The annual Wanan air defense exercise is scheduled to be held across the nation from July 24 to July 27, with civilians required to shelter in place while the drills are being conducted in their area, the Ministry of National Defense said on Tuesday.
Air raid sirens are to sound at 1:30pm to signal the start of the 30-minute drills on July 24 in northern Taiwan, July 25 in southern Taiwan, July 26 in eastern Taiwan and outlying counties, and July 27 in central Taiwan, the ministry said.
Under the ministry’s zoning system for the drills, northern Taiwan includes Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung, Taoyuan, Hsinchu county and city, and Yilan County, while southern Taiwan covers Tainan, Kaohsiung and Pingtung County.
Photo: CNA
The eastern and outlying areas include Hualien, Taitung, Penghu, Kinmen and Lienchiang counties, while central Taiwan comprises Taichung, Chiayi city and county, and Miaoli, Changhua, Nantou and Yunlin counties.
City and county governments are to designate a township, city or district where even stricter evacuation protocols would be implemented, the ministry said.
In those areas, drivers would be asked to stop their vehicles and seek shelter with passengers while following police instructions, it said.
Following the half-hour air raid drills, local governments would stage another 30 minutes of drills to test shelter operations, and check if utilities are working and ensure there are enough supplies, the ministry said.
The air defense exercise this year aims to raise public awareness of emergency warnings to reduce the possibility of casualties and damage if attacks occur, it added.
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.
A BETRAYAL? It is none of the ministry’s business if those entertainers love China, but ‘you cannot agree to wipe out your own country,’ the MAC minister said Taiwanese entertainers in China would have their Taiwanese citizenship revoked if they are holding Chinese citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said. Several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑) and Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜), earlier this month on their Weibo (微博) accounts shared a picture saying that Taiwan would be “returned” to China, with tags such as “Taiwan, Province of China” or “Adhere to the ‘one China’ principle.” The MAC would investigate whether those Taiwanese entertainers have Chinese IDs and added that it would revoke their Taiwanese citizenship if they did, Chiu told the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper
The Chinese wife of a Taiwanese, surnamed Liu (劉), who openly advocated for China’s use of force against Taiwan, would be forcibly deported according to the law if she has not left Taiwan by Friday, National Immigration Agency (NIA) officials said yesterday. Liu, an influencer better known by her online channel name Yaya in Taiwan (亞亞在台灣), obtained permanent residency via marriage to a Taiwanese. She has been reported for allegedly repeatedly espousing pro-unification comments on her YouTube and TikTok channels, including comments supporting China’s unification with Taiwan by force and the Chinese government’s stance that “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China.” Liu
MINOR DISRUPTION: The outage affected check-in and security screening, while passport control was done manually and runway operations continued unaffected The main departure hall and other parts of Terminal 2 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport lost power on Tuesday, causing confusion among passengers before electricity was fully restored more than an hour later. The outage, the cause of which is still being investigated, began at about midday and affected parts of Terminal 2, including the check-in gates, the security screening area and some duty-free shops. Parts of the terminal immediately activated backup power sources, while others remained dark until power was restored in some of the affected areas starting at 12:23pm. Power was fully restored at 1:13pm. Taoyuan International Airport Corp said in a