Joseph Wu (吳釗燮), the nation's representative to the US, visited the construction site of the Pentagon Memorial in Washing-ton at the invitation of the US Department of Defense on Friday, an official from Taiwan's representative office said.
The memorial is designed to commemorate those who died in the terrorist attack on the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, said Tsai Chung-li (蔡仲禮), director-general of the Information Division of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US.
Tsai said that the Pentagon Memorial Fund had raised money for the construction of a memorial park dedicated to the victims. Construction on the outdoor memorial, which began in June last year, is scheduled to be completed next year. The park will include 184 benches, each engraved with one of the victims' names.
The defense department invited 50 guests, including mem-bers of the victims' families and sponsors of the construction project, to attend the memorial activity and to learn more about the construction's progress. Also invited were Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England and former chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Richard Myers.
Tsai said Taiwan donated US$1 million to the construction project to express the condolences of the government and people to the families of the victims and to show support for the US fight against terrorism.
Taiwan's donation is listed along with the country's flag and official name, the Republic of China, on the memorial project's official Web site, Tsai said.
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
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
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
The Taipei MRT is to begin accepting mobile payment services in the fall, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said on Saturday. When the company finishes the installation of new payment units at ticketing gates in October, MRT passengers can use credit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay, the operator said. In addition, the MRT would also provide QR payment codes — which would be compatible with Line Pay, Jkopay, iPass Money, PXPay Plus, EasyWallet, iCash Pay, Taiwan Pay and Taishin Pay — to access the railway system. Currently, passengers can access the Taipei MRT by buying a single-journey token or using EasyCard,
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