Fri, Mar 20, 2026
‘NO TIMELINE’: Political interference and other efforts are expected to continue, with Beijing adjusting its goals in line with conditions, a Taiwanese official said China does not plan to invade Taiwan next year and seeks to control the nation without the use of force, the US intelligence community said on Wednesday.The assessment in the intelligence agencies’ annual report on global threats comes as Beijing has stepped up pressure on Taiwan with frequent milit
The central government would invest NT$6.25 billion (US$195.6 million) this year and next year to expand services for elderly people living alone, helping to ensure that they can receive timely assistance during emergencies, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said yesterday.Due to Taiwan’s status as
Thailand’s new parliament yesterday elected Anutin Charnvirakul as prime minister, keeping him in the top office after his party routed its election rivals.“This parliament has voted for Anutin Chanvirakul to become prime minister,” Thai House of Representatives Speaker Sophon Zaram said on the floo
Costa Rica on Wednesday cut diplomatic ties with Cuba and Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves said that the “hemisphere must be cleansed of communists.”Chaves’ statement came shortly after Costa Rica said it was closing its embassy in Havana and told Cuba to withdraw its diplomatic staff from San J
Six major international powers, including Britain, France, Germany and Japan, said Thursday they were ready "to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz". "We welcome the commitment of nations who are engaging in preparatory planning" the grouping -- whic
SOUTH KOREA DISPUTE: If Seoul continues to ignore its request, Taiwan would change South Korea’s designation on its arrival cards, the foreign ministry said If South Korea does not reply appropriately to a request to correct Taiwan’s name on its e-Arrival card system before March 31, the government would take corresponding measures to change how South Korea is labeled on the online Taiwan Arrival Card system, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterd
CHINESE INFILTRATION: Drawing the line between rhetoric to encourage an invasion and expression of a personal opinion might be challenging, an expert said A proposed amendment to the National Security Act (國家安全法) that would impose penalties on people advocating for China to take over Taiwan by force has drawn mixed reactions from security experts, with some urging the government to regulate only mobilization propaganda directly inciting the hostile r
Taiwan has received 291 Anduril Altius 600M Switchblade kamikaze drones, marking the full delivery of the weapons system from the US defense contractor, the Ministry of National Defense said.Writing in its latest report on US arms sales to Taiwan submitted to the legislature, the ministry said Andur
DISCONTENT? Only 17 of 26 KMT lawmakers met with Cheng Li-wun amid reports of conflict with the leadership’s handling of the defense budget and the year-end elections Nearly one-third of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers invited to a lunch with KMT Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) were absent yesterday, including Hsu Chiao-hsin (徐巧芯), who was reportedly planning to propose a much-bigger arms purchase budget than the one that the KMT submitted to the legi
Taiwan maintained its status as a “free” country and the second freest in Asia in the latest annual report released yesterday by the Washington-based democracy watchdog Freedom House.With an overall score of 93 out of 100, down 1 point from a year earlier, Taiwan ranked second in Asia behind Japan,
The government yesterday rejected an offer by China for energy security if Taiwan agreed to Beijing’s rule, an expected response given Taipei has expressed that it does not want to be governed by its neighbor. Governments around the world are scrambling for alternative energy supplies since the US-I
The de facto Canadian embassy in Taiwan yesterday held a reception to mark its 40th anniversary, with the North American country’s top envoy to Taiwan pledging closer bilateral exchanges in the decades to come.Marie-Louise Hannan, executive director of the Canadian Trade Office in Taipei (CTOT)
TAIWAN RECOGNITION: Starlux Airlines placed fifth in Airline Ratings’ best airlines list, the highest achievement by a local airline, and topped the in-flight catering category Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s overall ranking surged from 43rd place last year to 24th place this year, Skytrax’s global airport ranking released on Wednesday showed.Taoyuan airport also won the top award as the World’s Best Airport for Baggage Delivery for the second time.Taoyuan Internati
New Taipei City’s Sanying MRT Line and the eastern extension of the Tamsui-Xinyi Line (Red Line) are scheduled to begin operations in June, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday.The Red Line, which terminates at Xiangshan Station, is to be connected by the 1.4km extension to a new ea
The Taipei City Government yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with its German sister city, Dresden, on technological innovations, smart city management, talent development, youth development and tourism collaborations.The two cities signed the MOU during the second Taipei Internati
NO NEED: As the government has taken measures to stabilize prices amid Middle East tensions, there is no need to account for its impact on rates, the central bank head said Taiwan’s central bank yesterday kept key interest rates unchanged for the eighth consecutive quarter, sharply raised its GDP growth forecast and eased credit limits on second-home mortgages, signaling confidence in the economy while supporting self-occupying buyers amid a cooling property market.The
MAJOR GROWTH: The company has confidence in its silicon photonic-related analysis revenue, which has doubled each year and continues to drive overall growth Semiconductor material and failure analysis services provider Materials Analysis Technology Inc (MA-tek, 閎康) yesterday said silicon photonic-related analysis services revenue would jump 50 percent this year, fueled by a major technology shift to optics-based packaging solutions for artificial intell
Micron Technology Inc warned that it would need to spend heavily on production to meet burgeoning demand, overshadowing an upbeat forecast from the largest US maker of computer memory chips.Capital spending would exceed US$25 billion this fiscal year, which runs through August, the company said as p
Direct presidential elections signify that Taiwan is a sovereign and independent nation, President William Lai (賴清德) said on Saturday at an event marking the 30th anniversary of the first direct presidential vote.The latter half of the 20th century witnessed Taiwan’s transformation into a democracy,
Under continuous pressure from the opposite side of the Taiwan Strait, Taiwan’s sports teams are required to compete internationally under the name “Chinese Taipei.” Last week, during the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Women’s Asian Cup held in Australia, former Taiwan soccer coach Chen Kuei-jen
A subsidy claims case involving an indigenous organization that recently entered judicial proceedings has sparked public debate. What is alarming is a rising trend that increasingly casts doubt over any elected representative assisting community groups in applying to the Council of Indigenous People
ONE MORE CHANCE: While North Korea denied Taiwan in Australia, Taiwan, who last played in the World Cup in 1991, could still qualify via inter-confederation playoffs Taiwan yesterday lost 4-0 to a dominant North Korea in the AFC Women’s Asian Cup playoffs, closing off an avenue to qualify for the FIFA Women’s World Cup.Hong Song-ok scored a hat-trick in the match to determine the last of the confederation’s qualifiers from the tournament for next year’s World Cu
Taiwanese female boxer and Olympic gold medalist Lin Yu-ting (林郁婷) has been approved to compete in the 2026 Asian Boxing Elite Championships, Chinese Taipei Boxing Association (CTBA) said Thursday.The championships are scheduled to begin on March 28 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.At the 2024 Paris Olympic
Treveon Graham on Wednesday scored 19 points in Macau, as the Taoyuan Pauian Pilots flew past the Seoul SK Knights 89-69 to advance to the semi-finals of the East Asia Super League (EASL) Finals.The Pilots never trailed, taking the lead 13 seconds into the game with a three-pointer from star forward
Barcelona on Wednesday hit Newcastle United for seven to reach the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals, while Liverpool overturned a first-leg deficit to beat Galatasaray in their last-16 tie, and Bayern Munich and Atletico Madrid also advanced to the next round.Raphinha and Robert Lewandowski each
ENERGY TARGETS: Donald Trump said if Iran keeps striking Qatar’s infrastructure, US forces would retaliate by blowing up the entirety of the South Pars gas field Iran yesterday intensified its attacks on its Gulf Arab neighbors’ energy sites, hitting a Saudi Arabian refinery on the Red Sea, and setting Qatari liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities and two Kuwaiti oil refineries ablaze as it struck back following an Israeli attack on its main natural gas fiel
The FBI is investigating whether Joe Kent, who resigned his position as a top US counterterrorism official this week in protest of the Iran war, improperly shared classified information, a person familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.The investigation precedes Kent’s resignation on Tuesday from
DNIESTER DISASTER: A ‘wave of pollution with oil products’ has forced authorities to cut the water supply to several areas, including Moldova’s second-largest city Tens of thousands of Moldovans have been left without water after a Russian strike on a hydroelectric plant in Ukraine resulted in oil polluting a major river that flows through both countries.Moldovan President Maia Sandu has blamed Russia for the pollution on the Dniester River following an attack
For the past five years, Sammy Jou (周詳敏) has climbed Kinmen’s highest peak, Taiwu Mountain (太武山) at 6am before heading to work. In the winter, it’s dark when he sets out but even at this hour, other climbers are already coming down the mountain.All of this is a big change from Jou’s childhood during
In a far away kingdom, the stepmother queen devised a scheme to capture the children of the former queen. Left with no choice, the former queen prayed to the gods for deliverance. In response, the divine golden ram, Chrysomallos, was sent to their aid. The brother and sister mounted the sacred creat
When we last left our new bride, Grace, at the end of 2019’s Ready or Not, she was smoking a well-earned cigarette, having survived a night of slaughter. She sat on a stone step as a mansion went up in flames behind her, her wedding dress ripped and caked with blood, dirt and grime (but mostly blood
A: K-pop supergroup BTS is set to tour Taiwan at the end of the year, putting on three shows in Kaohsiung on Nov. 19, 21 and 22.B: But before that, VieShow Cinemas across Taiwan will launch the “BTS World Tour ‘Arirang’ in Japan Live Viewing” from the Tokyo Dome on April 18.A: In recent years, BTS’
A: South Korean supergroup BTS is finally staging a comeback tomorrow, releasing their new album in nearly four years: “Arirang.” B: And to promote their new album, BTS will hold a comeback concert at the Gwanghwamun Plaza in downtown Seoul this weekend. According to police estimates, the show could
When people think of Spain, they often picture bullfights and flamenco—but there’s another celebration you shouldn’t miss. Every March, Valencia comes alive with “Las Fallas.” Its origins go back centuries to when carpenters burned wooden scraps they no longer needed to welcome spring as winter ende
Two moves show Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) is gunning for Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) party chair and the 2028 presidential election. Technically, these are not yet “officially” official, but by the rules of Taiwan politics, she is now on the dance floor. Earlier this month Lu confirmed in an interview in Japan’s Nikkei that she was considering running for KMT chair. This is not new news, but according to reports from her camp she previously was still considering the case for and against running. By choosing a respected, international news outlet, she declared it to the world. While the outside world likely paid little attention, domestically the message was unmistakable: She is moving on to a larger stage. Part of the dance is to leave options open before formally committing, and with the chair race due in late September, she has time. If something goes wrong in the meantime, or if power brokers in the party offer her a deal that provides more benefits than taking on the role of chair, she can pivot accordingly. Earlier this year, I suggested that strategically, she would be better off concentrating on her job as Taichung mayor until she is term-limited out of office in December next year. Taichung mayor is obviously a full-time job, and concurrently running the Taipei-headquartered party runs the risk of doing one or both jobs poorly and making mistakes that could imperil her shot at the presidency in 2028. The situation has changed. Current KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), knowing he is likely to face challengers of a higher caliber than the three relative nobodies already declared, has gone all in on appealing to the base. The base is more likely to turn out to vote in the chair election, so this makes some strategic sense in the short term.
Among Thailand’s Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) villages, a certain rivalry exists between Arunothai, the largest of these villages, and Mae Salong, which is currently the most prosperous. Historically, the rivalry stems from a split in KMT military factions in the early 1960s, which divided command and opium territories after Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) cut off open support in 1961 due to international pressure (see part two, “The KMT opium lords of the Golden Triangle,” on May 20). But today this rivalry manifests as a different kind of split, with Arunothai leading a pro-China faction and Mae Salong staunchly aligned to Taiwan. Last spring at Arunothai’s Jiaolian School, principal Wang Mingming (王明明) had forewarned me of the division between villages, saying, “We are not like the people in Mae Salong. They are rich. Because of the Taiwanese.” Arunothai has in recent years become split in its loyalties between Taiwan and China (see part one, “A tale of two schools,” on May 15), but in Mae Salong, links to Taiwan remain strong. Taiwan-funded monuments pay homage to the Lost Army, villagers wear T-shirts emblazoned with the Republic of China (ROC) flag and tea plantations grown Taiwan’s most famous tea varieties, including Dong Ding (“frozen peak”) Oolong, Oriental Beauty and Jin Xuan (Golden Daylily or Milk Oolong). Even the numerical classifications of the teas — Oolong No. 12 or No. 17, for example — are the same, and the shops resemble those found on Alishan. At the tomb of General Tuan Hsi-wen (段希文) — perched on a Mae Salong hilltop with a view of his ancestral homeland in China’s Yunnan province — a third generation villager wearing a vintage KMT army uniform, Yan Si-Chung (岩思中), greets visitors with sharp military salutes. “Both my father and my grandfather were soldiers in the KMT army,” the 44-year-old
| New Taipei City | 27-28 | 20% |  |
| Hsinchu County | 26-27 | 10% | |
| Hsinchu City | 26-27 | 10% | |
| Taipei City | 27-28 | 20% |  |
| Miaoli County | 24-26 | 10% | |
| Taoyuan City | 26-27 | 10% | |
| Keelung City | 27-28 | 20% | |
| Yunlin County | 26-27 | 10% | |
| Taichung City | 26-28 | 10% | |
| Nantou County | 25-26 | 10% | |
| Changhua County | 27-28 | 10% | |
| Chiayi County | 26-27 | 10% | |
| Chiayi City | 25-27 | 10% | |
| Tainan City | 27-28 | 10% | |
| Kaohsiung City | 27-28 | 10% | |
| Pingtung County | 26-27 | 10% | |
| Yilan County | 25-26 | 30% |  |
| Hualien County | 25-26 | 30% | |
| Taitung County | 25-27 | 30% | |
| Kinmen County | 27-28 | 10% | |
| Penghu County | 27-27 | 20% | |
| Lienchiang County | 27-28 | 20% | |
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