Mon, Apr 06, 2026
PREPARING THE NATION: This year’s drills would incorporate for the first time drones for transporting supplies in Chiayi and Pingtung counties, a minister said The Urban Resilience Exercises are to begin this month in coordination with the Han Kuang military drills, focusing on protecting critical infrastructure and civil-military integration, Minister Without Portfolio Chi Lien-cheng (季連成) said yesterday.New Taipei City, Kaohsiung, Yilan City and Pingtung
US President Donald Trump yesterday said that US forces had safely recovered a second pilot downed in Iran, calling it one of the most daring search-and-rescue operations in US history.However, Iran said it had “completely foiled” the rescue operation, without saying it had captured the US servicema
A Ukrainian drone attacked an oil pipeline near the key Russian port of Primorsk early yesterday, with fuel leaking into the Baltic Sea, a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he was afraid a prolonged war in the Middle East could further erode US’ support for Ukraine.Ukraine confi
Pope Leo XIV yesterday urged “those who have the power to unleash wars” to “choose peace” in in his first Easter blessing as pontiff with the Middle East conflict raging.Catholics around the world marked the holiday under the shadow of a war that began with US-Israeli strikes against Iran on Feb. 28
LIVES AT STAKE: Due to the legislature’s stalling, disaster relief funds remain inaccessible, undermining the government’s ability to swiftly respond to emergencies, the premier said Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday urged swift legislative review of the central government’s general budget after torrential rain hit Miaoli County, causing muddy floodwaters to cascade into homes.Cho issued the call through a post on Facebook after areas in Miaoli and Hsinchu reported disruption
Several national universities in Taiwan continue to have sister-school partnerships with Chinese institutions that are affiliated with the United Front Work Department (UFWD) or closely linked with China’s military industry, despite warnings from the Ministry of Education (MOE).The Mainland Affairs
COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW: With last year recording the sharpest decline on record, a review of past policies was conducted to direct a new approach The government will continue layer and review policies to address the national security challenge posed by the nation’s low birthrate, an official said yesterday.The nation’s total fertility rate (TFR) fell to 0.695 last year, down from 0.885 in 2024, the sharpest decline on record, latest data rele
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency on Saturday said that draft amendments to regulations on human medicines for veterinary use would allow pre-stocking of medicines by veterinarians to ensure animals’ medical rights.The Regulations Governing the Use and Management of Human Drugs on Dogs,
OUTSOURCING DUTIES: Requests received ranged from weeding around a relative’s tombstone to paying respects on behalf of a client to their deceased pets More people are hiring someone to clean the graveyards of their ancestors and pay respects on their behalf during the Tomb-Sweeping holiday due to an increasingly aging population and lifestyle changes. Kuaibangpai (快幫派), a service platform that was created in October last year to run errands for pe
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday warned of aftershocks over the next three days after two earthquakes rocked Hualien County in eastern Taiwan early yesterday morning.The first quake, with a magnitude of 5.7, struck at 1:14am off the coast of Hualien, about 5.4 kilometers north-nort
Nearly 10,000 people are to participate in the road running and cycling races on the Danjiang Bridge (淡江大橋) this weekend, the Highway Bureau said yesterday. The 920m bridge, which connects New Taipei City’s Tamsui and Bali districts, was designed by the late Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid. The a
INDICATORS: If China does not stop its threats and continues to suppress the nation’s international space, then the meeting was a ploy to mislead the world, an official said A national security official yesterday said that whether Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) potential meeting with Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) represents goodwill from China or merely a “united front” strategy could be assessed using three key indicators. Cheng on
Peace is the only foundation of prosperity and the hope for Taiwan’s future, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) said yesterday.The party issued the remarks in response to a government official criticizing KMT Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun’s (鄭麗文) upcoming China visit, which has a pre-arranged itinerary d
True peace is never achieved by bowing to or compromising with authoritarianism, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday.Lai made the remarks during the unveiling ceremony of the Gikong Presbyterian Church in Taipei as a transitional justice site.The church was the residence of former democracy a
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) in an interview with NBC News aired on Saturday said the party would be committed to deepening Taiwan-US ties while promoting peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.The Taiwan-US relationship has been invariably important to Taiwan, she
UNCERTAINTIES: Sales in the current quarter are expected to grow, but the impact of the volatile global political and economic situation should be monitored, Hon Hai said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported a 29.68 percent year-on-year rise in quarterly sales, a sign of sustained artificial intelligence (AI) demand during the first weeks of war in the Middle East. Revenue for the first quarter grew to NT$2.13 trillion (US$66.6 billion), while anal
PLANS: The UK’s proposals include an office expansion and a dual stock listing as London seeks to capitalize on a fight between the firm and the US government The UK is trying to tempt Anthropic PBC to expand its presence in the nation, as it seeks to capitalize on a fight between the maker of artificial intelligence (AI) app Claude and the US Department of Defense, the Financial Times said on Sunday.British government proposals for Anthropic range from a
Taiwanese financial institutions’ aggregate exposure to China fell 13.44 percent year-on-year at the end of February as firms adopted a prudent and conservative strategy regarding investment in the world’s second-largest economy, data released by the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) on Thursda
A delegation of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) officials led by Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) is to travel to China tomorrow for a six-day visit to Jiangsu, Shanghai and Beijing, which might end with a meeting between Cheng and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平).The trip was announced by Xinhua new
The ongoing Iran conflict is putting Taiwan’s energy fragility on full display — the island of 23 million people, home to the world’s most advanced semiconductor manufacturing, is highly dependent on imported oil and gas, especially that from the Middle East. In 2025, 69.6 percent of Taiwan’s crude
In the wake of former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) conviction, Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) has offered a predictable counter: the verdict is not legal, but political — an orchestrated campaign by a supposed “party-prosecutor-media-court” alliance.Huang is an academic
HOME COURT ADVANTAGE: The Detroit Pistons clinched the Eastern Conference top seed for the first time since 2007 with a 116-93 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers Nikola Jokic on Saturday scored 40 points to propel the Denver Nuggets to a 136-134 overtime victory over Victor Wembanyama and San Antonio, halting the Spurs’ 11-game NBA winning streak. Three-time NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) Jokic added eight rebounds, 13 assists and three blocked shots for Den
Swap the Azzurri kit and slip into something maple-flavored: The Canadian Soccer Association spent Saturday tempting Toronto’s Italian diaspora to trade blue for red and rally behind the home team at the FIFA World Cup. Italy suffered the agony of missing out on a third straight World Cup last week
Cambridge on Saturday made it four wins in a row as they comprehensively defeated Oxford in the 171st University Boat Race on London’s River Thames. It was Cambridge’s seventh win in the past eight years of a rowing race between England’s two oldest universities first staged in 1829. A world-class C
“I don’t remember the moment, but ever since I was a kid, that’s the first thing I loved,” two-time NBA All-Star Isaiah Thomas said of his lifelong romance with basketball. However, that journey unfolded against the limitations of his size in a game where height often dictates opportunity — a realit
RESIGNATION CALLS: The PP and Vox parties have said that the prime minister should step down and call early elections, saying the scandals expose systemic corruption A corruption trial of a former right-hand man to Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is to begin tomorrow, a politically explosive case that has threatened to topple the minority government led by the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party.Jose Luis Abalos is a disgraced ex-Socialist heavyweight, a forme
Now more than two-thirds to the moon, the Artemis II astronauts are preparing for their historic lunar fly-around to push deeper into space than even the Apollo astronauts. On the downside, their toilet is on the blink again.The three Americans — Christina Koch, Reid Wiseman and Victor Glover — and
Showcasing phallus-shaped portable shrines and pink penis candies, Japan’s annual fertility festival yesterday teemed with tourists, couples and families elated by its open display of sex.The spring Kanamara Matsuri near Tokyo features colorfully dressed worshipers carrying a trio of giant phallic-s
The US war on Iran has illuminated the deep interdependence of Asia on flows of oil and related items as raw materials that become the basis of modern human civilization. Australians and New Zealanders had a wake up call. The crisis also emphasizes how the Philippines is a swatch of islands linked b
April 6 to April 13 Few expected a Japanese manga adaptation featuring four tall, long-haired heartthrobs and a plucky heroine to transform Taiwan’s television industry. But Meteor Garden (流星花園) took the nation by storm after premiering on April 12, 2001, single-handedly creating the “idol dra
Polling data often confirms what we expect, but sometimes it throws up surprises. When examined over time, some patterns appear that speak to something bigger going on. In this column, whenever possible, Formosa’s polls are used. Despite the sometimes cringeworthy antics of Formosa’s Chairman, Wu Tz
1. 我曾聽人談起他，但我不認識他。ˇ I have heard of him, but I have never met him.χ I have heard him, but I have never met him.註：「聽到別人提起某人或談論過某人」，用 hear of。若不用 of，意為「聽到過某人講話、演奏、唱歌、唸書、走路、敲門」等等。2. 誰在敲門？ˇ Who is knocking at the door?χ Who is knocking the door?註：knock 為不及物動詞。通常說 to knock at/on the door。例如：Knock bef
Visitors walking down the streets of London and other major English cities might notice a curious sight. Many of the old __1__ have some of their windows boarded up. What’s even stranger is that there doesn’t appear to be any consistent pattern as to which windows get covered. This architectural __
Despite being a basic tool, pens come in a wide variety of forms. Classic styles include fountain pens, which deliver liquid ink smoothly through metal tips. Another common type is the ballpoint pen, which is easy to use. There are even special felt pens that are especially popular among artists. __
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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