SEISMOLOGY
More earthquakes expected
More earthquakes of magnitude 3 to 4 could hit Chiayi over the next one to two weeks, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. CWA Seismological Center division chief Lee I-ting (李伊婷) said the earthquake that measured 7.2 on the Richter scale that struck off Hualien on April 3 resulted in stress adjustments in the underground fault zones in Chiayi. This might have triggered blind faults and unknown faults in western Taiwan to release energy, leading to frequent temblors occurring around the Chiayi area, Lee said, adding that the center has recorded 21 earthquakes within a 10km radius of Chiayi County’s Budai Township (布袋) since April 1. Of these, eight were concentrated within seven hours between late on Friday to early Saturday morning.
DIPLOMACY
Paraguay delegation lands
Paraguayan Senate President Silvio Adalberto Ovelar Benitez arrived in Taiwan yesterday for a five-day stay during which he is to meet with President Tsai Ying-wen (蔡英文), president-elect William Lai (賴清德) and other senior government officials. Upon arrival at Taiwan, Taoyuan International Airport, Ovelar said he is happy to be invited by the government to visit the country again. Ovelar is leading a delegation consisting of Second Vice President of the Chamber of Senators Hermelinda Alvarenga de Ortega and Senator Pedro Alejandro Diaz. The trip marks Ovelar’s third visit to Taiwan. He last visited the country in 2004 as then minister of social development and during his previous stint as Senate speaker, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
FOOD
Sudan IV found in powder
A pepper powder product submitted by Taichung food industry operators for voluntary testing was found to contain an industrial dye known as Sudan IV and was being removed from store shelves, the city government announced on Saturday. The Taichung Office of Food and Drug Safety reported that the “Gu Yue powder,” supplied by Taichung-based Luye Foods Corp, tested positive for Sudan IV, a chemical classified as toxic in Taiwan. The office said it has asked 25 downstream buyers in Taichung and areas such as Changhua, Miaoli and Nantou counties as well as New Taipei City to stop selling the product and to recall it.
ELECTION
KMT wins five by-elections
Candidates belonging to or supported by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) won five of six by-elections held across Taiwan on Saturday.
The by-elections were held to fill vacant political offices across the country, including the mayorship of Miaoli City, township mayor positions in Taitung’s Dawu Township (大武), as well as Yunlin’s Huwei (虎尾) and Mailiao (麥寮) townships, a district seat in Yilan’s county council and a district seat on Taichung’s city council. KMT candidates scored victories in Miaoli, Taitung and Taichung, while independent candidates supported by the KMT won in Yilan and Huwei. In the remaining race, in Mailiao, Democratic Progressive Party member Hsu Chung-fu (許忠富) sailed to victory running as an independent. Legislator and member of the KMT’s Organizational Development Committee Hsu Yu-chen (許宇甄) said the results served as a reminder to president-elect William Lai (賴清德) that “the public’s dissatisfaction with the Democratic Progressive Party is ongoing.” DPP spokesman Wu Cheng (吳崢) said a variety of factors, including low turnout, were behind the party’s losses.
GREAT POWER COMPETITION: Beijing views its military cooperation with Russia as a means to push back against the joint power of the US and its allies, an expert said A recent Sino-Russian joint air patrol conducted over the waters off Alaska was designed to counter the US military in the Pacific and demonstrated improved interoperability between Beijing’s and Moscow’s forces, a national security expert said. National Defense University associate professor Chen Yu-chen (陳育正) made the comment in an article published on Wednesday on the Web site of the Journal of the Chinese Communist Studies Institute. China and Russia sent four strategic bombers to patrol the waters of the northern Pacific and Bering Strait near Alaska in late June, one month after the two nations sent a combined flotilla of four warships
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
EVERYONE’S ISSUE: Kim said that during a visit to Taiwan, she asked what would happen if China attacked, and was told that the global economy would shut down Taiwan is critical to the global economy, and its defense is a “here and now” issue, US Representative Young Kim said during a roundtable talk on Taiwan-US relations on Friday. Kim, who serves on the US House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee, held a roundtable talk titled “Global Ties, Local Impact: Why Taiwan Matters for California,” at Santiago Canyon College in Orange County, California. “Despite its small size and long distance from us, Taiwan’s cultural and economic importance is felt across our communities,” Kim said during her opening remarks. Stanford University researcher and lecturer Lanhee Chen (陳仁宜), lawyer Lin Ching-chi
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
RSS