Yesterday, a freighter commissioned to transport water from China to Matsu Island arrived in Fujian Province. The freighter is expected to carry 2,300 tonnes of water into port on the outlying island by noon today, after Fujian officials offered to donate the water.
On Thursday, a delegation led by Tsao arrived in China to negotiate the water purchase. During the negotiations, Fujian Province officials pledged to provide water to the county free of charge "on a trial basis," according to Tsao.
Fujian officials hope that, if Taiwanese officials are satisfied with the arrangement, large-scale water purchases could follow.
PFP lawmaker Tsao Yuan-chang (
Tsao said that the county expected to face water shortages by May 20. "A shortage of water is now a problem for Matsu. It has become necessary for us to obtain water from other places," he added.
"It is not enough just to buy water from Taiwan proper. Purchasing water from Fujian Province is a better solution, due to its geographical location."
Tsao said that the water carried by the freighter this time around would partially alleviate the crisis in Matsu, "but it is very likely that Matsu will need to acquire water from China again soon," Tsaosaid.
According to the current "small three links," regulations, in times of drought, the outlying islands are permitted to purchase water from China as long as approval is obtained from the central government in advance.
The Kinhang No.2 freighter's trip marked the first water transported from China since the "Small Three Links" began in January of last year.
Nevertheless, in response to questions from reporters about the undertaking, Mainland Affairs Council Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday insisted that the measure was just an "experimental, preparatory" policy.
Tsai made the statement before delivering a speech to a seminar on cross-strait policy held by the DPP yesterday in Kaohsiung.
"The government will decide whether to buy water from China based on how serious the drought becomes. It is too early to talk about the issue now," she added.
Tsai said the MAC agreed to allow Matsu to transport water from China this time, but whether the government will continue the practice in other Taiwanese counties really depends on the respective situation of each area.
According to China's official Xinhua news agency, Fujian's neighboring province of Guangdong is also facing a serious drought.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
REVENGE TRAVEL: A surge in ticket prices should ease this year, but inflation would likely keep tickets at a higher price than before the pandemic Scoot is to offer six additional flights between Singapore and Northeast Asia, with all routes transiting Taipei from April 1, as the budget airline continues to resume operations that were paused during the COVID-19 pandemic, a Scoot official said on Thursday. Vice president of sales Lee Yong Sin (李榮新) said at a gathering with reporters in Taipei that the number of flights from Singapore to Japan and South Korea with a stop in Taiwan would increase from 15 to 21 each week. That change means the number of the Singapore-Taiwan-Tokyo flights per week would increase from seven to 12, while Singapore-Taiwan-Seoul
POOR PREPARATION: Cultures can form on food that is out of refrigeration for too long and cooking does not reliably neutralize their toxins, an epidemiologist said Medical professionals yesterday said that suspected food poisoning deaths revolving around a restaurant at Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 Store in Taipei could have been caused by one of several types of bacterium. Ho Mei-shang (何美鄉), an epidemiologist at Academia Sinica’s Institute of Biomedical Sciences, wrote on Facebook that the death of a 39-year-old customer of the restaurant suggests the toxin involved was either “highly potent or present in massive large quantities.” People who ate at the restaurant showed symptoms within hours of consuming the food, suggesting that the poisoning resulted from contamination by a toxin and not infection of the
BAD NEIGHBORS: China took fourth place among countries spreading disinformation, with Hong Kong being used as a hub to spread propaganda, a V-Dem study found Taiwan has been rated as the country most affected by disinformation for the 11th consecutive year in a study by the global research project Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem). The nation continues to be a target of disinformation originating from China, and Hong Kong is increasingly being used as a base from which to disseminate that disinformation, the report said. After Taiwan, Latvia and Palestine ranked second and third respectively, while Nicaragua, North Korea, Venezuela and China, in that order, were the countries that spread the most disinformation, the report said. Each country listed in the report was given a score,