DEFENSE
More Chinese incursions
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday reported renewed Chinese military activity, including 13 aircraft entering the nation’s “response” zone and five ships carrying out combat-readiness patrols. The ministry said that starting at about 7am, it detected 22 Chinese aircraft — fighters, bombers, early warning aircraft and drones — of which 13 entered Taiwan’s “response” zone, although it did not give details. The military sent aircraft and ships to monitor them, it said. Taiwan does not publicize where its “response” zone is, but it keeps closest watch on the Taiwan Strait and the area to the nation’s south and southwest where Chinese military activity often is concentrated. China has not announced further drills around Taiwan since Saturday, but it frequently mounts such missions without acknowledging them beforehand or afterwards.
SOCIETY
Woman dies after fall
A 74-year-old woman died after falling on the tracks at Taipei Railway Station yesterday, police said. The woman, surnamed Liu (劉), reportedly fell onto the tracks at platform B3 at about 12:10pm as a train pulled into the station. First responders pulled the woman out from under the train, but she was pronounced dead after being sent to hospital, police said. Police officers and emergency services at the scene said the injuries that the woman sustained were not sufficiently severe to have killed her and, as such, the cause of death remains to be determined.
CRIME
Teen ‘beaten to death’
Police in New Taipei City’s Tamsui District (淡水) on Thursday arrested three suspects for allegedly beating to death a 19-year-old man who owed one of the suspects money. The victim, surnamed Chen (陳), is believed to have arranged a meeting in the city’s Lujhou District (蘆洲) with another man, also surnamed Chen (陳), whom he owed “tens of thousands of New Taiwan dollars,” the New Taipei City Police Department said. He was taken to a rental property by Chen and two other men, who allegedly beat him with a baseball bat and other blunt objects, police said. After he became unresponsive, the three suspects called an ambulance. He was pronounced dead after being rushed to the Tamsui branch of Mackay Memorial Hospital, which contacted the police at about 2am on Thursday.
DIPLOMACY
Swedish MP lauds ties
Visiting Swedish lawmaker Mathias Tegner said he looked forward to seeing more exchanges between Taiwan and Sweden in the areas of trade and technology, during a meeting with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) at the Presidential Office in Taipei on Wednesday. The two nations will “benefit from deeper cooperation and increased trade,” said Tegner, vice chair of the Swedish-Taiwanese Parliamentarian Association. He called for more exchanges between the two nations in areas of green technology and energy transition, saying both sides had “a lot to learn from each other,” adding that the opening of direct flights between Taipei and Stockholm “would further increase interactions between us.” Tsai expressed similar views, saying she looked forward to seeing the partnership between Taiwan and Sweden deepen, especially in tackling climate change and promoting supply chain security. Tegner arrived in Taiwan on Saturday with a cross-party delegation for a seven-day visit. The group departed yesterday.
A relatively large earthquake may strike within the next two weeks, following a magnitude 5.2 temblor that shook Taitung County this morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. An earthquake struck at 8:18am today 10.2km west of Taitung County Hall in Taitung City at a relatively shallow depth of 6.5km, CWA data showed. The largest intensity of 4 was felt in Taitung and Pingtung counties, which received an alert notice, while areas north of Taichung did not feel any shaking, the CWA said. The earthquake was the result of the collision between the Philippine Plate and the Eurasian Plate, the agency said, adding
Snow fell in the mountainous areas of northern, central and eastern Taiwan in the early hours of yesterday, as cold air currents moved south. In the northern municipality of Taoyuan, snow started falling at about 6am in Fusing District (復興), district head Su Tso-hsi (蘇佐璽) said. By 10am, Lalashan National Forest Recreation Area, as well as Hualing (華陵), Sanguang (三光) and Gaoyi (高義) boroughs had seen snowfall, Su said. In central Taiwan, Shei-Pa National Park in Miaoli County and Hehuanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Nantou County saw snowfall of 5cm and 6cm respectively, by 10am, staff at the parks said. It began snowing
HOLIDAY EXERCISE: National forest recreation areas from north to south offer travelers a wide choice of sights to connect with nature and enjoy its benefits Hiking is a good way to improve one’s health, the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency said, as it released a list of national forest recreation areas that travelers can visit during the Lunar New Year holiday. Taking a green shower of phytoncides in the woods could boost one’s immunity system and metabolism, agency Director-General Lin Hwa-ching (林華慶) cited a Japanese study as saying. For people visiting northern Taiwan, Lin recommended the Dongyanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Taoyuan’s Fusing District (復興). Once an important plantation in the north, Dongyanshan (東眼山) has a number of historic monuments, he said. The area is broadly covered by
COMMUNITY SPIRIT: As authorities were busy with post-typhoon cleanups elsewhere, residents cleaned fallen leaves and cut small fallen trees blocking the hiking trails All hiking trails damaged by Typhoon Kong-rey have been repaired and has reopened for people who want a refreshing hike in Taipei during the Lunar New Year holiday, a city official said. The Taipei Basin is known for its easily accessible hiking trails. It has more than 130 trails combined into the 92km-long Taipei Grand Trail, which was divided into seven major routes when it was launched by the Taipei City Government in 2018. Last year, a part of the sixth route of the Grand Trail collapsed due to Typhoon Kong-rey, which hit Taiwan in October. The damaged section belongs to one
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