The Taitung County Government said yesterday that the annual balloon festival would commence in early July, treating spectators to fireworks displays and drone shows, among other activities.
Now in its 15th year, the Taiwan International Balloon Festival is to be launched at dawn on July 5 in Taitung’s Luye Highland (鹿野高台), the county government said in a news release.
The following evening, a fireworks display and a drone show would be held at the same location, setting the stage for a series of special events, mainly projection shows with musical accompaniment, which would take place every Thursday through Aug. 21, the county government said.
Photo courtesy of the Taitung County government via CNA
While most of the events would be held in Luye Highland, there would also be a projection show at Taimali Township’s (太麻里) Dawn Park (千禧曙光紀念園區) at 4am on July 10, a fireworks show at Chihshang Township’s (池上) Dapo Pond (大波池) at 7pm on July 24, and a fireworks and drone show at Taitung Seashore Park (台東海濱公園) at 7pm on Aug. 7, it said.
Hot air balloon shows and tethered balloon rides would also be featured from 5:30am to 7am and 5pm to 6:30pm daily, except for Tuesdays, when all events would be closed, the county government 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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