SEISMICITY
Hualien quake shakes nation
A magnitude 6.2 earthquake struck off the coast of eastern Taiwan at 12:03pm yesterday, the Central Weather Bureau said. The temblor was felt throughout the country, with the shaking lasting several seconds in Taipei. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was about 29.1km southeast of Hualien City, at a depth of 5.7km, the bureau’s Seismology Center said. The quake reached 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale in Hualien County’s Shueilian (水璉) and Yanliao (鹽寮) villages. It reached an intensity of 4 elsewhere in Hualien, as well as in Taitung, Yilan, Nantou, Chiayi, Changhua and Yunlin counties, as well as in Chiayi City and Taichung. An intensity of 3 was recorded in Kaohsiung, Tainan, New Taipei City and Taoyuan, as well as in Hsinchu, Miaoli and Pingtung counties. In Taipei, Keelung, Hsinchu City and Penghu County, the quake reached 2 on the intensity scale.
AVIATION
EVA touts Clark airport route
EVA Airways yesterday announced that it is to begin direct flights from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport to Clark International Airport, 80km northwest of Manila, on March 30 next year. The airline is to serve the route once per day, using an Airbus A321- 200, it said. The flights are to leave Taoyuan at 9am and arrive at Clark at 11am, with return flights departing at 12pm and arriving at 2pm, it said. With the additional route, the carrier is to offer 35 flights to the Philippines per week. The new route would help shorten the travel time for residents of northern Luzon, for whom Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila is the nearest airport currently offering flights to Taiwan, the airline said, adding that it would also ease congestion on the Taoyuan-Manila route and attract travelers from Luzon to transfer in Taoyuan on their way to Europe or North America. Clark airport is at the border of Angeles and Mabalacat cities, in Pampanga province. It is at the site of an former US Air Force base, which at the time of its handover back to the Philippines in 1991 was the air force’s largest base abroad.
DIPLOMACY
EU lawmaker visits Taipei
European lawmaker Anna Fotyga, a former Polish foreign minister, yesterday arrived in Taipei for a four-day visit, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. Fotyga, who sits on the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, is to visit the European Economic and Trade Office, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Mainland Affairs Council, the statement said, adding that Fotyga is also to attend a banquet hosted by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥), who served as representative to the EU and Belgium from July 2020 to October. Fotyga, who is accompanied by two aides, is to meet with government officials to discuss the situation in the Taiwan Strait, China’s multifaceted threats, the security of the Indo-Pacific region, Taiwan-EU relations, and economic cooperation between Taiwan and Poland, the foreign ministry said, adding that the visit is “a strong vote of confidence in Taiwan as a vital Indo-Pacific partner of the EU.” Fotyga is a long-time supporter of Taiwan’s democracy and voiced concern over China’s military threat against the country, it said, expressing hope that the visit would bolster cooperation and links between Taiwan and the EU.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to