MILITARY
Kinmen drills announced
The Kinmen Defense Command is to hold live-fire drills on Friday and Saturday as part of efforts to upgrade soldiers’ training and boost overall combat effectiveness. A notification issued by the Maritime and Port Bureau said that drills would take place simultaneously at sites in Kinmen County from 9am to 5pm on the first day, with a maximum trajectory height of 305m. The sites are Houyu (后嶼) and Caoyu (草嶼) islands, just off Kinmen County’s second-largest island, Leiyu (烈嶼), and sea sites between Dadan (大膽島) and Erdan (二膽島) Islands, which lie about 6km southwest of Leiyu, and near Shiyu (獅嶼) and Fuxingyu (復興嶼) islands close to Leiyu (烈嶼), as well as Dongding Island (東碇島) about 30km south of Leiyu. Drills are also scheduled on Beiding Island (北碇島), 4km east of the main Kinmen Island, the following day. The drills precede next week’s annual Han Kuang exercises, which include live-fire drills in waters south of Kinmen County from 5:30am to 7:30am on Tuesday next week, with a maximum trajectory height of 1.8km, the Ministry of National Defense said.
WEATHER
Hot weather forecast
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) said that temperatures are forecast to be 37°C or higher for the rest of this week in the Taipei area, as well as in central and southern Taiwan. On Monday, New Taipei City’s Sanxia District (三峽), which is prone to extreme heat because it is near mountains and has a lot of buildings, had the highest temperature nationwide of 39.4°C, followed by Houlong Township (後龍) in Miaoli County at 38.3°C, it said. Many other areas, including Taipei, Taoyuan, Tainan and Kaohsiung, as well as Pingtung, Yilan, Taitung, Yunlin and Chiayi counties had highs of at least 37°C, it said. Heat warnings are likely to be issued for all regions except Hsinchu City, and Kinmen, Penghu and Lienchiang counties in the next few days, it said. Temperatures exceeding 37°C in most parts of Taiwan are expected to last until Saturday, after which greater cloud cover nationwide would bring temperatures down to 33°C to 35°C, the CWA said. A depression could bring more rain to Taiwan on Sunday and Monday next week, it said. A tropical depression in waters east of the Philippines is forming near land, so it is too soon to determine whether it would become a typhoon, the CWA said.
CRIME
Chuang Suo-hang impeached
Former representative to Thailand Chuang Suo-hang (莊碩漢) has been impeached by the Control Yuan for sexually harassing a female subordinate, it said in a statement yesterday. During his time in Thailand, Chuang, 68, harassed the woman physically and verbally, including by holding her hand and inviting her into his room to discuss speech drafts, the Control Yuan said. His behavior made the female subordinate feel scared, uncomfortable and offended, but she did not feel she could speak out because of his position of power, it said. Chuang’s actions met the definition of sexual harassment under the Gender Equality in Employment Act (性別工作平等法), and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also reached the same conclusion, the statement said. Chuang’s actions not only infringed on the woman’s dignity, but also seriously damaged the reputation and image of Taiwanese diplomatic personnel and contravened provisions of the Public Functionary Service Act (公務員服務法), it said.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to