SEISMOLOGY
Two 5.9 quakes hit Hualien
Two earthquakes measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale yesterday afternoon shook eastern Taiwan seven minutes apart, the Central Weather Administration, said. The first quake hit at 5:45pm, with its epicenter 26km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 15.6km, agency data showed. The temblor’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, was greatest in Hualien, Taitung and Nantou counties, where it measured 4 on Taiwan’s seven-tier scale. The intensity was 3 in Taichung, Tainan, Chiayi City, and Yilan, Chiayi, Yunlin and Changhua counties. The second quake occurred at 5:52pm, with its epicenter 27.8km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 16.1km. Its intensity was greatest in Hualien and Nantou counties, where it measured 4. No immediate damage or injuries were reported.
POLITICS
Itu Aba visit postponed
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ma Wen-chun (馬文君), convener of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, yesterday said that a visit by 20 opposition lawmakers to Itu Aba Island (Taiping Island, 太平島) planned for Thursday next week would be postponed due to concerns that weather conditions might prevent them from returning for a plenary session the following day. The visit might be rescheduled to Saturday next week, she said. A number of bills including legislation proposed by KMT lawmakers to make contempt of the legislature a punishable offense and institutionalize an annual “state of the nation” address by the president to the Legislative Yuan are slated for review on Friday next week and might be put to a vote that day.
TRANSPORTATION
MRT repairs to cost NT$400m
Independent reviewers estimate it would cost more than NT$400 million (US$12.37 million) to reinforce sections of the MRT Circular Line (Yellow Line) after damage from a massive earthquake on April 3, the New Taipei City Government said yesterday. During the quake, which measured 7.2 on the Richter scale, 11 sections of the rail line between Jhonghe (中和) and Banciao (板橋) districts shifted up to 92cm. Damage was more serious than initial estimates, with city officials late last month saying it would take at least a year to repair. Reinforcements have been put in place to ensure stability, as frequent aftershocks continue, New Taipei City Department of Rapid Transit Systems Director Lee Cheng-an (李政安) said. Experts estimate that an additional NT$400 million is needed to reinforce the line, Lee said.
TECHNOLOGY
ITRI wins at Edison Awards
The Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) won four medals — one gold and three silver — at last month’s Edison Awards, which honor the world’s most innovative new products, services and business leaders. In the Health, Medical and Biotech category, its novel dual-targeted therapy for glaucoma won gold, the institute said, adding that its drug is about three times more effective than current medications. The ITRI’s “key functional cell identity” technology, which helps to identify potent therapeutic cells to create a stem-cell bank won silver, it said. The bank can be used to develop cell therapy products able to treat more than 40 medical conditions, such as myocardial infarction and diabetes, it said. The two other silver medals were won in the Engineering and Robotics and the Resilient and Sustainable Solutions categories.
TECH SECTOR: Nvidia Corp also announced its intent to build an overseas headquarters in Taiwan, with Taipei and New Taipei City each attempting to woo the US chipmaker The US-based Super Micro Computer Inc and Taiwan’s Guo Rui on Wednesday announced a joint venture to build a computation center powered only by renewable energy. After meeting with Supermicro founder Charles Liang (梁見後) and Guo Rui chairman Lin Po-wen (林博文), Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) instructed a cross-ministry panel to be established to help promote the government’s green energy policies and facilitate efforts to obtain land for the generation of green power, Executive Yuan spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) said. Cho thanked Liang for his company’s support of the government’s 2019 Action Plan for Welcoming Overseas Taiwanese Businesses to Return to Invest in
The unification of China and Taiwan is “non-negotiable,” China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) said yesterday in response to an article by a Chinese academic suggesting that Beijing would not set a timetable for the annexation of Taiwan in the next four years. Chinese international studies researcher Yan Xuetong (閻學通) at Beijing’s Tsinghua University wrote in an article published last week in Foreign Affairs that China’s focus for the next four years would be revitalizing the economy, not preparing a timetable to invade Taiwan. The TAO said that was only the personal opinion of an academic. The Chinese Communist Party has since 1949 committed
The lowest temperature in a low-lying area recorded early yesterday morning was in Miaoli County’s Gongguan Township (公館), at 6.8°C, due to a strong cold air mass and the effect of radiative cooling, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. In other areas, Chiayi’s East District (東區) recorded a low of 8.2°C and Yunlin County’s Huwei Township (虎尾) recorded 8.5°C, CWA data showed. The cold air mass was at its strongest from Saturday night to the early hours of yesterday. It brought temperatures down to 9°C to 11°C in areas across the nation and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties,
A new board game set against the backdrop of armed conflict around Taiwan is to be released next month, amid renewed threats from Beijing, inviting players to participate in an imaginary Chinese invasion 20 years from now. China has ramped up military activity close to Taiwan in the past few years, including massing naval forces around the nation. The game, titled 2045, tasks players with navigating the troubles of war using colorful action cards and role-playing as characters involved in operations 10 days before a fictional Chinese invasion of Taiwan. That includes members of the armed forces, Chinese sleeper agents and pro-China politicians
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