NATIONAL DEFENSE
US Navy plane in flyby
A US Navy signals reconnaissance aircraft early yesterday flew within 12 nautical miles (22.2km) of the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) in Pingtung County, the Twitter-based military news outlet Aircraft Spots reported. The plane reportedly took off from Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan, at 11:50pm on Saturday and flew over the Bashi Channel south of Taiwan. Ministry of National Defense spokesman Major General Shih Shun-wen (史順文) said that the military was “fully aware of all sea and air activities around the nation.” The flyby is the second time a US military aircraft has approached the nation’s airspace in the past week. A US Navy Boeing P-8A on Tuesday shadowed the Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning, before passing through the Taiwan Strait and landing on Okinawa, the Web-based military news outlet Alert said.
CROSS-STRAIT TIES
Twin-city forum date set
The Taipei City Government yesterday confirmed that the annual Taipei-Shanghai forum is to be held in Shanghai on Thursday next week, and Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was expected to attend. Ko is to depart for China the day before and return on Friday next week, the city government said, adding that this year’s forum is to focus on economic, trade, innovation and industrial exchanges.
ENTERTAINMENT
Golden Mask for VR series
The first episode of the animated virtual reality (VR) series Gloomy Eyes (咕魯米的眼睛) on Saturday won the Masque d’Or (Golden Mask) Grand Prize at the NewImages Festival Awards in Paris, France. It was the latest in a string of international awards the three-part series, produced by HTC Vive in collaboration with several international firms, has won since the first episode premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. The nine-minute episode, narrated by Irish actor Colin Farrell, was commended by the four-member NewImages Festival jury for its groundbreaking storytelling and immersive perspective. Gloomy Eyes depicts a zombie struggling to find his place in a world fractured by conflict between zombies and humans.
AGRICULTURE
Chickens culled over H5N2
About 27,960 chickens on a Changhua County farm have been culled after the farm was confirmed to be infected with the H5N2 avian influenza virus, the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine said on Saturday. Samples taken last week from the free-range poultry farm in Fangyuan Township (芳苑) were confirmed to be infected with the virus subtype, the bureau said in a statement. Disinfection and bird flu surveillance and monitoring procedures are being carried out at nearby poultry farms, it added. Poultry farmers are urged to maintain proper ventilation in their facilities and to prevent their birds from coming in contact with wild birds to avoid an escalation of avian flu, the bureau said. Council of Agriculture data showed 26 poultry farms nationwide have had outbreaks of avian flu this year, resulting in the culling of 368,627 birds.
SPORTS
Lin signs with MLB team
Catcher Lyle Lin (林家正) on Saturday signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks, becoming the first Taiwanese player to join a Major League Baseball (MLB) team via the annual draft. Lin, 21, a junior at Arizona State University, said in a Facebook post that the deal was signed at the D-Backs spring training base in Phoenix and he would joining the D-Backs minor league team in its current season.
EXCUSES: Beijing is using government and research vessels as a pretext to harass the nation and enter its EEZ, and engage in ‘hegemonic expansion,’ the coast guard said The Coast Guard Administration yesterday said it drove away Chinese oceanographic research vessel Xiang Yang Hong 22 (向陽紅33) from restricted waters after warning it that it was in Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ). The Chinese vessel entered restricted waters off the coast of Yilan County’s Suao (蘇澳) at 11:35pm on Thursday, the coast guard said, adding that it dispatched the Lanyu patrol vessel and the boat PP-10077 to shadow the Chinese ship and issue radio warnings ordering it to leave. China has no sovereignty over waters off Taiwan’s east coast, Lanyu’s crew told Xiang Yang Hong 22 over the radio, and demanded
BAIT AND SWITCH: Allowing KMT-run counties to sell to China while the threat of abrupt cancelations hangs overhead is another form of coercion, officials said Beijing is using agricultural purchase offers announced during the Straits Forum to deepen Taiwan’s dependence on the Chinese market, a Taiwanese official said yesterday as they criticized the Taitung County commissioner’s participation in the initiative. During the Straits Forum held in Xiamen on Saturday, Chinese officials announced a sales and purchase agreement for agricultural products from some counties led by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). Taitung County Commissioner Yao Ching-ling (饒慶鈴), who was barred from attending the event in person by the Mainland Affairs Council, participated via video. Under the agreement, China would purchase atemoyas, pomeloes, tea and grouper harvested in Taitung,
SHIFTING FIRE: While the tempo of purely military exercises around Taiwan has gone down somewhat, Beijing is working to isolate Lai diplomatically from support abroad Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is shifting tactics in his campaign to pressure Taiwan, ramping up diplomatic isolation of the nation while dialing down provocative displays of military aggression. Taiwan recorded a daily average of five Chinese military aircraft crossing the Taiwan Strait’s buffer line with China through May this year — half the number logged in the same period last year. In March, Beijing did not send a single fighter jet near Taiwan for seven days, the longest absence on record outside of typhoon season. In comparison, China sent 153 planes near Taiwan during one day at its peak in
Four Taiwanese universities have been ranked among the world's top 200 institutions in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings for next year, the highest Taiwan has ever placed in the category, with National Taiwan University (NTU) achieving its best performance at 54th globally and 17th in Asia. The four Taiwanese institutions in the global top 200 are NTU (54th), National Tsing Hua University (142nd), National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (177th) and National Cheng Kung University (191st), the rankings showed. All four universities achieved their highest-ever global rankings this year, QS data showed. National Cheng Kung University entered the top 200 for
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