DEFENSE: The construction of indigenous submarines will be a testament to the nation’s commitment to safeguard its sovereignty, President Tsai Ing-wen said
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony to mark the start of construction of the nation’s first indigenous submarine at state-run shipbuilder CSBC Corp’s (台灣國際造船) shipyard in Kaohsiung. “This submarine is an important part of allowing our navy to develop asymmetric warfare and to intimidate and block enemy ships from surrounding Taiwan’s main island,” Tsai said. “With the construction of the submarine to its future commission, we will certainly let the world know our persistence in safeguarding our sovereignty.” Tsai has made boosting the nation’s indigenous defense capacity a central pillar of her defense policy. She recently relaunched the
ESPIONAGE CHARGE: A TAO spokesperson said that the rights of Shih Cheng-ping were ‘fully safeguarded’ during the hearing, which handed him four years in prison
China sentenced Shih Cheng-ping (施正屏), a former National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) professor, to four years in jail for espionage, officials said yesterday. The ruling came a month after Shih made a televised “confession” on state media. Shih, who is also a former chief economist for Chinese conglomerate Huaxia Group (華夏集團), was found guilty by a Chinese court on Tuesday, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) told a news briefing. Shih — who vanished after traveling to China in August 2018 — was among Taiwanese who China Central Television (CCTV) last month showed confessing to spying. CCTV often broadcasts suspects admitting to crimes, even
TIMELINE QUESTIONS: Chen Shih-chung said: ‘If anyone could assure us that we could get the shots in the first quarter of next year, we could set off firecrackers’
Taiwan has secured nearly 15 million COVID-19 vaccine doses, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday, as it reported five new imported infections among travelers from Indonesia and the Philippines. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said that Taiwan on Monday signed a procurement contract with a COVID-19 vaccine manufacturer and paid a deposit to secure 10 million doses. It was the first contract finalized with a manufacturer and negotiations are under way with three other vaccine makers, Chen said. With the more than 4.6 million doses that can be obtained through the COVAX platform —
SKIN, ENTRAILS: Placards also dotted the legislative chamber, with slogans such as ‘Oppose ractopamine pork — not US pork’ and ‘Much ado about nothing’
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers yesterday pelted Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) with pig skin and entrails as he addressed the Legislative Yuan on pork imports for the first time since the KMT’s boycott began on Sept. 18. Opposition lawmakers have been demanding an apology from the government for its decision to lift its ban on the importation of US pork containing residues of the livestock drug ractopamine. After Su arrived at 10am for his 13th attempt to deliver a regular policy report, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus moved to change the agenda to accommodate the premier. The motion resulted in cries of
Red Bull team chief Christian Horner has welcomed Ferrari’s U-turn to support a Formula One engine freeze from 2022. The move gives Red Bull a chance to continue using Honda power after the Japanese supplier exits next year. Speaking ahead of yesterday’s final practice for today’s Bahrain Grand Prix, Horner said that Ferrari’s decision was encouraging for F1 and everyone involved in the business end of the sport. “It’s positive news,” he said. “I think all the manufacturers, all the CEOs of the automotive industry, they all recognize the investment and cost of these engines, particularly with the new technology coming for 2026,
Nearly 700kg of ketamine powder was last week seized in a raid carried out by law enforcement at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, the Criminal Investigation Bureau said yesterday. The ketamine powder, which has an estimated market value of NT$1 billion (US$34.71 million), was the biggest shipment of illegal drugs ever smuggled into Taiwan by air, the bureau said. Acting on a tip-off, authorities on Thursday last week intercepted the Hong Kong shipment at the airport, CIB Deputy Commissioner Teng Hsueh-hsin (鄧學鑫) told a news conference in Taipei. The officers also arrested a pickup driver and three customs officers believed to have been involved,
LABELING FINES: The FDA said products without clear labeling would draw fines of NT$30,000 to NT$3m, while misleading labels would be fined NT$40,000 to NT$4m
The government is to institute five measures to manage imports of US pork containing ractopamine, which are to be allowed from Jan. 1, Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said yesterday. Although the animal feed additive is banned for use in pigs in Taiwan due to safety concerns, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Aug. 28 announced that the nation would ease restrictions on imports of US pork containing traces of the drug within certain limits. The first measure is that import requests for US pork would not be approved if a first-time applicant has not dispatched employees to visit the farms on which the
China Airlines (CAL, 中華航空) has reduced the font of its name on the exterior of its new cargo aircraft to allow more space to highlight images that represent Taiwan, Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. Lin was asked about the new exterior design of the airline’s six Boeing 777F aircraft after Jordan Arens uploaded to Jetphotos, an aviation photography Web site, a photo of a CAL airplane taken on Tuesday at Snohomish County Airport in Everett, Washington. Instead of “China Airlines” in the middle of the exterior, the name was painted close to the tail in a smaller
CLOSURE: The office said that an urgent response to the COVID-19 pandemic and to lower transmission risk meant its consular lobby would be closed until further notice
Nine personnel at Taiwan’s representative office in the US have tested positive for COVID-19, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. The Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO) in the US had reported two COVID-19 cases on Wednesday. Taiwan Representative to the US Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) wrote on Facebook that she had tested negative yesterday. As she has come into contact with people confirmed to have the disease, she is self-isolating at home, the ministry said. TECRO had previously been disinfected and would be again after the weekend, Hsiao said. Taiwan’s representative offices in Belgium, France, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Russia, Switzerland, Turkey have previously confirmed
China has powered up its first domestically developed nuclear reactor — the Hualong One — a significant step in Beijing’s attempts to become less dependent on Western allies for energy security and critical technology. The reactor, which was on Friday connected to the national grid, can generate 10 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity per year and cut carbon emissions by 8.16 million tonnes, the China National Nuclear Corp (CNNC, 中國核工企業集團) said. “This marks China breaking the monopoly of foreign nuclear power technology and officially entering the technology’s first batch of advanced countries,” CNNC said in a statement. Nuclear plants supplied less than 5 percent
The chief mechanic in an air force unit from which an F-16 and its pilot went missing last week died on Sunday evening in what might have been a suicide, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday. The ministry in a statement confirmed media reports that the mechanic, surnamed Huang (黃), “hurt himself” at a military barracks. Huang was taken to Hualien Armed Forces General Hospital after he was found unresponsive in the barracks, but doctors could not revive him, the ministry said. Huang served in the 26th Tactical Fighter Group of the 5th Tactical Fighter Wing, the same unit as the missing
A government-run information hotline for foreign residents has in the first 10 months of the year received nearly eight times the number of calls it had in the same period last year, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. From January to October, the hotline (0800-024-111) received 287,056 calls, the majority of which were concerning questions about policies related to the COVID-19 pandemic, it said. The high volume of calls this year was in sharp contrast to the trend in the previous few years, where the Internet and other means of accessing information had led to a reduction in the number of
‘VIRUS DIPLOMACY’: The nation’s expertise in handling COVID-19 was among the reasons that it should not be excluded from the WHO, the European Parliament said
The European Parliament this week passed resolutions that support Taiwan’s bid to participate in the WHO and its intention to negotiate a trade pact with Taiwan. During its plenary session from Monday to Thursday, the parliament approved resolutions on the foreign policy consequences of the COVID-19 outbreak and the EU’s trade policy, parts of which were viewed as friendly toward Taiwan by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In a statement yesterday, the ministry welcomed the passage of the resolutions and thanked the parliament for its support for Taiwan. In the first resolution, the parliament cited Beijing’s increasing threats to Taiwan, the crackdown on
COVID-19 has been racking the world, and there’s hardly a person alive who doesn’t want to see 2020 in the rear view mirror. Taiwan of course has proven to be an island of safety during this epidemic. In appreciation of that as well as giving 2020 an early send off, Brandon Thompson, Adoga, and Taipei Next have prepared a fitting music fest, “Forget 2020” or in the vernacular, “F#ck 2020.” It’s a late-night-early-morning festival where you’ll hear some 30 vocalists and musicians performing many of your favorite songs from the past two decades. Expect hits from the rise of Bruno, Slim,
Three young Hong Kong dissidents, including Joshua Wong (黃之鋒), were yesterday remanded into custody after pleading guilty to inciting a rally during last year’s pro-democracy protests, deepening the crackdown against Beijing’s critics. Hong Kong was convulsed by seven straight months of huge and often violent democracy rallies last year in which millions took to the streets. Beijing has refused demands for free elections, and authorities have pursued democracy supporters with criminal cases and a sweeping new National Security Law. Wong, 24, was prosecuted alongside fellow activists Ivan Lam (林朗彥), 26, and Agnes Chow (周庭), 23, over a protest that took place last
BALANCING ACT: Indonesia is on the nation’s ‘high-risk’ list, and 50 Indonesian migrant workers who came since last month have tested positive, the CECC said
The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday temporarily banned two more Indonesian recruitment agencies from sending migrant workers to Taiwan due to COVID-19. With immediate effect, migrant workers from the recruitment firms PT Bumenjaya Eka Putra and PT Mitra Sinergi Sukses are prohibited from entering Taiwan, bringing to eight the total number of agencies facing such restrictions. The center on Friday announced it had added PT Laatansa Lintas and PT Prima Duta Sejati to the list of firms temporarily banned from sending workers to Taiwan. The center first banned four Indonesian recruitment firms on Friday last week: PT Sentosa Karya Aditama, PT
PILING ON PRESSURE: China’s Ministry of Commerce has said that Australian wines benefit from government subsidies, giving them an advantage over Chinese wines
China yesterday said that it would impose anti-dumping tariffs on Australian wine, the latest salvo in an increasingly terse standoff between the two nations that has worsened since Canberra called for an inquiry into the origins of COVID-19. Since flagging the probe, Beijing has on several occasions used the threat of diminished access to its vast domestic market as a stick to beat Australia, and has suspended imports of some products, including beef and timber. In the latest blow, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce announced that wine importers would be forced to pay deposits ranging from 107 to 212 percent of the
As Taiwan enters a “historically difficult” dry season, more water use restrictions are on the way, while irrigation on the Chianan Plain (嘉南平原), which spans Chiayi and Tainan, would be halted, meaning there would be no first-harvest rice from “Taiwan’s rice barn” next year, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. A total of 18,000 hectares of agricultural land would be affected by the suspension of irrigation, including 10,000 hectares for water-intensive rice paddies, the ministry said. Next month’s rainfall would determine whether areas in Taoyuan and Taichung would face a similar suspension of irrigation for the first harvest, the ministry said. At
The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported one imported case of COVID-19 — a Taiwanese man who is the nation’s first case to test positive in another country and return via a medical charter flight. The man, who is in his 50s, had traveled to Ghana for business in February, said Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), who is the CECC spokesman. The man had close contact with a confirmed case late last month and took a test for COVID-19 on Nov. 4, which came back positive, so he had been quarantined at home, Chuang said. The man had
RSS