POLLUTION
‘Red’ air alert issued
The Ministry of Environment issued “red” air quality alerts in Taipei, New Taipei City and Taiwan’s outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang counties yesterday morning, as northeasterly winds brought to Taiwan particulate matter from China. According to the ministry’s Air Quality Monitoring Network, red levels — which indicate “unhealthy” air conditions — were recorded at monitoring stations in Shimen (石門) and Wanli (萬里) districts in New Taipei City, and Songshan District (松山) in Taipei as of 9am. Taiwan was experiencing widespread “orange” status conditions, or air quality that was “unhealthy for sensitive groups,” in cities and counties of Hsinchu, Miaoli, Yunlin, Chiayi, Nantou, Yilan, Hualien and Penghu, the air quality network said. The ministry said it had told local environmental protection bureaus to initiate emergency response measures, such as strengthening pollution controls at large factories and construction sites. A dust storm in Inner Mongolia on Friday had blown particulate matter eastward and northeasterly winds were now carrying those particles to Taiwan, the ministry said.
Screen grab from the Ministry of Environment’s Web site
DIPLOMACY
NZ officials visit Taiwan
New Zealand cross-party parliamentarians are in Taiwan for a visit that began yesterday and is to continue until Friday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a news release. The delegation is from New Zealand’s All-Party Parliamentary Group on Taiwan. It is jointly led by New Zealand member of parliament (MP) Stuart Smith — the senior whip of the National Party — and Labour Party MP Tangi Utikere, the ministry said. The delegation also includes MP Jamie Arbuckle — the NZ First Party whip — ACT Party MP Cameron Luxton, Labour Party MP Helen White, and National Party MPs Greg Fleming and Hamish Campbell, it added. Representative to New Zealand Joanne Ou (歐江安) is accompanying the delegation for the trip, the ministry said. The parliamentarians are to meet President William Lai (賴清德) and attend banquets hosted by Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) and Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), it said.
SOCIETY
Shilin sinkhole filled
A sinkhole that appeared at the intersection of Wenlin Road and Meilun Street in Taipei’s Shilin District (士林) on Saturday has been filled, and the affected road has been reopened, the city government said yesterday. The city’s New Construction Office said that inspection and repair work on the sinkhole — which was about 1m long, 1m wide and 20cm deep — began soon after people reported the cave-in on Saturday afternoon. Taipei police said a report was received at about 4pm, with witnesses saying it was continuing to expand. Inspectors excavated the hole to a depth of about 1.6m, where they found that the underlying soil was dry, with no signs of water seepage or leaks. Inspections by various pipeline units also revealed no abnormalities and ground-penetrating radar scans of the surrounding area confirmed their findings, it said, adding that the road was refilled and reopened to traffic before midnight. The authorities would continue to monitor and assess the condition of the road, and further investigate the cause of the sinkhole, it said.
Seven of the 17 NT$10 million (US$311,604) winning receipts from the November-December uniform invoice lottery remain unclaimed as of today, the Ministry of Finance said, urging winners to redeem their prizes by May 5. The reminder comes ahead of the release of the winning numbers for the January-February lottery tomorrow. Among the unclaimed receipts was one for a NT$173 phone bill in Keelung, while others were for a NT$5,913 purchase at Costco in Taipei's Neihu District (內湖), a NT$49 purchase at a FamilyMart in New Taipei City's Tamsui District (淡水), and a NT$500 purchase at a tea shop in New Taipei City's
Taiwanese officials were shown the first of 66 F-16V fighter jets purchased by Taiwan from the United States, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday, adding the aircraft has completed an initial flight test and is expected to be delivered later this year. A delegation led by Deputy Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) visited Lockheed Martin’s F-16 C/D Block 70 (also known as F-16V) assembly line in South Carolina on March 16 to view the aircraft. The jet will undergo a final acceptance flight in the US before being delivered to Taiwan, the
Deliveries of delayed F-16V jets are expected to begin in September, Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said today, after senior defense officials visited the US last week. The US in 2019 approved a US$8 billion sale of Lockheed Martin F-16 jets to Taiwan, a deal that would take the nation’s F-16 fleet to more than 200 jets, but the project has been hit by issues including software problems. Koo appeared today before a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, which is discussing different versions of the special defense budget this week. The committee is questioning officials today,
TALENT SCOUTING: The university is investing substantial funds in its future to bring in the kind of researchers that would keep the college internationally competitive National Taiwan University (NTU) plans to invest NT$2 billion (US$62.6 million) to launch two programs aimed at attracting and retaining top research talent, university president Chen Wen-chang (陳文章) said yesterday. The funding would support the “Palm Grove Scholars Project,” which targets academics aged 40 to 55. Up to 20 scholars would be selected, each receiving as much as NT$10 million annually, Chen said. The initiative is designed to attract leading researchers to Taiwan and strengthen NTU’s global competitiveness by fostering a more research-friendly environment and expanding international collaboration, he said. NTU is also introducing a “Hong Hu” chair grant, which would provide Palm
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