■ DIPLOMACY
Representative heads to US
Tung Kuo-yu (董國猷), Taiwan's new deputy representative to the US, will arrive in Washington tomorrow to assume his post, an official at Taiwan's representative office in the US said on Monday. Tung, Taiwan's representative to Greece before being appointed to the new post, is filling the vacancy left by Stanley Kao (高碩泰), who became representative to Hungary on Feb. 1. The officials said that Tung -- who has also worked at Taiwan's offices in Houston and New York and previously headed the Geneva branch of Taiwan's representative office in Switzerland and Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Department of International Organizations -- is familiar with Taiwan-US affairs and the operations of international organizations.
■ RESEARCH
NSC honors researchers
The National Science Council (NSC) yesterday lauded 173 outstanding researchers, including 100 college students, for their achievements in their fields of study. Awards included "Outstanding Contract Researcher Awards," "Outstanding Research Awards," "Outstanding Technical Transfer Awards," and "Outstanding College Student Research Awards" and recognized the work the recipients had completed over the last year. Three other researchers were also recognized for their accomplishments in collaborating with the industry and solidifying research results into concrete products. The awards aimed to encourage research, improve academic excellence, foster innovative technologies and develop young talent in science, NSC minister Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) said at the ceremony.
Taiwan has received more than US$70 million in royalties as of the end of last year from developing the F-16V jet as countries worldwide purchase or upgrade to this popular model, government and military officials said on Saturday. Taiwan funded the development of the F-16V jet and ended up the sole investor as other countries withdrew from the program. Now the F-16V is increasingly popular and countries must pay Taiwan a percentage in royalties when they purchase new F-16V aircraft or upgrade older F-16 models. The next five years are expected to be the peak for these royalties, with Taiwan potentially earning
STAY IN YOUR LANE: As the US and Israel attack Iran, the ministry has warned China not to overstep by including Taiwanese citizens in its evacuation orders The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebuked a statement by China’s embassy in Israel that it would evacuate Taiwanese holders of Chinese travel documents from Israel amid the latter’s escalating conflict with Iran. Tensions have risen across the Middle East in the wake of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran beginning Saturday. China subsequently issued an evacuation notice for its citizens. In a news release, the Chinese embassy in Israel said holders of “Taiwan compatriot permits (台胞證)” issued to Taiwanese nationals by Chinese authorities for travel to China — could register for evacuation to Egypt. In Taipei, the ministry yesterday said Taiwan
Taiwan is awaiting official notification from the US regarding the status of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) after the US Supreme Court ruled US President Donald Trump's global tariffs unconstitutional. Speaking to reporters before a legislative hearing today, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that Taiwan's negotiation team remains focused on ensuring that the bilateral trade deal remains intact despite the legal challenge to Trump's tariff policy. "The US has pledged to notify its trade partners once the subsequent administrative and legal processes are finalized, and that certainly includes Taiwan," Cho said when asked about opposition parties’ doubts that the ART was
If China chose to invade Taiwan tomorrow, it would only have to sever three undersea fiber-optic cable clusters to cause a data blackout, Jason Hsu (許毓仁), a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator, told a US security panel yesterday. In a Taiwan contingency, cable disruption would be one of the earliest preinvasion actions and the signal that escalation had begun, he said, adding that Taiwan’s current cable repair capabilities are insufficient. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) yesterday held a hearing on US-China Competition Under the Sea, with Hsu speaking on
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