WEATHER
Tropical storm forms
Tropical Storm Malakas formed at 8am yesterday, becoming the first tropical cyclone in the northwest Pacific this year, the Central Weather Bureau said, adding that the chance of the storm directly impacting Taiwan is low. The center of the storm was situated at sea off the southern coast of Guam at 8am, about 2,000km east of Taiwan. It was moving north-northwest at 4kph, the bureau said. The storm had maximum sustained winds of 18m per second, with gusts of up to 25m per second, the bureau said, adding that the storm would most likely move toward the south of Japan.
POLITICS
Eric Chu to visit the US
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday said that KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) is to visit the US at the end of next month, and would speak about the party’s policies on the US, China and cross-strait relations. Chu is to hold discussions on those issues with US government officials, academics and experts in Washington, New York, Boston, San Francisco and Los Angeles, KMT Department of International Affairs director Alexander Huang (黃介正) said. While in Washington, Chu would unveil a plaque to mark the reopening of the KMT’s liaison office in the US after a hiatus of more than 13 years, said Huang, who is to head the office. Chu’s visit is not for publicity purposes, but rather is aimed at rebranding the party’s liaison office in Washington, which was closed in 2008 after the KMT’s Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was elected president, Huang said. While in the US, Chu plans to give public speeches on the KMT’s policies regarding China, the US, and cross-strait and international affairs, he said.
SEARCH AND RESCUE
Two bodies recovered
Taiwan has recovered two bodies after a ship carrying six South Koreans went missing in the Taiwan Strait, and search and rescue operations were continuing, Taipei and Seoul said yesterday. Taiwanese authorities said they received distress signals from the Kyoto No. 1 at about 9:50am on Thursday about 29km west of Taiwan, the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, adding that all six people aboard were South Korean nationals. The Sierra Leone-flagged ship was on its way to Indonesia’s Batam from Busan and it was towing the Kyoto No. 2, which has been found in the area. The National Rescue Command Center in Taiwan said that the ship had sent a distress signal in waters near Penghu, and it had sent ships and aircraft to look for it. Fishers discovered the two bodies, whose identities have yet to be confirmed, and efforts are continuing to find the other four people, it said.
CULTURE
Exhibition opens in NY
An exhibition marking the completion of the Taipei Music Center opened in New York on Wednesday, drawing on the relationship between its American architectural origins and its adoption into Taiwanese culture. “Lyrical Urbanism: The Taipei Music Center” at Cooper Union’s Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture features mural-sized photographs, architectural models, drawings and audiovisual media that explore the decade-long design process, the center said. The center, which houses a concert hall that can hold up to 5,000 people, a cultural cube presenting the history of popular music in Taiwan and a creative hub, was developed by New York-based Reiser+Umemoto, RUR Architecture. The exhibition runs until April 29.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as
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