MILITARY
PLA activity reported
China sent navy ships and a large group of warplanes, including fighter jets and bombers, toward Taiwan over the past two days, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday. The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) sent 38 warplanes and nine navy vessels around Taiwan between 6am on Tuesday and 6am yesterday. From yesterday morning until noon, the PLA flew another 30 planes, among which included J-10 and J-16 fighters. Thirty-two of the planes crossed the Taiwan Strait’s median line, the ministry said. Later yesterday, another 23 planes crossed the median line. In Tuesday and yesterday’s maneuvers, the PLA flew H-6 bombers in a large loop to the south of Taiwan, traveling past the Taiwan proper before looping back toward China’s southern coast.
BUSINESS
Bulgari apologizes in China
Bulgari became the latest foreign brand to face backlash in China, as the Chinese state and social media users alleged that the luxury jeweler had treated Taiwan as a country on its official Web site. The brand, sometimes referred to as Bvlgari and owned by LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE, apologized after the state-backed China News Service posted on its official social media account that the brand had not added the word “China” before “Taiwan” in the store location section on its official Web site. Bulgari said it respected “China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, as always, and firmly,” in a statement online on Tuesday evening. “The brand’s overseas Web site had mismarks in the store locations due to management negligence,” it said. “We sincerely apologized and immediately corrected the mistake.”
BUSINESS
Eslite to open branch
Eslite Spectrum Corp is to open its largest branch in Asia in September at the Yulong City mall in New Taipei City’s Sindian District (新店), the company announced on Monday. In a statement, the leisure and lifestyle retailer said the 19,000 ping (62,810m2) store branch would occupy the B1 to the fourth floor at the mall, with an Eslite bookstore on the fourth floor. The location would also include space for 250 to 260 vendors, about 35 to 40 percent of which will be food and beverage-related, Eslite said. Once opened, the store branch is expected to become Eslite’s highest-earning location, with yearly revenues of NT$4 billion to NT$5 billion (US$128 million to US$160 million), the company said.
SPORTS
Athletics head keeps seat
Wang Ching-cheng (王景成), general secretary of Taiwan’s national athletics body, has been re-elected to the Asian Athletics Association (AAA) council, becoming the first person to serve a fourth consecutive term. “Being able to be elected four times in a row means that I can continue to contribute more to track and field in Taiwan in the future,” Wang told the Central News Agency after the election on Tuesday on the eve of the opening of Asian Athletics Championships. Wang vowed to continue to promote Taiwan in the international community through athletics and to support Taiwan’s bid to host the 2029 Asian Athletics Championships. “I hope to see the largest athletics event in Asia make its debut on our shores,” Wang said. Also on Tuesday, AAA president Dahlan al-Hamad honored Wang, who has served as an individual council member since 2013, with a Leadership Pin in recognition of his contributions to the organization over the past 10 years.
Typhoon Champi is forecast to turn northward earlier than previously expected, sparing Taiwan a direct hit but still bringing heavy rain to the north of the country on Friday and Saturday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Typhoon Champi had strengthened and increased in size over the past 12 hours, and as of yesterday afternoon, was packing sustained winds of 198kph near its center, CWA forecaster Cheng Chieh-jen (鄭傑仁) said. However, due to the weakening of a Pacific high-pressure system the storm is now expected to turn northward earlier than initially forecast, likely around Japan’s Ishigaki Island, Cheng said. As Champi brushes
A sea warning for Typhoon Champi might be issued tonight, while the storm’s trajectory would determine whether a land warning is to be issued tomorrow night, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, Champi was about 1,536km east-southeast of Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), packing maximum sustained winds of 198kph, CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said. The storm was moving west-northwest at 23kph and was expected to strengthen over the next 24 hours before weakening slightly as it approaches cooler waters east of Taiwan, Tseng said. Champi is expected to turn north tomorrow, with the angle of the
DEFENSE PROCUREMENT: Taiwan could become the largest operator of V-BAT drones outside the US if the contract is finalized, the Ministry of National Defense said The navy and the coast guard reportedly plan to acquire 292 units of MQ-35A V-BAT vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) surveillance drones. If the contract is awarded and finalized, it would make Taiwan one of the largest buyers of the uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) developed by the US-based defense technology company Shield AI. The Coast Guard Administration budgeted NT$1.2 billion (US$37.1 million) to buy 12 drones, which have been delivered, Shield AI said in a report on Oct 13. The navy is planning to spend NT$36 billion under a four-year program code-named Project Yuan Hsiao (遠鴞) to acquire 280 V-BAT drones,
A Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy aircraft carrier group was being monitored after entering the western Pacific, the Ministry of National Defense said today, after Beijing yesterday criticized Taiwan for using a water cannon against a Chinese fishing boat near the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). A Chinese naval task group led by the aircraft carrier Liaoning (遼寧) yesterday sailed to the western Pacific for training, Chinese state-run Xinhua news agency quoted the PLA Navy as saying. “The drill is part of the annual routine training plan aimed at testing and improving the troops’ combat readiness and enhancing their ability to
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