Taiwan is to develop a non-lethal graphite bomb designed to disable China's power supplies, reports said yesterday.
Should war break out, the so-called "blackout bombs" would be carried by Hsiung Feng II-E cruise missiles to paralyze power grids in China's southeastern coastal cities, the Chinese-language United Daily News said.
The bombs work by sprinkling a cloud of chemically treated carbon fibers over power supplies, causing them to short-circuit, but without killing people, the report said.
If approved, the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology -- the nation's top weapons research unit -- would begin research and development of the weaponry, at a cost of up to NT$500 million (US$15.34 million), beginning next year, the report said.
The Ministry of Defense declined to comment on the claims.
Reports said the US used the graphite bomb against Iraq in the Gulf War in 1991, wiping out 85 percent of its electrical supply. A similar version was used by NATO against Serbia in 1999.
Rocky relations between Taiwan and China look set to continue after President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) dismissed an offer of a peace treaty with China, saying it would be like agreeing to "a treaty of surrender."
Speaking to the International Herald Tribune last week, Chen said that China's call for the signing of a peace agreement with Taipei under the "one China" principle was made in terms that made it unacceptable.
Chinese President Hu Jintao (
Taiwan flexed its military muscle earlier this month, showing off two domestically developed missiles during the Double Ten National Day military parade seen as a reminder to China that it has the means to defend itself.
Fast food chain McDonald's is to raise prices by up to NT$5 on some products at its restaurants across Taiwan, starting on Wednesday next week, the company announced today. The prices of all extra value meals and sharing boxes are to increase by NT$5, while breakfast combos and creamy corn soup would go up by NT$3, the company said in a statement. The price of the main items of those meals, if ordered individually, would remain the same. Meanwhile, the price of a medium-sized lemon iced tea and hot cappuccino would rise by NT$3, extra dipping sauces for chicken nuggets would go up
Yangmingshan National Park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) nature area has gone viral after a park livestream camera observed a couple in the throes of intimate congress, which was broadcast live on YouTube, drawing large late-night crowds and sparking a backlash over noise, bright lights and disruption to wildlife habitat. The area’s livestream footage appeared to show a couple engaging in sexual activity on a picnic table in the park on Friday last week, with the uncensored footage streamed publicly online. The footage quickly spread across social media, prompting a tide of visitors to travel to the site to “check in” and recreate the
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