Thu, Apr 18, 2024
The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions.The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international
ROAD PLANS: Plans to extend Freeway No. 6 to reach Hualien directly are being worked on, but the 90km project poses many challenges, including many tunnels About NT$3 billion (US$92.37 million) would be needed to revitalize tourism in Hualien County after it was devastated on April 3 by a quake measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale, Minister of Transportation and Communications Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) said yesterday.The quake, the largest to hit Taiwan in 25
The Coast Guard Administration yesterday opened a satellite link connecting the coast guard base on Itu Aba Island (Taiping Island, 太平島) to Taiwan proper in a boost to the nation’s foothold in the Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島).Ocean Affairs Council Minister Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) wrote on Faceb
Australia yesterday unveiled its first National Defence Strategy, signaling a new focus on deterring China’s “coercive tactics” in the Indo-Pacific region.The 80-page document offers a gloomy assessment of Pacific security and sets out a massive increase in defense spending to retool Australia’s mil
Myanmar’s jailed former leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been moved from prison to house arrest as a health measure due to a heat wave, the military government said as it freed more than 3,000 prisoners under an amnesty to mark this week’s traditional New Year holiday.Aung San Suu Kyi, 78, and Win Myint,
NEW DRIVING FORCES: With their experience working in the private sector, the six new appointees are to facilitate the implementation of government programs Premier-designate Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday named six more Cabinet members who are to take office on May 20, including the cofounder of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) supplier Topco Scientific Co (崇越科技) who is to take over the economics portfolio. J.W. Kuo (郭智輝), who is also ch
Presidential Office Secretary-General Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) is to be the next minister of foreign affairs, while current foreign minister Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) has been tapped to lead the National Security Council (NSC), President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) announced on Tuesday.The president made the comment while
EARLY DETECTION: Data indicate that a large number of children with impairments might not be receiving diagnoses or appropriate treatment, a specialist said The Health Promotion Administration (HPA) is poised to unveil a NT$146 million (US$4.5 million) budget to fund additional free checkups to detect developmental impairments in children under the age of seven, which are to start from July 1, it said yesterday.The program is expected to benefit an esti
FLU SEASON: Twenty-six severe cases were reported from Tuesday last week to Monday, including a seven-year-old girl diagnosed with influenza-associated encephalopathy Nearly 140,000 people sought medical assistance for diarrhea last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said on Tuesday.From April 7 to Saturday last week, 139,848 people sought medical help for diarrhea-related illness, a 15.7 percent increase from last week’s 120,868 reports, CDC Epidemic In
Ten people have been indicted and are being detained for allegedly smuggling cannabis into Taiwan from a tanker vessel, the Ciaotou District Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday.The suspects allegedly smuggled cannabis off southwestern Taiwan in December last year and have been detained with the appro
A National Health Research Institutes (NHRI) team has found that zebrafish could potentially be used in place of mice in drug addiction research, the institutes said on Monday.Humans might appear starkly different from zebrafish, but they share 70 percent of the same genes, NHRI Center for Neuropsyc
CARE URGED: KMT caucus whip Fu Kun-chi would be representing the legislature and should carefully consider who he meets and what he says, a DPP legislator said Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅崑萁) yesterday confirmed that he would head a delegation of KMT lawmakers on a visit to China before May 20 in an attempt to alleviate cross-strait tensions before the inauguration of president-elect William Lai (賴清德).With the Middle East embro
Taiwan’s Indigenous Submarine Program would remain on track, Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) said yesterday, after the head of the program resigned due to what he said were unfair attacks against him and the military.Taiwan has made the submarine program a key part of an ambitious
LESSONS OF HISTORY: There are still people who continue to suffer just because they are of different ethnic origin, gender or sexual orientation, the president said The Israeli and German representatives to Taiwan yesterday warned of rising anti-Semitism around the globe as both nations remembered victims and survivors of the Holocaust during an annual memorial event in Taipei attended by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).Speaking during her address at the event at
A Ukrainian delegation is visiting Taiwan in a bid to shore up assistance from Taiwanese firms in the reconstruction of Ukraine following Russia’s invasion, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) said yesterday.The Ukrainian delegation, comprised of government and industry representa
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators yesterday criticized the decision to appoint J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) as minister of economic affairs-designate, saying that he has a “morally dubious character,” has close ties to China and is a known donor to the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).KMT Legislator
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corpor
Yulon Motor Co (裕隆汽車) yesterday released a positive growth projection for revenue this year, thanks to increasing shipments of its first electric vehicle (EV) model based on the MIH Open EV Platform developed by Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), also known as Foxconn.Yulon started shipping the e
SMART MOBILITY: Hon Hai Precision Industry Co is showcasing its Model N electric cargo van prototype, the Model B personalized urban car and components The Taipei International Auto Parts and Accessories Show (Taipei AMPA), the Taipei International Automobile Electronics Show (Autotronics Taipei) and the 2035 E-Mobility Taiwan exhibition jointly opened yesterday at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center’s Hall 1, featuring electric vehicles along wit
Japan and Taiwan have struggled to escape their postwar legacies and the “normalization” of the state. Japan has had to address its relationship with its neighbors, including China, the two Koreas and, to a lesser degree, Taiwan — or at least the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) forces that previousl
Taiwan is the master of its own fate, yet the remnants and values of its colonial past still haunt the nation. The issue is not limited to Taiwan, but rather a phantasm that exists in all postcolonial states. The phenomenon is in apparent in several nations following their independence.Early example
As former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) wrapped up his visit to the People’s Republic of China, he received his share of attention.Certainly, the trip must be seen within the full context of Ma’s life, that is, his eight-year presidency, the Sunflower movement and his failed Economic Cooperation Fram
‘HATS OFF’: The striker scored twice during his team’s 4-1 thrashing of Barcelona, but it was his all-round contribution that impressed team manager Luis Enrique Kylian Mbappe struck twice on Tuesday as Paris Saint-Germain battled back to beat 10-man Barcelona 4-1 and book a place in the UEFA Champions League semi-finals with a 6-4 aggregate triumph.Raphinha fired Barcelona ahead early on, but Ronald Araujo’s 29th-minute red card turned the tide in PSG’s fav
Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday fought back to beat Atletico Madrid 4-2 in their quarter-final second leg, securing a 5-4 aggregate victory and their first UEFA Champions League semi-final since 2013.Trailing 2-1 from the first leg, goals from Julian Brandt and Ian Maatsen had Dortmund 2-0 up at halfti
LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday held off a furious late rally to beat the New Orleans Pelicans 110-106 and book a first-round NBA playoff clash with the defending champion Denver Nuggets.Four-time NBA champion James scored 23 points with nine rebounds, nine assists and three steal
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League.Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January.On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousin
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region.The Solomon
NINE NAMES: A decree named the seven voting members and two non-voting observers after the government demanded documents to approve their postings An official decree on Tuesday named the members of Haiti’s transitional ruling council, a further step toward installing a body meant to bring a semblance of order to the nation.A decree in Haiti’s official gazette Le Moniteur on Friday last week announced the establishment of the council, a month a
Heavy thunderstorms on Tuesday lashed the United Arab Emirates (UAE), dumping the heaviest rain ever recorded in the country in the span of hours as it flooded out portions of major highways and Dubai’s international airport.The state-run WAM news agency called the rain “a historic weather event” th
Peter Brighton was amazed when he found the giant jackfruit. He had been watching it grow on his farm in far north Queensland, and when it came time to pick it from the tree, it was so heavy it needed two people to do the job.“I was surprised when we cut it off and felt how heavy it was,” he says. “
They compete for a trophy, a ring, the chance to be called a champion and, sometimes, a place in history. Most of the world’s best athletes in all sorts of sports compete for cold, hard cash, too.After more than 100 years of striving to earn Olympic gold — but nothing else from the folks organizing
Iris Tuan (段馨君) is a professor at Taiwan’s National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, with strong links to Harvard. Her previous work Pop with Gods, Shakespeare, and AI was full of a wide range of topics, such as feminism, post-structuralism and films of Shakespeare — Baz Luhrmann’s beautiful Romeo a
A: Artificial intelligence technology has been causing controversy lately: a student was caught cheating with AI to win the grand prize in an art contest.B: That’s so absurd. Does this mean that AI paints better than humans?A: Maybe. Luckily, the student was later disqualified.B: And more absurdly,
It’s another school day with the same ritual. You wake up to your smartphone’s alarm, scroll through messages during your commute, and listen to your favorite playlist with your wireless earbuds between classes. These devices, integrated smoothly into your daily routine, certainly make life more con
The strongest earthquake to hit Taiwan in 25 years killed at least 16 people and damaged dozens of buildings, but the destruction was largely contained thanks to decades of preparedness work. Taiwan sits on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of intense seismic activity along the Pacific Rim, and — much like
It’s certainly been a pleasure watching the presidential campaign launch of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate Hou You-yi (侯友宜) lurch painfully about like a wounded pachyderm in search of an elephant graveyard. Hou’s fall to third place in some polls last week appears early, and it might still be recoverable. But grumbling in his party about replacing him has already begun. Indeed, all indications are that the party that twice gave us Lien Chan (連戰), the most despised politician in Taiwan, as a presidential candidate and later offered voters Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) and Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), is arcing along its normal descending trajectory, the North Korean missile test of electoral politics. A KIND OF POLICY PLATFORM Last week the KMT doubled down on this path with Hou’s calls for nuclear power and more death penalty executions, standard KMT fare for decades (the latter is unnecessary since so many potential criminals are likely to die in traffic accidents long before they harm anyone). Apparently KMT policy institutions are not echo chambers so much as mausoleums where dead ideas are embalmed and then periodically put on display. The lack of public policy imagination is obvious. A less obvious facet of KMT ineptitude: with years of speculation that Hou would be their man in 2024, neither Hou nor the party insisted on interesting or experimental public policies to showcase Hou’s greatness in preparation for the showdown. Of course, that is even more true of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). Hou’s slide and the media buzz surrounding it are obscuring the truly urgent problem the pro-Taiwan side faces: DPP presidential candidate William Lai (賴清德) has not expanded his voter support beyond the party base. In most polls he remains below 40 percent. Independent voters are staying away in droves, and for the moment the young are turning to
July 17 to July 23 When Yeh Ken-chuang (葉根壯) came of age, the traditional skills of architecture and carpentry that had been in his family for four generations were disappearing. After helping his uncle Yeh Teh-ling (葉得令) construct ships, residences and temples for more than a decade, Yeh struck out on his own at the age of 28 in 1960 as a damusi (大木司, chief carpenter), earning his lifelong title “Chief Chuang” (壯司). Around this time, builders in his homeland of Penghu were increasingly using reinforced concrete instead of wood, due to the humid climate. The period also saw a frenzy in temple construction as the economy improved, meaning there was plenty of work for Yeh. Adept in non-structural techniques such as doors, windows and furniture, as well as the intricate carvings and detailed decorations that adorned the structures, Yeh was able to adapt his skills, leading the reconstruction of the historic Hsiliao Daitian Temple (西寮代天宮) on Penghu’s main island in 1963. According to the book Crossing Traditions in Yeh Ken-chuang’s Large-scale Carpentry Skills (宮廟巧藝 :跨越傳統的葉根壯大木作技術), it was Penghu’s first temple that used a purely reinforced concrete structure. Before his life was cut short, Yeh created more than 70 temples and related structures across the various islands of Penghu and left behind more than 230 building plans. Although Yeh could have built temples and other structures on Taiwan proper, he only worked on a handful of projects outside of Penghu because he wanted to be close to his family. CLAN OF CARPENTERS The Yeh family’s woodworking tradition began with Yeh Ma-li (葉媽利), who learned the architecture and carpentry trade from an unknown master on Kinmen. The Yehs trace their roots to Kinmen, although this branch had been living in Penghu since the early 1600s. Yeh Ma-li was Penghu’s chief temple builder between 1860 and
New Taipei City | 14-23 | 10% | |
Hsinchu County | 14-22 | 10% | |
Hsinchu City | 14-22 | 10% | |
Taipei City | 14-22 | 10% | |
Miaoli County | 12-22 | 10% | |
Taoyuan City | 14-22 | 10% | |
Keelung City | 15-21 | 10% |
Yunlin County | 14-24 | 0% | |
Taichung City | 14-24 | 0% | |
Nantou County | 14-24 | 0% | |
Changhua County | 14-23 | 0% |
Chiayi County | 13-24 | 0% | |
Chiayi City | 14-25 | 0% | |
Tainan City | 15-22 | 0% | |
Kaohsiung City | 17-23 | 0% | |
Pingtung County | 16-25 | 0% |
Yilan County | 14-22 | 10% | |
Hualien County | 16-22 | 10% | |
Taitung County | 17-23 | 10% |
Kinmen County | 11-18 | 0% | |
Penghu County | 17-20 | 0% | |
Lienchiang County | 10-13 | 10% |