TRANSPORT
Light rail to run more often
Starting next month, trains on the Danhai Light Rail Transit system in New Taipei City’s Tamsui District (淡水) would run more frequently during peak travel hours, New Taipei Metro Corp said. Every day, from 6pm to 8pm, the trains would depart every 12 minutes instead of every 15 minutes, the operator said. This would help reduce congestion on the Danhai Line, the ridership of which has been growing since it was launched in December last year, New Taipei Metro general manager Wu Kuo-chi (吳國濟) said. New electronic billboards would also soon be installed at Hongshulin Station to display the arrival and departure times of the trains, the operator said.
DIPLOMACY
Thai labor meeting held
Taiwan and Thailand agreed during a meeting in Taipei to tackle several key issues involving Thai workers in Taiwan, the Workforce Development Agency said on Friday. The consensus was reached at the 20th annual Taiwan-Thailand Labor Committee Meeting, hosted this year in Taiwan by agency director-general Huang Chiu-kuei (黃秋桂). The Thai delegation was led by Petcharat Sinauy, deputy permanent secretary at the Thai Ministry of Labor. Thailand agreed to use the latest materials provided by Taiwan for workers receiving job training in Thailand prior to their arrival, the agency said in a statement. The Southeast Asian nation would continue to educate its workers about drunk driving in Taiwan and the penalties that come with it, the statement said. Thailand also agreed to work with Taiwan to tackle the issue of Thais working illegally in the country, it said.
DIPLOMACY
Envoy throws first pitch
Representative to the US Stanley Kao (高碩泰) on Friday threw the ceremonial first pitch in a Major League Baseball game in Los Angeles, saying that it symbolized hope for stronger bilateral ties. Kao was in attendance for “Hello Taiwan Night,” an event organized by the Taiwanese-American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Los Angeles, and the stadium featured electronic board messages supporting Taiwan throughout the game. Relations between the two nations have never been better, Kao said, citing the high-profile treatment extended by the US government during President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) stopovers there last month. “Taiwan-US relations will only get better,” Kao said to Taiwanese media at the game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres. He also thanked the about 400 Taiwanese expatriates who attended the game.
HEALTH
Woman fined for pet cruelty
A dog owner in Keelung was fined NT$6,000 for leaving her dog unattended on the roof of a building on a hot day, Keelung Animal Protection and Health Inspection Office Director Chen Jui-pin (陳瑞濱) said yesterday. Responding to a call about possible animal abuse, officials on Tuesday found the canine chained to the roof of the apartment complex, which infrared measurements showed had reached 61°C, Chen said. The dog was fine, he added. The dog owner expressed remorse and claimed that she had forgotten about the dog because she was taking care of her infant, Chen said, adding that the office decided to issue her a fine because she had previously received a warning over her treatment of the dog. Dogs are susceptible to heatstroke, as they lack sweat glands, and should never be kept on an apartment building roof, he said.
Four factors led to the declaration of a typhoon day and the cancelation of classes yesterday, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. Work and classes were canceled across Taiwan yesterday as Typhoon Krathon was forecast to make landfall in the southern part of the country. However, northern Taiwan had only heavy winds during the day and rain in the evening, leading some to criticize the cancelation. Speaking at a Taipei City Council meeting yesterday, Chiang said the decision was made due to the possibility of landslides and other problems in mountainous areas, the need to avoid a potentially dangerous commute for those
There are 77 incidents of Taiwanese travelers going missing in China between January last year and last month, the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) said. More than 40 remain unreachable, SEF Secretary-General Luo Wen-jia (羅文嘉) said on Friday. Most of the reachable people in the more than 30 other incidents were allegedly involved in fraud, while some had disappeared for personal reasons, Luo said. One of these people is Kuo Yu-hsuan (郭宇軒), a 22-year-old Taiwanese man from Kaohsiung who went missing while visiting China in August. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office last month said in a news statement that he was under investigation
PRO-CHINA SLOGANS: Two DPP members criticized police officers’ lack of action at the scene, saying that law enforcement authorities should investigate the incident Chinese tourists allegedly interrupted a protest in Taipei on Tuesday held by Hong Kongers, knocked down several flags and shouted: “Taiwan and Hong Kong belong to China.” Hong Kong democracy activists were holding a demonstration as Tuesday was China’s National Day. A video posted online by civic group Hong Kong Outlanders shows a couple, who are allegedly Chinese, during the demonstration. “Today is China’s National Day, and I won’t allow the displaying of these flags,” the male yells in the video before pushing some demonstrators and knocking down a few flagpoles. Radio Free Asia reported that some of the demonstrators
China is attempting to subsume Taiwanese culture under Chinese culture by promulgating legislation on preserving documents on ties between the Minnan region and Taiwan, a Taiwanese academic said yesterday. China on Tuesday enforced the Fujian Province Minnan and Taiwan Document Protection Act to counter Taiwanese cultural independence with historical evidence that would root out misleading claims, Chinese-language media outlet Straits Today reported yesterday. The act is “China’s first ad hoc local regulations in the cultural field that involve Taiwan and is a concrete step toward implementing the integrated development demonstration zone,” Fujian Provincial Archives deputy director Ma Jun-fan (馬俊凡) said. The documents
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