DEFENSE
More Chinese incursions
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday reported renewed Chinese military activity, including 13 aircraft entering the nation’s “response” zone and five ships carrying out combat-readiness patrols. The ministry said that starting at about 7am, it detected 22 Chinese aircraft — fighters, bombers, early warning aircraft and drones — of which 13 entered Taiwan’s “response” zone, although it did not give details. The military sent aircraft and ships to monitor them, it said. Taiwan does not publicize where its “response” zone is, but it keeps closest watch on the Taiwan Strait and the area to the nation’s south and southwest where Chinese military activity often is concentrated. China has not announced further drills around Taiwan since Saturday, but it frequently mounts such missions without acknowledging them beforehand or afterwards.
SOCIETY
Woman dies after fall
A 74-year-old woman died after falling on the tracks at Taipei Railway Station yesterday, police said. The woman, surnamed Liu (劉), reportedly fell onto the tracks at platform B3 at about 12:10pm as a train pulled into the station. First responders pulled the woman out from under the train, but she was pronounced dead after being sent to hospital, police said. Police officers and emergency services at the scene said the injuries that the woman sustained were not sufficiently severe to have killed her and, as such, the cause of death remains to be determined.
CRIME
Teen ‘beaten to death’
Police in New Taipei City’s Tamsui District (淡水) on Thursday arrested three suspects for allegedly beating to death a 19-year-old man who owed one of the suspects money. The victim, surnamed Chen (陳), is believed to have arranged a meeting in the city’s Lujhou District (蘆洲) with another man, also surnamed Chen (陳), whom he owed “tens of thousands of New Taiwan dollars,” the New Taipei City Police Department said. He was taken to a rental property by Chen and two other men, who allegedly beat him with a baseball bat and other blunt objects, police said. After he became unresponsive, the three suspects called an ambulance. He was pronounced dead after being rushed to the Tamsui branch of Mackay Memorial Hospital, which contacted the police at about 2am on Thursday.
DIPLOMACY
Swedish MP lauds ties
Visiting Swedish lawmaker Mathias Tegner said he looked forward to seeing more exchanges between Taiwan and Sweden in the areas of trade and technology, during a meeting with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) at the Presidential Office in Taipei on Wednesday. The two nations will “benefit from deeper cooperation and increased trade,” said Tegner, vice chair of the Swedish-Taiwanese Parliamentarian Association. He called for more exchanges between the two nations in areas of green technology and energy transition, saying both sides had “a lot to learn from each other,” adding that the opening of direct flights between Taipei and Stockholm “would further increase interactions between us.” Tsai expressed similar views, saying she looked forward to seeing the partnership between Taiwan and Sweden deepen, especially in tackling climate change and promoting supply chain security. Tegner arrived in Taiwan on Saturday with a cross-party delegation for a seven-day visit. The group departed yesterday.
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
Nipah virus infection is to be officially listed as a category 5 notifiable infectious disease in Taiwan in March, while clinical treatment guidelines are being formulated, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. With Nipah infections being reported in other countries and considering its relatively high fatality rate, the centers on Jan. 16 announced that it would be listed as a notifiable infectious disease to bolster the nation’s systematic early warning system and increase public awareness, the CDC said. Bangladesh reported four fatal cases last year in separate districts, with three linked to raw date palm sap consumption, CDC Epidemic Intelligence
US climber Alex Honnold left Taiwan this morning a day after completing a free-solo ascent of Taipei 101, a feat that drew cheers from onlookers and gained widespread international attention. Honnold yesterday scaled the 101-story skyscraper without a rope or safety harness. The climb — the highest urban free-solo ascent ever attempted — took just more than 90 minutes and was streamed live on Netflix. It was covered by major international news outlets including CNN, the New York Times, the Guardian and the Wall Street Journal. As Honnold prepared to leave Taiwan today, he attracted a crowd when he and his wife, Sanni,
Taiwanese and US defense groups are collaborating to introduce deployable, semi-autonomous manufacturing systems for drones and components in a boost to the nation’s supply chain resilience. Taiwan’s G-Tech Optroelectronics Corp subsidiary GTOC and the US’ Aerkomm Inc on Friday announced an agreement with fellow US-based Firestorm Lab to adopt the latter’s xCell, a technology featuring 3D printers fitted in 6.1m container units. The systems enable aerial platforms and parts to be produced in high volumes from dispersed nodes capable of rapid redeployment, to minimize the risk of enemy strikes and to meet field requirements, they said. Firestorm chief technology officer Ian Muceus said
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