Two F-5 fighter jets crash in mid-air, COVID-19 vaccinations begin
Taiwan began offering COVID-19 vaccinations on Monday, March 22, with Premier Su Tseng-chang and Health Minister Chen Shih-chung receiving the first shots.
Taiwan’s COVID handling was effective but also entailed privacy issues that still remain, such as continued surveillance and private data security.
Two air force F-5E fighter jets collided with each other in mid-air on Monday, March 22, resulting in the death of one pilot while the other remains missing.
China is bolstering its ability to attack Taiwan by deploying long-range missiles and utilizing psychological warfare, says Taiwan’s defence ministry.
The Chinese threat to Taiwan is more imminent than thought, states US admiral John Aquilino, the incoming commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, which differs from recent comments from his predecessor Philip Davidson about a timeline of six years.
A war over Taiwan with China might end the US “empire,” argues Niall Ferguson in Bloomberg. Whether one agrees or not, there are a number of interesting points to ponder.
Taiwan has upgraded 42 of its F-16A/B fighter jets to F-16Vs, which have a longer range.
The military began field exercises on Monday, March 22, as part of Combat Preparedness Month. These will be held quarterly and involve four phases of battlefield scouting, tabletop exercises, field strategy and tactics, and field exercises.
Exports rose in February, marking 12 straight months of such an increase.
Fubon Financial Holding bought over 50 percent of Jih Sun Financial Holding, marking the first such merger of financial holding firms in Taiwan.
China’s ban on pineapple imports from Taiwan inspired a pushback, but it also left local farmers worried and some people wondering why Taiwan relies so heavily on China as an export market such as for pineapples.
Taiwan saw some rain on Tuesday, March 23, and Wednesday (today), but the water level in reservoirs in the central and southern areas still remains low.
Taiwan saw an absurd development last week when hundreds of people changed their names officially to “salmon” to take advantage of a free meal promotion from a sushi chain. After the promotion ended, over half of the people were reported to have changed back their names to their original ones.
Regulations can sometimes be perplexing in Taiwan for non-locals, especially when it comes to visas in that some of them can only be changed or applied for by leaving Taiwan and coming back, as reported by Steven Crook in the Taipei Times.
Taiwan is the happiest country in Asia, and 24th in the world, according to the 2021 World Happiness Report.