Japan’s rare two-pronged deployment near Taiwan during its first-ever participation in Philippine drills as an “operational combat unit” underscores a shift in first island chain posture and reflects Tokyo’s efforts to play a more central role in regional alliances, analysts said.Japanese destroyer
CREDIT-GRABBER: China said its coast guard rescued the crew of a fishing vessel that caught fire, who were actually rescued by a nearby Taiwanese boat and the CGA
Maritime search and rescue operations do not have borders, and China should not use a shipwreck to infringe upon Taiwanese sovereignty, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday.The coast guard made the statement in response to the China Coast Guard (CCG) saying it saved a Taiwanese fishin
Iran yesterday rowed back on its decision to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and fired on a tanker attempting to pass through the waterway. It warned that it would continue to block transit through the strait as long as the US blockade of Iranian ports remained in effect.Confusion over the critical chok
Australia and Japan yesterday signed contracts to deliver the first three of a A$10 billion (US$7.2 billion) order of Japanese-designed warships, with the first due for delivery in three years.Mitsubishi Heavy Industries would build the first three Mogami-class frigates in Japan, while Australia pla
BIPARTISAN PUSH: In a letter, US lawmakers reiterated the importance of enabling procurement of US equipment and domestic production of asymmetric capabilities
The US is likely to approve pending weapons sales to Taiwan in the coming weeks, a bipartisan group of senators assured Taiwanese lawmakers in a letter, urging Taipei to hasten its stalled defense spending in the face of pressure from China.The letter comes ahead of a planned May 14 to 15 trip to Ch
PROTECTING YOUNG PEOPLE: The expansion covers the murder of young children, the abuse and obstruction of an adolescent’s well-being and sexual exploitation of minors
The Legislative Yuan yesterday passed an amendment expanding “pre-emptive detention” to include suspects in the sexual exploitation of minors, the homicide of young children, fraud and drunk driving as stipulated in the Criminal Code, among other offenses.The expansion of the grounds for pre-emptive
Taiwan’s importance is rising as a key to artificial intelligence (AI) hardware resilience, with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) holding the lifeline of the global AI hardware supply chain, according to this year’s AI Index report released this week by Stanford University’s Institu
Thousands of displaced Lebanese civilians yesterday took to the road, hoping a 10-day ceasefire with Israel would allow them to return to their homes in southern Beirut and the nation’s war-torn south.Roads heading south from the capital were clogged with traffic, despite Israel’s defense minister w
Former Burmese president Win Myint, detained since a 2021 military coup, was yesterday freed under a mass amnesty which, according to a source close to pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, also reduced her sentence.Win Myint and Aung San Suu Kyi, the 80-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate, led Mya
MARINE WATCH: Premier Cho Jung-tai said the first task should be to integrate 57 marine radar systems, which use different formats, across government agencies
The government is building an ocean radar network to enhance monitoring capabilities in key strategic waters, including the Taiwan Shoal (台灣灘), the Luzon Strait and Pengjia Islet (彭佳嶼), the National Academy of Marine Research said yesterday.The project was launched last year amid a rise in ocean res
A bipartisan group of US senators on Tuesday sent a joint letter to Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) and lawmakers from each party, urging the passage of a special defense budget and assuring the upcoming announcement of further arms sales.The letter was cosigned by US senators Jeanne Shaheen, J
FOUNDATION DENIAL: The KMT said the funds were to promote freedom and democracy in China, while the DPP said the exchanges lacked democratic elements
The Taiwan Foundation for Democracy yesterday said that it has not yet reimbursed the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for a trip to China led by KMT Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文), adding that the foundation’s charter prohibits sponsoring activities involving unification or independence.Earlier in th
Taiwan overtook the UK in stock market value as the country’s tech firms regained favor amid hopes for further de-escalation in the Iran war.Taiwan’s market capitalization rose to US$4.14 trillion as of Wednesday, making it the world’s seventh-largest, according to data compiled by Bloomberg that sh
Columns of fire engulfed a crucial Australian oil refinery after a chain of explosions, authorities said yesterday, as they warned of disruptions to domestic fuel supply.Flames as high as 60m erupted late on Wednesday after a gas leak ignited at the Viva Energy fuel plant in Victoria state, firefigh
Russia hammered civilian areas of Ukraine with hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles in an attack that stretched for hours from daytime into the night, killing at least 16 people and injuring more than 80 others, officials said yesterday.Russia launched nearly 700 drones, and dozens of ballistic
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) today confirmed that the party had applied for subsidies from the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy, which is mainly funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to cover party Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun’s (鄭麗文) “journey of peace” to China, where she met with Chinese Pre
DEADLOCK NEAR END? The KMT and the DPP would each appoint five caucus members and the TPP one to conduct an interpolation session, Han Kuo-yu said
The legislature yesterday agreed to start deliberating the government’s general budget for this fiscal year after an hour of caucus negotiations, potentially ending 230 days of deadlock.Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) said that the caucuses had resolved to
INFLATION UP? The IMF said CPI would increase to 1.5 percent this year, while the DGBAS projected it would rise to 1.68 percent, with GDP per capita of US$44,181
The IMF projected Taiwan’s real GDP would grow 5.2 percent this year, up from its 2.1 percent outlook in January, despite fears of global economic disruptions sparked by the US-Iran conflict.Taiwan’s consumer price index (CPI) is projected to increase to 1.5 percent, while unemployment would be 3.4
The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Amusement Tax Act (娛樂稅法) that would abolish taxes on films, cultural activities and competitive sporting events, retaining the fee only for dance halls and golf courses.The proposed changes would set the maximum t
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