■ DEFENSE
Taiwan to replace frigates
Taiwan plans to buy eight second-hand Perry-class frigates from the US despite improved ties with China, a local newspaper reported yesterday. The military hopes to arm them with a version of the advanced Aegis Combat System, which uses computers and radar to take out multiple targets, as well as sophisticated missile launch technology, the Chinese-language China Times reported. The Ministry of National Defense said in a reaction to the report that ageing frigates now serving the navy needed to be phased out, but that it had yet to decide on the type of vessels that would replace them. “The overall strategy of the armed forces will be taken into consideration as the defense ministry evaluates the plan,” it said in a statement, adding that the budget would be another factor to be weighed.
■ ART
Gauguin exhibition planned
Several works by the French post-impressionist Paul Gauguin are scheduled to be displayed in Taipei in November for the first time, the director of the Taipei Fine Arts Museum announced yesterday. Hsieh Hsiao-yun (謝小韞) said the paintings — hopefully more than 10 — would come from museums in Europe and the US. “So far, we have gained permission from the Kunstmuseum Basel in Switzerland to borrow the 1892 piece When Will you Marry,” Hsieh said. The 1899 work Three Tahitians will be borrowed from the National Galleries of Scotland, she said. The museum is still negotiating with other museums to borrow works such as Woman from Arles in the Public Garden: The Mistral from the Art Institute of Chicago and Harvesting of Grapes at Arles from a museum in Denmark.
The first of 10 new high-capacity trains purchased from South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem arrived at the Port of Taipei yesterday to meet the demands of an expanding metro network, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. The train completed a three-day, 1,200km voyage from the Port of Masan in South Korea, the company said. Costing NT$590 million (US$18.79 million) each, the new six-carriage trains feature a redesigned interior based on "human-centric" transportation concepts, TRTC said. The design utilizes continuous longitudinal seating to widen the aisles and optimize passenger flow, while also upgrading passenger information displays and driving control systems for a more comfortable
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
Taiwan’s two cases of hantavirus so far this year are on par with previous years’ case numbers, and the government is coordinating rat extermination work, so there should not be any outbreaks, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said today in an interview with the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper). An increase in rat sightings in Taipei and New Taipei City has raised concerns about the spread of hantavirus, as rats can carry the disease. In January, a man in his 70s who lived in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) tested positive posthumously for hantavirus, Taiwan’s
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