■ 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.
The German city of Hamburg on Oct. 14 named a bridge “Kaohsiung-Brucke” after the Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung. The footbridge, formerly known as F566, is to the east of the Speicherstadt, the world’s largest warehouse district, and connects the Dar-es-Salaam-Platz to the Brooktorpromenade near the Port of Hamburg on the Elbe River. Timo Fischer, a Free Democratic Party member of the Hamburg-Mitte District Assembly, in May last year proposed the name change with support from members of the Social Democratic Party and the Christian Democratic Union. Kaohsiung and Hamburg in 1999 inked a sister city agreement, but despite more than a quarter-century of
Taiwanese officials are courting podcasters and influencers aligned with US President Donald Trump as they grow more worried the US leader could undermine Taiwanese interests in talks with China, people familiar with the matter said. Trump has said Taiwan would likely be on the agenda when he is expected to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) next week in a bid to resolve persistent trade tensions. China has asked the White House to officially declare it “opposes” Taiwanese independence, Bloomberg reported last month, a concession that would mark a major diplomatic win for Beijing. President William Lai (賴清德) and his top officials
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday expressed “grave concerns” after Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) reiterated the city-state’s opposition to “Taiwanese independence” during a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang (李強). In Singapore on Saturday, Wong and Li discussed cross-strait developments, the Singaporean Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. “Prime Minister Wong reiterated that Singapore has a clear and consistent ‘one China’ policy and is opposed to Taiwan independence,” it said. MOFA responded that it is an objective fact and a common understanding shared by many that the Republic of China (ROC) is an independent, sovereign nation, with world-leading
‘ONE CHINA’: A statement that Berlin decides its own China policy did not seem to sit well with Beijing, which offered only one meeting with the German official German Minister for Foreign Affairs Johann Wadephul’s trip to China has been canceled, a spokesperson for his ministry said yesterday, amid rising tensions between the two nations, including over Taiwan. Wadephul had planned to address Chinese curbs on rare earths during his visit, but his comments about Berlin deciding on the “design” of its “one China” policy ahead of the trip appear to have rankled China. Asked about Wadephul’s comments, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Guo Jiakun (郭嘉昆) said the “one China principle” has “no room for any self-definition.” In the interview published on Thursday, Wadephul said he would urge China to
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