SOCIETY
Blackout prompts change
Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) yesterday pledged to review and adjust its electricity supply for Taiwan’s outlying islands during the peak summer season after Siaoliouciou Island (小琉球) lost power for an hour on Saturday. The utility said the power outage, which hit the island just off the northwest coast of Pingtung County at about 7:30pm, was caused by hot weather and large numbers of tourists turning on electrical appliances. The island’s power demand hit a record high of 12,475 kilowatts (kW), and the system tripped as it was overloaded, it said. After confirming that there were no other malfunctions, Taipower was able to restore electricity to the island after about an hour, it said. Over the past three years, Siaoliouciou’s highest electricity loads have been recorded between 7pm and 8pm, Taipower said. It hit a peak of 11,660kW on June 8 during the Dragon Boat Festival long weekend, and on June 22 last year peaked at 11,700kW. The Pingtung County Government’s Transportation and Tourism Development Department said 10,418 people arrived on Siaoliouciou on Saturday, a typical number for a weekend during peak travel season. The island is undergoing a systematic voltage change that is expected to increase electricity supply, Taipower said.
WEATHER
Taitung’s Jinfeng hits 37.5°C
Taitung County’s Jinfeng Township (金峰) recorded a temperature of 37.5°C at 1:50pm yesterday, the highest in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. An orange heat alert has been issued for Taitung, signaling a high probability of at least three consecutive days of temperatures reaching 36°C or higher. Hualien County is under a yellow alert, indicating a chance of temperatures exceeding 36°C. The top 10 hottest locations in the nation yesterday also included areas in Yilan, Miaoli and Hsinchu counties, as well as Taipei, the data showed. CWA forecaster Yeh Chih-chun (葉致均) said the weather this week would predominantly consist of high temperatures with localized, brief thunderstorms in the afternoon. Over the next two days, areas in the southeast might record temperatures above 36°C, Yeh said. Areas south of Greater Taipei and mountainous regions could have more intense afternoon thunderstorms, but rainfall is expected to decrease after nightfall, he said.
DIPLOMACY
Nats host pilot Taiwan Day
Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Saturday threw the ceremonial first pitch at Nationals Park in Washington during a pilot Taiwan Day event before the Washington Nationals’ Major League Baseball game against the Miami Marlins. The event drew 500 to 600 Taiwanese, and the 500 limited-edition jerseys with the name “Taiwan DC” and the number “08” — which sounds like “your father” in Taiwanese — were sold out. Lee Hou (侯立宸), who initiated the event, said it was a “proof of concept” game, meaning that if the event was viable based on ticket sales, Taiwan Day would become a standard event from next year. Hou said that to make Taiwan Day an official event, 250 tickets had to be sold through the Taiwan Day landing page, and more than 500 were sold, meaning there is a good chance it would be approved. Hou, 23, a Taiwanese-American baseball enthusiast who used to work for the Washington Nationals, said that after seeing the success of Taiwan Day events in Los Angeles, Seattle and other places, he “made a wish” to add more “Taiwan flavor” to Washington, where he grew up.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
Taiwanese celebrities Hank Chen (陳漢典) and Lulu Huang (黃路梓茵) announced yesterday that they are planning to marry. Huang announced and posted photos of their engagement to her social media pages yesterday morning, joking that the pair were not just doing marketing for a new show, but “really getting married.” “We’ve decided to spend all of our future happy and hilarious moments together,” she wrote. The announcement, which was later confirmed by the talent agency they share, appeared to come as a surprise even to those around them, with veteran TV host Jacky Wu (吳宗憲) saying he was “totally taken aback” by the news. Huang,
The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) put Taiwan in danger, Ma Ying-jeou Foundation director Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) said yesterday, hours after the de facto US embassy said that Beijing had misinterpreted World War II-era documents to isolate Taiwan. The AIT’s comments harmed the Republic of China’s (ROC) national interests and contradicted a part of the “six assurances” stipulating that the US would not change its official position on Taiwan’s sovereignty, Hsiao said. The “six assurances,” which were given by then-US president Ronald Reagan to Taiwan in 1982, say that Washington would not set a date for ending arm sales to Taiwan, consult
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