Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators have twice blocked President William Lai’s (賴清德) special defense budget bill in the Procedure Committee, preventing it from entering discussion or review. Meanwhile, KMT Legislator Chen Yu-jen (陳玉珍) proposed amendments that would enable lawmakers to use bu
President William Lai’s (賴清德) proposal of a US$40 billion defense supplemental budget is welcome news in Washington and among Taiwan’s supporters. It is also a critical test, seen outside of Taiwan as almost must-pass legislation. Many in US President Donald Trump’s administration and elsewhere beli
Hit South Korean girl group Twice held two concerts at the Kaohsiung National Stadium on Nov. 22 and 23, their first performances in Taiwan since their debut about 10 years ago. Taiwanese fans were thrilled.On the eve of the first concert, President William Lai (賴清德) said that “Taiwanese have money
EDITORIAL CARTOON
Most of the world knows how to respond to the US’ new National Security Strategy. As my colleague Marc Champion has written, Russia loves it. Liberal Europeans are dismayed and the Gulf monarchies are overjoyed.In the rest of Asia — and what, until now, Washington has called the Indo-Pacific — the d
In Germany, a political reality is taking shape that was long unthinkable. For the first time since World War II, a far-right party is close enough to power that it is planning to govern rather than just grow and disrupt. To prepare for a scenario where it might rule and fill public offices, the ant
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz have become adept at scrambling to deal with the latest bad news from Washington. Their meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Downing Street on Monday was so hastily arranged
President William Lai (賴清德) attended a dinner held by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) when representatives from the group visited Taiwan in October. In a speech at the event, Lai highlighted similarities in the geopolitical challenges faced by Israel and Taiwan, saying that the
News about expanding security cooperation between Israel and Taiwan, including the visits of Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) in September and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) this month, as well as growing ties in areas such as missile defense and cybersec
“Can you tell me where the time and motivation will come from to get students to improve their English proficiency in four years of university?” The teacher’s question — not accusatory, just slightly exasperated — was directed at the panelists at the end of a recent conference on English language le
On Friday, the Legislative Assistant Union protested a bill introduced by a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator that would decriminalize certain misconduct involving publicly funded assistant expenses. Ahead of the rally, 252 assistants from 75 offices and two legislative caucuses cosigned a
EDITORIAL CARTOON
President Donald Trump finally received his sought-after peace prize on Friday. Except it was not from the Nobel Foundation but from FIFA, an institution charged with overseeing penalty shootouts in soccer rather than geopolitics. I am not much of a soccer fan — I prefer rugby — but how can this syc
For decades, the idea of redirecting a small share of Siberia’s vast freshwater resources toward Central Asia has been considered a relic of Soviet-era ambition. The proposal has gained renewed interest, as the underlying realities have changed. Central Asia’s water crisis is rapidly becoming existe
The world is on the cusp of a profound geopolitical restructuring, as escalating great-power rivalries erode the multilateral structures that have supported the global order since the mid-20th century. To prevent the international system from sliding into chaos and conflict, those unwilling to accep
The Action Alliance on Basic Education on Friday last week urged the government to improve measures to prevent adolescent suicide by conducting routine physical and mental health screenings to facilitate early intervention.Young Taiwanese face mental health risks that have been worsening in scale an
Education is proving to be one of the most empowering tools for resilience as climate challenges continue to intensify. In India and Taiwan, whose cooperation is supported by technology and a mutual commitment to innovation, education has the potential to serve as a link for climate cooperation.Both
Last week, a Chinese delegation of human rights experts arrived in Indonesia for a six-day mission to promote what Beijing calls its “contemporary human rights perspective.” Organized by the China Society for Human Rights Studies, the delegation presented China’s narrative on respecting and protecti
The controversy surrounding a proposal to decriminalize the use of legislative assistant funds has continued to intensify. Advocates of the proposal say they are simply “fine-tuning the system to make it more flexible.” These efforts are being promoted in the name of reform — but in reality, they ar
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