■ TRANSPORTATION
DGH helps bus operators
The Directorate General of Highways (DGH) said on Friday it would subsidize bus operators in southern Taiwan by giving them NT$630 million (US$19 million) to provide bus services to some of the nation's remotest areas. The announcement came after five bus companies in the south threatened to cease operations if the government failed to fully compensate them for their losses. They had said they would stop servicing 150 routes starting on Dec. 22. DGH Director General James Chen (陳晉源) said on Friday records showed the bus operators had only applied to terminate operations on 89 routes. Service could only be stopped seven months after approval of an application, he said. Chen said the directorate has raised the subsidy this year from NT$530 million to NT$630 million. The sum fell short of bus operators' hopes of receiving NT$890 million. The directorate will sit down with bus operators on Tuesday to look for solutions.
■ EVENTS
Aboriginal exhibit opens
The Ilan County Government yesterday opened a two-day exhibition to demonstrate the county's achievements in helping Aborigines develop production industries. The exhibition is being held at the Ilan County Cultural Center and an adjoining plaza. It features more than 30 stalls presenting various aspects of the lives of Aborigines. Some of the stalls display farm products and handicrafts produced by Aborigines, while others feature Atayal delicacies. County government officials said the exhibition is intended to create sales opportunities for Aborigines and increase the competitiveness of their products in the hope of creating jobs and improving their livelihoods.
■ CONSERVATION
Fishing vessel flouts ban
Coast guard officers boarded a fishing boat on Friday night and discovered a whale shark that had been cut up into several pieces, a spokesman for the Eastern Coastal Patrol Office said yesterday in Taitung County. Although whale sharks are not on the list of protected animals, the Fisheries Agency began to limit the number of whale sharks that can be caught in 2001 after discovering that whale shark numbers off the eastern coast had dropped off dramatically as a result of overfishing. An annual quota was set that year, which has since been reviewed and adjusted where necessary. This year, the whale shark hunting quota was set at 30, half last year's level. The spokesman said that this year's quota was reached in July. A ban on whale shark fishing came into effect on Nov. 1 and will remain in place until the end of this year, he said.
■ FOOD
Bones found in US beef
The Department of Health said yesterday that two bone fragments were found in a shipment of imported US beef, marking the third such case within the last two weeks. Hsieh Ting-hung (謝定宏), deputy director of the department's Bureau of Food Safety, said the beef was from Colorado-based Swift Beef Co, which has been banned by the department from shipping its products to Taiwan since Nov. 27. However, he said that as the beef in question was already on its way to Taiwan in the middle of last month, the department accepted the application for inspection from the Taipei importer. The two pieces of bone fragments measured 2.4cm and 4.8cm, Hsieh said, adding that the importer will now have to send back or destroy the shipment. Two bone fragments were also found in a Swift Beef Co shipment late last month.
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
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
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
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