SOCIETY
Man dies in scaffold collapse
A man was yesterday killed and six were injured in a scaffolding collapse on an oil terminal under construction at the Port of Kaohsiung. Another worker was still trapped as of press time last night. Their condition was described as lightly injured, but conscious. The Kaohsiung Fire Department said that it was notified at about 5:11pm of an incident at the port’s partially built oil terminal. The collpase is suspected to have been caused by a hydraulic failure in a jack that held up the platform, which plunged eight workers down the 40m-tall cylindrical structure. First responders from the department and the port’s fire brigade removed eight workers from the collapsed scaffolding, including a man surnamed Chung (鍾) who showed no signs of life. Taiwan International Ports Corp, which manages the port, said that the cause of the incident is being investigated.
HEALTH
Kaohsiung opens lab
The Kaohsiung City Government on Wednesday launched a NT$100 million (US$3.62 million) medical laboratory that is the first Good Tissue Practice cellular therapy center in southern Taiwan. The center is a joint creation of the municipal government, Kaohsiung Medical University Chung-Ho Memorial Hospital and Raypal Biomedical, a medical unit of Compal Electronics. Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said that technology surrounding the emerging field of cell therapy could become the next pillar of the Taiwanese economy, adding that the city government hopes the center will advance medicine, while providing better medical care and economic opportunities for Kaohsiung residents. The university said that the 132-hectare center houses two A2 biosafety cabinets and five Good Manufacturing Practice labs, each of which is equipped with six incubators, which means the facility can process 24 samples concurrently.
DIPLOMACY
Nation cuts Honduras tariffs
The government on Friday cut to zero tariffs on 25 goods imported from Honduras under a free-trade agreement, offering an incentive ahead of this month’s inauguration of a new president who had threatened to break off diplomatic ties. Honduras is one of only 14 countries that maintain formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Prior to winning the presidential election in November last year, Xiomara Castro of the Liberty and Refoundation Party said that if victorious, she might open diplomatic ties with China, but her team has since backtracked. The Ministry of Economic Affairs said that the import tariff cut on agricultural goods ranging from avocados to yogurt and pork bellies, originally agreed on in 2019, came into effect after completing legal procedures. The ministry said that since 2007, bilateral trade had grown from US$65.95 million to US$148 million last year, with Honduras being the largest source of frozen prawns imported into Taiwan.
CRIME
Judge rules in dog attack
The Shihlin District Court on Friday sentenced a woman surnamed Wang (王) to 55 days in jail after her German shepherd, Mary, bit former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) spokesman Chang Jung-kung (張榮恭). Chang was bitten when attempting to separate his dog and Mary in a park on Taipei’s Yangmingshan (陽明山) on Feb. 13 last year, the ruling said. Wang’s two German shepherds were not muzzled and she was not near Mary when it chased Chang’s dog. Wang denied that Mary had bitten Chang. Wang’s jail sentence can be commuted to a NT$55,000 fine, and can be appealed.
Thirty-five earthquakes have exceeded 5.5 on the Richter scale so far this year, the most in 14 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said on Facebook on Thursday. A large earthquake in Hualien County on April 3 released five times as much the energy as the 921 Earthquake on Sept. 21, 1999, the agency said in its latest earthquake report for this year. Hualien County has had the most national earthquake alerts so far this year at 64, with Yilan County second with 23 and Changhua County third with nine, the agency said. The April 3 earthquake was what caused the increase in
INTIMIDATION: In addition to the likely military drills near Taiwan, China has also been waging a disinformation campaign to sow division between Taiwan and the US Beijing is poised to encircle Taiwan proper in military exercise “Joint Sword-2024C,” starting today or tomorrow, as President William Lai (賴清德) returns from his visit to diplomatic allies in the Pacific, a national security official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said that multiple intelligence sources showed that China is “highly likely” to launch new drills around Taiwan. Although the drills’ scale is unknown, there is little doubt that they are part of the military activities China initiated before Lai’s departure, they said. Beijing at the same time is conducting information warfare by fanning skepticism of the US and
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is unlikely to attempt an invasion of Taiwan during US president-elect Donald Trump’s time in office, Taiwanese and foreign academics said on Friday. Trump is set to begin his second term early next year. Xi’s ambition to establish China as a “true world power” has intensified over the years, but he would not initiate an invasion of Taiwan “in the near future,” as his top priority is to maintain the regime and his power, not unification, Tokyo Woman’s Christian University distinguished visiting professor and contemporary Chinese politics expert Akio Takahara said. Takahara made the comment at a
DEFENSE: This month’s shipment of 38 modern M1A2T tanks would begin to replace the US-made M60A3 and indigenous CM11 tanks, whose designs date to the 1980s The M1A2T tanks that Taiwan expects to take delivery of later this month are to spark a “qualitative leap” in the operational capabilities of the nation’s armored forces, a retired general told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) in an interview published yesterday. On Tuesday, the army in a statement said it anticipates receiving the first batch of 38 M1A2T Abrams main battle tanks from the US, out of 108 tanks ordered, in the coming weeks. The M1 Abrams main battle tank is a generation ahead of the Taiwanese army’s US-made M60A3 and indigenously developed CM11 tanks, which have
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