■ DEFENSE
Engine fails Navy ship
The Navy's biggest vessel, the supply ship Wu Yi, which is the flag ship of the Navy's 2008 Goodwill Fleet, experienced an engine failure in the Marshall Islands two weeks ago, but the problem was fixed and the fleet continued its trip, the Navy Fleet Command Headquarters said yesterday. The headquarters said in a press release that the engine failure was fixed by the Goodwill Fleet's engineers. The fleet, consisting of the Wu Yi, the Si Ning and the Chang Chien, continued its journey visiting the nation's allies, leaving the Marshall Islands, on March 22.
■ CULTURE
Museums team up
The Shung Ye Museum of Formosan Aborigines and the National Palace Museum yesterday began selling a joint ticket for both museums at a reduced price of NT$250. If purchased separately, a Shung Ye Museum ticket costs NT$150, while admission to the National Palace Museum costs NT$160. Founded by the Shung Ye Group, the Shung Ye Museum was opened in 1994 as the first private museum on Aboriginal cultures in Taiwan. To attract more visitors, the Shung Ye Museum decided to take advantage of its proximity to the National Palace Museum by selling joint tickets. Also included in the program is a shuttle bus between the two museums at set times in the afternoon. For more information, visit www.museum.org.tw.
■ DIPLOMACY
Ma to 'transform' Taiwan
President-elect Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said in an interview on Tuesday he hoped to transform Taiwan from a "troublemaker" to a "peacemaker," outlining a series of policy steps to stimulate trade and investment with China. The stimulation package included establishing regular and direct weekend charter flights to China by July. Currently, travelers must pass through a third territory, such as Hong Kong, en route from China to Taiwan, making a two to three-hour flight into an all-day affair. Ma also said he wanted to increase Chinese tourism and introduce a mechanism by the end of this year to make the New Taiwan dollar convertible with the yuan, a policy he said would be crucial when plane-loads of Chinese land in Taipei with pockets full of yuan.
■ DIPLOMACY
Rice sent to Nicaragua
Nicaragua has received another 400 tonnes of rice donated by Taiwan, the Nicaraguan government said in a statement yesterday. The shipment is part of a total of 5,300 tonnes Taiwan has donated to its ally this year. Taiwan donated 1,600 tonnes of rice to the Central American country last year. The Nicaraguan government said the rice will be sold to low-income households at "fair prices."
■ EDUCATION
Ministry plans scholarships
The Ministry of Education is planning to offer several scholarships to allow outstanding students from Latin America to pursue degrees or learn Chinese in Taiwan, ministry officials said yesterday. Under an agreement with 17 leading universities in Central and South America, the ministry is set to offer 20 scholarships for students from the region, officials said. Under the plan, 10 scholarships, amounting to NT$25,000 per student per month, will be made available for three years in the case of doctoral students and two years in the case of master's students. Another 10 scholarships, amounting to NT$20,000 per student per month, will be offered for Chinese study for periods ranging from three months to a year.
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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