The first submarine cable directly linking Taiwan and China was completed on Friday, with the telecommunications operators who built it expecting it to improve cross-strait telecommunications quality and to cut communications costs.
The Taiwan Strait Express-1, which links Fuzhou in China’s Fujian Province with Tamsui in northern Taiwan, is 270km long.
Builders adopted state-of-the-art fiber-optic technology for the system and routed it in a way that avoids the faultline region, to minimize the risks of possible damage from natural disasters such as earthquakes.
In future, communications between Taiwan and China will no longer have to be rerouted via the Asia-Euro Under-sea Optical Cable, the China-US Cable Network or the Asia Pacific Cable Network 2.
Both sides of the Taiwan Strait witnessed the completion of the system through a video hookup.
Douglas Hsu (徐旭東), chairman of Taiwan’s Far EasTone, said that the completion of the system will make cross-strait communications faster and more stable, and create a win-win situation for operators and users.
Telecoms operators suggested this was just the beginning of further cooperation between Taiwan and China in the sector.
Taiwan Mobile chairman Richard Tsai (蔡明興) said the system will provide a faster and higher-quality service for Taiwanese businessmen operating in China.
“Taiwan Mobile is planning further cooperation with China’s telecommunications operators on cloud computing services to tap into the vast business opportunities in digital convergence,” Tsai said.
China Mobile chief executive officer Li Yue (李躍) said that the latest system will not only upgrade the quality of cross-strait communications, but will also save costs for operators.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday called for greater cooperation between Taiwan, Lithuania and the EU to counter threats to information security, including attacks on undersea cables and other critical infrastructure. In a speech at Vilnius University in the Lithuanian capital, Tsai highlighted recent incidents in which vital undersea cables — essential for cross-border data transmission — were severed in the Taiwan Strait and the Baltic Sea over the past year. Taiwanese authorities suspect Chinese sabotage in the incidents near Taiwan’s waters, while EU leaders have said Russia is the likely culprit behind similar breaches in the Baltic. “Taiwan and our European
The Taipei District Court sentenced babysitters Liu Tsai-hsuan (劉彩萱) and Liu Jou-lin (劉若琳) to life and 18 years in prison respectively today for causing the death of a one-year-old boy in December 2023. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that Liu Tsai-hsuan was entrusted with the care of a one-year-old boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), in August 2023 by the Child Welfare League Foundation. From Sept. 1 to Dec. 23 that year, she and her sister Liu Jou-lin allegedly committed acts of abuse against the boy, who was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries on Dec. 24, 2023, but did not
RSS