SOCIETY
Four hurt in Miaoli blast
Four people were injured in a blast at a restaurant in Miaoli City yesterday morning, local firefighters said, although they were not immediately sure what caused the incident. The explosion took place at a beef noodle shop. Miaoli County Fire Bureau received a report of the incident at 10:18am. Three bystanders had severe burns, and the blast was so powerful that it sent shards of glass flying, cutting the leg of a vendor selling sweet potatoes across the street, firefighters said. The injured were sent to hospital, and firefighters were searching for clues as to what might have caused the explosion. Nearby residents said they heard a loud boom and thought it was thunder.
DIPLOMACY
Taipei donates to Guam
Taiwan on Friday donated US$200,000 to help the US island territory of Guam in the western Pacific with recovery efforts in the aftermath of Typhoon Mawar, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in Guam said in a statement. The donation was presented at a ceremony on behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs by TECO Guam Office Director-General Paul Chen (陳盈連) to American Red Cross Guam Chapter CEO Chita Blaise. It is hoped the donation will help the people of Guam overcome the difficulties they face in the aftermath of the typhoon, Chen said. The US$200,000 donation by the government is the highest sum the Guam Chapter has received so far for Typhoon Mawar disaster relief, said Blaise and Denise Everhart, disaster executive at the American Red Cross Pacific Division.
TECHNOLOGY
Stanford opens Taiwan hub
The Taiwan Science & Technology Hub at Stanford University opened on Friday under the initiative of the National Science and Technology Council. Cooperation in semiconductor manufacturing and design between Taiwan and the US is expected to enhance economic security worldwide, in particular in the generative artificial intelligence era, Council Minister Wu Tsung-tsong (吳政忠) said in a speech at the opening ceremony. Stanford University President Marc Tessier-Lavigne said he expected the hub to serve as a bridge between Taiwan and the San Francisco Bay Area in technology resource integration. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co founder Morris Chang (張忠謀) received a doctorate in electrical engineering from Stanford in 1964, while Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) and Yahoo founder Jerry Yang (楊致遠), both of whom were born in Taiwan, also graduated from Stanford, Stanford School of Engineering dean Jennifer Widom said, adding that the Taiwan Science & Technology Hub would enable the list of such talent to grow.
SOCIETY
Ukraine orchestra in Taiwan
The National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine is to perform in Taiwan for the first time from Sept. 11 to 13, highlighting musicians and composers from the country, the concert organizer said on Wednesday. The orchestra’s performances in Taichung, Kaohsiung and Taipei would be conducted by Volodymyr Sirenko, KHAM Inc said. All three concerts feature Ukrainian pianist Antonii Baryshevskyi, the first prize winner of the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition in 2014, KHAM said. When Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24 last year, the orchestra, founded in 1918, took a forced break, but resumed rehearsing and performing in April that year, KHAM said.
The Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts yesterday apologized for forbidding children from copying paintings by freehand drawing, saying it welcomes visitors to make sketches of paintings on drawing tablets or sketchpads. The museum issued the remark after a museumgoer nicknamed “Mickeyelk Gesner” on Thursday posted on Facebook that her son had been sketching a painting by Pablo Picasso on a tablet computer at the exhibition “Capturing the Moment” on Wednesday when a museum worker told him to stop drawing. “The staff told us, ‘Only taking photos is allowed. No copying. This is a rule,’” she quoted the worker as saying. Physician Lee Chia-yan
ACCESS DENIAL: Beijing would likely take formation in the Philippine Sea, outside Taipei’s missile range, while its forces on the east would be a deterrent to foreign aid China is increasingly likely to employ a strategy of anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) around Taiwan, which would use three carrier groups, a report from the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. When China’s third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, is completed next year, China would have three carriers, which would likely be used to surround Taiwan and implement an A2/AD strategy, it said, adding that efforts to strengthen China’s two other carriers — the Liaoning and the Shandong — appear to corroborate this. In the quarterly report, the council cited declassified documents from the Ministry of National Defense that categorized China’s carriers as
Two German warships are awaiting orders from Berlin to determine whether they would be the first German naval vessels in decades to pass through the Taiwan Strait next month, at the risk of stoking tensions with Beijing, a German commander said. While the US and other nations, including Canada, have sent warships through the narrow strait in recent weeks, it would be the German navy’s first passage through the Strait since 2002. China claims sovereignty over Taiwan, and says it has jurisdiction over the nearly 180km waterway that divides the two sides. Taiwan strongly objects to these claims, saying only its people
Former US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley yesterday called for more international backing for Taiwan and a coordinated pushback against China’s claims over the nation. “The United States should elevate Taiwan on the world stage. You should no longer be silenced in global affairs,” Haley told an audience at the Ketagalan Forum, a Taipei conference focused on security issues in the Asia-Pacific region. She called for Taiwan to become a full member of the UN, even though it is being blocked by China from representation in international bodies. While the US does not formally recognize Taiwan, it is the nation's strongest