Thu, May 02, 2024
Taiwan is monitoring China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) exercises for changes in their size or pattern as the nation prepares for president-elect William Lai’s (賴清德) inauguration on May 20, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday.Tsai made the comment a
SOLIDARITY: ‘Taiwan is a very capable health partner. They have been observers in the WHA before. They deserve to be,’ Daniel Kritenbrink said The US would soon speak on behalf of Taiwan’s bid to take part as an observer at the World Health Assembly (WHA) in Geneva, Switzerland, later this month, a US official said at a US Senate subcommittee hearing on Tuesday.“We will speak out again very soon, as we have consistently every year, in supp
The Labor Fund increased by NT$242.21 billion (US$7.4 billion) in March, bringing the fund’s total gains to NT$494.96 billion for the year to the end of March, the Ministry of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Funds said yesterday.The bureau yesterday released its latest labor funds utilization performance re
New York City police officers surged onto Columbia University’s campus late on Tuesday, breaking up an escalating protest and arresting pro-Palestinian demonstrators who had barricaded themselves in a building.Live television broadcasts showed officers entering Hamilton Hall, the latest focal point
South Korea is considering sharing advanced military technology with the US, the UK and Australia through the so-called AUKUS partnership, South Korean Minister of National Defense Shin Won-sik said yesterday.The possibility was discussed during two days of meetings between South Korea and Australia
STUMPED: KMT and TPP lawmakers approved a resolution to suspend the rate hike, which the government said was unavoidable in view of rising global energy costs The Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday said it has a mandate to raise electricity prices as planned after the legislature passed a non-binding resolution along partisan lines to freeze rates.Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers proposed the resolution to suspend the price hike, which passed
China is mischaracterizing UN Resolution 2758 for its own interests by conflating it with its “one China” principle, US Deputy Assistant Secretary for China and Taiwan Mark Lambert said on Monday.Speaking at a seminar held by the German Marshall Fund, Lambert called for support for Taiwan’s meaningf
‘EXPENDITURE CAP’: Facing rising costs and inflation, many healthcare providers are leaving their jobs due to lower salaries, a group of providers’ associations said With healthcare providers calling for a bill to guarantee the value of each National Health Insurance (NHI) point is at least NT$1, Minister of Health and Welfare Hsueh Jui-yuan (薛瑞元) yesterday said it might harm the NHI’s global budget payment system and should be further deliberated.Chinese Nation
EARLY DETECTION: About 80% of liver cancer cases are caused by chronic hepatitis B or hepatitis C infections, a Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital physician said About 80 percent of liver cancer cases are caused by chronic hepatitis B or hepatitis C infection, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said on Tuesday, adding that the government is offering a one-time free hepatitis B and C screening to people aged 45 to 79, so eligible recipients are encoura
The Executive Yuan on Tuesday nominated National Communications Commission (NCC) Vice Chairman Wong Po-tsung (翁柏宗) to serve as the new NCC chairman, pending approval from lawmakers.Wong, whose term ends on July 31 along with three other commissioners, would replace incumbent NCC Chairman Chen Yaw-sh
Advocates of the rights of motorcycle and scooter riders yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, making three demands.They were joined by 30 passenger vehicles, which surrounded the ministry to make three demands related to traffic regulations — t
TRAVEL ADVISORY: The Mainland Affairs Council again asked Taiwanese to refrain from unnecessary travel to China, as new legislation there puts them at greater risk The National Security Bureau (NSB) identifies up to 30,000 online posts containing false information every week, sending the most notable items to the National Security Council to review, it said yesterday.At a hearing of the legislature’s Foreign and National Defense Committee, Chinese Nationalist
SECURITY PREPAREDNESS: An NSB report detailed the measures it was taking to protect critical national infrastructure with security redundancies and inspections National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) yesterday told lawmakers that Taiwan must harden its undersea cables, but refrained from accusing Beijing of sabotaging the lines.Tsai made the remarks during a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Commi
Opposition lawmakers are to consider freezing the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ budget and requiring legislative approval for electricity price changes, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Fu Kun-chi said yesterday, after the ministry the day before said it would maintain electricity price h
Seven Taiwanese universities have been named among the top 100 of Times Higher Education’s Asia University Rankings 2024, the British magazine announced on Tuesday.The list ranks National Taiwan University (NTU) at 26th, China Medical University (CMU) at 56th, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung Universit
Taiwan welcomes Chinese tourists, but Beijing’s ban on travel remains an obstacle, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Tai-san (邱太三) yesterday told legislators when asked why travel from across the Taiwan Strait has not improved.Chiu made the comments while presenting a report on the situat
INFLATION WATCH: A rate hike in March would help keep inflation at 2.16 percent this year, although a weak currency and higher electricity rates are an issue, S&P said Moody’s Ratings and S&P Global Ratings have reaffirmed Taiwan’s sovereign credit ratings at “As3” and “AA+” respectively with a stable outlook on the back of high income and wealth levels, a strong institutional framework and robust external positions.The affirmations came as Taiwan’s economy is gai
RIDING AI WAVE: : Most of its NT$15bn capital budget would be spent on packaging technologies used in AI and HPC chips and advanced testing technology, it said Chip testing and packaging service provider Powertech Technology Inc (PTI, 力成科技) plans to increase this year’s capital expenditure by 50 percent to expand capacity to meet growing demand for advanced memorychips used in artificial intelligence (AI) products.The company proposed to spend NT$15 billio
Microsoft Corp yesterday said that it would create Thailand’s first data center region to boost cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, promising AI training to more than 100,000 people to develop tech.Bangkok is a key economic player in Southeast Asia, but it has lagged behind Indone
President-elect William Lai (賴清德) is to accede to the presidency this month at a time when the international order is in its greatest flux in three decades. Lai must navigate the ship of state through the choppy waters of an assertive China that is refusing to play by the rules, challenging the terr
With the impacts of extreme climate change, Dubai, the United Arab Emirates’ desert-ensconced host for the 27th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27), was inundated in one day with a deluge of rainfall that exceeded what it normally receives in an entire
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Chinese Minister of National Defense Dong Jun (董軍) on April 16 engaged in their first dialogue since 2022. During the videoconference, they delved into various topics, including US-China defense and regional issues, as well as global security, such as Russia’
RED-AND-WHITE DISPLAY: Fans were asked to wear red to Allianz Arena to show respect for club great Franz Beckenbauer, and the hosts responded well early Vinicius Junior on Tuesday scored twice for Real Madrid to draw 2-2 against Bayern Munich in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League semi-final.Bayern dominated, but Madrid survived and the contest is still wide open ahead of the return leg in Madrid on Wednesday next week.With the focus on Eng
Rafael Nadal on Tuesday lost in straight sets to 31st-ranked Jiri Lehecka in the fourth round at the Madrid Open, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced to the semi-finals in the women’s doubles.Nadal said that he was feeling good about his progress following his latest injury layoff.Nadal called it a
Bobby Portis apologized to his teammates for his ejection from a Game 4 loss that put the Milwaukee Bucks on the brink of elimination from the NBA playoffs, then made amends on Tuesday by helping the Bucks keep their season alive.Portis and Khris Middleton each scored 29 points as the short-handed B
Carolina on Tuesday closed out the New York Islanders, with Jack Drury scoring a go-ahead goal early in the third period and Stefan Noesen cleaning up a fluky puck bounce off the boards for another one eight seconds later as the Hurricanes won 6-3, clinching their first-round NHL playoff series in f
WORKERS’ DAY: Police in Istanbul detained dozens of people who marched toward Taksim Square, which had been declared off-limits by the Turkish government Workers, activists and others in Asian capitals and European cities took to the streets yesterday to mark May Day with protests over rising prices and government labor policies and calls for greater labor rights.May Day, which falls on May 1, is observed in many countries to celebrate workers’ right
CRYPTO PROSECUTION: Zhao Changpeng’s wealth surged by US$25 billion last year as the crypto industry recovered, making him the world’s 42nd richest person Binance founder Zhao Changpeng (趙長鵬) was ordered to spend four months in prison for failures that allowed cybercriminals and terrorist groups to freely trade on the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange.Zhao, 47, was sentenced on Tuesday by US District Judge Richard Jones in Seattle, Washington. T
Le Tuan Binh keeps his Moroccan soldier father’s tombstone at his village home north of Hanoi, a treasured reminder of a man whose community in Vietnam has been largely forgotten.Mzid Ben Ali, or “Mohammed” as Binh calls him, was one of tens of thousands of North Africans who served in the French ar
By far the most jarring of the new appointments for the incoming administration is that of Tseng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) to head the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF). That is a huge demotion for one of the most powerful figures in the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).Tseng has one of the most impressive r
In the hills outside the Tajik capital Dushanbe, shepherd Bakhtior Sharipov was watching over his flock of giant Hissar sheep.The breed, prized for profitability and an ability to adapt to climate change, garners celebrity status in the Central Asian country, which is beset by a shortage of both mea
There was an awkward moment during a Q&A session at a book launch in Taipei a couple of months ago. Following his presentation, an author who was visiting Taiwan to promote his work, was challenged about a statement on one of his slides that there had been “no political assassination” during Taiwan’
A: Entertainer Mickey Huang’s #MeToo scandal has kept snowballing.B: Didn’t Huang just escape prosecution on several sexual misconduct charges due to a lack of evidence?A: He has now been accused of raping a woman identified as "Miss K."B: It’s like one trouble follows another!A: His decent “pe
In Taiwan, a quick stop at a local convenience store allows you to grab a hot dog whenever you want. But have you ever wondered how this popular snack got its unique name and became a leading light of American cuisine? First, the name “hot dog” is actually a combination of different ideas. Vendors
Huge stretches of coral reef around the world are turning a ghostly white this year amid record warm ocean temperatures.On April 15, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration confirmed the world’s fourth mass global bleaching event is underway — with serious consequences for marine life
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% |