DIPLOMACY
Kin Moy posts farewell video
Former American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) director Kin Moy, who served in the position for three years, left a final farewell message to Taiwan on Facebook before heading back to the US with his family yesterday. Moy was unable to give interviews just before leaving Taiwan, but posted a video showing images of him and his family making their way to the airport, as well as photos and videos about Moy’s life in Taiwan. In the video, Moy said he recalled saying when he first came to Taiwan that the next years would be a crucial period for Taiwan-US relations. He said he was proud of how much has been achieved through the efforts of Americans and Taiwanese. Moy, 52, arrived in Taiwan in June 2015 and was the first AIT director of Asian heritage. Moy’s position is to be taken over in late August by Brent Christensen, a former AIT deputy director and seasoned diplomat with extensive experience in the region.
EARTHQUAKES
Magnitude 4.5 hits Taitung
A magnitude 4.5 quake struck eastern Taiwan at 2:32am yesterday, the Central Weather Bureau said. No damage or casualties were reported. The epicenter of the earthquake was about 24.8km north of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 8.1km, the bureau’s Seismology Center said. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung’s Chihshang Township (池上), where it measured 4 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. On Wednesday, a magnitude 4.3 earthquake rocked southern Taiwan at 8:41pm. The epicenter was about 6.5km northwest of Tainan City Hall at a depth of 5.6km, with the highest intensity recorded in the city’s Yongkang District (永康), where it reached five on the intensity scale, the bureau said.
TOURISM
More visit Vietnam
Taiwanese made 338,956 visits to Vietnam in the first half of the year, 13.8 percent more than in the same period last year, Vietnamese National Administration of Tourism statistics showed. Taiwanese were the fifth-largest group of visitors to the country in the six-month period. In June alone, Taiwanese visited Vietnam 55,406 times, the statistics showed. Chinese were the biggest group, with nearly 2.57 million visits. They were followed by South Koreans and Japanese travelers, who made 1.71 million and 400,000 visits respectively. Vietnam aims to attract 15.5 million foreign visitors and 78 million domestic trippers this year to achieve tourism turnover of about US$26.8 billion, the agency said.
RAILWAYS
Man dies after 12.5m fall
A passenger fell to his death from a 12.5m-high platform at the Tainan High-Speed Rail Station on Friday in the first such accident in the high-speed railway’s history. Rescue workers arrived at the scene to find that the man displayed no vital signs. The man fell onto a pedestrian walkway in the station’s parking lot. The 21-year-old victim, surnamed Huang (黃), purchased a ticket from Tainan to Chiayi, but fell from the northbound platform onto the road below, investigators said. The barrier around the platform is 1.23m high and not easy for an adult to accidentally topple over, police said. One witness told police that he saw Huang climb the barrier and sit on it before falling. Huang’s father told police that his son had not mentioned any suicidal thoughts and had not shown any unusual behavior.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A magnitude 4.9 earthquake struck off Tainan at 11:47am today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 32.3km northeast of Tainan City Hall at a depth of 7.3km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Tainan and Chiayi County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and County, and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Kaohsiung, Nantou County, Changhua County, Taitung County and offshore Penghu County, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
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