The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday called for a restoration of peace in the Middle East amid an escalation of fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants.
“We urge the relevant parties to work to reduce conflicts and restore peace so that civilian casualties can be avoided,” ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) told a regular news briefing in Taipei.
The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Tel Aviv has confirmed that all Taiwanese in the country are safe, she said.
The ministry has instructed the representative office to continue to monitor the situation, Ou said, adding that Taiwan would, if necessary, activate emergency plans for the safety of its nationals in the region.
Taiwan does not have a representative office in the Palestinian Territories, with its offices in Israel and Jordan handling consular affairs for those in the territories.
Fighting between the Israeli military and Palestinian militants erupted on Monday following a raid by Israeli police in Jerusalem on Friday last week that left at least 178 Palestinian protesters and six police officers wounded, foreign media reported.
Militants in Gaza responded by firing rockets at Israel, prompting the military to launch retaliatory airstrikes, the reports said.
At least 83 Palestinians have been reported killed in Gaza and seven people have died in Israel since the violence erupted on Monday.
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Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
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A magnitude 4.3 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 8:31am today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was located in Hualien County, about 70.3 kilometers south southwest of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 23.2km, according to the administration. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County, where it measured 3 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 2 in Hualien and Nantou counties, the CWA said.
The Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC) yesterday announced a fundraising campaign to support survivors of the magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck Myanmar on March 28, with two prayer events scheduled in Taipei and Taichung later this week. “While initial rescue operations have concluded [in Myanmar], many survivors are now facing increasingly difficult living conditions,” OCAC Minister Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) told a news conference in Taipei. The fundraising campaign, which runs through May 31, is focused on supporting the reconstruction of damaged overseas compatriot schools, assisting students from Myanmar in Taiwan, and providing essential items, such as drinking water, food and medical supplies,
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