DIPLOMACY
You leads Japan delegation
Legislative Speaker You Si-kun (游錫堃) yesterday led a delegation to Japan, seeking to boost trade and cultural and parliamentary ties during a five-day trip. At the invitation of the Asia Taiwanese Chambers of Commerce, the delegation is to attend its 30th anniversary celebrations in Tokyo and meet with Taiwanese businesspeople based in Japan. Sources said the delegation is seeking support from the group for Taiwan’s bid to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership. If Taiwan is admitted to the trade bloc, it would facilitate trade between Taiwan and regional partners, the government has said. In addition, the visit aims to promote meaningful exchanges between Taiwanese and Japanese lawmakers and bolster bilateral cooperation in areas such as trade, Indo-Pacific security, innovative technology, culture and tourism. The delegation is also planning to visit Hagi, a city in southern Honshu with historical significance due to events during the Meiji Restoration period.
DIPLOMACY
St Lucia PM arrives today
Saint Lucian Prime Minister Philip Pierre is to arrive in Taiwan today for a five-day visit during which he is planning to meet with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. Pierre is to head a delegation including Saint Lucian Minister for Education, Sustainable Development, Innovation, Science, Technology and Vocational Training Shawn Edward, National Insurance Corp chairman Evaristus Marie and Saint Lucia Development Bank chairman Daryl Raymond, the foreign ministry said in a news release. Pierre — who is to visit Taiwan for the first time since he took office in July last year — and his delegation are to be welcomed with a military salute, the ministry said. Taiwan and Saint Lucia first established diplomatic relations in 1984, but the ties were broken in 1997 when the Caribbean country switched recognition from Taipei to Beijing. In April 2007, Taiwan and Saint Lucia re-established diplomatic relations, and China consequently severed its ties with the latter.
HEALTH
Daily cases down 18%
Taiwan yesterday reported 13,311 new COVID-19 cases, including 35 imported cases, and 25 deaths from the disease, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said. The deceased ranged in age from their 50s to their 90s, and they all had underlying health issues, while 10 were unvaccinated against COVID-19, the CECC said. Yesterday’s case count was 18 percent lower than a week earlier, it added. New Taipei City had the most new cases, with 2,064, followed by Taichung with 1,729 and Kaohsiung with 1,708.
SOCIETY
Filipino drowns off Miaoli
A migrant worker drowned in the ocean near the Jhunan Coastal Forest Recreation Area (竹南濱海森林遊憩區) in Miaoli County yesterday morning, the Miaoli Fire Department said. The department received a report at 7:47am that a man disappeared while swimming in the sea off the recreation area. Rescuers dispatched by the department conducted a search-and-rescue mission and found the man in the water without vital signs. He was rushed to a hospital and pronounced dead after efforts to revive him failed, the department said. The cause of the incident is being investigated, police said. The man has been identified as a 36-year-old worker from the Philippines, Chinese-language media reported.
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
INTIMIDATION: In addition to the likely military drills near Taiwan, China has also been waging a disinformation campaign to sow division between Taiwan and the US Beijing is poised to encircle Taiwan proper in military exercise “Joint Sword-2024C,” starting today or tomorrow, as President William Lai (賴清德) returns from his visit to diplomatic allies in the Pacific, a national security official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said that multiple intelligence sources showed that China is “highly likely” to launch new drills around Taiwan. Although the drills’ scale is unknown, there is little doubt that they are part of the military activities China initiated before Lai’s departure, they said. Beijing at the same time is conducting information warfare by fanning skepticism of the US and
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
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