Thu, Apr 23, 2026
COMMITMENT: Polling shows that the willingness of Taiwanese to defend their country is ‘orders of magnitude’ greater than in prewar Ukraine, Paparo said Taiwan must show the resolve to defend itself, including by passing a NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.63 billion) special defense budget, to secure US support, US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo told a US Senate hearing on Tuesday.“We can’t want Taiwan’s defense more than they want it itself,”
Taiwan has signed six arms procurement offers from the US totaling more than NT$208 billion (US$6.59 billion) covering long-range precision strike systems, missile stockpile replenishment and joint production of large-caliber ammunition, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday.The government
Iran yesterday fired on three ships in the Strait of Hormuz, intensifying its assault on shipping in the waterway crucial to global energy supplies and complicating already faltering efforts to bring the US and Iran together for talks to end the war.The attacks were carried out by the paramilitary I
A group of Chinese naval vessels, including a destroyer, yesterday passed through a waterway between two islands administered by the Japanese prefecture of Okinawa, as it returned home after testing far-seas capabilities, China said.Vessel formation 133 dispatched by the Chinese People’s Liberation
Several US lawmakers and the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) yesterday condemned the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for pressuring three African countries to revoke overflight permission for President William Lai (賴清德), forcing the cancelation of his planned state visit to Eswatini this
ESWATINI VISIT: Taipei condemned Beijing’s coercive tactics after Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar unexpectedly revoked overflight permits for the president’s aircraft President William Lai (賴清德) has postponed an official trip to Eswatini, after several countries in Africa revoked overflight permits following “intense pressure” from China, a senior aide said yesterday.Lai was due to visit the Kingdom of Eswatini from today to Sunday for the 40th anniversary of Kin
A green sea turtle found trapped on a beach in Penghu County yesterday morning was safely released back into the ocean with the help of the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) and the Ocean Conservation Administration (OCA).Personnel from a northern Penghu inspection station discovered the stranded tur
After years of starts and stops, the Taitung County Library yesterday officially opened, featuring a design inspired by mountain mist that the county government hopes will help it become an important Taitung landmark.The project reflected local residents' strong emphasis on knowledge and learning, T
More than a dozen films centered on the fraught history of Palestine and the displacement of its people are to be screened at the Taiwan International Documentary Festival (TIDF) in Taipei and New Taipei City from Friday next week to May 10.As part of this year’s festival, the “Palestine and Its Arc
The minimum age for mandatory driver's license renewals would be lowered from 75 to 70 starting May 31, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said today.The renewal fee would be set at NT$50, the ministry said.Under the new regulations, drivers aged 70 or older would have to undergo a ph
China’s navigation app Amap (高德地圖) is classified as a product that endangers national information security and is banned from use by government agencies, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said today.The app raised concerns after it was found to display countdown timers for some traffic lights in Taiwa
The US Department of Defense is preparing security assistance options for Taiwan, US Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs John Noh said yesterday, urging Taiwanese political parties to work together to pass a NT1.25 trillion (US$39.68 billion) special defense budget.Noh a
The US Department of State yesterday criticized the three African countries that revoked overflight clearances for President William Lai's (賴清德) planned trip to Eswatini this week, saying they had yielded to China's political demands.Lai was scheduled to fly directly to Taiwan’s only African ally fr
The New Taipei City Art Museum this weekend plans to celebrate its first anniversary with a two-day extravaganza featuring live concerts and a large-scale synchronized fireworks and drone display, the New Taipei City Cultural Affairs Department said. The two-day celebrations are to take place in the
The minister in charge of the coast guard on Tuesday made a rare visit to Taiwan-controlled Itu Aba Island (Taiping Island, —太平島) in the South China Sea for exercises, including practicing the armed boarding of a suspicious ship.Taiwan has control of Itu Aba in the contested Spratly Islands (Nansha
KEY MILESTONE: Due to complex regulations, foreign AI models cannot be applied to the financial sector, necessitating the development of a local version, an official said Taiwan’s financial sector yesterday launched a joint initiative to develop a localized large language model (LLM), part of a broader push to build domestic artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities and reduce reliance on foreign technologies.The first version, focused on banking knowledge, is set to
STRICTLY INDEPENDENT: Kevin Warsh said that it is up to the Fed to remain free of political influence and that he would ensure strict independence of monetary policy US President Donald Trump’s choice to lead the US Federal Reserve, Kevin Warsh, on Tuesday said that he would not be controlled by the US president as he fielded questions on central bank independence during his confirmation hearing. The former Fed Board of Governors member emphasized his commitment
Taiwan’s crude oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) inventories remain stable and sufficient amid tensions in the Middle East, with crude stockpiles at about 140 days, well above the 90-day legal requirement, and LNG inventories at about 12 days, exceeding the 11-day requirement, Minister of Economic
Maritime strike drills on a Philippine island near Taiwan are part of this year’s US-Philippines Balikatan military exercises, international media reported.The exercises, which began on Monday and are to run through May 8, are the largest ever in terms of participating countries, with Australia taki
Every year on April 23, the global literary community observes World Book and Copyright Day, a date established by UNESCO in 1995 to champion the written word. While the day is rooted in the legacies of European masters, its modern pulse beats with surprising vigor in Taipei. In the Chinese-speaking
At 10am on Monday last week, US President Donald Trump announced that the US Central Command would immediately begin imposing a naval blockade on all ships leaving or entering Iranian ports, or that have paid a toll to Iran, physically boarding them if necessary. The stoppage does not apply to vesse
CONCUSSION FEARS: The Lakers produced another disciplined defensive effort to defeat the Rockets, while the 76ers scored a series-leveling victory over the Celtics The Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday exploited an injury to Victor Wembanyama to score an upset 106-103 victory over the second-seeded San Antonio Spurs in their NBA Western Conference playoff series.San Antonio superstar Wembanyama — who had scored 35 points in the Spurs’ Game 1 win on Sunday — ex
Inter’s pursuit of a Serie A-Coppa Italia double is still alive after the Serie A leaders on Tuesday came back from two goals down for a decisive 3-2 win over Como 1907 in the second leg of their Cup semi-final.Hakan Calhanoglu scored twice and Petar Sucic had the winner in the 89th minute after Mar
Shota Imanaga on Tuesday tossed seven stellar innings, while Seiya Suzuki and Michael Busch each drove in two runs as the streaking Chicago Cubs posted a 7-4 victory over the visiting Philadelphia Phillies.Imanaga (2-1) allowed just one run on three hits, striking out one and walking one for the Cub
A new NZ$683 million (US$404 million) stadium that was a symbol of Christchurch’s struggle to rebuild after a deadly earthquake struck the New Zealand city is to host its first match tomorrow in front of a sellout crowd.A magnitude 6.2 earthquake killed 185 people in February 2011 and toppled or dam
‘IRRESPONSIBLE’: Ukraine has detected at least 92 Russian drones that flew within 5km of Chernobyl’s radiation shield and three missiles landing within 10km of another plant Russia has repeatedly launched drones and missiles on a flight path near the disused Chernobyl nuclear plant during attacks on Ukraine, elevating the risk of a major accident, Ukraine’s top state prosecutor said.Ukrainian Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko detailed the previously unreported Russia
NO. 3: Cherfilus-McCormick’s resignation came a week after two US representatives, a Democrat and a Republican, stepped down amid sexual misconduct accusations Democratic US Representative Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick on Tuesday resigned, minutes before a congressional committee was set to hold a hearing on her punishment for ethics violations.Her departure immediately expands Republicans’ narrow majority to 217-213 with an independent who caucuses with Repu
A Salvadoran court on Tuesday began a collective trial of 486 alleged gang members, one of the biggest mass trials under Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele’s crackdown on gang violence through controversial emergency powers.Prosecutors said the charges against the alleged members of the Mara Salvatru
Writing of the finds at the ancient iron-working site of Shihsanhang (十 三行) in New Taipei City’s Bali District (八里), archaeologist Tsang Cheng-hwa (臧振華) of the Academia Sinica’s Institute of History and Philology observes: “One bronze bowl gilded with gold, together with copper coins and fragments o
Critics of President William Lai (賴清德) and his ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) frequently use terms like “dictator” and “authoritarian,” despite scant evidence of this being the case. Many, particularly on the pan-green (DPP-aligned ideologically) side, simply roll their eyes. The Chinese
In a recent essay in China Books Review, Columbia University professor and China expert Andrew Nathan cited a new book by Lev Nachman, Contested Taiwan, as proof that Taiwan has a “remarkably fragmented political system.” This is a poor characterization of both Taiwanese politics and Nachman’s book.
A: Which TV drama series have been global hits so far this year?B: The US drama “Stranger Things 5,” South Korean drama “Can This Love Be Translated?” and Chinese megahit “Pursuit of Jade” are all popular lately.A: Isn’t “Pursuit of Jade” the costume idol drama about the romance between a charmi
Have you ever found yourself desperately feeding coins into a claw machine just because you’ve already spent so much trying to win that stuffed animal? Or maybe you’ve continued watching a boring movie simply because you already paid for the ticket? If so, you’ve experienced the “sunk cost fallacy.”
The US-Israeli war with Iran, which began on Feb. 28, has killed thousands of people, destabilized the Middle East and rocked global energy markets by effectively closing the strait.WHAT IS THE STRAIT OF HORMUZ?Lying between Oman and Iran and linking the Gulf north of it with the Gulf of Oman to the
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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