The Kinmen County Government is ready to take control of six small islets near Kinmen after the military transfer the administration of these areas, Deputy County Commissioner Yang Chung-chuan (楊忠全) said yesterday. \nThe county government will make the most of this chance to develop tourism and trade in the areas to turn Kinmen, formerly an anti-communism stronghold, into a "bridge of peace" across the Taiwan Strait, Yang claimed. \nBasically, Yang asserted, the county government will only take over the jurisdiction of the six islets -- Tatan, Ertan, Tungting, Peiting, Shihyu and Menghuyu -- but will not be responsible for defending them. \nAfter the transfer of the six islets, probably on Jan. 1, next year the Coast Guard Administration will be responsible for their defense and the National Police Administration will help keep social order, Yang said. \n"There will be no interruption in social order before, during or after the transfer period," he said. \nAccording to Yang, the six islets have been purely military for more than five decades. \n"These islets were completely off-limits to civilians, even to Kinmen residents," Yang said. \nMany people, including multinational companies, have been keen to learn of the demilitarization -- some suggesting that the islets be developed into eco-sanctuaries, and some are looking into the feasibility of developing them into resorts with casinos, while others say the islets should be kept as museums of military history, according to Yang. \nIn preparation for the takeover, the Kinmen County Government has commissioned National Kaohsiung University of Applied Sciences to conduct a tourism resources survey of Tatan and Ertan. \nTungting and Peiting are known as "the islets of lights," because they are the only two islets to have lighthouses. The Tungting lighthouse was built in 1871 and the Peiting lighthouse was built in 1882.
TOO TIRED: Investigators found that the pilot’s lack of alertness could be attributed to a lack of sleep the previous night, when he had slept with his child It was a copilot’s inappropriate operation of the aircraft and the pilot’s insufficient alertness that led to a hard landing of a China Airlines cargo flight on Dec. 13, 2018, the Taiwan Transportation Safety Board said yesterday. Flight CI6844, a Boeing 747-409 which departed from Hong Kong International Airport, landed on the pre-threshold area of runway L5 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, about 21m before the head of the runway, an investigation report said. The hard landing damaged three runway lights, but none of the personnel on board sustained any injuries, the report said. When approaching the runway, the copilot failed to maintain
DISTRUST WARRANTED? The WHO is under China’s control and has become a useless organization, while data from China cannot be trusted, a Control Yuan member said China’s demand that the novel coronavirus that emerged in Wuhan, Hubei Province, not be referred to with names like the “Wuhan pneumonia” betrays its lack of confidence in itself, Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) told lawmakers yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tsai Yi-yu (蔡易餘) asked Su, during a interpellation at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei, for his view on China’s attempts to redeem its national image in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. These included China’s efforts to “bleach” its image, including having WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus publicly praise its handling of the COVID-19 outbreak, and thanking it for buying time
REPEAT OFFENDER: The man went outside for exercise on Wednesday and then left his home on Saturday with his girlfriend, officials said A New Taipei City man has been fined NT$400,000 (US$13,221) and ordered into government quarantine after breaking home quarantine for a second time on Saturday. The 25-year-old man, surnamed Chen (陳) returned to Taiwan on Sunday last week and was ordered to home quarantine until Sunday. He was seen leaving his home on a scooter with his girlfriend on Saturday, three days after he was fined NT$200,000 for going outside to exercise, police said. Chen has now been placed in a quarantine center arranged by the district office and health center of the district where he lives, police said. Police warned the public
Taipei residents who stay at hotels in the city during their 14-day mandatory quarantine period are eligible to apply for the city’s NT$7,000 subsidy, with online applications to be launched next week. Taipei Deputy Mayor Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) on Monday said Taipei residents who have COVID-19 Health Declaration and Home Quarantine Notice dated after March 19 and a quarantine hotel receipt for the dates covered by the quarantine period, would be eligible for the subsidy. The Taipei City Government on Sunday told the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) that so many city residents are under home quarantine that about 90 percent of
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