Author: Phillip Charlier

“Hold your own elections, don’t interfere with ours,” foreign minister tells Beijing as Chinese military launches combat drills around Taiwan

composite image showing Chinese fighter aircraft and naval vessel
Military Affairs 
Phillip Charlier 0 Comment , , , ,

Taiwan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu accused Beijing of trying to interfere with an upcoming national election in Taiwan, after the Chinese military launched military exercises in sea and airspace around the island nation today, August 19. China’s People’s Liberation Army Eastern Theater Command announced the drills on the PLA’s official Weibo account this morning, saying that it was carrying out joint naval and air combat readiness patrols around Taiwan focusing on ship-aircraft coordination to test seizing control of

Read more

Rumors fact-checked after two Chinese female athletes dropped from global rankings

Chinese female sprinters Liao Mengxue and Tong Zenghuan
Sport 
Phillip Charlier 0 Comment

Chinese language reports, especially outside of China itself, are widely reporting rumors that two Chinese female athletes were dropped from global rankings because they are actually men, but other reports refute the claims. Taiwan’s Mirror Media reported today that Chinese female track and field athletes Liao Mengxue and Tong Zenghuan both disappeared from the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) recently, and that the incident coincided with a June order by the Chinese Athletics Association that provincial athletics teams should test

Read more

Associated Press CEO meets with Chinese state media ahead of China-led propaganda-fest World Media Summit

Associated Press President and CEO Daisy Veerasingham shakes hands with Xinhua News Agency President Fu Hua
Media Issues 
Phillip Charlier 0 Comment , , , ,

President and CEO of Associated Press, Daisy Veerasingham, met with President of Xinhua News Agency, Fu Hua, in Beijing Sunday, August 13, and said that AP is open to discussions with Xinhua on news exchanges ahead of the 5th World Media Summit later this year, Chinese state media outlet Xinhua reported. Both Fu and Veerasingham commended the more than 50 year history of cooperation between [Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece] Xinhua and AP. Fu expressed the hope that the two sides

Read more

Elon Musk reported to Taiwan prosecutors for promoting marijuana use

composite picture showing Elon Musk smoking pot and pro-cannabis advocates in Taiwan
Society 
Phillip Charlier 0 Comment , , , , ,

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been reported to the Taipei District Prosecutor’s Office on the accusation of seducing people to use drugs, putting prosecutors in the awkward position of being obliged to investigate the tech billionaire if prosecutors take recent statements of their Ministry of Justice seriously. The demand for prosecutors to investigate the well-known tech CEO was a response to a statement made by the Ministry of Justice earlier this month that teaching marijuana use on the Internet, “spreading

Read more

Mortar blast at ammunition depot leaves 9 soldiers injured, two seriously

paramedic attends to injured soldiers at ammunition depot with live mortar rounds still scattered on the ground
Military Affairs 
Phillip Charlier 0 Comment , , , ,

Nine soldiers were injured, two seriously, when a mortar round exploded while being handled at an army ammunition depot in northern Taiwan today, July 24. According to a press statement by Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense, a 120 mm mortar round exploded during an inspection by technical personnel at the Hsiang Feng army base in Keelung City at around 3:00 pm. Fire Department paramedics risked their own lives to attend to the two seriously injured soldiers, who lay beside several

Read more

Tesla plows through floodwater in central Taiwan, leaving fossil-fuel cars in its wake

Tesla driving through flood water
Weather 
Phillip Charlier 0 Comment , , ,

Two cars broke down, but a Tesla was seen plowing past them in floodwater that surged over the hood of the electric vehicle, after instantaneous heavy rain flooded a highway near the Zhushan Interchange in Nantou County yesterday, July 23. Zhushan police said that drainage at the 227 kilometer mark on Provincial Highway 3 was insufficient to cope with the sudden heavy downpour from a storm that hit the area at around 4:00 pm. Two cars, including a Mercedes Benz

Read more

Hundreds of empty containers create shipping hazard after ship sinks near Taiwan’s largest port

containers adrift after ship sinks
Marine and Fisheries 
Phillip Charlier 0 Comment , , ,

An estimated 600 shipping containers are adrift off Taiwan’s southern coast after a container ship sank near the Port of Kaohsiung yesterday, July 21. The Palau-registered ANGEL sank early Friday morning after the crew were evacuated from the ship as it began listing dangerously after a suspected breach of the hull Thursday. An estimated 500-600 of the more than 1,300 empty containers aboard the ship remained afloat after the vessel sank around 2.8 nautical miles from the south embankment of

Read more

Container ship listing dangerously off the Port of Kaohsiung

Container ship ANGEL listing dangerously off the Port of Kaohsiung Taiwan
Marine and Fisheries 
Phillip Charlier 0 Comment , ,

The crew of a container ship abandoned the vessel and were rescued by the coast guard this morning after the ship began to take water and listed dangerously 2.8 nautical miles outside the Port of Kaohsiung. Taiwan’s National Coast Guard Administration (CGA) received reports that the 16,145-gross-ton Palauan-flagged vessel ANGEL was in distress at around 9:00 am. Nineteen crew abandoned ship and were picked up by coast guard patrol boats, including one injured. According to reports, 6 containers fell into

Read more

Major global acrylics supplier ablaze in southern Taiwan

thick smoke is seen billowing from factory on fire
Fire 
Phillip Charlier 0 Comment ,

A major global supplier of acrylic sheeting caught fire early this morning, and firefighters are still trying to bring the blaze under control at noon. According to reports, the Sumipex Techsheet Company factory in Nanzih Science and Technology Industrial Park caught fire after a suspected boiler explosion at around 7:38 am. The Kaohsiung City Fire Department dispatched 55 vehicles and 130 personnel to fight the fire. Thick smoke from the fire could be seen many kilometers away, and the Kaohsiung

Read more

Longest-surviving kidney transplant patient in Taiwan has a 115-year-old kidney

medical personnel and patient celebrate 50 year transplant survivor
Health and Safety 
Phillip Charlier 0 Comment ,

A hospital in Hsinchu held a birthday party for an 81-year-old man to celebrate the 50th anniversary of him receiving a kidney transplant, and it was revealed that the kidney he carries is now 115 years old. National Taiwan University Hospital Hsinchu Branch held a press conference as part of the celebration to share the story of Taiwan’s longest-surviving kidney transplant recipient, Chen Ming-hsiung and the pioneering surgical team who performed some of the first organ transplants in Taiwan. Tsai

Read more

US State Department updates Taiwan Travel Advisory: removes the word “country”

travel advisory for Taiwan showing edits
International Relations 
Phillip Charlier 2 Comments

The US State Department Bureau of Consular Affairs updated its Travel Advisory for Taiwan, yesterday, Tuesday, July 11, maintaining the original level one “exercise normal precautions,” but removing two references to “country,” replacing it with “Taiwan.” Previous to the July 11 edit, the advisory read: “Read the country information page for additional information on travel to Taiwan,” and “Review the Country Security Report for Taiwan.” These sentences have been changed to “Read the Taiwan International Travel Information for additional information

Read more