Thu, Oct 10, 2024
SPEECH IMPEDIMENT? The state department said that using routine celebrations or public remarks as a pretext for provocation would undermine peace and stability Beijing’s expected use of President William Lai’s (賴清德) Double Ten National Day speech today as a pretext for provocative measures would undermine peace and stability, the US Department of State said on Tuesday.Taiwanese officials have said that China is likely to launch military drills near Taiwan
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday showcased the updated capabilities of T112 rifles, which are soon to be used by Taiwan’s combat troops.The Taiwan-manufactured rifle has undergone enhancements based on user feedback since it was first unveiled at the Taipei International Aerospace and Defe
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba yesterday dissolved parliament ahead of snap elections on Oct. 27, banking on his honeymoon popularity and a fragmented opposition to lead his party to victory.Ishiba’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has governed Japan almost uninterrupted for decades — albeit
Americans David Baker and John Jumper, together with Briton Demis Hassabis, on Wednesday won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for work revealing the secrets of proteins through computing and artificial intelligence (AI).The three were honored for cracking the code of the structure of proteins, the build
CHALLENGES: President William Lai pledged to strengthen collaboration with Tuvalu to tackle climate change, particularly the urgent issue of rising sea levels Visiting Tuvaluan Prime Minister Feleti Penitala Teo criticized the UN’s exclusion of Taiwan as a “hypocritical” act during a meeting with President William Lai (賴清德) in Taipei yesterday.It was “hypocritical” of the UN to not include Taiwan and its people in its system even though the world body has
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday said it is building a large artificial intelligence (AI) manufacturing facility in Mexico to produce servers based on Nvidia Corp’s GB200 chips.The company would utilize as much capacity as possible to match strong market demand for AI servers, Hon Hai
CHANGING VIEWS: A slight decrease in support for direct military intervention could be due to a sense that the US is overextended, the report’s author said A majority of Americans are in favor of the US supporting Taiwan, but most do not want their country to go to war with China, a US think tank poll showed yesterday.Fifty-one percent of respondents in the Chicago Council on Global Affairs survey said they believe that the US should encourage Taiwan t
President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) is expected to emphasize unity and stability in Taiwan, urging Taiwanese people to work together to strengthen the country and boost national prosperity, in his first Oct. 10 National Day speech since his inauguration in May, according to a source familiar with the matte
FLYOVER: China’s decision to launch a rocket today was not a coincidence and likely aimed at intimidating Taiwan and neighboring countries, an academic said President William Lai’s (賴清德) first Double Ten National Day address would be consistent with previous speeches and reiterate his stance that Taiwan and China are not subordinate to each other, academics said on Tuesday.Lai’s speech today would be similar in content and tone with previous addresses w
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office’s (TAO) comment that “Taiwan is a part of China’s territory and is under Chinese jurisdiction” is absurd, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Tuesday.TAO spokesperson Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) on Tuesday made the remark about President William Lai’s (賴清德) speech on Satu
A delegation led by Japanese lawmaker Akiko Santo has arrived in Taipei to attend the official Double Ten National Day ceremony today, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.The five-member delegation would participate in the ceremony outside the Presidential Office Building to mark the Nati
ASSISTED REPRODUCTION ACT: Public feedback to proposed changes centered on the rights and welfare of children as well as parties involved in surrogacy cases The Ministry of Health and Welfare plans to submit proposed amendments to the Assisted Reproduction Act (人工生殖法), which would allow same-sex couples and single women access to in vitro fertilization (IVF), to the Executive Yuan for review before the end of the year, officials said yesterday.A preview
The National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) yesterday said that it would issue flood alerts, after rainfall brought by Typhoon Krathon left many parts of the nation underwater last week.Legislators at a meeting of the Education and Culture Committee raised concerns about the absence of floodi
FLIGHT TO JAPAN: Hsu Chih-yu allegedly served as a personal accountant to keep track of money flows and campaign contributions to Ko and the TPP, councilors said Prosecutors are investigating a former secretary of Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲), who allegedly left for Japan in late August just before the corruption probe involving the former Taipei mayor started, a local magazine reported yesterday.They also questioned more people, in
National Taiwan University (NTU) dropped 20 spots to 172nd in Times Higher Education’s (THE) “World University Rankings 2025,” but retained its position as the best-performing Taiwanese university on the list.Among other top-ranked universities in Taiwan, China Medical University was in the 301-350
TECH JUGGERNAUT: TSMC shares have more than doubled since ChatGPT’s launch in late 2022, as demand for cutting-edge artificial intelligence chips remains high Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday posted a better-than-expected 39 percent rise in quarterly revenue, assuaging concerns that artificial intelligence (AI) hardware spending is beginning to taper off.The main chipmaker for Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc reported third-quarter sal
DRAM chipmaker Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技) yesterday posted wider-than-expected losses for last quarter, primarily due to weak end-market demand for PCs, smartphones and consumer electronics amid an economic slowdown and geopolitical conflicts.The losses of NT$1.49 billion (US$46.3 million) in the
The US Department of Justice on Tuesday said it would demand that Google make profound changes to how it does business and even consider the possibility of a breakup, after the tech juggernaut was found to be running an illegal monopoly.Determining how to address Google’s wrongs is the next stage of
Today marks the 113th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of China (ROC), which became the ROC on Taiwan when the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) was forced to retreat to Taiwan in 1949.The People’s Republic of China (PRC) celebrated its 75th anniversary on Tuesday last week, on Oct. 1. Duri
Rising global sea levels are being caused by rising temperatures. For years, people have been warning about the threat posed by rising sea levels, which are expected to have a severe impact on humans. Rising sea levels have the potential to change the world map, with some countries or cities (especi
The Development of National Languages Act (國家語言發展法) was promulgated to protect and promote the development of languages used by different ethnic groups. The bill was first proposed by the Council for Cultural Affairs in 2007 and again by the Ministry of Culture in 2017.Taiwan Sign Language (TSL) was
SHOWMANSHIP: Tatis took a few seconds to watch his two-run homer sail out of the yard, flipped his bat and gestured toward the dugout, before starting his trot Fernando Tatis Jr’s towering two-run homer on Tuesday night highlighted a six-run second inning, as the San Diego Padres held on to beat Shohei Ohtani and the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-5 to take a 2-1 lead in a tense National League Division Series (NLDS), while the New York Mets topped the Philadelphia
Joe Root yesterday broke Alastair Cook’s Test runs record on the third day of the opening Test against Pakistan in Multan, as he helped guide England to 232-2 at lunch.The 33-year-old became England’s highest run scorer in Tests, and the fifth-highest of all time, when he drove Pakistan seamer Aamer
Former world No. 2 Paula Badosa has withdrawn from this week’s Wuhan Open, organizers said on Tuesday, amid a racism row over an online photograph.Tournament organizers said the Spaniard had pulled out of the WTA 1000 tournament, citing a gastrointestinal illness, hours before her first-round match
Former MLB player Yu Chang was notably absent from the national team’s World Baseball Softball Confederation Premier12 roster announced on Monday.At a news conference for next month’s Premier12 Group B games in Taipei — the nation’s highest-level international baseball tournament this year — nationa
STOPOVERS: As organized crime groups in Asia and the Americas move drugs via places such as Tonga, methamphetamine use has reached levels called ‘epidemic’ A surge of drugs is engulfing the South Pacific as cartels and triads use far-flung island nations to channel narcotics across the globe, top police and UN officials told reporters.Pacific island nations such as Fiji and Tonga sit at the crossroads of largely unpatrolled ocean trafficking routes use
AFGHAN CHILD: A court battle is ongoing over if the toddler can stay with Joshua Mast and his wife, who wanted ‘life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness’ for her Major Joshua Mast, a US Marine whose adoption of an Afghan war orphan has spurred a years-long legal battle, is to remain on active duty after a three-member panel of Marines on Tuesday found that while he acted in a way unbecoming of an officer to bring home the baby girl, it did not warrant his se
In a storyline better befitting a melodrama than a popularity vote, Grazer on Tuesday won her second Fat Bear Contest by defeating the male behemoth that killed her cub this summer.Grazer beat Chunk by more than 40,000 votes cast by fans watching live cameras of Alaska’s Katmai National Park and Pre
On 13 March 2020 a cruise ship called the Braemar was denied entry to the Bahamas after a number of its passengers tested positive for COVID. Forced to travel around the Caribbean, it was finally accepted by Cuba, from where those on board were evacuated to the UK.The Braemar was just one of a numbe
If blowing out the candles on your 100th birthday cake is a pillar of your retirement plan, you might want to skip to the next article.An analysis of death data from the world’s longest-lived populations reveals that the rapid improvements in life expectancy achieved in the 20th century have slowed
Though some now point to a new rivalry between China and the US in southeast Asia, there are no easy equivalences to the Cold War, when the region’s governments were forced to declare for one side or the other. While Beijing has actively propped up several of the region’s dictators and junta regimes
A: Wow, a Taiwanese shooter has recently claimed the World’s No. 1 spot.B: Is it shooter Lee Meng-yuan, who won a bronze in Men’s Skeet Shooting at the 2024 Paris Olympics?A: Yeah, according to the International Shooting Sport Federation’s rankings, Lee has made history by rising to the top.B: Th
Primarily one destination: the National Palace Museum in Taipei. Today, the cultural landscape has evolved, with the Southern Branch of the National Palace Museum presenting a compelling alternative. Strategically located in Chiayi County, the museum park is more than just a cultural center. It’s a
Online retailer eBay has scrapped fees for private sellers across almost all of its categories as it attempts to keep fast-growing rivals such as Depop and Vinted at arm’s length.The move means eBay’s UK sellers no longer have to pay transaction fees, except for cars, motorcycles and other vehicles.
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% | |
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