The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday condemned Iran’s use of military force to attack Israel and damage peace in the Middle East, and it urged the relevant parties to exercise restraint and resolve their conflicts through diplomacy and communication.
“On the evening of October 1 local time, Iran fired more than 100 ballistic missiles against major cities in Israel, seriously damaging regional and global peace and stability,” the ministry said in a statement.
Iran launched at least 180 missiles into Israel on Tuesday, the latest in a series of rapidly escalating attacks between Israel and Iran and its Arab allies, The Associated Press (AP) reported yesterday.
Photo: Fang Wei-li, Taipei Times
“Taiwan and all peace-loving democratic partners around the world together condemn [Iran’s] use of force, and call for the relevant parties to exercise restraint and resolve the conflicts through diplomacy and communication to prevent the crisis from expanding,” the ministry said.
The ministry said that given the escalating regional tensions in the Middle East, it was again urging Taiwanese to avoid traveling to Israel, Lebanon and Iran.
Taiwanese who are traveling for business in the three nations should increase their vigilance and pay attention to their personal safety, it said, adding that they can contact Taiwan’s representative offices in those nations as needed.
Taiwanese who need emergenciy assistance in Israel can call the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Tel Aviv at +972-544-275-204.
Those in Lebanon can contact the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Jordan at +962-79-5552605.
Taiwanese who need emergency assistance in Iran should call the Commercial Office of Taipei in Dubai at +971-50-6453018, or the Taiwan Trade Center in Tehran at +971-50-6453018.
Taiwanese who are traveling in other nations and need emergency assistance can call the ministry’s global 24-hour emergency service hotline at +886-800-085-095, the ministry said.
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
The next minimum wage hike is expected to exceed NT$30,000, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday during an award ceremony honoring “model workers,” including migrant workers, at the Presidential Office ahead of Workers’ Day today. Lai said he wished to thank the awardees on behalf of the nation and extend his most sincere respect for their hard work, on which Taiwan’s prosperity has been built. Lai specifically thanked 10 migrant workers selected for the award, saying that although they left their home countries to further their own goals, their efforts have benefited Taiwan as well. The nation’s industrial sector and small businesses lay
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