A number of public figures, including a film director, performers and an Olympic bronze medalist, yesterday urged the public to participate in an anti-nuclear road run in Taipei slated for Saturday next week.
The event, dubbed “Run Away From Nuclear” (核輻大逃殺) and sponsored by the Anti-nuclear Alliance of Fathers, the Taiwan Environmental Protection Union and the Democratic Progressive Party, is a 5km road-running event that will begin at 7am from Ketagalan Boulevard. The run will simulate a mass of people escaping from radiation after a nuclear accident.
At a press conference yesterday, film director Ko I-chen (柯一正), actor Ralf Chiu (邱彥翔) and Chi Cheng (紀政), the 1968 Olympics bronze-medal winner in the women’s 80m hurdles, called for more people to sign up before registration ends tomorrow.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Also making the call was Hsu Wen-lin (許文麟), who uses a wheelchair after having broken his spine.
Recalling attending anti-nuclear events with his children more than 10 years ago, Hsu said that Taiwan cannot afford to have a nuclear disaster, because Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster has already shown the devastating consequences.
“I will attend the event in a wheelchair to protest against nuclear energy,” he said.
Chi said Germany has set a timetable for decommissioning all of its nuclear plants, while Australia has decided not to build any more nuclear facilities — and that both are good role models that Taiwan can learn from.
“Being silent is the same as approving the government’s policies,” she said, adding that she hopes more people are willing to participate in the event to promote a nuclear-free homeland, for the good of themselves and their children.
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
The next minimum wage hike is expected to exceed NT$30,000, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday during an award ceremony honoring “model workers,” including migrant workers, at the Presidential Office ahead of Workers’ Day today. Lai said he wished to thank the awardees on behalf of the nation and extend his most sincere respect for their hard work, on which Taiwan’s prosperity has been built. Lai specifically thanked 10 migrant workers selected for the award, saying that although they left their home countries to further their own goals, their efforts have benefited Taiwan as well. The nation’s industrial sector and small businesses lay
Quarantine awareness posters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport have gone viral for their use of wordplay. Issued by the airport branch of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, the posters feature sniffer dogs making a range of facial expressions, paired with advisory messages built around homophones. “We update the messages for holidays and campaign needs, periodically refreshing materials to attract people’s attention,” quarantine officials said. “The aim is to use the dogs’ appeal to draw focus to quarantine regulations.” A Japanese traveler visiting Taiwan has posted a photo on X of a poster showing a quarantine dog with a
RSS