■ MILITARY
MND unveils ‘carrier killer’
The Ministry of National Defense (MND) has unveiled the first image of a high-tech missile corvette specifically designed to counter the potential threat posed by Chinese aircraft carriers, officials and media said yesterday. A computerized graphic of the 1,000 tonne “carrier killer,” which has so far been kept secret from the public, has gone on display at Taipei’s military museum. The vessel will be capable of cruising at speeds of up to 55kph and boasts technologies helping it to evade radar detection, the Chinese-language Apple Daily reported, citing military officials. The navy hopes to arm the corvette with the home-grown Hsiung Feng III (“Brave Wind”) supersonic ship-to-ship missile, the report said. The military museum did not provide any details, while the defense ministry declined to comment on the report. Taiwanese military analysts expect China to need at least 10 years to build its first operational carrier group.
■ Diplomacy
Iran mulls Taipei Office
A Ministry of Foreign Affairs official said on Saturday the ministry was in the process of determining whether to grant a request from Iran to open an economic and trade office in Taipei amid international concerns over Iran’s nuclear program. The government-funded Taiwan External Trade Development Council’s office in Tehran informed the ministry that Iran wished to establish an office in Taipei, the ministry said. “We welcome all countries to set up economic and trade offices in Taiwan, but we still need to determine the nature of each request and its function,” said the official, who asked not the be named.
■ Entertainment
Police arrest Da Bing
Entertainer Da Bing (大炳) was arrested yesterday at his Sijhih (汐止) home for drug possession, the Taipei County Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Corp (CIC) said yesterday. Heroin and amphetamines were discovered at his residence when officers raided the house with a search warrant at about 4am, the CIC said in a press release. Officers followed a drug dealer to Da Bing’s home on Sunday night after receiving a tip-off, the CIC said. When police entered the apartment, they arrested five people. This was the third time the star was arrested for drug possession. He was arrested for amphetamine possession at Taipei’s Wego Motel in February 2007 for which he was sent on a 50-day rehabilitation program. In April last year, he was arrested for possession of amphetamines at Zhonghe’s Chingshan Motel. Taipei judges sentenced him to three months in jail, but his sentence was commuted to a fine of NT$92,000.
■ Nature
Team finishes mountain trek
Five members of the Taiwan Mountain Rescuers Association have become the first climbers to traverse the length of eastern Taiwan’s Coastal Mountain Range. “The 37-day expedition was a challenge because the pristine forest is thick with sturdy wild growth and full of venomous snakes, leeches, mosquitoes and yellow vines [Calamus Burret],” Ke Cheng-ming (柯正民), leader of the team, said at the end of the tough 170km trek on Sunday. Although the range is between 600m and 700m above sea level and its highest peak is just 1,682m, its rugged terrain makes it a difficult trek, Ke said. “Many of its ridge lines are formed by fault breccia; we had to brave strong winds to climb the steep cliffs. I have scaled the Central Mountain Range, Jade Mountain and Syueshan, but the Coastal Range was the most difficult,” Ke said.
Beijing could eventually see a full amphibious invasion of Taiwan as the only "prudent" way to bring about unification, the US Department of Defense said in a newly released annual report to Congress. The Pentagon's "Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2025," was in many ways similar to last year’s report but reorganized the analysis of the options China has to take over Taiwan. Generally, according to the report, Chinese leaders view the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) capabilities for a Taiwan campaign as improving, but they remain uncertain about its readiness to successfully seize
Taiwan is getting a day off on Christmas for the first time in 25 years. The change comes after opposition parties passed a law earlier this year to add or restore five public holidays, including Constitution Day, which falls on today, Dec. 25. The day marks the 1947 adoption of the constitution of the Republic of China, as the government in Taipei is formally known. Back then the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) governed China from Nanjing. When the KMT, now an opposition party in Taiwan, passed the legislation on holidays, it said that they would help “commemorate the history of national development.” That
Taiwan has overtaken South Korea this year in per capita income for the first time in 23 years, IMF data showed. Per capita income is a nation’s GDP divided by the total population, used to compare average wealth levels across countries. Taiwan also beat Japan this year on per capita income, after surpassing it for the first time last year, US magazine Newsweek reported yesterday. Across Asia, Taiwan ranked fourth for per capita income at US$37,827 this year due to sustained economic growth, the report said. In the top three spots were Singapore, Macau and Hong Kong, it said. South
Snow fell on Yushan (Jade Mountain, 玉山) yesterday morning as a continental cold air mass sent temperatures below freezing on Taiwan’s tallest peak, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Snowflakes were seen on Yushan’s north peak from 6:28am to 6:38am, but they did not fully cover the ground and no accumulation was recorded, the CWA said. As of 7:42am, the lowest temperature recorded across Taiwan was minus-5.5°C at Yushan’s Fengkou observatory and minus-4.7°C at the Yushan observatory, CWA data showed. On Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County, a low of 1.3°C was recorded at 6:39pm, when ice pellets fell at Songsyue Lodge (松雪樓), a
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