Wed, Mar 25, 2026
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday thanked a group of US senators for proposing a resolution to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Taiwan’s first direct presidential election and to reaffirm US commitment to Taiwan as established in the Taiwan Relations Act and the “six assurances.”Th
Taiwan climbed to its highest position in global export rankings in more than three decades last year, buoyed by demand linked to artificial intelligence (AI) that lifted shipments of semiconductors and technology products, Ministry of Finance data released yesterday showed.Taiwan accounted for 2.4
The EU and Australia yesterday struck a long-awaited free-trade deal, while also agreeing to boost defense cooperation and access to crucial rare-earth minerals in the face of global uncertainty over trade.European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s visit to Australia comes as the 27-nation
DEMANDS: Iran, which has refuted Trump’s claims that talks have taken place, would seek guarantees against future attacks and refuse limits on its missile programs Iran’s negotiating posture has hardened sharply since the war began, with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps exerting growing influence over decisionmaking, and it would demand significant concessions from the US if mediation efforts lead to serious negotiations, three senior sources in Tehran sa
CONTROL YUAN CENSURE: Prison terms for national security offenders are lighter than those for officials convicted of bribery or people found guilty of drug trafficking The Control Yuan yesterday urged the judiciary to impose stricter punishments on military personnel convicted of contravening national security regulations after being lured to spy for China.The government watchdog investigated two cases involving military personnel: one, a sergeant surnamed Tsai (蔡
A government-proposed NT$1.25 trillion (US$38.95 billion) special defense budget is the most comprehensive among competing proposals, as it supports long-term domestic weapons production, Minister of National Defense Minister Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said yesterday, adding that the US is unlikely to acc
BROAD SUPPORT: Survey respondents chimed in on a spread of issues from the legislature’s paralysis to TPP Legislator Li Zhenxiu’s legitimacy and military drills About 64 percent of people said that they supported Premier Cho Jung-tai’s (卓榮泰) self-financed trip to Japan to watch the World Baseball Classic game between Taiwan and the Czech Republic, while about 60 percent reported dissatisfaction with the legislature, a survey from the Taiwan Inspiration Asso
FIFTH COLUMN The Chinese-born woman was charged with pro-China meddling in Taiwanese elections in supporting TPP candidates and with fraud and forgery The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday charged Chinese immigrant Xu Chunying (徐春鶯), who has links to the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), with suspicion of taking part in Beijing-directed election interference.The office said in the indictment that Xu, despite being a legal resident, had
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Deputy Chairman Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) yesterday denied a Mirror Media report alleging that he was ousted from the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation for being embroiled in improper dealings in China.Hsiao was the chief executive officer at former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) fo
Hello Taiwan, an international nonprofit organization, yesterday called for support for a proposal to rename Taiwan’s overseas offices as “Taiwan representative offices,” replacing the “Taipei Economic and Cultural Office” format.The New York-based organization, founded by Taiwanese-Americans in 201
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said a new Chinese law on ethnic unity could compel people to actively support unification with Taiwan or face legal consequences.The Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress, passed by China’s National People’s Congress on March 12 and set to take effe
Hsu Han (徐漢), a former executive at state-run oil supplier CPC Corp, Taiwan, who went missing days before being sentenced to 25 years in prison for corruption, was captured yesterday in Taitung County, prosecutors said.In a statement issued yesterday evening, the Ciaotou District Prosecutors' Office
Deputy trade representative Yen Huai-shing (顏慧欣) died earlier this month at age 53, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) confirmed yesterday.During an appearance at the legislature, Cho was asked by Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chen Hsiu-pao (陳秀寶) about media reports saying that Yen had died. He sa
In Taiwan, mothers can easily find quiet and clean spaces to breastfeed — a convenience that sometimes impresses visiting tourists. For Thai lawmaker Sasinan Thamnithinan, that small but striking detail during a visit years ago planted the seed for a political mission — one she is pursuing in Thaila
PATTERN: Enterovirus cases usually rise after the Lunar New Year holiday, reaching a peak around the Dragon Boat Festival, before falling in summer, a CDC official said A child died last week from enterovirus infection, the first death this year from the disease, while a rare case of severe enterovirus infection was reported in a man in his 30s, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday.The child, who died in southern Taiwan and was younger than 10, did
PROJECTION: Despite the Middle East conflicts, the manufacturing production gauge this quarter could rise to a record high for the period, an official said The industrial production index rose 17.83 percent year-on-year to 109.46 last month, driven by strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing applications that boosted information technology and electronics products’ output, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yeste
Far EasTone Telecommunications Co (遠傳電信) yesterday said its information and communications technology (ICT) services revenue is expected to grow by a double-digit percentage this year on the back of demand for its smart city and smart medical services outgrowing most business segments. The company s
Yesiang Enterprise Co (鈺祥), the nation’s biggest semiconductor chemical filters supplier, on Monday said it aims to grow revenue by at least a double-digit percentage this year after tapping into a new market segment by supplying recyclable chemical filters. The company said it is also benefiting fr
The government and Taiwanese semiconductor companies should focus on enhancing local domestic supply chain resilience as geopolitical tensions and war in the Middle East pose a growing risk to chip production.Semiconductors are a strategic resource due to the intensifying US-China technology race an
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Huang Jian-hao (黃健豪), a close ally of Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕), said that Lu favors an NT$810 billion (US$25.29 billion) version of a special defense procurement plan over the KMT’s NT$380 billion “plus additional items” proposal.Huang said that a
Taiwan no longer wants to merely manufacture the chips that power artificial intelligence (AI). It aims to build the software, platforms and services that run on them.Ten major AI infrastructure projects, a national cloud computing center in Tainan, the sovereign language model Trustworthy AI Dialog
TARGET: Sabalenka hopes to be the fifth woman to achieve the Indian Wells-Miami double after Steffi Graf, Kim Clijsters, Victoria Azarenka and Iga Swiatek Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka on Monday kept their “Sunshine Double” dreams alive with emphatic victories at the Miami Open as defending men’s singles champion Jakub Mensik joined a slew of seeds who crashed out.Sinner and Sabalenka are bidding to join an elite band of players who have won India
James Reimer kept expecting the New York Rangers to put shots on net.They rarely did.By the end of the game on Monday, the Ottawa Senators had allowed just nine shots on goal in a 2-1 victory at Madison Square Garden. It was the fewest shots against in franchise history, the Rangers’ lowest output s
Daniss Jenkins on Monday scored a career-high 30 points as the Detroit Pistons halted the Los Angeles Lakers’ nine-game winning streak with a 113-110 victory.A heavyweight showdown between Eastern Conference leaders Detroit and the in-form Lakers did not disappoint, with Los Angeles recovering from
French Ligue 1 title contenders RC Lens on Monday objected to the potential rescheduling of their top-of-the-table clash with champions Paris-Saint Germain.The two teams are due to meet on April 11, but that date became inconvenient for PSG after they thrashed Chelsea last week to set up a UEFA Cham
PARLIAMENT: Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen is tipped to win, earning praise for her leadership after fending off Trump’s repeated demands to annex Greenland Danes yesterday began voting in general elections, with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen seen as the favorite after standing up to US President Donald Trump over Greenland.The latest polls gave the left-wing bloc, for which Frederiksen is the self-proclaimed candidate, a nine-seat lead over t
A military transport plane with 128 people on board, mostly soldiers, crashed shortly after taking off on Monday in Puerto Leguizamo, Colombia, killing at least 66 people and leaving dozens injured, the head of Colombia’s armed forces said.General Hugo Alejandro Lopez Barreto said that four military
POLLUTION: Pakistan and Bangladesh had the highest average PM2.5 concentrations, while French Polynesia and Puerto Rico recorded the lowest, IQAir Group said Global air quality declined in 2025, with more cities reporting standards below international health guidelines on the impact of severe wildfires and pollution from sectors including fossil fuels and agriculture.Data from almost 9,500 cities showed 14 percent met WHO standards for annual average con
After Jurassic Park premiered in 1993, people began to ask if scientists could really bring long-lost species back from extinction, just like in the hit movie. The idea has triggered “de-extinction” debates in several countries, including Taiwan, where the focus has been on the Formosan clouded leop
Take an everyday video on any suburban transport network, add anime-style music and a rosy filter, and it’s suddenly a scene from the Japanese holiday of your dreams.That’s the “Japan effect”: a Gen Z social media trend satirizing the often-romanticized image of the Asian country, which welcomed a r
During her first year of college, Elisabeth Bradley was inspired to try weightlifting after she followed a woman tracking her fitness transformation on social media, one barbell at a time.Then, Bradley found herself to be the only woman in the weight room at San Diego State University.“I felt like I
In 2024, the number of pet cats in Taiwan surpassed 1.31 million, a 50 percent jump from 2022. This sharp rise shows a growing interest in cat ownership. But with more cats comes a type of household waste many people overlook: used cat litter. Unlike food scraps or packaging, it’s harder to manage a
K-pop oozes with talent, flair and hard work, but the spectacularly successful South Korean music industry also has a dark side — sometimes with tragic results.After BTS’s comeback concert on Saturday, AFP looks at the intense competition, the grueling training, the tight control over stars’ lives a
對話 Dialogue清清：今天來上班的路上，經過好幾條開滿了花的路，心情都跟著好起來了。Qīngqing: Jīntiān lái shàngbān de lùshàng, jīngguò hǎojǐ tiáo kāimǎnle huā de lù, xīnqíng dōu gēnzhe hǎo qǐlái le.華華：這就是春天哪！天氣暖和了，花也都開了。Huáhua: Zhè jiùshì chūntiān na! Tiānqì nuǎnhuo le, huā yě dōu kāi le.清清：對啊！朋友也都在網上曬參加花季的照片，隨便拍都好美。Qīngqing: Duì a! Pé
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% | |
RSS