■ Defense
Ministry monitors sub
The Ministry of National Defense said yesterday that it was monitoring the movements of what is thought to be a Chinese nuclear-powered submarine in Japanese territorial waters. Ministry officials made the announcement in the wake of a report by Agence France Presse that Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi had expressed regret over the unidentified vessel entering Japan's territorial waters. The submarine was detected in Japanese waters near islands disputed with China about 300km southwest of Okinawa, a southern Japanese island that is home to a major US military base, according to the report. The officials said that they are keeping abreast of the vessel's movements through information swapping. The officials said that, although their preliminary conclusion is that the vessel is on a deep-sea training trip, they will continue to monitor it closely.
■ Defense
Military battles smoking
The Ministry of National Defense is promoting a no-smoking directive in the military to help implement a government no-smoking policy and optimize the public health and environment, a spokesman said yesterday. Spokesman Major General Huang Suey-sheng (黃穗生) told a press conference that under the no-smoking project, smoking will gradually be wiped out from the armed forces, including barracks, military organizations and military academies, eventually making the entire military smoke-free. Lu Li-chun (呂立群), a division director with the ministry's Medical Affairs Bureau, said the ministry will enact regulations on smoking prevention and will establish "smoking prevention committees" in units at various levels. According to Huang, the ministry is also sponsoring classes and workshops to help personnel quit smoking.
■ Community
Interpreters sought
In view of the rising number of foreign spouses in Taiwan, World Vision Taiwan's central office is recruiting interpreters of English and various Southeast Asian languages. World Vision officials said that with the number of abused foreign spouses rising steadily, the group needs interpreters who can speak Southeast Asian languages to upgrade the organization's ability to handle domestic violence cases. They will recruit 70 interpreters, including those versed in Indonesian, Thai, Cambodian, Vietnamese and English, the officials said.
■ Diplomacy
Vanuatu yet to confirm ties
Vanuatu Prime Minister Serge Vohor has yet to convene a Cabinet meeting to confirm the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Republic of China (Taiwan) and the South Pacific island nation, a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. Michel Lu (呂慶龍) said the Cabinet meeting, originally scheduled for yesterday afternoon, was postponed because Vohor had not returned to Port-Vila, the capital of Vanuatu, due to local elections. But Lu also quoted a spokesman for Vohor as saying that the Cabinet meeting is only a formality, and Cabinet members will not oppose the establishment of diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Minister of Foreign Affairs Mark Chen (陳唐山) and Vohor signed a joint communique in Taipei on Nov. 3 on establishing full diplomatic ties between the two countries. Vanuatu has a population of about 200,000 and will be Taiwan's 27th diplomatic ally.
Taiwanese were praised for their composure after a video filmed by Taiwanese tourists capturing the moment a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck Japan’s Aomori Prefecture went viral on social media. The video shows a hotel room shaking violently amid Monday’s quake, with objects falling to the ground. Two Taiwanese began filming with their mobile phones, while two others held the sides of a TV to prevent it from falling. When the shaking stopped, the pair calmly took down the TV and laid it flat on a tatami mat, the video shows. The video also captured the group talking about the safety of their companions bathing
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
A classified Pentagon-produced, multiyear assessment — the Overmatch brief — highlighted unreported Chinese capabilities to destroy US military assets and identified US supply chain choke points, painting a disturbing picture of waning US military might, a New York Times editorial published on Monday said. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s comments in November last year that “we lose every time” in Pentagon-conducted war games pitting the US against China further highlighted the uncertainty about the US’ capability to intervene in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. “It shows the Pentagon’s overreliance on expensive, vulnerable weapons as adversaries field cheap, technologically
RSS