■ Athletics
Thousands to run in Tainan
Nearly 20,000 people from Taiwan and overseas will take part in a run to be held today in Tainan. The World Masters Athletes (WMA) championships, sponsored by China Motor Inc, the Chinese Taipei Road Running Association and the Tainan County Government, will play host to 211 foreign athletes from 36 countries. A total of 19,925 people will take part in the competi-tions, the largest number of countries and athletes to take part in the WMA cham-pionships. Among the athletes will be defending champion Mario Fattore of Italy and Henri Girault of France, who will be taking part in his 500th 100-km race. There will be five runs: 100km, 50km, 25km, 10km and 5km. President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) will preside over the start of the first race and then will run with 2,004 athletes for 1.5km to promote exercise.
■ Defense
Advanced US missiles arrive
The US shipped advanced air-to-air missiles to Taiwan after China acquired similar Russian-built technology, it was reported yesterday. The AIM-120 medium-range air-to-air missiles, which arrived in Taiwan last month, are sufficient to counter China's AA-12 missiles and will help maintain the military balance in the Taiwan Strait, according to the Liberty Times. It said the air force is planning a live-fire test of the missile next year -- the first such tests outside the US. The air force declined to com-ment on the report. The military bought 120 AIM-120s from the US in 2000 on the condition they would only be delivered if China acquired similar weaponry. The fact that China had test-fired the Russian-made AA-12 missiles in June last year prompted Washington to deliver the AIM-120s, the report said. Air force officials have previously said the missiles would be used to arm some of the nation's 150 F-16 fighter jets.
■ Crime
China executes pair
Chinese authorities executed two men on Friday for the murder of a Taiwanese couple and their four year-old daughter, the China News Service reported yesterday. Huang Ligang (黃利剛), 22 and Cheng Liang (程亮), 29, were condemned to death by the Shanghai High Court in April. The men broke into the home of Sun Yu (宋鈺), a business-man living in Shanghai, and stabbed him, his wife and his daughter, the agency said. Huang and Cheng then fled in the couple's jeep, carrying cash and objects valued at over 80,000 yuan (US$9,600).
■ Weather
Cold front arriving
The Central Weather Bureau announced yesterday that a cold front and a light typhoon will jointly bring heavy rains to Keelung, Hengchun, the east coast and mountainous areas of northern Taiwan today and tomorrow. Typhoon Nepartak was moving west-northwest at 21kph from the seas near Manila as of 4pm yesterday. The bureau said it is still trying to figure out what impact it may have on the weather in this country.
■ Travel
Tourism fair at TWTC
The Taipei International Travel Fair opened yesterday at the Taipei World Trade Center with the aim of boosting the tourism sector, which was badly damaged earlier this year by the SARS epidemic. More than 400 organizations from 50 countries and regions around the world are displaying their sightseeing attractions in 538 booths at the fair. The exhibition will run until Tuesday.
Thirty-five earthquakes have exceeded 5.5 on the Richter scale so far this year, the most in 14 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said on Facebook on Thursday. A large earthquake in Hualien County on April 3 released five times as much the energy as the 921 Earthquake on Sept. 21, 1999, the agency said in its latest earthquake report for this year. Hualien County has had the most national earthquake alerts so far this year at 64, with Yilan County second with 23 and Changhua County third with nine, the agency said. The April 3 earthquake was what caused the increase in
INTIMIDATION: In addition to the likely military drills near Taiwan, China has also been waging a disinformation campaign to sow division between Taiwan and the US Beijing is poised to encircle Taiwan proper in military exercise “Joint Sword-2024C,” starting today or tomorrow, as President William Lai (賴清德) returns from his visit to diplomatic allies in the Pacific, a national security official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said that multiple intelligence sources showed that China is “highly likely” to launch new drills around Taiwan. Although the drills’ scale is unknown, there is little doubt that they are part of the military activities China initiated before Lai’s departure, they said. Beijing at the same time is conducting information warfare by fanning skepticism of the US and
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is unlikely to attempt an invasion of Taiwan during US president-elect Donald Trump’s time in office, Taiwanese and foreign academics said on Friday. Trump is set to begin his second term early next year. Xi’s ambition to establish China as a “true world power” has intensified over the years, but he would not initiate an invasion of Taiwan “in the near future,” as his top priority is to maintain the regime and his power, not unification, Tokyo Woman’s Christian University distinguished visiting professor and contemporary Chinese politics expert Akio Takahara said. Takahara made the comment at a
DEFENSE: This month’s shipment of 38 modern M1A2T tanks would begin to replace the US-made M60A3 and indigenous CM11 tanks, whose designs date to the 1980s The M1A2T tanks that Taiwan expects to take delivery of later this month are to spark a “qualitative leap” in the operational capabilities of the nation’s armored forces, a retired general told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) in an interview published yesterday. On Tuesday, the army in a statement said it anticipates receiving the first batch of 38 M1A2T Abrams main battle tanks from the US, out of 108 tanks ordered, in the coming weeks. The M1 Abrams main battle tank is a generation ahead of the Taiwanese army’s US-made M60A3 and indigenously developed CM11 tanks, which have
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