WEATHER
CWB mulls sea warning
The Central Weather Bureau (CWB) could issue a sea warning for Typhoon Mawar as soon as Monday and does not rule out issuing a land warning based on how the storm develops, it said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the typhoon was moving west-northwest with maximum sustained winds of 209kph and gusts of up to 262kph, CWB data showed. It could get stronger and be pushed north on Monday, when it is expected to reach waters southeast of Taiwan, but the timing remained uncertain, bureau forecaster Yen Chih-chun (葉致均) said. The typhoon is to head toward Taiwan until Tuesday, when it might suddenly reverse course and head in a northeast direction, away from Taiwan, the bureau said. However, the US-based Global Forecast System said the storm could make another sharp turn west and make landfall in southern Taiwan on Sunday next week.
DEFENSE
PLA planes breach ADIZ
Thirteen Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft breached Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) during the 24-hour period that began at 6am on Thursday, including two BZK-005 drones that crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait. The combat and reconnaissance drones crossed the median line at Taiwan’s southern end and continued flying in a southeastern direction for some distance before turning back, the flight paths released by the Ministry of National Defense yesterday showed. There were also incursions by six J-16 jets, two H-6 bombers, one Y-9 electronic warfare aircraft, one KJ-500 airborne early warning and control aircraft and a Z-9 anti-submarine helicopter, all of which flew along the southern boundary of the ADIZ. In addition, eight other PLA planes and 11 vessels were seen in airspace and waters around the nation during the 24-hour period, the ministry said. The military scrambled jets and deployed air defense missile systems in response to the aircraft and vessels operating in the vicinity, the ministry said.
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Debt stops lawmakers’ visit
Negotiators’ continuing failure to reach an agreement to lift the US debt ceiling forced the US House of Representatives’ new China committee to postpone a planned trip to Taiwan, committee chairman Mike Gallagher told reporters on Thursday. The House adjourned on Thursday and was not due to return until June 5, four days after June 1, when the US Department of the Treasury said the government could run short of funds to cover all its expenses. Several members of the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party were to have left for Taiwan this weekend. As talks between the House and White House continued, House members were told to be prepared to return to the Capitol to vote on potential legislation to raise the debt limit with 24 hours’ notice.
SOCIETY
Two more bodies found
The Pingtung County Bureau of Fire and Emergency Services on Thursday found two more bodies in the search for three missing members of a 10-person river tracing group swept away by a surging waterfall on Saturday last week, raising the death toll to four, with one person still missing. The group was exploring a section of Flying Dragon Waterfall (飛龍瀑布) in Wutai Township (霧台). As they were climbing down a cliff, five people were swept away after torrential rainfall caused a water surge. The other five were stranded on the cliff and rescued by a helicopter the following morning.
‘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 High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
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