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.
TRAGEDY: An expert said that the incident was uncommon as the chance of a ground crew member being sucked into an IDF engine was ‘minuscule’ A master sergeant yesterday morning died after she was sucked into an engine during a routine inspection of a fighter jet at an air base in Taichung, the Air Force Command Headquarters said. The officer, surnamed Hu (胡), was conducting final landing checks at Ching Chuan Kang (清泉崗) Air Base when she was pulled into the jet’s engine for unknown reasons, the air force said in a news release. She was transported to a hospital for emergency treatment, but could not be revived, it said. The air force expressed its deepest sympathies over the incident, and vowed to work with authorities as they
A tourist who was struck and injured by a train in a scenic area of New Taipei City’s Pingsi District (平溪) on Monday might be fined for trespassing on the tracks, the Railway Police Bureau said yesterday. The New Taipei City Fire Department said it received a call at 4:37pm on Monday about an incident in Shifen (十分), a tourist destination on the Pingsi Railway Line. After arriving on the scene, paramedics treated a woman in her 30s for a 3cm to 5cm laceration on her head, the department said. She was taken to a hospital in Keelung, it said. Surveillance footage from a
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
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