DIPLOMACY
Ex-ambassador falls sick
Former ambassador to the Dominican Republic Tang Ji-zen (湯繼仁) yesterday collapsed while accompanying foreign dignitaries in a meeting with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) at the Presidential Office Building in Taipei, but regained consciousness after treatment, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. Tang, who is now an ambassador on home assignment after the Dominican Republic broke ties with Taiwan in May, lapsed into unconsciousness in the midst of a meeting between Tsai and foreign dignitaries invited to attend the Double Ten National Day celebrations, the ministry said. Taipei City Hospital’s Department of Emergency Medicine said that Tang was first attached to an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation machine and given 26 shots of adrenalin, but remained in critical condition. He was then transferred to National Taiwan University Hospital and regained consciousness after further treatment. He is to remain in hospital for observation, the ministry said.
WEATHER
Cooler weather in north
The arrival of the first northeast monsoon would start affecting the weather today until Saturday, sending the mercury down in the northern and northeastern regions, the Central Weather Bureau said yesterday. Temperatures in the north are forecast to slide to about 19°C, the bureau said, adding that people living in coastal areas in the north would experience even lower temperatures. Chances of occasional rains are high in the northern and northeastern regions, with sporadic heavy rainfall likely to occur in the northeastern region and Taipei and New Taipei City, the bureau’s forecast showed. Cloudy to sunny skies are forecast for the rest of the nation, with afternoon thundershowers in the south and the mountainous areas in central Taiwan, it said, advising people living in the southern and central regions to be alert to the large variation in temperature between daytime and evening. Although the northeast monsoon is expected to weaken by Sunday, chances of occasional rains remain high between Sunday and Tuesday next week, the bureau said.
HEALTH
Agencies trade accusations
Local and central health authorities yesterday blamed each other for not issuing a public warning and recalling products over a reported food scare implicating Yi Jin King (義進金), which allegedly used forged labels and banned chemicals in its egg products. The Chiayi County Health Bureau said that in July it found 0.05 parts per million of nicarbazin in eggs produced by the firm, which were sold at a Pxmart outlets nationwide. Nicarbazin is legal for general veterinary use, but is prohibited for use in egg-producing hens, according to Council of Agriculture regulations. Council officials said the bureau neglected to inform the public about the test results, and failure to do so has allowed the tainted eggs to be sold on the market. However, bureau officials said they had notified the council in July, but as it did not receive any instructions, it issued no public warnings or orders to recall the eggs. The bureau is not responsible for testing eggs for toxic substances or banned chemicals, and was helping with a nationwide food safety inspection program coordinated by the council. Company owner Su Wen-yuan (蘇文源) yesterday said that test results from August and last month showed his company’s egg products were safe and conformed to health standards.
Thirty-five earthquakes have exceeded 5.5 on the Richter scale so far this year, the most in 14 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said on Facebook on Thursday. A large earthquake in Hualien County on April 3 released five times as much the energy as the 921 Earthquake on Sept. 21, 1999, the agency said in its latest earthquake report for this year. Hualien County has had the most national earthquake alerts so far this year at 64, with Yilan County second with 23 and Changhua County third with nine, the agency said. The April 3 earthquake was what caused the increase in
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
DEFENSE: This month’s shipment of 38 modern M1A2T tanks would begin to replace the US-made M60A3 and indigenous CM11 tanks, whose designs date to the 1980s The M1A2T tanks that Taiwan expects to take delivery of later this month are to spark a “qualitative leap” in the operational capabilities of the nation’s armored forces, a retired general told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) in an interview published yesterday. On Tuesday, the army in a statement said it anticipates receiving the first batch of 38 M1A2T Abrams main battle tanks from the US, out of 108 tanks ordered, in the coming weeks. The M1 Abrams main battle tank is a generation ahead of the Taiwanese army’s US-made M60A3 and indigenously developed CM11 tanks, which have
CASE COUNT: The deceased had advised law enforcement agencies regarding 60 fraud cases this year, leading to the confiscation of NT$9.3 billion in alleged illegal proceeds Prosecutors yesterday launched an investigation into the death of cryptocurrency expert Miffy Chen (陳梅慧), who died in a car crash on Wednesday under what some consider to be suspicious circumstances following her work with law enforcement to track down NT$9.3 billion (US$286.97 million) in alleged illegal proceeds. Prosecutor-General Hsing Tai-chao (邢泰釗) tasked the Hsinchu District Prosecutors’ Office with investigating the incident following requests from the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) and other agencies with which she worked to crack several prominent cases involving financial fraud and money laundering. Chen was killed in a six-car pileup near Hsinchu in the northbound lanes of Sun
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