WEATHER
Mercury in north to drop
The sunshine and clear skies in northern Taiwan are likely to end tomorrow, with strong northeasterly winds bringing wet weather and temperatures dropping by several degrees, the Central Weather Bureau said yesterday. It was mostly clear across Taiwan, with highs of 25°C to 26°C and lows of 16°C to 17°C in the north, and 18°C to 19°C degrees elsewhere, the bureau said. However, the sunny weather will only last for one more day, with the mercury forecast to drop to 19°C to 21°C in the daytime, it said. It forecast that Christmas Day on Tuesday would see warmer weather thanks to a weakening monsoon, with highs of up to 24°C, but the warmth would not last until Wednesday, when another cold air front could drop the mercury in the north to 14°C.
TOURISM
Taiwan on Airbnb list
Airbnb has selected Taiwan as one of 19 destinations worth visiting next year as more Airbnb users include the nation in their booking wish lists, the firm said on Thursday. The company selected 19 travel destinations based on a combination of internal search, booking and wish list data, and said that Taiwan ranked 19th. The inclusion of Taiwan on wish lists on the platform grew by more than 100 percent from November last year to last month. The platform has always been optimistic about Taiwan’s tourism potential and hopes that the list will help its tourism industry and increase its visibility in the international tourist community, Airbnb general manager for Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and Taiwan Mike Orgill said.
HEALTH
Cambodia tops dengue list
The number of imported dengue fever cases that originated in Cambodia has increased sharply to 66 this year, compared with eight last year, Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said yesterday. Cambodia was the largest source of imported dengue fever cases in Taiwan this year, he said. Chuang said the total number of imported cases registered this year until Thursday was 330, with the three main sources being Cambodia, Vietnam (62) and the Philippines (56). Last year, 104 cases originated in Vietnam and 39 in the Philippines, Chuang said. The big jump in infections from Cambodia was due to an increase in Taiwanese visitors to the country this year, he added.
DIPLOMACY
Diaoyutai claims restated
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday reiterated the nation’s claim over the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) in the East China Sea, known as the Senkakus in Japan, after the Japanese government issued a protest to the ministry over a record number of Taiwanese fishing vessels operating near the islands, which Taipei and Tokyo both claim. The Yomiuri Shimbun on Wednesday reported that the Japanese coast guard had registered a record number of Taiwanese fishing vessels “intruding” within 12 nautical miles (22km) of the Diaoyutais, the distance normally marking territorial waters. Ministry spokesman Andrew Lee (李憲章) reaffirmed that the Diaoyutais are territory of the Republic of China. The foreign ministry would engage in rational dialogue with Japan on the matter, he added. Despite the sovereignty dispute between Taiwan and Japan, fishers from both countries can operate in the overlapping areas of their exclusive economic zones in the East China Sea under the 2013 Taiwan-Japan Fisheries Agreement.
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
A classified Pentagon-produced, multiyear assessment — the Overmatch brief — highlighted unreported Chinese capabilities to destroy US military assets and identified US supply chain choke points, painting a disturbing picture of waning US military might, a New York Times editorial published on Monday said. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s comments in November last year that “we lose every time” in Pentagon-conducted war games pitting the US against China further highlighted the uncertainty about the US’ capability to intervene in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. “It shows the Pentagon’s overreliance on expensive, vulnerable weapons as adversaries field cheap, technologically
NUMBERs IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
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