Sat, Jul 26, 2025
COMPLIANCE NEEDED: The immigration agency said that of the more than 140,000 Chinese spouses approved for residency, 5,404 had not submitted the certificates The Ministry of the Interior (MOI) is proposing new regulations that would require Chinese nationals seeking residency in Taiwan to prove that they have relinquished their Chinese household registration and passport.In accordance with the national security strategies announced by President William L
Recall votes are to take place today, with nearly 6.79 million voters across nine counties and cities eligible to vote to determine whether 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators retain or lose their positions, the Central Election Commission (CEC) said.Hsinchu City residents are also voting
Iranian and European diplomats met yesterday in Istanbul to embark on the latest drive to unpick the deadlock over Tehran’s nuclear program.Representatives from the UK, France and Germany, known as the E3 nations, gathered at the Iranian consulate building for talks centered on the possibility of re
Hong Kong police announced bounties yesterday for information leading to the arrest of 19 overseas activists, accusing them of national security crimes.Political dissent in Hong Kong has been quashed since Beijing imposed a sweeping National Security Law in 2020 after huge, sometimes violent pro-dem
LETTER, FLAG FLAP: A Chinese man and woman reportedly tried to snatch a letter meant for Taiwanese winners, while China’s team took offense at a Taiwanese flag President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday condemned an alleged attempt by two Chinese to snatch a letter of congratulations handed to Taiwan’s taekwondo team after they won silver at the Summer World University Games in Germany on Wednesday.A Chinese man and woman reportedly tried to snatch a congratula
‘BEACON OF DEMOCRACY’: An official said that a coast guard deal signed with the African nation would boost maritime security cooperation with other democracies President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday met with Somaliland Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Abdirahman Dahir Adam Bakal, expressing hopes to deepen bilateral ties and fulfill the strategic goal of a “non-red” Somaliland shoreline.Lai met with a delegation led by Bakal in the
‘HIGH’ STANDARDS: Australian experts were positive after inspecting Taiwan’s guava production facilities, disease management and post-harvest processing Taiwan could start exporting guavas to Australia within a year, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency said yesterday.The Australian Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry on Monday last week released a draft risk assessment report for Taiwanese guava exports to the country, the ag
BULLYING: The decision came after public outrage over NTNU’s earlier decision to simply freeze the salary of the teacher, who forced students to give blood samples National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) has decided to dismiss Chou Tai-ying (周台英), the university’s long-time women’s varsity soccer coach, over her improper handling of blood sampling for research projects involving student athletes.The university said in a brief statement yesterday that after co
A fishery association yesterday urged the government to verify a source and seek assistance for a search after a message in a bottle related to a missing Taiwanese fishing boat captain was recently found off the coast of Ireland.The family of the missing captain, surnamed Lee (李), has been informed
China Airlines yesterday said that it would launch direct flights between Taipei and Phoenix, Arizona, on Dec. 3, becoming the first Asian airline to serve the city in the southwestern US.The route would operate three times a week using Airbus A350-900 aircraft, and flights would depart Taiwan Taoyu
Taiwan last year posted its best average TOEIC score since the English-proficiency test was offered in the nation in 2001, Taipei-based exam service company Chun Shin said earlier this month.Taiwanese averaged 581 — out of a maximum of 990 — on the test, formerly known as the Test of English for Int
PREPAREDNESS: The nation’s whole-of-society resilience initiative plays a crucial role in enhancing defense readiness and deepening cooperation with the US, Lin Fei-fan said The government’s whole-of-society resilience program is crucial to deepening Taiwan-US strategic cooperation, National Security Council Deputy Secretary-General Lin Fei-fan (林飛帆) said yesterday in an interview with the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper). Taiwan’s national resolve to defe
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday welcomed the EU’s support for peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President Antonio Costa and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas met
US NEGOTIATIONS: Zero-tariff US rice imports could harm Taiwan’s rice industry, farming groups said, while urging reforms to the public grain purchasing system As Taiwan enters the fourth round of tariff negotiations with the US, domestic farming groups issued a joint statement yesterday warning that importing cheap US rice under a zero-tariff arrangement would flood the market and cause irreversible harm to Taiwan’s rice industry.The statement also called
Instead of threatening tariffs on Taiwan-made chips, the US should try to reinforce cooperation with Taiwan on semiconductor development to take on challenges from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), a Taiwanese think tank said. The administration of US President Donald Trump has threatened to imp
‘REMARKABLE SHOWING’: The economy likely grew 5 percent in the first half of the year, although it would likely taper off significantly, TIER economist Gordon Sun said The Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER) yesterday raised Taiwan’s GDP growth forecast for this year to 3.02 percent, citing robust export-driven expansion in the first half that is likely to give way to a notable slowdown later in the year as the front-loading of global shipments fades.The
SMART MANUFACTURING: The company aims to have its production close to the market end, but attracting investment is still a challenge, the firm’s president said Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said its long-term global production plan would stay unchanged amid geopolitical and tariff policy uncertainties, citing its diversified global deployment.With operations in Taiwan, Thailand, China, India, Europe and the US, Delta follows a “produce at the marke
Dynapack International Technology Corp (順達), which makes lithium battery packs used in notebook computers and backup battery units (BBU) for servers powered by Nvidia Corp chips, yesterday cut its revenue forecast to an annual decline of up to 20 percent, attributable to adverse impact from strong a
The US House of Representatives on Friday last week passed the Department of Defense Appropriations Act for Fiscal 2026, which includes US$500 million in aid for Taiwan.The bill passed with overwhelming support, though one vocal opponent of the Taiwan provision was Republican US Representative Marjo
Much has been said about the significance of the recall vote, but here is what must be said clearly and without euphemism: This vote is not just about legislative misconduct. It is about defending Taiwan’s sovereignty against a “united front” campaign that has crept into the heart of our legislature
For much of former US president Joe Biden’s term, Elbridge Colby, now US President Donald Trump’s undersecretary for defense policy, opposed the US commitment to Ukraine, halting and erratic as it was. He argued that the weapons going to war in Europe would be needed in the Indo-Pacific region to de
WILLIAMS’ RUN ENDS: Venus Williams’ comeback tournament after 16 months out ended with a loss to Magdalena Frech, with the American saying she ‘ran out of gas’ Emma Raducanu on Thursday beat four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka 6-4, 6-2 in their first career meeting to reach the quarter-finals at the Washington Open, while in the women’s doubles, Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching exited in the quarter-finals.Raducanu, US Open champion in 2021, faces former worl
Ben O’Connor won Thursday’s monster Alpine stage to the ski resort of Courchevel as three-time Tour de France champion Tadej Pogacar responded to attacks from Jonas Vingegaard and dropped him to cement his grip on the yellow jersey.With just three stages left before the race ends in Paris, Pogacar l
Taiwanese high jumper Fu Chao-hsuan on Thursday saw his hopes for a gold medal dashed at the World University Games in Germany after an Israeli athlete overtook him in the final jump, leaving him with a silver.In the men’s high jump final, Fu started out at 2.08m and cleared subsequent heights with
Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen yesterday beat the world’s No. 1-ranked men’s badminton player to advance to the semi-finals of the China Open in Changzhou.Chou, who is ranked No. 6 in the world in men’s badminton, downed 24-year-old world No. 1 Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand 21-17, 21-11 on Court 2 at the
POINTING FINGERS: The two countries have accused each other of firing first, with Bangkok accusing Phnom Penh of targeting civilian infrastructure, including a hospital Thai acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai yesterday warned that cross-border clashes with Cambodia that have uprooted more than 130,000 people “could develop into war,” as the countries traded deadly strikes for a second day.A long-running border dispute erupted into intense fighting with jets
French President Emmanuel Macron said France would recognize a Palestinian state in September, prompting a backlash from the US and Israel.“In keeping with its historic commitment to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East, I have decided that France will recognize the State of Palestine,” Macro
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s future is uncertain, but an unlikely campaign for him to stay was growing online this week, including from people who are his natural political opponents.The life raft has emerged since upper house elections on Sunday last week deprived Ishiba’s coalition of
Taiwan is today going to participate in a world-first experiment in democracy. Twenty-four Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers will face a recall vote, with the results determining if they keep their jobs.Some recalls look safe for the incumbents, other lawmakers appear heading for a fall and
Alexia Fiasco’s work is centered on destruction — or rebuilding — depending on your perspective. Bricks from Taiwan’s military villages sit next to debris from the suburbs of Paris, silently corroborating each other’s stories about displacement, loss and community. A series of worn daily items, take
It looks like a restaurant — but it’s food for the mind.Kaohsiung’s Pier-2 Art Center is currently hosting Comic Bento (漫畫便當店), an immersive and quirky exhibition that spotlights Taiwanese comic and animation artists. The entire show is designed like a playful bento shop, where books, plushies and i
Besides public transport and taxis, do you know any other ways to travel long distances without driving? If carpooling is what comes to your mind, you might have heard of the travel app “BlaBlaCar.” This platform connects drivers with empty seats in their cars with passengers going the same way, all
A: I just went to see the Japanese animated film Detective Conan: One Eyed Flashback.B: There are more Japanese animated films this summer, including Doraemon: Nobita’s Art World Tales, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba – Castillo and Super Hot! The Spicy Kasukabe Dancers.A: The four main characters
A: A number of high-profile films are being released this summer movie season.B: I just went to see Superman and visited the Superman-themed DC pop-up store.A: F1, Jurassic World: Rebirth and The Fantastic Four: First Steps are also popular.B: Adapted from a fantasy novel, South Korean blockbust
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 | 27-33 | 20% |  |
| Hsinchu County | 26-31 | 30% |  |
| Hsinchu City | 26-31 | 30% | |
| Taipei City | 27-33 | 30% | |
| Miaoli County | 26-31 | 40% | |
| Taoyuan City | 26-32 | 30% | |
| Keelung City | 27-31 | 30% | |
| Yunlin County | 26-32 | 40% | |
| Taichung City | 26-32 | 50% | |
| Nantou County | 26-31 | 50% | |
| Changhua County | 27-32 | 40% | |
| Chiayi County | 26-31 | 40% | |
| Chiayi City | 26-32 | 50% | |
| Tainan City | 27-30 | 50% | |
| Kaohsiung City | 27-31 | 50% | |
| Pingtung County | 26-30 | 60% | |
| Yilan County | 26-31 | 60% | |
| Hualien County | 26-31 | 20% | |
| Taitung County | 27-32 | 30% |  |
| Kinmen County | 27-32 | 20% |  |
| Penghu County | 27-31 | 30% | |
| Lienchiang County | 26-29 | 30% | |
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