SPORTS
Universiade athletes named
The Taiwan team attending the FISU World University Games is this year to include at least 11 Olympians, some of whom won medals at the Games, the Sports Administration said on Thursday. Athletes have already been selected to compete in gymnastics, archery, judo, rowing and taekwondo at the Chengdu Universiade, which was postponed from last summer to June and July this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the agency said. Selection of the other athletes would be completed by the end of April, before the team’s formal registration on May 25, it added. Those already chosen include gymnast Lee Chih-kai (李智凱), judoka Yang Yung-wei (楊勇緯), archer Tang Chih-chun (湯智鈞), table tennis player Lin Yun-ju (林昀儒) and taekwondoin athlete Lo Chia-ling (羅嘉翎), Sports Administration Deputy Director-General Hung Chih-chang (洪志昌) said.
SPORTS
Baseball series delayed
A series of exhibition baseball games scheduled for next month between Taiwan and Japan has been postponed due to concerns about outbreaks of the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2, Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) said on Wednesday. The CBPL and Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball Organization discussed the matter and pushed back the series in the interest of the players’ health, CPBL commissioner Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) said in a statement. Further discussions would be held to choose a new date for the series, which was scheduled for March 5 and 6 at the Tokyo Dome, he said.
SOCIETY
Matsu pilgrimage date set
The annual procession of the sea goddess Matsu enshrined at Jenn Lann Temple (鎮瀾宮) in Taichung’s Dajia District (大甲) is to start on April 8, the temple said on Tuesday. The news came after the Central Epidemic Command Center earlier in the day announced an easing of COVID-19 restrictions. On Tuesday, when this year’s Lantern Festival was held, Yen Ching-biao (顏清標), the head of Jenn Lann Temple, used moon blocks — a divination tool — to ask Matsu when the nine-day procession should start. The annual procession is to begin at 11pm. Tens of thousands of worshipers are expected to follow the Dajia Matsu as it travels 340km through Taichung, Changhua County, Yunlin County and Chiayi County, before returning to the temple on April 17, organizers said. As part of its COVID-19 prevention efforts, the temple is asking participants to avoid the traditional practice of crawling under the icon’s palanquin to receive Matsu’s blessing.
ARTS
First Matsu Biennial starts
The inaugural Matsu Biennial, featuring 39 artworks and eight projects centered around the theme “Island Brew” (島嶼釀), has begun and runs through April 10. The biennial has been curated in part around the Matsu Islands’ transition from a military administration, and a number of the projects are in former army facilities. All of the works were created locally by 41 creative teams. Aside from Taiwanese artists, the art-making consortium also includes international members, such as Canadian visual artist Liam Morgan and French-born sound artist Yannick Dauby. As the evolution of space and sustainable reuse form the core of the biennial’s works, organizers have set out to make the festival part of a 10-year mission to document the islands’ transformation.
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
Weather conditions across Taiwan are expected to remain stable today, but cloudy to rainy skies are expected from tomorrow onward due to increasing moisture in the atmosphere, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). Daytime highs today are expected to hit 25-27°C in western Taiwan and 22-24°C in the eastern counties of Yilan, Hualien, and Taitung, data on the CWA website indicated. After sunset, temperatures could drop to 16-17°C in most parts of Taiwan. For tomorrow, precipitation is likely in northern Taiwan as a cloud system moves in from China. Daytime temperatures are expected to hover around 25°C, the CWA said. Starting Monday, areas
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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