MILITARY
Mirage flights resume
Taiwan’s Mirage 2000 fighters returned to normal flying operations early yesterday after being grounded for safety checks following a crash earlier this month, a military source said. Flight operations resumed when a twin-seater Mirage 2000 copiloted by Major General Pan Tung-chu (潘東櫸), the leader of the Hsinchu-based Second Tactical Fighter Wing, took to the air yesterday morning, the source said. Another pilot was seen in the plane with Pan in an air force photo, but no further details were provided. The resumption of normal flight operations came after the air force lifted the grounding order for all of Taiwan’s 50-plus Mirage 2000s following the completion of a round of safety checks in the wake of an incident on Sept. 10. Preliminary indications were that one of the crashed fighter’s engines had lost thrust, the air force said. The investigation into the incident is ongoing.
SOCIETY
Fire drill in Kaohsiung
The Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency on Monday advised people in Kaohsiung not to panic if they receive a forest fire drill text warning on their phones on Friday. A message reading: “Forest Fire Alert Drill. Please don’t panic” would be delivered through the Public Warning Cell Broadcast Service between 2:30pm and 3:30pm to devices in Tianliao (田寮) and Cishan (旗山) districts, the agency said. The drill is part of the agency’s efforts to help raise awareness of forest fires in higher-risk areas in central and southern Taiwan, particularly during next month’s dry season, the agency added. From 2019 to last year, Taiwan reported an average of 53.4 forest fires each year, 97 percent of which were caused by human factors, the agency said. Under Article 34 of the Forestry Act (森林法), the lighting of fires in forest areas or forest reserves is strictly prohibited unless prior approval is received from the authorities. Violators face a prison sentence of three to 10 years as well as a fine of up to NT$600,000 (US$18,770).
FOOD SAFETY
KFC seasoning stopped
A shipment of chicken seasoning imported from Thailand for Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) was found to contain a banned pesticide and stopped by officials from entering Taiwan. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) yesterday published a list of 11 items that were found to be substandard after being inspected at the border over the past few months. Among them was a shipment of 2,024.42kg of chicken seasoning from Thailand in which 0.1mg/kg of the banned pesticide ethylene oxide was found during testing that began on July 22, the FDA said. FDA Deputy Director-General Lin Chin-fu (林金富) said the importer of the spices, Jardine Food Services (Taiwan) Co (富利食品), which operates KFC and Pizza Hut in Taiwan, is to be subject to batch-by-batch inspections of its imported ingredients. The products imported by Jardine were previously under a heightened inspection rate of 50 percent, up from the customary 20 percent, Lin said. Condiments and spices imported from Thailand by other companies would also continue to be inspected at the higher rate until the end of the year, Lin said. The other items on yesterday’s list were tested from July 2 to Sept. 6. Among them was a shipment of 1,312.5kg of banana chips imported from the Philippines that was found to contain excessive amounts of the toxic substance benzopyrene and prohibited from entering Taiwan.
CAUTION: Based on intelligence from the nation’s security agencies, MOFA has cautioned Taiwanese travelers about heightened safety risks in China-friendly countries The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday urged Taiwanese to be aware of their safety when traveling abroad, especially in countries that are friendly to China. China in June last year issued 22 guidelines that allow its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death so-called “diehard” Taiwanese independence activists, even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction in Taiwan. Late last month, a senior Chinese official gave closed-door instructions to state security units to implement the guidelines in countries friendly to China, a government memo and a senior Taiwan security official said, based on information gathered by Taiwan’s intelligence agency. The
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said yesterday that it is looking to hire 8,000 people this year, at a time when the tech giant is expanding production capacity to maintain its lead over competitors. To attract talent, TSMC would launch a large-scale recruitment campaign on campuses across Taiwan, where a newly recruited engineer with a master’s degree could expect to receive an average salary of NT$2.2 million (US$60,912), which is much higher than the 2023 national average of NT$709,000 for those in the same category, according to government statistics. TSMC, which accounted for more than 60 percent
Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢), a Taiwanese businessman and deputy convener of the nation’s National Climate Change Committee, said yesterday that “electrical power is national power” and nuclear energy is “very important to Taiwan.” Tung made the remarks, suggesting that his views do not align with the country’s current official policy of phasing out nuclear energy, at a forum organized by the Taiwan People’s Party titled “Challenges and Prospects of Taiwan’s AI Industry and Energy Policy.” “Taiwan is currently pursuing industries with high added- value and is developing vigorously, and this all requires electricity,” said the chairman
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
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