Tue, Oct 22, 2024
China’s live-fire drills held in waters around Niushan Island near Taiwan's Lienchiang County today were part of an annual routine military exercise, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said.China might be using the exercise to exert deterrence in the Taiwan Strait, the ministry said, adding that
INTERNATIONAL WATERS: Lin Chia-lung said that freedom of navigation fits not only the national interest, but also the common interest of the Indo-Pacific region A US and a Canadian warship on Sunday sailed through the Taiwan Strait together less than a week after China conducted a new round of war games around Taiwan.The US Navy’s 7th Fleet yesterday said that the destroyer USS Higgins and the Canadian frigate HMCS Vancouver made a “routine” transit on Sund
Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) yesterday temporarily shut down the nation’s nuclear energy generation as the state-run utility started regular maintenance on the remaining reactor at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant for 41 days.The No. 2 reactor of the nation’s only active nuclear plant in Pingtung
The Presidential Office yesterday announced that it would send businessman and senior presidential adviser Lin Hsin-i (林信義) to attend this year’s APEC summit next month.Lin would attend the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting in the Peruvian capital, Lima, scheduled for Nov. 15 and 16 as President Willia
TARGETING THE CASH: Israel struck branches of al-Qard al-Hassan, a Hezbollah-linked financial group, as it seeks to degrade the group’s ability to fund operations Visiting US envoy Amos Hochstein yesterday said that the basis of a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah was a 2006 UN resolution, but it would require full implementation.UN Security Council Resolution 1701 states that only the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers should be deployed in southern Leba
South Korea yesterday demanded the immediate pullout of North Korean troops allegedly deployed in Russia as it summoned the Russian ambassador to protest deepening military cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow.South Korea’s spy agency on Friday last week said that it had confirmed that North Kor
TROUBLED WATERS: The ministers also said they opposed China’s obstruction of freedom of navigation in the South China Sea and the militarization of disputed features G7 defense ministers in a joint statement on Saturday singled out China over a number of concerns, including its “provocative actions” near Taiwan.The defense ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US gathered in Naples, Italy, from Friday to yesterday for the group’s fir
Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) today proposed to increase funding for compensation to indigenous peoples for a logging ban, as requested by opposition lawmakers, in a bid to break a long standoff over next year’s central government budget plan.However, Cho, speaking on the legislative floor, stressed th
The Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) today said it has participated in the Pride Parade every year and supports LGBTQ+ rights through action, following criticism from an online personality that the party “forgot” to register for the third time.Internet personality Liu Yu (劉宇), also known as Si Cha-mao (四
Mycoplasma bacteria in Taiwan is resistant to more than 70 percent of antibiotics, forcing children with medical issues to use second-line drugs, an infectious disease expert said today at a Taipei event kicking off a traveling exhibition on antibiotics.Although antibiotics have greatly reduced the
The construction of a six-station Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line from Taipei’s Donghu (東湖) area to New Taipei City’s Sijhih District (汐止) is expected to begin next year, the New Taipei City Department of Transit Systems today said.The construction project contracts were today awarded to Gamuda Berhad
A former secretary of Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) has been listed as a suspect in a corruption probe involving the former Taipei mayor.The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that there is sufficient evidence to list Hsu Chih-yu (許芷瑜) as a defendant in a case involving allege
Prosecutors are pursuing further charges against a former kindergarten teacher convicted of sexually assaulting six children after they found evidence of 39 more victims.In August, Mao Chun-shen (毛畯珅) was convicted on 11 counts of sexual assault, 207 counts of indecent assault and six counts of film
A tropical depression east of the Philippines became a tropical storm named Trami at 2am today, and is projected to move west-northwest toward waters east of Luzon Island in the Philippines, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said.As of 8am, Trami's center was 700km east of Manila, or 1,180km
RESOURCE RICH: Taiwan is located in the Pacific Ring of Fire and has up to 30 gigawatts of the potential energy, of which 10 gigawatts could be economically viable Academia Sinica and CPC Corp yesterday began drilling the nation’s first deep geothermal well in Yilan County’s Yuanshan Township (員山).The 4km-deep well is expected to take 18 months to complete and has an estimated investment of NT$337 million (US$10.54 million), Academia Sinica President James Lia
The 2024 Taiwan Science Train departed from Taipei Main Station yesterday for a six-day 32-stop round-the-island tour to educate students from 202 elementary schools on the country’s latest scientific advances.According to the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC), this year’s expanded
AI BOOM: The ministry attributed the strong performance to orders for electronic products, mainly semiconductors, on the back of strong demand for AI devices Export orders increased 6.1 percent annually to US$154.04 billion last quarter, the highest in seven quarters, as strong demand for cloud-based applications, servers and artificial intelligence (AI) chips drove last month’s orders to the highest level in about two years, the Ministry of Economic Aff
French drugmaker Sanofi’s confirmation yesterday that it plans to sell a controlling stake in its over-the-counter unit to a US investment fund sparked a new political backlash, stoked by fears the deal marks a loss of sovereignty over key medications.Paris “must block the sale” using powers to prot
China’s central bank yesterday said it had cut two key interest rates to historic lows, in the latest move by Beijing to boost sluggish spending and kickstart the world’s second-largest economy.The cuts come just days after the country posted its slowest quarterly growth in a year and a half, underl
The Chinese Ministry of Commerce on Oct. 12 announced that it would consider adopting further measures in response to Taiwan’s trade barriers on certain goods from China, based on the findings of an investigation it launched late last year. The measures could include tariffs or other forms of econom
The New Taipei City District Court recently handed down sentences in an on-campus throat-slashing murder of a ninth-grade student that was committed by two schoolmates on Christmas Day last year. The male perpetrator was sentenced to nine years and the female instigator to eight years in prison. The
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) on Oct. 9 made a rebuttal to President William Lai’s (賴清德) Double Ten National Day gala speech, which was given on Oct. 5, saying that “the Republic of China [ROC] is the motherland of Taiwanese” and “every Taiwanese citizen is a Taiwanese, and
HISTORIC GAME: Many former New York Liberty players were in the audience, including Teresa Weatherspoon, who hit a half-court heave in the 1999 WNBA Finals As confetti fell and Frank Sinatra’s New York, New York blared through the arena, the New York Liberty celebrated the end of a long odyssey. The team that always fell short, starting from their days in Madison Square Garden, through detours to Radio City Music Hall and Westchester County Center, fin
Taiwanese golfer Chien Pei-yun dramatically improved her position at the BMW Ladies Championship in South Korea on Sunday with the second-best final round of the day, but it was still only good enough to secure 33rd place. Chien entered the day 68th in a 78 player field at even par for the tournamen
Taiwanese judoka Lien Chen-ling is planning to retire soon and work as a coach for the judo club of Japanese conglomerate Komatsu, she said on Sunday at a launch of her autobiography. The 36-year-old Lien, who competed in three Olympic Games and won a gold medal at the Hangzhou Asian Games in China
Charles Leclerc won the US Grand Prix in a Ferrari one-two with Carlos Sainz on Sunday as Max Verstappen dealt Lando Norris a significant setback in the Formula One title battle after a thrilling duel between the two. Red Bull’s triple world champion finished third to stretch his championship lead o
RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE: Police made hundreds of arrests after discovering a vote-buying scheme that they say could taint up to one-quarter of the ballots cast A referendum on Moldova joining the EU was too close to call early yesterday with almost all votes counted, as pro-EU Moldovan President Maia Sandu blamed “criminal groups working together with foreign forces” — a veiled reference to Russia — for the outcome.The close vote is a setback for Sandu, wh
The world’s biggest nature protection conference opened in Colombia yesterday with the UN secretary-general calling for nations to “convert words into action” and fatten a fund seeking to address biodiversity loss.On the eve of the official start of the conference, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guter
Approval ratings for Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba have fallen ahead of a general election on Sunday, one weekend poll showed, with another survey suggesting the ruling coalition could struggle to secure a majority.Former Japanese minister of defense Ishiba took office this month after bein
Taiwan’s AI industry will generate over NT$1 trillion by 2026, according to projections by the National Development Council (NDC), based largely on Taiwan’s dominance in semiconductor manufacturing. But the goal to make Taiwan Asia’s leading AI hub, or “AI island” in the words of President William L
Much noise has been made lately on X (Twitter), where posters both famed and not have contended that Taiwan is stupid for eliminating nuclear power, which, the comments imply, is necessary to provide the nation with power in the event of a blockade. This widely circulated claim, typically made by nu
Oct. 21 to Oct. 27Sanbanqiao Cemetery (三板橋) was once reserved for prominent Japanese residents of Taipei, including former governor-general Motojiro Akashi, who died in Japan in 1919 but requested to be buried in Taiwan. Akashi may have reconsidered his decision if he had known that by the 1980s, hi
It’s won Oscars. Its television shows and K-pop stars dominate global charts. Its leading novelist just won the Nobel literature prize. How did South Korea become such a global cultural powerhouse? What is Hallyu? From the late 1990s, Korean dramas and K-pop idols started gaining traction in neighbo
對話 Dialogue清清:華華,過兩天我要去金門玩,要不要幫你帶什麼名產回來?Qīngqing: Huáhua, guò liǎng tiān wǒ yào qù Jīnmén wán, yào búyào bāng nǐ dài shénme míngchǎn huílái?華華:你暑假不是才去過,怎麼又要去金門啊?Huáhua: Nǐ shǔjià búshì cái qùguò, zěnme yòu yào qù Jīnmén a?清清:這次不一樣,我是要去參加那裡的萬聖節活動的!Qīngqing: Zhècì bù yíyàng, wǒ shì yào qù cānjiā nàlǐ
在防疫期間,「超前部署」此一用語常見諸報章,成為台灣很夯的熱詞 (buzzword):超前部署並非2020 年才出現的用語,以下為一些過去台灣政府官員曾使用「超前部署」的語境:總統馬英九今天指出,八八風災帶來很大教訓,應落實災害防救工作……料敵從寬,禦敵從嚴,超前部署……2010 年 5 月 26 日,《中央社》行政院副院長張善政……表示,蓮花颱風速度雖然減緩……料敵從嚴,並以超前部署為原則……2015 年 7 月 7 日,《新聞傳播處》《今日科學》有篇文章 “Outbreak science: Infectious disease research leads to outbreak pre
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% |