SPACE
Chinese rocket no threat
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday said that a Chinese space rocket detected passing “near” Taiwan’s air defense identification zone did not pose a threat to national security. The ministry said in a press release that it had detected the launch of a Chinese-built Long March-2D carrier rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan Province early yesterday morning. Although the rocket’s trajectory passed “near” the southwestern part of the zone, it did not pose a threat to national security due to having already left the atmosphere, the ministry said, without providing further information. It closely watched the whole launch process with its joint intelligence systems, it said. Xinhua reported that the Long March-2D rocket, which was carrying a Yaogan-39 satellite, took off from Sichuan at 8:24am. The Yaogan series are optical remote-sensing satellites that are likely also used for military reconnaissance.
SPORTS
Emilio Vargas fired
Emilio Vargas has been fired by the CTBC Brothers baseball team after testing positive for tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), a psychoactive substance found in cannabis. In a public announcement, the CPBL said that the player from the US in August failed a random drug test jointly conducted by the league and a drug laboratory run by Cheng Shiu University’s Super Micro Mass Research and Technology Center. All of the results from tests Vargas submitted to passed standards set by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), except his THC levels, the CPBL said in a report submitted to WADA on Sept. 4. On Thursday last week, tests were run on Vargas’ second sample by China Medical University Hospital in Taipei in accordance with WADA regulations, which also came back positive for THC, the CPBL said on Wednesday, after receiving the result a day earlier. The Brothers in a statement said that based on the league’s anti-drug regulations and punishments for players who test positive for drugs conducted by a local or foreign-certified lab, Vargas is barred for life from playing in the CPBL. Use of a Category 2 narcotic is punishable with a maximum three-year prison sentence and prosecutors are investigating the case.
SOCIETY
‘Croc’ pic draws fine
A Kaohsiung resident has been fined NT$3,000 for disturbing public order after falsely claiming on Facebook to have photographed a crocodile at the city’s Aozihdi Forest Park (凹仔底森林公園). In a verdict issued on Wednesday, the Kaohsiung District Court said that the man, surnamed Liu (劉), staged a photo on July 29 of a crocodile sitting on a rock with its mouth open using a small toy crocodile he had purchased. He later posted the photo to “Street Observation Academy,” a Facebook group with more than 1 million members, with the caption: “This is Aozihdi Park. I can’t believe it, but I don’t dare get any closer to see if this is or isn’t” real. The post, which had garnered 567 reactions, also attracted attention from the media, prompting the city’s Animal Protection Office to send personnel to search the 10-hectare park, the court said. After the search failed to turn up any sign of a crocodile, police summoned Liu, who told them that he had staged the photo and uploaded it as a practical joke, the verdict said. The court fined Liu NT$3,000 for contravening the Social Order Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法). The verdict can be appealed.
‘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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