Beach landing exercise
This is China’s airspace
Only option left
Pingtan strait bridge
12-26-20 China’s first combined highway and railway cross-sea bridge, the Pingtan strait bridge, comes into use on Sat, after 7 years of construction overcoming obstacles including weather, hydrology and geology, ending the lack of railways on Pingtan island in E China’s Fujian Province.
Don’t say you have not been forewarned
“People on either side of the Taiwan Straits are not willing to go to war. But if one day war breaks out, #Taiwan secessionists would be the chief criminal,” and “Don’t say you have not been forewarned,” reads an article published by People’s Daily.
Kushner Owed Money To Bank Tied To Taiwan’s Government During WH Tenure
Jared Kushner owed money to a bank with ties to Taiwan’s government while working at the White House, according to a new book by Forbes’ senior editor Dan Alexander, White House, Inc., signaling a possible conflict that was never reported due to a loophole in disclosure laws and one that could have implications for the country’s diplomatic relationships with Taiwan and China.
Kushner and his partners bought an old warehouse in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, called the Austin Nichols House in 2015 for a reported $275 million and turned it into a luxury condo building.
The deal came witha $175 million mortgage on the property held by Kushner and his partners; a 2017 split left a bank called Mega International Commercial Bank 兆丰银行 with $50 million of the loan, according to financial documents reviewed by Alexander.
The loan documents specifically name Kushner as one of the two guarantors of the debt.
丁怡铭9月23日回应掩饰这是“公开借贷”，搪塞“不是什么密帐或利益交换，这本书的作者可能搞错了”。对此，曾任台湾“金管会”“主委”的国民党“立委”曾铭宗质疑兆丰银行为何后来突然承接贷款，提出三个疑点。
曾铭宗质问：“兆丰是上市金融机构，基于公司管理及对投资人的保护，应该说清楚三点疑虑。首先，这笔贷款早在2015年5月开始，为何一开始没参贷的兆丰，2年后突然承接贷款。其次，总贷款金额为1.75亿美元，兆丰就参贷了5000万美元，贷款比例相对很高，这与过往参与国际联贷的惯例是否有差距？再者，看起来库什纳应该是以企业方式贷款，兆丰在参贷时，是否知情库什纳在这家公司的持股比例。”
据知情人士表示，库什纳在借贷公司持股极可能连5%都不到，“蓝委”赖士葆也质疑，这笔巨额借贷是否有经过兆丰银行董事会决议、利息有多少、有无吃亏等？兆丰银行都应作出说明。“桌面下还有多少金钱交易？！”岛内民众痛斥：“这贷款是由兆丰银行借出的，兆丰银行不吭声，却由民进党当局行政机构出面，不打自招！贷款是政治决定的！台湾民众的存款是给民进党做公关的！”
Ryukyu Scops-owl
The Ryūkyū scops-owl or elegant scops-owl (Otus elegans) is a small rufous-brown owl with a brown face disk and a cinnamon facial ruff. The bill is olive-grey and it has yellow eyes.
It is found on the Ryukyu Islands of southern Japan, on Lanyu Island off south-east Taiwan, and on the Batanes and Babuyan Islands off northern Luzon, Philippines, in tropical or subtropical evergreen forest. It is becoming rare due to habitat loss.
Taiwan’s OTT-TV ban politicizes cultural interactions with the mainland
The economic affairs authority of Taiwan launched a new rule targeting technology giants iQIYI and Tencent from carrying out “illegal operations” in Taiwan without an official license, which experts said is a move that reflects Taiwan Democratic Progressive Party’s desire to follow in the US footsteps and create problems via political manipulation in an attempt to diverge from the mainland.
The authority has given OTT-TV 14 days notice, after which the plan will be officially announced on September 3, according to a statement by the Taiwanese economic affairs authorities on Tuesday.
An OTT media service is a streaming media service offered directly to viewers via the internet, meaning it bypasses cable, broadcast, and satellite television platforms, and therefore any local controls too.
In July this year, the Taiwan communications authorities adopted draft measures on the management of internet audio-visual services to cater to OTT service providers both in and outside the region. Such an approach is considered an attack on OTT practitioners on the mainland, and has also been referred to as “iQIYI, Tencent terms” in Taiwan.
Story of a lost Siberian crane
一部由生態工程專家邱銘源先生所拍的「西伯利亞迷失小白鶴與老農夫的故事」影片，獲得網友的共鳴，邱銘源先生把這則真實的故事，由一隻鳥改變了一個農夫，也稍稍的改變了一塊濕地的未來，讓生態保育延續，啟發了現代人生活在「富裕」的環境中，應有的覺醒，也喚回台灣最美麗的風景。 影片講述:西伯利亞白鶴，在過去1、2百年從沒有在台灣落腳，它第一次出現，它是全世界十幾種鶴裡面，最危急、最危險頻臨滅絕的物種，全世界大槪只有4、5千隻而已。 2014年底，一隻西伯利亞小白鶴迷途到金山，兩個老農夫無私的提供農地做為白鶴的家，因為白鶴來到，老人開始放水復耕，讓小白鶴有夠的食物，甚至為了它的安全開始不用農藥，金山也開始推動友善的農業，新北市政府甚至還派了保全來保護小白鶴的安全. 一隻鳥改變了一個農夫，也稍稍的改變了一塊濕地的未來，老農夫與白鶴情同祖孫，每天相依為命，人與鳥的畫面，成為蓮花田裡面最美麗的風景，颱風侵襲台灣時，老農夫不斷叮嚀小鶴要注意安全. 小白鶴蹺家弗到松山車站，老農夫更是擔心得三天睡不著覺，(後來被台北市動保處抓回去)，老農很想帶著魚蝦去望它，擔心它一被終身監禁一關就是90年，最後在動物園及大家的努力下，小白鶴終於回到了金山. 漸漸的它長大了，也開始懷念家鄉，懷念它的爸爸媽媽，經了521天等待，它終於鼓起勇氣高飛，踏上歸鄉的路，老農在小鶴離開後，決定擴大友善耕作面積，到2018年，在大家的努力下，金山已增加了20倍的友善耕作面積，所有人都希望白鶴能帶著它的家人，回到這片充滿思念的土地，這是一隻鳥、一群人奮力改變台灣美麗的故事。」
永久網址: https://www.travelnews.tw/news/?p=112502
F-16 fighter jet deal deemed another US provocation amid rising Taiwan Straits tensions
The island of Taiwan has formally signed an agreement with US arms firm Lockheed Martin to buy 66 F-16V fighter jets, reports said on Saturday, further raising tensions in the Taiwan Straits, and coming just two days after the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) announced large-scale drills in response to US provocations and Taiwan secessionist activities.
While the deal was approved by the Trump administration last year and a formal signing was expected to take place sooner or later, its announcement at this particular time is believed to be yet another US provocation and a step on the red line of the Taiwan question, which further risks confrontation, Chinese mainland experts said on Saturday, adding that the PLA is aiming not only to deter, but also to hone its capability of launching military action when necessary.
A Pentagon announcement on Thursday said Lockheed Martin has been awarded a $62 billion, 10-year contract for the production of F-16s for foreign military sale, and the initial delivery order is for 90 aircraft.
The Pentagon did not reveal the buyers of the fighter jets, but media outlets including Bloomberg and AFP reported on Friday that the deal includes Taiwan’s approved purchase of 66 F-16s.
The deal would involve 66 of the F-16V, the latest version of the F-16 fighter jet, costing $8 billion, reports said at that time the deal was initially approved.