China reiterated its opposition to US weapons sales to Taiwan yesterday, as officials from Taiwan lobbied Washington for a multi-billion-dollar weapons package.
"We express serious concerns over the US' recent trends of continuous selling [of] advanced arms to Taiwan," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue (
"Our stance of opposing US arms sales to Taiwan is consistent and clear.
"We urge the US side to get a clear understanding of the harmfulness of the issue and stop the wrong practice of arms sales to Taiwan."
Taiwan politicians left the island last week for the US to discuss a $18.2 billion arms package that includes anti-missile systems, submarines and anti-submarine aircraft.
If it went through, the deal would be the biggest arms sale to Taiwan in a decade and is intended to counter a military build-up by China.
Zhang's remarks came as China, the US, South Korea, North Korea, Japan and Russia meet in Beijing for talks aimed at resolving Pyongyang's nuclear arms ambitions.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
STAY AWAY: An official said people should avoid disturbing snakes, as most do not actively attack humans, but would react defensively if threatened Taitung County authorities yesterday urged the public to stay vigilant and avoid disturbing snakes in the wild, following five reported snakebite cases in the county so far this year. Taitung County Fire Department secretary Lin Chien-cheng (林建誠) said two of the cases were in Donghe Township (東河) and involved the Taiwan habus, one person was bit by a Chinese pit viper near the South Link Railway and the remaining two were caused by unidentified snakes. He advised residents near fields to be cautious of snakes hiding in shady indoor areas, especially when entering or leaving their homes at night. In case of a
Credit departments of farmers’ and fishers’ associations blocked a total of more than NT$180 million (US$6.01 million) from being lost to scams last year, National Police Agency (NPA) data showed. The Agricultural Finance Agency (AFA) said last week that staff of farmers’ and fishers’ associations’ credit departments are required to implement fraud prevention measures when they serve clients at the counter. They would ask clients about personal financial management activities whenever they suspect there might be a fraud situation, and would immediately report the incident to local authorities, which would send police officers to the site to help, it said. NPA data showed
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