Taiwan on Tuesday reaffirmed its commitment to assisting the Solomon Islands in improving its weather forecasting and earthquake detecting capabilities.
The Solomon Islands is one of Taiwan’s allies in Oceania. The two nations on April 28 last year signed a memorandum of understanding to advance climate and seismology research.
The Central Weather Bureau and the Solomon Islands Meteorological Services celebrated the first anniversary of the partnership on Tuesday in Taipei.
Solomon Islands Ambassador Joseph Pius Waleansia and Solomon Islands Meteorological Services Director David Hiba Hiriasia attended the event.
The two agencies reviewed the year’s achievements, which included the development of the Solomon Islands’ Synergistic Analysis for the Environment (SoSAFE), an early warning system for extreme weather events and earthquakes.
Despite being more than 5,000km apart, Taiwan and the Solomon Islands face threats from extreme weather and earthquakes, bureau Director-General Yeh Tien-chiang (葉天降) said.
Due to the partnership, the Solomon Islands now has multiple weather and earthquake observational facilities, Yeh said, adding that it is now able to issue early warnings for extremely heavy rainfall and earthquakes.
“The weather data collected through SoSAFE are also used to help the Solomon Islands issue dengue fever alerts, which has drawn the attention of the international community,” he said.
The SoSAFE system was presented last year at the UN Climate Change Conference in Bonn, Germany, the bureau said, adding that International Institute for Sustainable Development also introduced it in one of its publications.
Hiriasia said that both nations have expressed a willingness for improved cooperation, but they still need to discuss details during this visit.
Taiwan should be thanked for the assistance it has offered over the years in seismology research, which has enabled both nations to face the challenges posed by climate change, Waleansia said.
The alliance began in October 2013, when Solomon Islands Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Disaster Management and Meteorology officials met bureau officials in Taiwan.
The bureau later sent representatives to the Solomon Islands.
In 2016, the bureau, Academia Sinica, Chung Yuan Christian University and the Meteorological Society of the Republic of China-Taiwan proposed a three-year research project to build an early warning system for extreme weather and earthquakes in the Solomons, funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology.
Eight Chinese naval vessels and 24 military aircraft were detected crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait between 6am yesterday and 6am today, the Ministry of National Defense said this morning. The aircraft entered Taiwan’s northern, central, southwestern and eastern air defense identification zones, the ministry said. The armed forces responded with mission aircraft, naval vessels and shore-based missile systems to closely monitor the situation, it added. Eight naval vessels, one official ship and 36 aircraft sorties were spotted in total, the ministry said.
INCREASED CAPACITY: The flights on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays would leave Singapore in the morning and Taipei in the afternoon Singapore Airlines is adding four supplementary flights to Taipei per week until May to meet increased tourist and business travel demand, the carrier said on Friday. The addition would raise the number of weekly flights it operates to Taipei to 18, Singapore Airlines Taiwan general manager Timothy Ouyang (歐陽漢源) said. The airline has recorded a steady rise in tourist and business travel to and from Taipei, and aims to provide more flexible travel arrangements for passengers, said Ouyang, who assumed the post in July last year. From now until Saturday next week, four additional flights would depart from Singapore on Monday, Wednesday, Friday
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday reported the return of large-scale Chinese air force activities after their unexplained absence for more than two weeks, which had prompted speculation regarding Beijing’s motives. China usually sends fighter jets, drones and other military aircraft around the nation on a daily basis. Interruptions to such routine are generally caused by bad weather. The Ministry of National Defense said it had detected 26 Chinese military aircraft in the Taiwan Strait over the previous 24 hours. It last reported that many aircraft on Feb. 25, when it spotted 30 aircraft, saying Beijing was carrying out another “joint combat
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) today said that if South Korea does not reply appropriately to its request to correct Taiwan’s name on its e-Arrival card system before March 31, it would take corresponding measures to alter how South Korea is labeled on the online Taiwan Arrival Card system. South Korea’s e-Arrival card system lists Taiwan as “China (Taiwan)” in the “point of departure” and “next destination” fields. The ministry said that it changed the nationality for South Koreans on Taiwan’s Alien Resident Certificates from “Korea” to “South Korea” on March 1, in a gesture of goodwill and based on the
RSS