherings, and ordering numerous industries to close.
Taiwan has been one of the world’s pandemic success stories, and its case numbers remain low relative to outbreaks around the world. But Saturday’s cases, which bring its total number so far to about 1,470 among a population of 24 million, mark the highest rates of community transmission since the pandemic began. Until now almost all of Taiwan’s cases were detected in new arrivals held in hotel quarantine.
Continue reading...Bars, restaurants and entertainment venues in Taipei to close and rapid testing stations to be set up
Taipei’s mayor has announced the indefinite closure of bars, internet cafes, gaming and entertainment venues and public sport centres from Saturday after Taiwan reported 29 new community transmission cases of Covid-19, its highest single-day figure since the pandemic began, including seven with no known source.
Business closures were announced by local governments in the capital and in other northern counties in response to the growing outbreak in those areas, going beyond national restrictions set by the central government. There was initial confusion about the types of businesses affected, and an earlier declaration of closing at midnight was later extended to 8am Saturday to give time to prepare. People in Taipei appeared to be heeding the warning and staying home on Friday evening.
Continue reading...Foreign ministry responds to west’s human rights claims, saying countries should ‘face up to their own problems’
China has rejected accusations of human rights abuse and economic coercion, made by G7 foreign ministers, accusing them of “blatantly meddling” in China’s internal affairs, calling their remarks groundless.
“Attempts to disregard the basic norms of international relations and to create various excuses to interfere in China’s internal affairs, undermine China’s sovereignty and smear China’s image will never succeed,” said the foreign ministry spokesperson, Wang Wenbin. “They should not criticise and interfere with other countries with a superior mentality, and undermine the current top priority of international anti-epidemic cooperation.”
Continue reading...Kurt Campbell says Beijing has been increasing military activities without taking measures to reduce the chance of miscalculation
The Biden administration’s top Asia official has warned about the absence of a crisis-communications channel between the US and China at a time of rising military tensions over Taiwan and the South China Sea.
Military and leadership hotlines have been established at various points in the fraught history of the relationship, but Kurt Campbell, the White House Asia “tsar” responsible for coordinating policy across the administration, said Beijing had shown no interest in using them, out of a preference for uncertainty. The hotline simply rings out in “empty rooms”, he said.
Continue reading...Peter Dutton says Australia is focused on maintaining good relations with Beijing but China has been ‘very clear’ about its plans for reunification
The Australian defence minister, Peter Dutton, has said a conflict involving China over Taiwan cannot be discounted but he insists the government’s focus remains on having “good relations” with Beijing.
Dutton was on Sunday asked about the prospect of a “battle over Taiwan” following remarks from the former defence minister, Christopher Pyne, and the ex-prime minister, Tony Abbott, about China’s expansionist plans in the region.
Continue reading...Joe Biden’s secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said on Sunday the US is concerned about China’s aggressive actions against Taiwan and warned it would be a “serious mistake” for anyone to try to change the status quo in the western Pacific by force.
Related: Chaos Under Heaven: Trump as raging bull in a China policy shop
Continue reading...Police suspect rail accident that killed at least 50 was caused by ‘improperly parked’ truck
A Taiwan court has released on bail the manager of a construction site whose truck is believed by authorities to have caused a train accident that killed at least 50 people. Prosecutors have said they will appeal the decision.
The Taroko Express was carrying almost 500 people down the island’s east coast on Friday, the first day of a religious festival when families gather to honour their ancestors, when it crashed in a tunnel just outside Hualien city.
Continue reading...At least 50 people die as train crashes near Hualien City at the start of holiday weekend
Dozens of people have been killed in a train derailment on the east coast of Taiwan, the island’s worst rail disaster in decades.
The 408 Taroko Express was travelling south on the first day of a long weekend, carrying hundreds of passengers towards Taitung, when it crashed inside a tunnel just outside Hualien City at about 9.30am local time, authorities said.
Continue reading...