TRANSPORTATION
South Link upgrade begins
A ceremony was held in Taitung yesterday to mark the beginning of the electrification of the South Link Railway, which aims to shorten the travel time between Taitung and Pingtung. Upon the project’s completion, travel from Taitung to Pingtung is expected to take 90 minutes, making it possible to reach Taitung from Taipei within three-and-a-half hours, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said. Shortening the ride between Taitung and Pingtung will complete a “full circle of happiness” for Taitung residents, Taitung County Commissioner Justin Huang (黃健庭) said. The 123.4km-long railway electrification project linking Taitung and Chaojhou Township (潮州) in Pingtung County is estimated to cost NT$27.9 billion (US$907.88 million).
CRIME
Officer disciplined over shot
A police officer who fired his pistol in anger into the air on Friday night will be disciplined, Taipei’s Wenshan First Precinct said. The policeman, Hung Hui-hsiung (洪輝雄), had asked to take 10 days off to take care of his ailing father in Kinmen County, but the request was rejected by his superior because of the precinct’s tight schedule ahead of local elections on Nov. 29. Hung reportedly stormed out to the parking lot late on Friday, fired his pistol into the air and yelled: “My superior is bullying me,” scaring his coworkers. The precinct said Hung, who had been honored as distinguished officer, was barred from carrying a gun and would face disciplinary action and a trial. Hung’s sister, Hung Juo-shan (洪若珊), who is the speaker of the Lieyu Urban Township (烈嶼) Council in Kinmen and is seeking re-election, said her brother’s superior was “callous” in turning down the request, but added that Hung Hui-hsiung’s reaction was “a bit irrational.”
TRANSPORTATION
345,000 rode new MRT line
Taipei’s MRT ferried about 345,000 passengers on its new Songshan Line on Saturday, the first day of its operation, the Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. There are eight stations on the 8.5km-long Songshan Line, from Ximen (西門) in Taipei’s old downtown area to the eastern end of Songshan (松山), where passengers can transfer to nationwide rail services. The line opened at 6am on Saturday, operating free of charge or with reduced tariffs for EasyCard holders who enter or exit the eight stations during its first month of operation. About 725,000 riders received the reduced-price service on that day, the TRTC said. The 15-minute end-to-end ride is an extension of the Xindian Line, from Xindian District (新店) in New Taipei City, south of Taipei.
TOURISM
Kinmen envisions landmark
The Kinmen County Government expects a planned passenger service center in the Port of Kinmen to become a landmark, county officials have said. The Shuitou Passenger Service Center has been designed as a tourist attraction that offers transportation services, the officials said on Thursday last week. A budget of NT$1.87 billion (US$60.8 million) has been allocated for it, the county said. The international gateway was jointly designed by Japanese and Taiwanese architecture firms — Japan’s Junya Ishigami and Associates and Bio-architecture Formosana headed by Chang Ching-hwa (張清華) — to help travelers obtain efficient customs clearance and other services, the government said. It estimated that the building, to be completed by the end of 2017, will serve between 3.5 million and 5 million passengers annually.
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
Upon its completion next year, the new Tamkang Bridge (淡江大橋) in New Taipei City is to be an important landmark in Taiwan, alongside Taipei 101, Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shi-kai (陳世凱) said today. The bridge is scheduled to be completed in December next year and open to the public in the first half of 2026, connecting New Taipei City’s Tamsui (淡水) and Bali (八里) districts. It is an asymmetric single-tower suspension bridge, nearly 70 stories tall, designed by world-famous architect Zaha Hadid. The bridge aims to alleviate traffic in Tamsui and on the Guandu Bridge (關渡大橋), in addition to increasing the
PROBLEMATIC: Popular hotpot restaurant chains were among the list of restaurants that failed the inspection and have been ordered to remove bad ingredients The Taipei Department of Health’s latest inspection of hotpot ingredients in hotpot restaurants resulted in a 16.7 percent failure rate. Eight vegetables had excessive pesticide residue and two other items had aflatoxin and excessive preservatives. As the weather is getting colder, more people eat at hotpot restaurants so a random inspection of ingredients was conducted in October to ensure food safety, the department said. Food and Drug Division Director Lin Kuan-chen (林冠蓁) said 60 different ingredients were tested: 15 high-risk vegetables, 15 processed food items, 10 soy-based food items, five meat items, five lamb items, five seafood items and five peanut powder
EXERCISES: A 2022 article by a Chinese intelligence expert identified at least six People’s Liberation Army assault boats hidden inside the Hong Kong-flagged ship A Hong Kong-flagged cargo ship that had been docked at Taichung Port and which previously took part in Chinese military exercises departed from the port on Saturday, the Taiwan International Ports Corp’s Taichung branch said yesterday. The statement came in response to a post on the social media platform X by Taiwan-based journalist Chris Horton that said the ship, the SCSC Fortune, had been docked at the port since Tuesday and questioned whether Taiwan has any rules regarding foreign civilian vessels that have participated in People’s Liberation Army (PLA) exercises. Horton referenced a 2022 article by Chinese intelligence expert Rod Lee that
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