Rising US-Iran tensions prompted President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday to convene a high-level national security meeting to discuss the government’s responses, Presidential Office spokesman Alex Huang (黃重諺) said.
Cabinet ministers and agency heads briefed Tsai on the impact of a potential escalation of the crisis and the president ordered officials to take steps to safeguard the nation’s financial system, energy supply, Taiwanese in the Middle East and peace in the Taiwan Strait, Huang told a press conference.
She also decided to raise the alert level for the military ahead of tomorrow’s elections, he said.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Financial Supervisory Commission and the central bank were told to closely monitor the stock and currency markets, ensure their basic operational capabilities and take measures to stabilize the nation’s finances if necessary, Huang said.
“Taiwan has a solid economic base and such measures are aimed at possible short-term effects” from the potential deterioration of US-Iran relations, he cited Tsai as telling the meeting.
The president said that national crude reserves could provide energy for more than 100 days, so the public should not worry, as the authorities would ensure that prices remain balanced and that people’s daily lives would not be affected, Huang added.
Tsai told the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to monitor developments, ensure that it can contact Taiwanese residents and travelers in the region and draw up a contingency plan for their evacuation, if necessary, he said.
The Ministry of National Defense was told to closely monitor the Strait to prevent China from making any moves while the US’ attention is focused on the Middle East, he said.
The security meeting was attended by Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), National Security Council (NSC) Secretary-General David Lee (李大維), Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮), Minister of National Defense Yen De-fa (嚴德發), Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chen Ming-tong (陳明通), Minister of Economic Affairs Shen Jong-chin (沈榮津), National Security Bureau Director-General Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正), NSC Deputy Secretary-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) and NSC Adviser Shih Jun-ji (施俊吉).
The foreign ministry late on Wednesday night issued a red travel alert for Iraq and four Iranian provinces, its highest level alert.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
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