The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been communicating with Canberra about Australia’s needs for relief aid amid massive bushfires, and its preliminary plan is to donate about 100,000 surgical masks, ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) said yesterday.
The bushfires continue to rage across southeast Australia, killing scores of animals and causing serious damage to property, Ou told a news briefing in Taipei, adding that people traveling to the country should beware of air pollution.
Asked what aid Taiwan would provide to Australia, she said that the government plans to donate 100,000 masks, but added that the exact number and type have not been confirmed, as it is still gathering information about the country’s needs.
Photo: CNA
As masks are considered medical products in Australia, the ministry would need to follow local regulations when making the donation, she said.
The Australian Office in Taipei has also provided a list of several organizations that could receive donations for the bushfires, she added.
In related news, the Department of Latin American and Caribbean Affairs said that the ministry would donate 20,200 tonnes of rice to Haiti, up from 8,600 tonnes donated last year, as the Caribbean ally faces a food crisis amid social unrest.
After filing an application with the Council of Agriculture, the ministry would next month arrange the shipment of rice to the island country, department Deputy Director-General Silvia Liu (劉聿綺) said.
Due to an ongoing conflict between its ruling and opposition parties, the Haitian parliament on Monday stopped operations and the country’s affairs are being temporarily run by administrative orders, she said.
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
An inauguration ceremony was held yesterday for the Danjiang Bridge, the world’s longest single-mast asymmetric cable-stayed bridge, ahead of its official opening to traffic on Tuesday, marking a major milestone after nearly three decades of planning and construction. At the ceremony in New Taipei City attended by President William Lai (賴清德), Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰), Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) and New Taipei City Mayor Hou Yu-ih (侯友宜), the bridge was hailed as both an engineering landmark and a long-awaited regional transport link connecting Tamsui (淡水) and Bali (八里)
RSS