MILITARY
China talks about exercises
China has conducted its first military drills with two operational aircraft carriers in the South China Sea, state media said yesterday. It did not specify when the exercises with the Liaoning and Shandong vessels took place, but said that the broader naval mission had overlapped with public holidays that spanned late September to last month. The drills “in an area of the South China Sea” intended to “hone and enhance the combat capability of the aircraft carrier formation system,” China Central Television (CCTV) reported. CCTV showed a video of jets taking off from and landing on the two carriers and said the exercises also took place in the Yellow and East China seas. The dual carrier exercises might have taken place after the drills around Taiwan last month and “represent a significant step forward in its carrier program and power projection capabilities,” maritime security analyst Duan Dang said. “We will certainly see more such exercises in the future, and China may incorporate both carriers into larger-scale Taiwan blockade exercises,” he added. China has stepped up a massive expansion of its naval forces in recent years, as it seeks to expand its reach in the Pacific and challenge a US-led alliance. The Fujian is expected to feature more advanced take-off systems, allowing the Chinese air force to deploy jets carrying larger payloads and more fuel, analysts at Washington-based think tank CSIS have said.
POLITICS
Ko’s hearing postponed
The court hearing for Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), which was scheduled for yesterday, has been postponed to today due to Typhoon Kong-rey. The Taipei District Court had scheduled a detention hearing to rule on whether prosecutors could detain Ko for another two months while they continue their investigation into alleged corruption in the Core Pacific City scandal. However, the court on Wednesday evening said that the detention hearing would be rescheduled to 9:30am today due to the suspension of work and classes. The court said that if there are also suspensions today, the hearing would be postponed to Monday at 9:30am. Ko has been detained and held incommunicado since Sept. 5 after the Taipei District Court ruled that he “clearly knew” of illegal real-estate dealings, yet “insisted” they did not happen during his second term as mayor of Taipei from 2018 to 2022.
SOCIETY
Child in car accident dies
An eight-year-old girl, who was hit by an unlicensed driver while crossing a Changhua County intersection in February, has died after more than eight months in a coma. The girl passed away late on Tuesday at Ham-ming Hospital, Changhua Christian Hospital said on Wednesday. The hospital did not disclose the cause of death, citing a request for privacy from her family. The eight-year-old and her 10-year-old sister were left in a coma after being hit by a 73-year-old man surnamed Hsiao (蕭) in Shengang Township (神岡) on Feb. 22. The two girls had been crossing an intersection with their seven-year-old brother, who escaped the collision without serious injury. The 10-year-old on Sept. 5 died at Show Chwan Memorial Hospital due to a central nervous system failure. Hsiao, who was driving without a license, tested negative for alcohol at the time of the accident. He was released on NT$50,000 bail in September after being questioned by Changhua prosecutors.
An undersea cable to Penghu County has been severed, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said today, with a Chinese-funded ship suspected of being responsible. It comes just a month after a Chinese ship was suspected of severing an undersea cable north of Keelung Harbor. The National Communications and Cyber Security Center received a report at 3:03am today from Chunghwa Telecom that the No. 3 cable from Taiwan to Penghu was severed 14.7km off the coast of Tainan, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) upon receiving a report from Chunghwa Telecom began to monitor the Togolese-flagged Hong Tai (宏泰)
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
RISING TOURISM: A survey showed that tourist visits increased by 35 percent last year, while newly created attractions contributed almost half of the growth Changhua County’s Lukang Old Street (鹿港老街) and its surrounding historical area clinched first place among Taiwan’s most successful tourist attractions last year, while no location in eastern Taiwan achieved a spot in the top 20 list, the Tourism Administration said. The listing was created by the Tourism Administration’s Forward-looking Tourism Policy Research office. Last year, the Lukang Old Street and its surrounding area had 17.3 million visitors, more than the 16 million visitors for the Wenhua Road Night Market (文化路夜市) in Chiayi City and 14.5 million visitors at Tainan’s Anping (安平) historical area, it said. The Taipei 101 skyscraper and its environs —
Taiwan on Friday said a New Zealand hamburger restaurant has apologized for a racist remark to a Taiwanese customer after reports that it had first apologized to China sparked outrage in Taiwan. An image posted on Threads by a Taiwanese who ate at Fergburger in Queenstown showed that their receipt dated Sunday last week included the words “Ching Chang,” a racial slur. The Chinese Consulate-General in Christchurch in a statement on Thursday said it had received and accepted an apology from the restaurant over the incident. The comment triggered an online furor among Taiwanese who saw it as an insult to the
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