Found out from our firm's Bloomberg finance terminal. "Technical Problems" blamed. Not able to cut & paste from that system.

-- worker bee (not@now.later), July 29, 1999

Answers

Here's a link:

http://www.newsday.com/a p/rnmpin1h.htm

Taiwan Experiences Power Outage

TAIPEI (AP) -- A widespread blackout in Taiwan left millions of residents without electricity early Friday and caused chaos on roads after traffic lights went out. Officials of the state-run Taiwan Power Co. said they were not sure what caused the outage, which began late Thursday and also reportedly affected Taiwanese-held Kinmen island near China's coast. Some southern regions of Taiwan reportedly still had power.

Government spokesman Chen Chien-Jen said officials were working to find the cause of the blackout and restore power.

The outage followed growing tensions between Taiwan and China and rumors among Taiwanese that Beijing was planning an attack on the island, which it considers a renegade province.

The tensions hit a three-year high over Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui's declaration earlier this month that China and Taiwan should deal with each other on a ``state-to-state'' basis.

That brought a renewed threat from Beijing to use force to reunify Taiwan with the Chinese mainland.

-- Deborah (infowars@yahoo.com), July 29, 1999.

EMP blast maybe?

-- (???@???.???), July 29, 1999.

EMP? Impossible. The whole world would have feaked out if China (or anyone, for that matter) detonated a nuke high above Taiwan. We would be on the hairy edge of WWIII at this very moment if that were the case. Second, it's unlikely the effects of an EMP blast could be so tightly focused on such a small place as the island of Formosa.

-- Prometheus (fire@for.man), July 29, 1999.

Cyberterrorism? Cyberwar?

-- Deborah (infowars@yahoo.com), July 29, 1999.

<<<>>>

You certaintly do not need a nuclear device to generate a EMP. There are hand held devices that will gererate EMP.

So not impossible just highly unlikely.

-- John Beck (eurisko111@aol.com), July 29, 1999.

Wet squirrel?

-- lisa (lisa@work.now), July 29, 1999.

Additionally there is a fine magnetic powder which can be dropped accross the lines much like a crop duster would. This then frys the system. We used it in Yugo recently.

Great stuff. Ah, we live in interesting times.

Maybe we sold the dust to the Chinese? Why not givem everything, all our nukes, the panama canal and some electro buster dust. And maybe a couple of interns to top it all off resplendent with thongs and cigars.....

Traitor, Rapist, Liar, President

What has become of our country?

-- Gordon (g_gecko_69@hotmail.com), July 29, 1999.

It could very well just be old fashioned sabotage. It seems reasonable that Chinese intelligence would have spies and saboteurs in every Taiwanese industry.

-- Prometheus (fire@for.man), July 29, 1999.

Taiwan is a small country, geographically, which makes them vulnerable, especially considering that Asia is even more centrally beauracratised than we are, if that's possible.

-- Forrest Covington (theforrest@mindspring.com), July 29, 1999.

http://www.newsday.com/a p/rnmpin00.htm

.....The outage may have been triggered by accidents at a power stations near Chiaming and Lungchi, in south-central Chiayi county, 125 miles south of Taipei, Premier Vincent Siew told a news conference. The outage knocked out electricity around the island, Siew said.

A Taipower spokesman said initial investigations ruled out the possibility that Chinese sabotage or crashed computers had caused the outage.

Two of Taiwan's three nuclear power plants, which altogether generate about 30 percent of the island's electricity, were knocked out by the mass outage and were gradually being brought back on line, Taipower said.(snip)

-- Deborah (infowars@yahoo.com), July 29, 1999.

Gordon, I believe the new weapon you are thinking of (that was used by NATO air forces on Serbia) makes use of electrically conductive fibers of carbon.

www.y2ksafeminnesota.com

-- MinnesotaSmith (y2ksafeminnesota@hotmail.com), July 29, 1999.

I wish Klinton would have given the Chinese some wet squirrels!

Another 'one-line' classic! LOL Lisa! :)

-- Will continue (farming@home.com), July 29, 1999.