A fire at the Hsinta Power Plant in Kaohsiung on Tuesday evening was reportedly caused by a gas leak from pipes on a heater in its new natural gas Unit 2. Flames shot up into the sky, significantly alarming residents of Kaohsiung’s Yongan District (永安).
Coincidentally, the incident occurred on the same day as the official launch of the new Ministry of Sports. The ministry is not only one of President William Lai’s (賴清德) key policy initiatives, but also a crucial step driving Taiwan’s social transformation. Although the public was enthusiastically discussing and anticipating the new ministry’s establishment, the hype only lasted for about half a day — the spotlight soon shifted to Kaohsiung as news about the fire dominated media coverage.
A similar incident happened just over three years ago. Former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo in March 2022 made his first visit to Taiwan after leaving office. He was scheduled to meet then-president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) at 10am on March 3 and receive a prestigious national medal. The Presidential Office had planned a livestream of the event to allow the public to witness the strength of Taiwan-US relations, but — once again, coincidentally — an incident occurred at the Hsinta Power Plant just before the scheduled meeting.
At 9:16am that morning, a switch malfunction caused by human error triggered a massive blackout affecting 5.49 million households across Taiwan, forcing the Presidential Office to abruptly cancel the livestream.
The power plant has repeatedly been the site of major incidents — the timing of which coincided with positive news and significant international events.
One can only hope that these are truly coincidences.
Huang Wei-ping works in public service and has a master’s degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in Massachusetts.
Translated by Kyra Gustavsen
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