ASTRONOMY
Shooting stars expected
There is a good chance that shooting stars could be visible on Monday and Tuesday as the Eta Aquarid meteor shower peaks, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The optimum time to view the meteor shower would be from 10pm on Monday into the early hours of Tuesday morning, the museum said, adding that the Eta Aquarids are known for their brightness and high speed. The days before and after the peak period are still good observation times, the museum added. Without the interference of moonlight, and weather permitting, up to 40 meteors per hour could be visible from a northerly direction, it said. The Eta Aquarid meteor shower takes place annually from April 19 to May 28, when the Earth encounters debris from Halley’s Comet, named after astronomer Edmond Halley, who determined the comet’s periodicity and contributed to our understanding of the solar system.
AVIATION
Thai Vietjet Air to add flights
Thai Vietjet Air, a low-cost Thai airline and a subsidiary of Vietnam’s Vietjet Air, yesterday said it would increase its number of flights between Taichung and Bangkok to meet demand during the peak summer season. Starting on June 20, Thai Vietjet Air said it is to offer daily flights from Taichung by adding services on Tuesdays and Fridays. Since the airline entered the Taiwanese market in November last year, its has been concentrated solely on Taichung airport. The parent airline operates on seven routes between Taiwan and Vietnam, mainly from Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi to Taoyuan, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung.
DIPLOMACY
AIT shuts Xinyi Road office
The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) officially closed its operations at its old compound on Taipei’s Xinyi Road at noon on Wednesday in preparation for the grand opening of its new compound at 100 Jinhu Road in Taipei’s Neihu District (內湖) on Monday. “From this location, AIT has worked tirelessly to enhance the US-Taiwan partnership in all areas, from trade and investment to promotion of shared values, from security and law enforcement cooperation to education and sharing our cultural heritage,” the AIT said on Facebook. The AIT, established in 1979 to manage US relations with Taiwan in the absence of formal diplomatic ties, said the US and Taiwan have accomplished a great deal over the past four decades from “a modest, leaky old building.” “Think of what we can accomplish from our new, state-of-the-art facility in Neihu,” it added. For emergency services ahead of the opening, Americans can call (02) 2162-2000.
NATURE
New sea snail unveiled
A retired elementary-school teacher in Kinmen County on Thursday unveiled a new species of sea snail found in Lieyu Township (烈嶼). Hung Ching-chang (洪清漳), 61, a longtime observer of marine animals, discovered the new species at Liaoluo Port in December 2016 while participating in a survey commissioned by the Kinmen National Park Headquarters to document organisms inhabiting the township. The mollusk, which grows to about 8mm and has a hard, pyramid-shaped shell encircled with colorful pearly papules, was given to species identification experts Huang Shih-i (黃式毅) and Fu I-feng (傅譯鋒) for evaluation last year. It was entered in the World Register of Marine Species database last month. Hung named the species, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Calliostomatidae, Calliostoma hungi Huang & Fu, 2019.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard