Recent media reports said that a district court judge committed suicide by jumping from a building because he was mentally distressed due to heavy work pressure. Official statistics shows that in 2017, the number of ordinary and special criminal cases totaled 482,428. Seven years later, the most con
Last year, then-Japanese Minister of Defense Yasukazu Hamada in an annual defense report said: “China is rapidly enhancing its military capability qualitatively and quantitatively, including nuclear and missile forces, while continuing and amplifying its unilateral changes to the status quo by force
The passage of the Promoting a Resolution to the Tibet-China Dispute Act, also known as the Resolve Tibet bill, by the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on Tuesday last week, to be sent to the US Senate for a vote, marks a pivotal moment in international relations, one that could significantl
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India Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been saying his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led coalition can sweep three out of every four parliament seats as he crisscrosses the country to charm voters. Analysts and election strategists from his party say the task is not entirely impossible, but is likely
Violence lurks in nearly all of Latin America’s major cities. Even capitals that have traditionally been considered peaceful are coming to resemble hotspots such as Reynosa and Tijuana, Mexico; Cali, Colombia; Port-au-Prince and Rio de Janeiro.Although Latin America has more than 180 million people
Nymphia Wind, the pride of Taiwan’s queer community, on Friday night won the crown on the latest season of the US reality show RuPaul’s Drag Race, becoming the first East Asian drag queen and second Asian queen to win the vaunted title. For her final lip-synching performance, she shuffled onto the s
As Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu’s party won by a landslide in Sunday’s parliamentary election, it is a good time to take another look at recent developments in the Maldivian foreign policy. While Muizzu has been promoting his “Maldives First” policy, the agenda seems to have lost sight of a nu
As the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is using many tactics to subvert the government, Taiwanese need to be aware of the possibility that it is also trying to sow confusion among the public and cause dissatisfaction with the ruling party.However, as this is not the eve of a major war, the CCP is unli
Chiang must change focusTaipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) announced that the city would enter a “major urban renewal era” to deal with damage done by the April 3 earthquake.When Kee Tai Properties Co’s construction work in September last year caused the collapse
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An emerging debate about the definition of infrastructure suggests that Western democracies are starting to shift their priorities. The renewed focus on infrastructure and what it includes is to be welcomed — not least because it rebuts the claim that the West has lost faith in the future.Many argue
When you introduce a raft of tariffs and restrictions to protect domestic industries, you had better make sure there are some around to protect. That is a major problem with the US’ decision to treat China’s clean-technology leadership as grounds for a trade fight.If local factories are getting off
Premier-designate Cho Jung-tai’s (卓榮泰) appointment last week of Peng Jin-lung (彭金隆) as chairman of the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) caught many people off-guard, prompting the question: Who is Peng Jin-lung?The 59-year-old associate dean of National Chengchi University’s College of Commerc
Indonesia and Taiwan use their coastal geography to create their identities and policies. Indonesia’s strategic location between the Indian and Pacific Oceans, its archipelagic status and inheritance of two Southeast Asian thalassocracies inspired the development of its Global Maritime Fulcrum in 20
Recently, China launched another diplomatic offensive against Taiwan, improperly linking its “one China principle” with UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 to constrain Taiwan’s diplomatic space. After Taiwan’s presidential election on Jan. 13, China persuaded Nauru to sever diplomatic ties with Tai
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida went to the US last week on an official state visit. It is a visit of massive historical significance. The interactions between Kishida and US President Joe Biden, the press interview following their White House summit and Kishida’s speech to the US Congress are
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Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s first remarks to the joint session of the US Congress were perhaps also his most heartfelt. “I never get such nice applause from the Japanese Diet,” the premier laughed last week, as the ovation he received at his historic address, only the second by a Tokyo l