MILITARY
Pilot returns to cockpit
A fighter pilot who ejected safely after his Mirage 2000 lost power last month, with the jet crashing in waters off Hsinchu County, has returned to flying, the air force said on Friday. Captain Hsieh Pei-hsun (謝沛勳) has been restored to flight status after making every effort to be back in the cockpit safeguarding Taiwan’s airspace, the air force wrote on Facebook, with the post including a video of Hsieh discussing the experience of his path to recovery. The pilot was rescued by coast guard personnel after the single-seat jet lost power during a training operation on Sept. 10. He was hospitalized with minor injuries. He was part of a flight mission on a twin-seat Mirage-2000 on Tuesday, sources familiar with the matter said. Hsieh has logged 795 flight hours, including 509 hours flying the French-made fighters, the air force said after the incident last month.
RESEARCH
New fish species reported
A marine research station on Itu Aba Island (Taiping Island, 太平島) has discovered its first new fish species, nearly four years since its establishment, the National Academy of Marine Research said this month. The new species — Fusigobius taipinensis — was found by a joint team from the academy and National Taiwan Ocean University (NTOU) that was searching for cryptic species in the Gobiidae family, it said. The fish is the first Gobiidae species discovered in waters around Taiping since a permanent research station was established on the South China Sea island in late 2020, it said. The new species lives in coral reefs about 20m deep near Taiping Island and has also been found, albeit in smaller numbers, in waters around Siaoliouciou Island (小琉球) off Taiwan’s southwest coast, it said. The 3cm to 6cm transparent fish have many yellow spots on their body and two dark black dots on their dorsal fin, which the academy said helped researchers identify them as a distinct species. NTOU professor Chen I-hsiung (陳義雄) said that Gobiidae, or gobie, is the largest family of reef fish and forms a large portion of the world’s tropical marine fish fauna. Of the more than 2,000 species within the gobie family, more than 260 can be found in waters around Taiwan, Chen said.
ENTERTAINMENT
Max streaming to launch
Warner Bros Discovery is to launch its Max streaming service in Taiwan on Nov. 19 as part of plans to expand into the Asian market, the US media company said in a statement last week. Max would be launched in Taiwan, as well as Hong Kong and five Southeast Asian countries — Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines — next month following the successful introduction of the service in the US, Latin America and Europe, said J.B. Perrette, chief executive officer and president of Global Streaming and Games at Warner Bros Discovery. The firm offers its HBO Go streaming service in seven markets, with content similar to that available on HBO TV. “Max brings together unparalleled quality content from iconic brands like HBO, Discovery, the DC Universe, Harry Potter, AFN and Cartoon Network, as well as Hollywood blockbusters, all in one place,” he said. More details about pricing would be announced in the coming weeks and would vary by country and provider, the company said. The monthly subscription for HBO Go in Taiwan is NT$150, while the basic plan for Netflix is NT$270 per month, the same as Disney+, which entered the Taiwan market in November 2021.
Hong Kong-based American singer-songwriter Khalil Fong (方大同) has passed away at the age of 41, Fong’s record label confirmed yesterday. “With unwavering optimism in the face of a relentless illness for five years, Khalil Fong gently and gracefully bid farewell to this world on the morning of February 21, 2025, stepping into the next realm of existence to carry forward his purpose and dreams,” Fu Music wrote on the company’s official Facebook page. “The music and graphic novels he gifted to the world remain an eternal testament to his luminous spirit, a timeless treasure for generations to come,” it said. Although Fong’s
China’s military buildup in the southern portion of the first island chain poses a serious threat to Taiwan’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply, a defense analyst warned. Writing in a bulletin on the National Defense and Security Research’s Web site on Thursday, Huang Tsung-ting (黃宗鼎) said that China might choke off Taiwan’s energy supply without it. Beginning last year, China entrenched its position in the southern region of the first island chain, often with Russia’s active support, he said. In May of the same year, a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) force consisting of a Type 054A destroyer, Type 055 destroyer,
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was questioned by prosecutors for allegedly orchestrating an attack on a taxi driver after he was allegedly driven on a longer than necessary route in a car he disliked. The questioning at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office was ongoing as of press time last night. Police have recommended charges of attempted murder. The legally embattled actor — known for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代) — is under a separate investigation for allegedly using fake medical documents to evade mandatory military service. According to local media reports, police said Wang earlier last year ordered a
POLICY UNCHANGED? Despite Trump’s remarks, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio assured that US policy toward Taiwan has remained consistent since the 1970s US President Donald Trump on Wednesday again refused to make clear his stance on protecting Taiwan from a hypothetical takeover by China during his presidency. Asked by a reporter during a Cabinet meeting whether it was his policy that China would never take Taiwan by force while he is president, Trump declined to give a definitive answer. “I never comment on that,” he said. “I don’t comment on it because I don’t want to ever put myself in that position.” Trump also reiterated that he has a “great relationship” with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and said that Washington welcomes good relations with
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