Sun, Jul 15, 2018 page3

• Taiwan News Quick Take

  • Staff writer, with CNA
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  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.
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