Author: Phillip Charlier

Japan’s former Prime Minister Mori hints that new PM Suga may give Taiwan President a phone call

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, and former Prime Minister of Japan Yoshide Mori at the Presidential Office in Taipei 2020
International Relations 
Phillip Charlier 0 Comment ,

Former Prime Minister of Japan Yoshiro Mori told President Tsai Ing-wen today, that the newly-appointed Prime Minister of Japan, Yoshihide Suga, is looking forward to communicating by phone, if the opportunity arises. If the leaders of Japan and Taiwan were to have a telephone conversation, it would be a first since Japan severed diplomatic relations with Taiwan in 1972. Yoshiro Mori arrived this afternoon, Friday, September 18, to attend a memorial service for the late former President Lee Teng-hui. After

Read more

Taiwan scrambles jets 17 times as China buzzes island in anger at US official’s visit

map showing incursions by PLA aircraft
Military Affairs 
Phillip Charlier 0 Comment , ,

Jets were scrambled from air bases around Taiwan at least 17 times this morning after multiple incursions into Taiwan’s Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) by Chinese military aircraft. The Chinese Communist Party has expressed its anger over the visit of US Undersecretary for Economic Affairs, Keith Krach, marking the highest level official to visit Taiwan since the US broke diplomatic relations in 1979. China’s Defense Ministry spokesperson Ren Guoqiang announced this morning that combat drills would be carried out in

Read more

Beijing accuses US Air Force of disguising spy plane missions as Malaysian civilian airliners over South China Sea

flight path of military reconnaissance aircraft allegedly disguised a civil airliner
Military Affairs 
Phillip Charlier 0 Comment ,

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said that the US Air Force has been flying missions over the South China Sea disguised with Malaysian civil aircraft codes, and that the action is provocative and dangerous. According to Chinese media reports, a United States Air Force RC-135W electronic reconnaissance aircraft took off from an airbase on Okinawa at 8:00 am this morning. Shortly after taking off, the identification signal disappeared, then an aircraft identified as a Malaysian passenger plane appeared on

Read more

Student falls into six-meter-deep sinkhole on elementary school campus in Keelung City

sinkhole at elementary school in Keelung City
Health and Safety 
Phillip Charlier 0 Comment , ,

A male sixth-grade student fell into a six-meter-deep sinkhole that formed under a recycling shed at Zhengbin Elementary School in Keelung City this afternoon, September 15. According to reports in United Daily News, the student went to the recycling shed to fetch cleaning equipment, and fell into the hole at around 3:20 pm. The boy remained conscious and was able to call out for help. Fire fighters rescued the boy and sent him to Chang Gung Memorial Hospital for treatment

Read more

Two dead, two missing after “abnormal” water release at Taipower dam floods campsite

campsite after flash flood
Disaster 
Phillip Charlier 0 Comment ,

Search and rescue personnel found two bodies and are searching for two missing people, after five members of a camping group were washed away by a flash flood caused by an accidental release of water from a dam in Nantou County this morning, September 13. Staff at Taipower’s Daguan Power Plant said that a sluice gate on the Wujie Dam automatically opened at 4:12 pm for an unknown reason. Staff noticed the abnormality shortly after 5:00 am, and closed the

Read more

Cops stand guard over drunk man asleep on road in Taichung City

police stand guard over man sleeping on road
Society 
Phillip Charlier 2 Comments , ,

Police officers in Taichung City set up traffic cones and stood guard to protect a man who was so drunk he fell asleep on the road at an intersection in South District. Police were called to the scene shortly before 4:30 am, after a man alighted from a taxi, then promptly fell asleep on the road. Police were unable to rouse the man from his sleep, and fire bureau paramedics were not allowed to take the man for medical treatment

Read more

Taiwan shows lowest economic impact due to COVID-19 among 38 countries analysed

Taiwan can help the world fight COVID-19
Business and Economy Health and Safety 
Phillip Charlier 0 Comment ,

An analysis of economic downturns in COVID-19 impacted countries showed that Taiwan had among the lowest death-rates, and showed the least economic impact among 38 countries for which the latest GDP figures were available. The analysis by Joe Hasell, published in Our World in Data, showed that Taiwan had suffered a GDP decline of only 0.6% in the second quarter of 2020 compared to the same quarter in the previous year. In comparing the death rates and economic downturns experienced,

Read more

Military drone found beached in Japan confirmed to be from Taiwan

Taiwan-owned military drone on Japanese beach
Breaking News Military Affairs 
Phillip Charlier 0 Comment ,

Taiwan’s military research institute, National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST) has verified that a drone found on Taketomi Island, Okinawa, is one of its own. The military drone was found on the island September 8. Marked “MQM-107E,” the drone was identified as an American made model used by the US military, but also sold to other countries, including Taiwan. The US military denied that it was one of their own units, and the Chinese characters for “left” and

Read more

Taiwan’s defense and foreign affairs officials call China’s military exercises a provocation and threat to regional security

MND official shows Chinese military maneuvers on map
Military Affairs 
Phillip Charlier 0 Comment , ,

Both the Ministry of National Defense (MND), and Ministry of Foreign affairs (MOFA), held unscheduled press conferences Thursday evening, September 10, in response to incursions into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) by Chinese military aircraft for the second day in a row. The MND condemned China’s joint navy and air force military exercises as “provocative,” and MOFA called on international partners to pay attention to China’s “threats to regional stability.” MND officials revealed that China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA)

Read more

Ministry of Defense confirms multiple incursions of Taiwan airspace by PLA aircraft

PLA fighter
Military Affairs 
Phillip Charlier 0 Comment , ,

Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense (MOD) confirmed this afternoon that PLA aircraft flew multiple sorties into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone this morning. The MOD press release said that Chinese PLA aircraft included SU-30 and J-10 fighters as well as multiple other types of aircraft. The MOD said that the air force closely monitored the flights and responded effectively to the incursions. The MOD also denied that PLA forces had encircled the Dongsha (Pratas) Islands, saying that it was falsely reported

Read more

Illegal left-turn costs driver his life: T-boned by speeding car

Moment of impact when BMW sedan crashes into Nissan March at high speed
Breaking News 
Phillip Charlier 2 Comments

One driver died, and another was injured, after a collision at an intersection in Luzhu District, Taoyuan City, this afternoon, and police urged drivers to obey traffic regulations, and slow down when approaching intersections. At around 3:00 pm this afternoon, a 41-year-old man named Hsu, driving a Nissan March, performed an illegal left turn at the intersection of Nanqing Road and Dahua Street. A black BMW driven by a 32-year-old man named Chiou, who had obviously not slowed down at

Read more