Fri, Oct 17, 2025
‘CONFIDENCE BOOSTER’: The combined effect of the proposed bills would improve Taiwan’s defense posture and give it additional diplomatic space, the chamber said A series of US government actions aimed at deepening ties with Taipei and expanding its participation in international organizations are important for regional stability and investor confidence, the American Chamber of Commerce in Taiwan (AmCham) said yesterday in a statement published on its Web si
The Ministry of National Defense has proposed a budget of NT$8.1 billion (US$264.14 million) to procure T112 rifles as the army’s new standard infantry weapon from next year through 2029, Legislative Yuan documents showed.Lawmakers today are scheduled to begin reviewing the budget request for 86,114
At least one man was killed in violence at a rally in Peru’s capital on Wednesday, said Peruvian President Jose Jeri, whose accession days ago has failed to stamp out angry protests against the political class in the South American nation.The Peruvian Ombudsman’s Office said that 102 people were inj
A ceasefire along the frontier between Afghanistan and Pakistan was holding yesterday, officials on both sides said, after dozens of troops and civilians were killed in cross-border clashes.In Spin Boldak, a focal point of clashes on the Afghan side, a journalist saw shops reopening and residents re
ONLINE SCRUTINY: Efforts to amend the law would improve following reports of foreign interference in the KMT election depending on who wins, a source said The National Security Bureau (NSB) yesterday said it has found more than 1,200 TikTok and YouTube videos, mostly from overseas accounts, discussing the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairperson election, prompting the Executive Yuan to review legal measures to counter foreign interference in elect
FORCED LABOR: A US court listed three Taiwanese and nine firms based in Taiwan in its indictment, with eight of the companies registered at the same address Nine companies registered in Taiwan, as well as three Taiwanese, on Tuesday were named by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) as Specially Designated Nationals (SDNs) as a result of a US federal court indictment.The indictment unsealed at the federal court in
Taiwan's pavilion at this year's Frankfurt Book Fair opened yesterday, showcasing works by six "featured authors" grouped under the theme of death, ghosts and deities.German translations of the featured authors' works are available for purchase, alongside a diverse selection of titles from Taiwanese
Taichung prosecutors today said they have indicted five suspects on charges of manufacturing narcotics, after 1,756kg of ketamine was seized with a street value of NT$1.5 billion (US$48.84 million) from a factory in Changhua County. The Criminal Investigation Bureau said it received intelligence in
Local authorities closed off the section of Provincial Highway No. 8 between the entrance to Taroko National Park and Tianxiang (天祥) in Hualien County at 1:30pm today and evacuated 800 people, citing concerns that a roadside barrier lake could overflow or collapse as early as 6pm.The dam and lake ar
The primary cause for turbid coastal waters in Kenting’s (墾丁) Nanwan (南灣) was heavy rain in July and August, the Kenting National Park Headquarters said today.The remarks came after Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators Chen Ching-hui (陳菁徽) and Su Ching-chuan (蘇清泉) yesterday suggested that the
Taiwan’s first Drag Queen Banquet brought together 10 drag queens, including event organizer Sandra Hoe, four go-go boys and a pole dancer, to perform for a sold-out 42-table banquet at Songshan Fengtian Temple (松山奉天宮) on Sunday.Organizers Sandra Hoe and Heart Fang (方心), who run the drag event platf
The 60th Golden Bell Awards, often described as Taiwan's equivalent of the Emmys for television programs, are to be presented tonight, featuring five highlights to watch for.Emotional reunion of 'Kangsi' duoTalk show hostess Dee Hsu (徐熙娣, also known as Little S), who is nominated for Best Host in a
Taiwan Lottery Co today unveiled two new scratch card games that are to offer a total of more than NT$1.01 billion (US$32.91 million) in prizes.The company said in a statement that the two games, Prosperity All the Way (一路發) and Joyous Bingo (歡樂賓果), feature more than 3.57 million prizes combined, wi
The Legislative Yuan today passed the third and final reading of an NT$550 billion (US$17.93 billion) special budget act to counter the effects of US tariffs, including universal cash handouts of NT$10,000. President William Lai (賴清德) is expected to promulgate the bill next week, Minister of Finance
The Czech Judges’ Association this week presented a statement on Taiwan’s behalf at the International Association of Judges’ (IAJ) annual meeting in Baku, Azerbaijan, after six Taiwanese judges were blocked from attending the meeting due to Chinese interference.In its statement, the Judges Associati
‘DRAMATIC AND POSITIVE’: AI growth would be better than it previously forecast and would stay robust even if the Chinese market became inaccessible for customers, it said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday raised its full-year revenue growth outlook after posting record profit for last quarter, despite growing market concern about an artificial intelligence (AI) bubble.The company said it expects revenue to expand about 35 percent year-on-yea
RECYCLE: Taiwan would aid manufacturers in refining rare earths from discarded appliances, which would fit the nation’s circular economy goals, minister Kung said Taiwan would work with the US and Japan on a proposed cooperation initiative in response to Beijing’s newly announced rare earth export curbs, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said yesterday.China last week announced new restrictions requiring companies to obtain export licenses if
Taiwan’s top-tier wealth management market, DBS Bank Taiwan (星展台灣) announced the launch of DBS Treasures Private Client (星展頂級私人客戶), marking the completion of its ultimate wealth management blueprint.Tailored for ultra-high-net-worth clients with assets of NT$100 million (US$3.26 million) or more, th
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has its chairperson election tomorrow. Although the party has long positioned itself as “China friendly,” the election is overshadowed by “an overwhelming wave of Chinese intervention.”The six candidates vying for the chair are former Taipei mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍
Two short videos have been circulating on social media, one an artificial intelligence (AI)-generated video depicting Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chair candidate Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) on stage kissing KMT Taipei City Councilor Liu Tsai-wei (柳采葳), and the other a viral Douyin remix of various clips
Ahead of this year’s UN Climate Change Conference in Belem, Brazil, the question of climate action once again becomes closely aligned with emissions reductions and the encouragement of renewable energy. However, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), UN-published goals for all UN member states, h
HIT AND RUN: Toronto manager John Schneider got his wish that his team ‘find some slug in the air out here,’ as the Blue Jays combined to total 611m of homers Tired in Toronto, the Blue Jays slugged in Seattle. Vladimir Guerrero Jr and George Springer on Wednesday woke up the Jays, as Toronto hit five home runs to rebound from an early deficit, routing the Mariners 13-4 and closing to 2-1 in the American League Championship Series (ALCS).Toronto had 18 hi
Japan’s elite sumo wrestlers slapped, thrust and flipped their way through the first evening of their five-day exhibition tournament at London’s Royal Albert Hall on Wednesday, to the delight of a full house of spectators.After a ceremony-heavy start and some lively explanations for first-time watch
The Ministry of Sports on Wednesday night called for the Chinese Taipei Football Association (CTFA) to address issues in Taiwanese soccer after national manager Huang Che-ming on Tuesday resigned following Taiwan’s elimination in AFC Asian Cup qualifiers.Taiwan on Tuesday were thrashed 6-1 by Thaila
Australian four-time Olympic gold medalist Ariarne Titmus yesterday retired from competitive swimming at the age of 25, ending a stellar career that featured one of the sport’s great rivalries with American Katie Ledecky.Titmus bowed out as one of Australia’s most decorated athletes with eight Olymp
‘UNDER CONTROL’: The US president said he was weighing up whether to expand US military action against alleged Venezuelan drug cartels to include land operations US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said that he had authorized covert CIA action against Venezuela and was considering strikes against alleged drug cartels on land in the South American country.Trump’s comments prompted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to decry “coups d’etat orchestrated by t
‘OBLIGATION’: Itay Chen, Matan Angrest and Daniel Peretz were on a tank crew when they were taken hostage on Oct. 7, 2023. Only Angrest returned alive Two hostages released by Hamas were reunited on Wednesday in a Jerusalem cemetery for a final goodbye.Surrounded by hundreds of mourners, Matan Angrest, who had returned to Israel just two days earlier, stood before the freshly dug grave cradling his 22-year-old commander, Captain Daniel Peretz, and
A missing fingertip offers a clue to Mako Nishimura’s criminal past as one of Japan’s few female yakuza, but after clawing her way out of the underworld, she now spends her days helping other retired gangsters reintegrate into society.The multibillion-dollar yakuza organized crime network has long r
Taiwan is one of the world’s greatest per-capita consumers of seafood. Whereas the average human is thought to eat around 20kg of seafood per year, each Taiwanese gets through 27kg to 35kg of ocean delicacies annually, depending on which source you find most credible. Given the ubiquity of dishes li
The captain of the giant Royal Navy battleship called his officers together to give them a first morsel of one of World War II’s most closely guarded secrets: Prepare yourselves, he said, for “an extremely important task.”“Speculations abound,” one of the officers wrote in his diary that day — June
Guillermo del Toro has been telling monster stories for as long as he’s been making films. A romantic with keen appreciation for the macabre, his creations are things of strange beauty, haunting, poetic and unforgettable. It’s no wonder his earliest love was Frankenstein, first the Boris Karloff fil
A: Is K-pop still popular now?B: Sure! The 110,000 tickets for supergroup Blackpink’s two shows to be held this weekend were all snatched up within three minutes.A: Apart from Blackpink, what other K-pop stars are visiting?B: I-dle’s Taiwanese member Yeh Shu-hua, King of K-pop G-Dragon, and Supe
A: K-pop supergroup Blackpink is finally touring Taiwan again.B: I can’t believe we’re going to Blackpink’s concert at the Kaohsiung National Stadium over this weekend.A: The group has caused a global sensation since it went international in 2020.B: And the four members — Jisoo, Jennie, Rose and
Many popular English expressions originate from the world of sports. While their roots lie in athletics, their meanings extend far beyond the playing field. Here are three examples.Hat TrickThis expression comes from cricket. When a bowler dismisses a batter, it’s called “taking a wicket.” Taking th
Two moves show Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) is gunning for Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) party chair and the 2028 presidential election. Technically, these are not yet “officially” official, but by the rules of Taiwan politics, she is now on the dance floor. Earlier this month Lu confirmed in an interview in Japan’s Nikkei that she was considering running for KMT chair. This is not new news, but according to reports from her camp she previously was still considering the case for and against running. By choosing a respected, international news outlet, she declared it to the world. While the outside world likely paid little attention, domestically the message was unmistakable: She is moving on to a larger stage. Part of the dance is to leave options open before formally committing, and with the chair race due in late September, she has time. If something goes wrong in the meantime, or if power brokers in the party offer her a deal that provides more benefits than taking on the role of chair, she can pivot accordingly. Earlier this year, I suggested that strategically, she would be better off concentrating on her job as Taichung mayor until she is term-limited out of office in December next year. Taichung mayor is obviously a full-time job, and concurrently running the Taipei-headquartered party runs the risk of doing one or both jobs poorly and making mistakes that could imperil her shot at the presidency in 2028. The situation has changed. Current KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), knowing he is likely to face challengers of a higher caliber than the three relative nobodies already declared, has gone all in on appealing to the base. The base is more likely to turn out to vote in the chair election, so this makes some strategic sense in the short term.
Among Thailand’s Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) villages, a certain rivalry exists between Arunothai, the largest of these villages, and Mae Salong, which is currently the most prosperous. Historically, the rivalry stems from a split in KMT military factions in the early 1960s, which divided command and opium territories after Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) cut off open support in 1961 due to international pressure (see part two, “The KMT opium lords of the Golden Triangle,” on May 20). But today this rivalry manifests as a different kind of split, with Arunothai leading a pro-China faction and Mae Salong staunchly aligned to Taiwan. Last spring at Arunothai’s Jiaolian School, principal Wang Mingming (王明明) had forewarned me of the division between villages, saying, “We are not like the people in Mae Salong. They are rich. Because of the Taiwanese.” Arunothai has in recent years become split in its loyalties between Taiwan and China (see part one, “A tale of two schools,” on May 15), but in Mae Salong, links to Taiwan remain strong. Taiwan-funded monuments pay homage to the Lost Army, villagers wear T-shirts emblazoned with the Republic of China (ROC) flag and tea plantations grown Taiwan’s most famous tea varieties, including Dong Ding (“frozen peak”) Oolong, Oriental Beauty and Jin Xuan (Golden Daylily or Milk Oolong). Even the numerical classifications of the teas — Oolong No. 12 or No. 17, for example — are the same, and the shops resemble those found on Alishan. At the tomb of General Tuan Hsi-wen (段希文) — perched on a Mae Salong hilltop with a view of his ancestral homeland in China’s Yunnan province — a third generation villager wearing a vintage KMT army uniform, Yan Si-Chung (岩思中), greets visitors with sharp military salutes. “Both my father and my grandfather were soldiers in the KMT army,” the 44-year-old
| New Taipei City | 27-28 | 20% |  |
| Hsinchu County | 26-27 | 10% | |
| Hsinchu City | 26-27 | 10% | |
| Taipei City | 27-28 | 20% |  |
| Miaoli County | 24-26 | 10% | |
| Taoyuan City | 26-27 | 10% | |
| Keelung City | 27-28 | 20% | |
| Yunlin County | 26-27 | 10% | |
| Taichung City | 26-28 | 10% | |
| Nantou County | 25-26 | 10% | |
| Changhua County | 27-28 | 10% | |
| Chiayi County | 26-27 | 10% | |
| Chiayi City | 25-27 | 10% | |
| Tainan City | 27-28 | 10% | |
| Kaohsiung City | 27-28 | 10% | |
| Pingtung County | 26-27 | 10% | |
| Yilan County | 25-26 | 30% |  |
| Hualien County | 25-26 | 30% | |
| Taitung County | 25-27 | 30% | |
| Kinmen County | 27-28 | 10% | |
| Penghu County | 27-27 | 20% | |
| Lienchiang County | 27-28 | 20% | |
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