The National Red Fire Ant Control Center officially started operations yesterday. Agriculture Minister Lee Ching-lung (李金龍) said that the situation has been brought under control and that the ants would be eradicated within three years.
At the center's opening ceremony in Taipei yesterday, Lee said that 21 townships and 49 schools have been affected by the invasion of South American red fire ants, which have appeared in both agricultural and urban areas.
"The government is ready to distribute 20,000kg of chemicals to fight the red fire ants. People should be smart enough not to turn over the soil in affected agricultural areas, because it might worsen the invasion," Lee said.
The center integrated epidemic control units at all levels to effectively handle the problem, and the Council of Agriculture will provide the center with resources to eradicate the species in Taiwan within three years, Lee said.
Taiwan is the fourth country to be invaded by the aggressive ant species. The fire ant is a serious pest which has invaded the US, New Zealand and Australia.
Lee said yesterday that he appreciated the idea of freezing the ants in liquid nitrogen, which was recently proposed by scientists at the Academia Sinica.
The center, headed by Yang Ping-shih (楊平世), a professor of entomology at National Taiwan University, will first adopt methods that have been used in the US and Australia. According to Yang, the species has troubled the US for more than seven decades, and Australia for three years.
Taoyuan, Taipei and Chiayi counties have been worst hit. Officials said yesterday that techniques to stamp out the ants will be demonstrated soon on the campus of National Taipei University in Sansia, Taipei County, to train more workers. Similar workshops have already been held in two seriously affected townships in Chiayi County.
Council of Agriculture officials said color codes will be established to classify the seriousness of the ant problem across the nation, with red indicating the ants have been discovered but no action has been taken; yellow indicating that ants are currently being exterminated; and green indicating that the ants have been eliminated.
Officials stressed yesterday that the seriousness of the ant invasion should not be ignored. The ants last month devastated electric cables supplying the reservoir at Shihmen Dam in Taoyuan County.
At the opening ceremony, Ketagalan Academy president Lee Hung-hsi (
"We've successfully halted the spread of SARS. Now it's just another chance for Taiwan to demonstrate its achievement of biological control," Lee Hung-hsi said.
Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China when traveling in countries with close ties to Beijing, Taiwan Association of University Professors deputy chairman Chen Li-fu (陳俐甫) said on Friday. Chen’s comments came after China on Friday last week announced new judicial guidelines targeting Taiwanese independence advocates. Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Djibouti are among the countries where Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China, he said. The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday elevated the travel alert for China, Hong Kong and Macau to “orange” after Beijing announced its guidelines to “severely punish Taiwanese independence diehards for splitting the country and inciting secession.” Extradition treaties
Taiwan and Thailand have signed an agreement to promote and protect bilateral investment and trade, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations (OTN) said on Friday. The agreement on “Promotion and Protection of Investments” was signed by Representative to Thailand Chang Chun-fu (張俊福) and Thailand Trade and Economic Office in Taipei executive director Narong Boonsatheanwong on Thursday, the OTN said in a news release. Thailand has become the fifth trading partner to sign an investment agreement with Taiwan since 2016, following earlier agreements with the Philippines, India, Vietnam and Canada, the OTN said. The deal marks a significant milestone in the development of
The entire Alishan Forest Railway line is to reopen for the first time in 15 years on Saturday, with tickets to go on sale at 2pm today. The historic railway from Chiayi to Alishan (阿里山) is finally set to reopen after the completion of the final No. 42 tunnel, Alishan Forest Railway and Cultural Heritage Office Deputy Director-General Chou Heng-kai (周恆凱) said. It is to run on a new timetable, with four trains daily, he said. The 9am train is to depart from Chiayi Railway Station bound for Shizilu Station (十字路), while the 10am train departing from Chiayi is to go all the
CROSS-BORDER CRIME: The suspects cannot be charged with cybercrime in Indonesia as their targets were in Malaysia, an Indonesian immigration director said Indonesian immigration authorities have detained 103 Taiwanese after a raid at a villa on Bali, officials said yesterday. They were accused of misusing their visas and residence permits, and are suspected of possible cybercrimes, Safar Muhammad Godam, director of immigration supervision and enforcement at the Indonesian Ministry of Law and Human Rights told reporters at a news conference. “The 103 foreign nationals stayed at the villa and conducted suspicious activities, which we suspect are activities related to cybercrime activities,” he said, presenting laptops and routers at the news conference. Godam said Indonesian authorities cannot charge them with conducting cybercrime. “During the inspection, we