Wed, Oct 29, 2025
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi yesterday lavished US President Donald Trump with praise and vows of a “golden age” of ties on his visit to Tokyo, before inking a deal with Washington aimed at securing critical minerals.Takaichi — Japan’s first female prime minister — pulled out all the stops
US policy toward Taiwan “has not changed one bit,” a senior US Department of State official said yesterday, as US President Donald Trump prepares to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in South Korea.Regarding Taiwan, the official said that US policy “hasn’t changed one bit” and remains anc
National Health Insurance outpatient co-payments for people visiting large hospitals for minor health issues without a referral could increase significantly later next year, an official said yesterday.A proposal to raise the nonreferred co-payment at medical centers to NT$1,200 (US$39.18), from NT$
LIKELY TO LINGER: The hurricane was creeping along at human walking pace, meaning there would be no quick relief once it hits, the Red Cross said Hurricane Melissa yesterday was only hours away from expected landfall on Jamaica, bringing devastating flooding and winds that officials warn would smash the small Caribbean nation’s infrastructure.Evacuations were under way as the slow-moving Category 5 storm — potentially the biggest ever to hit
COUNTERING CHINA: The US engaged in more strategic dialogues and information exchanges with Taiwan, seeking to unite democratic allies to counteract Chinese forces, the bureau said. The US held at least 15 military drills jointly with its Indo-Pacific allies over the past four months to counteract the Russia-China military coalition and Chinese expansion in the region, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said in a report delivered to the legislature yesterday.The bureau is to re
‘GREAT ALLY’: The US president today is expected to meet new Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi before making a speech on an aircraft carrier Optimism grew yesterday that US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) would end their bruising trade war in talks this week, as the US president touched down in Tokyo on the latest leg of an Asian tour.Trump said en route to close US ally Japan that he was hopeful of a deal w
‘LONG-ARM JURISDICTION’: The CCP has no jurisdiction over Taiwan, and its so-called laws and regulations have no binding force on Taiwanese, the MAC said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday condemned China’s attempt to assert jurisdiction over Taiwan, after Chinese authorities launched an investigation into Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Puma Shen (沈柏洋) for “secession.”Shen and United Microelectronics Corp founder Robert Tsao
DEFENDING FREEDOM: Taiwanese love peace and helping others, and hope to be a positive force in the world, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim told ‘Weltspiegel’ Taiwan is making every effort to prevent war in the face of China’s hybrid coercion tactics and military threats, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said in an interview with German public broadcaster ARD’s program Weltspiegel that aired on Monday.Taiwan is not seeking provocation or intending to di
A meeting on Monday to discuss reconstruction efforts in Hualien County’s flood-hit Guangfu Township (光復) descended into chaos after being interrupted by the county council speaker, who protested not being invited.The meeting, held at the Dahua Activity Center in Guangfu, was organized by Chinese Na
The Formosa Club, a cross-party alliance of European legislators established to strengthen ties with Taiwan, held its annual summit in Taipei this week to demonstrate solidarity with the nation.“We are gathered as a representative of the Formosa Club, an international cross-party platform of legisla
Presidential adviser Lin Hsin-i (林信義), Taiwan’s envoy to this year’s APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting in Gyeongju, South Korea, departed yesterday morning to attend the two-day event that begins on Friday.Before boarding his flight at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Lin said Taiwan would showcas
A large majority of Taiwanese support the building of a “T-Dome” for air defense, and agree that China should renounce the use of force to change the “status quo,” the latest public opinion survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) showed.In the survey, 81.8 percent of respondents disagr
MORE TO COME? An official said another wave of flu infections might occur in mid to late December, with cases expected to be higher than the current wave The second phase of government-funded COVID-19 and influenza vaccinations is to begin on Saturday, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, adding that there have been 18 cases of severe enterovirus infection this year, including 15 newborns, the highest number in six years.CDC Epidemic
The Legislature on Tuesday passed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act that raise the fines for driving a motor vehicle or riding a motorcycle without a valid license.Under the amendments, unlicensed motorcyclists face fines ranging from NT$18,000 (US$587) to NT$36,000, while un
INVESTIGATION ENDS: Prosecutors said that the suspect had a poor attitude after the incident and it sought a seven-year sentence to serve as a warning A seven-year prison term is being sought for a man who allegedly sexually assaulted a drunk woman in a concourse of Taipei Railway Station on Oct. 9, the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday.The office said it had concluded its investigation and the suspect, surnamed Chiu (邱), was indi
YEAR-END BOOST: The holiday shopping season in the US and Europe, combined with rising demand for AI applications, is expected to drive exports to a new high, the NDC said Taiwan’s business climate monitor improved last month, transitioning from steady growth for the first time in five months, as robust global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) products and new iPhone shipments boosted exports and corporate sales, the National Development Council (NDC) said yeste
BREAKTHROUGH TECH: Powertech expects its fan-out PLP system to become mainstream, saying it can offer three-times greater production throughput Chip packaging service provider Powertech Technology Inc (力成科技) plans to more than double its capital expenditures next year to more than NT$40 billion (US$1.31 billion) as demand for its new panel-level packaging (PLP) technology, primarily used in chips for artificial intelligence (AI) application
The DBS Foundation yesterday announced the launch of two flagship programs, “Silver Motion” and “Happier Caregiver, Healthier Seniors,” in partnership with CCILU Ltd, Hondao Senior Citizens’ Welfare Foundation and the Garden of Hope Foundation to help Taiwan face the challenges of a rapidly aging po
The government and local industries breathed a sigh of relief after Shin Kong Life Insurance Co last week said it would relinquish surface rights for two plots in Taipei’s Beitou District (北投) to Nvidia Corp. The US chip-design giant’s plan to expand its local presence will be crucial for Taiwan to
US President Donald Trump has announced his eagerness to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un while in South Korea for the APEC summit. That implies a possible revival of US-North Korea talks, frozen since 2019. While some would dismiss such a move as appeasement, renewed US engagement with North Ko
Taiwan’s labor force participation rate among people aged 65 or older was only 9.9 percent for 2023 — far lower than in other advanced countries, Ministry of Labor data showed. The rate is 38.3 percent in South Korea, 25.7 percent in Japan and 31.5 percent in Singapore. On the surface, it might look
RECORD: Veteran Lin Hung-yu, at 39 years and 219 days old, became the oldest player to record four hits in a Taiwan Series game and was picked the Game MVP The Rakuten Monkeys on Monday outlasted the CTBC Brothers 9-7 in Game 5 of the CPBL’s Taiwan Series in Taichung to capture the championship. The title marked the Monkeys franchise’s eighth CPBL championship and the first since Rakuten took over the team in 2020. It was also only the second time in l
Freddie Freeman on Monday blasted a walk-off home run in a record-equaling 18-inning MLB World Series classic to give the Los Angeles Dodgers a 6-5 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays. Freeman — who smashed an iconic walk-off grand slam in the Dodgers’ World Series win over the New York Yankees last
Hundreds of Turkish soccer referees, including some officiating at national level, have bet on matches despite not being allowed to do so, the president of the country’s soccer federation said on Monday. An investigation into 571 referees showed that “371 have betting accounts and 152 actively bet,”
One hundred days before the start of the Winter Olympics, it is too early for the weather forecast, but one thing is certain — there will be artificial snow, much to the dismay of environmental activists. After three Winter Games criticized for being in traditionally non-ski areas — Sochi, Russia (2
SECRETIVE SECT: Tetsuya Yamagami was said to have held a grudge against the Unification Church for bankrupting his family after his mother donated about ￥100m The gunman accused of killing former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe yesterday pleaded guilty, three years after the assassination in broad daylight shocked the world.The slaying forced a reckoning in a nation with little experience of gun violence, and ignited scrutiny of alleged ties between pr
The latest climate pledges by governments would cause global greenhouse gas emissions to start to fall in the next 10 years, but not nearly fast enough to prevent worsening climate change and extreme weather, the UN said yesterday.The analysis by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC
DEADLY PREDATORS: In New South Wales, smart drumlines — anchored buoys with baited hooks — send an alert when a shark bites, allowing the sharks to be tagged High above Sydney’s beaches, drones seek one of the world’s deadliest predators, scanning for the flick of a tail, the swish of a fin or a shadow slipping through the swell.Australia’s oceans are teeming with sharks, with great whites topping the list of species that might fatally chomp a human.Unde
President William Lai (賴清德) has championed Taiwan as an “AI Island” — an artificial intelligence (AI) hub powering the global tech economy. But without major shifts in talent, funding and strategic direction, this vision risks becoming a static fortress: indispensable, yet immobile and vulnerable. I
Defeating Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is critical to restraining China in the Indo-Pacific, Finland’s defence minister has said, warning Europe and democratic partners, including Australia, face a fight of global consequences.Antti Hakkanen praised Donald Trump’s decision to impose sanctions on two
The older you get, and the more obsessed with your health, the more it feels as if life comes down to numbers: how many more years you can expect; your lean body mass; your percentage of visceral fat; how dense your bones are; how many kilos you can squat; how long you can deadhang; how often you st
Have you ever seen a circular intersection where cars continuously flow in one direction around a central island? That is a “roundabout,” a well-known alternative to traditional intersections. Drivers enter and exit at different points without relying on traffic lights. Their primary purpose is to i
Pigs that are resistant to a deadly viral disease have been created by scientists at Edinburgh’s Roslin Institute.The gene-edited animals remained healthy when exposed to classical swine fever (CSF), a highly contagious and often fatal disease. The virus was eradicated in the UK in 1966, but there h
對話 Dialogue清清：明天我想請一天假。Qīngqing: Míngtiān wǒ xiǎng qǐng yì tiān jià.華華：為什麼？這個月的假已經很多了，你還要請假啊？Huáhua: Wèishénme? Zhège yuè de jià yǐjīng hěn duō le, nǐ háiyào qǐngjià a?清清：因為明天是農曆九月初九重陽節，重陽節是老人節，我想陪我阿公阿嬤去爬山，而且家裡也要拜祖先，請假比較方便。Qīngqing: Yīnwèi míngtiān shì nónglì jiǔ yuè chū jiǔ Chóngyáng Jié, Chóngyáng
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% | |
RSS