Tue, Jan 20, 2026
NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT: An official said that Guan Guan’s comments had gone beyond the threshold of free speech, as she advocated for the destruction of the ROC China-born media influencer Guan Guan’s (關關) residency permit has been revoked for repeatedly posting pro-China content that threatens national security, the National Immigration Agency said yesterday.Guan Guan has said many controversial things in her videos posted to Douyin (抖音), including “the re
The Supreme Court yesterday rejected appeals by Reunification Alliance Party members Chang Tsun-feng (張存逢) and Huang Jung-te (黃榮德), upholding their prison sentences for espionage and electoral fraud.Chang and Huang, who were the chairman and chief executive officer of the pro-Beijing party’s Pingtun
A high-speed train derailed and was hit by another in southern Spain, killing at least 39 people and injuring more than 120, authorities said yesterday.It was the deadliest train accident since 2013, when 80 people died after a train veered off a curved section of track outside the northwestern city
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi yesterday said that she would dissolve parliament this week ahead of a snap election on Feb. 8, hoping for a stronger mandate to push through her ambitious policy agenda.The nation’s first female leader is banking on her high poll numbers to lead the unpopular
Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) today greeted the government's trade negotiation team on their arrival at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, commending them for the tariff reduction and investment agreements reached with the US.Led by Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君) and chief trade negotiator Minist
REINFORCEMENTS: Although designated as a no-fly area, Taipei’s administrative core lacks sufficient defensive deployments during peacetime, an expert said Military police have strengthened garrison defense capabilities in Taipei as part of a force-structure adjustment to address enemy threats, the 202nd Military Police Command said yesterday.The command said it has added a new air-defense company under the 228th Battalion stationed in Taipei’s Shilin
MIXED REACTION: Some welcomed the lower tariffs, on par with levies on other major US trade partners, but others worry the agreement could ‘hollow out’ Taiwan Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday greeted the nation’s US trade negotiation team when they arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, commending them for the tariff reduction and investment agreements they reached with the US.Led by Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君), and chief trade negoti
QUESTIONS: The Cabinet must also answer where funding would come from, and how it plans to deal with the impacts and safeguard the competitiveness of the chip industry The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday demanded that the Executive Yuan submit a comprehensive industry impact assessment regarding a US$500 billion investment plan in the US.The Cabinet on Friday said the US has agreed to lower tariffs on Taiwanese goods from 20 percent to 15 percent,
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday declined to retaliate against former Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) chairman Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) criticism, as the two parties continue to eye cooperation ahead of the local elections in November.At a TPP event on Sunday, Ko called KMT Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers yesterday condemned Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Legislator Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌), saying he breached the rules by leaving a legislative committee meeting with classified materials on the military budget.The Legislative Yuan’s Foreign Affairs and National
The government understands the need for educational support for “new immigrants,” Minister of Education Cheng Ying- yao (鄭英耀) said yesterday, following media reports about a complaint on having to use traditional Chinese characters.“New immigrants” is a legal term that refers to foreign, including C
SPEND LOCAL: Domestic travel spending reached NT$515.8 billion in 2024, a more than 30 percent increase from 2019, and is expected to continue growing this year Chiayi City, Miaoli County and Tainan have higher average hotel booking rates during the Lunar New Year holiday than other administrative regions, the Tourism Administration said yesterday.Chiayi City, Miaoli County and Tainan surpassed other administrative regions with higher average hotel booking
GIVE AND TAKE: Blood demand continues to rise each year, while fewer young donors are available due to the nation’s falling birthrate, a doctor said Blood donors can redeem points earned from donations to obtain limited edition Formosan black bear travel mugs, the Kaohsiung Blood Center said yesterday, as it announced a goal of stocking 20,000 units of blood prior to the Lunar New Year.The last month of the lunar year is National Blood Donation
A man surnamed Liao (廖) was arrested in New Taipei City last night on suspicion of killing his elderly parents on Saturday.The parents, who ran a scallion pancake stall in the city’s Lujhou District (蘆洲), were found dead in their living room on Sunday, after police responded to a call from a family
The parents of a Hsinchu County boy and a kindergarten have been ordered to pay NT$300,000 to the parents of a female student who the boy allegedly injured.According to a Dec. 31 ruling by the Hsinchu District Court, the old boy allegedly crawled under the classmate’s blanket during nap time and “gr
CONSTRAINED MARKET: Memorychip shortages across the globe have affected prices for their products as the company plans record-high capital expenditures DRAM chipmaker Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技) yesterday said it expected chip prices to climb further this quarter due to supply constraints, which helped boost the company’s net profit last quarter as it skyrocketed by a factor of six.To mitigate supply scarcity, the company plans a record-high capit
TICKING ALONG: Global demand for what Taiwan offers and eased tariff tensions have the economic outlook for this year looking strong, economic researchers said Taiwan’s economy is projected to expand 4.14 percent this year, driven by strong global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) hardware that continues to boost exports and imports, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中經院) said yesterday.The forecast is an upward revision of 1.59
Nvidia Corp’s GB300 platform is expected to account for 70 to 80 percent of global artificial intelligence (AI) server rack shipments this year, while adoption of its next-generation Vera Rubin 200 platform is to gradually gain momentum after the third quarter of the year, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) sai
Taiwan last week finally reached a trade agreement with the US, reducing tariffs on Taiwanese goods to 15 percent, without stacking them on existing levies, from the 20 percent rate announced by US President Donald Trump’s administration in August last year. Taiwan also became the first country to s
In the past few years, a number of undersea cables and key energy pipelines across Europe and the northern Atlantic region have been sabotaged, putting governments on high alert. Cable sabotage has occurred in Asia and Pacific Island nations, resulting in the development of emergency backup and resp
As we enter layue (蠟月), or the last month of the lunar year, a profound, clarifying chill is setting in. It is dahan (大寒), the 24th and final act in the ancient, elegant drama of the traditional East Asian lunisolar calendar. It typically arrives around Jan. 20, a punctuation mark of deep cold befo
MARRED FINAL: As most of Senegalese players walked off the pitch after a controversial decision, some supporters threw objects and attempted to get onto the pitch Senegal on Sunday won the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) as Pape Gueye’s extra-time winner sunk hosts Morocco 1-0 after a chaotic final that saw the eventual champions storm off the pitch late in the game. Brahim Diaz could have won the trophy for Morocco with a controversial spot-kick in the 24th mi
Taiwan’s first women’s bobsled team, known as “Ice Baby,” are training intensively in hopes of qualifying for the Milano-Cortina Winter Games from Feb. 6 to 22, less than two years after the team were formed. The team comprise pilot Lin Sin-rong, brakemen Liang Yu-chieh and Lin Sung-en, along with p
Novak Djokovic yesterday began his latest bid for a record 25th Grand Slam crown with an emphatic straight-sets victory as fellow Australian Open title contenders Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff also won, but with less sparkle. Three-time finalist Daniil Medvedev stayed alive, as did 40-year-old Stan Waw
The civil war engulfing tennis has been laid bare on the opening day of the first Grand Slam event this year, with details of Tennis Australia’s peace deal with the Professional Tennis Players’ Association (PTPA) published for the first time. The PTPA last year launched an anti-trust lawsuit against
GREENLAND FUROR: NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said that he had spoken to Trump about ‘the security situation in Greenland’ and the arctic, but did not elaborate European leaders on Sunday slammed US President Donald Trump’s threat of tariffs over their opposition to his designs on Greenland, warning transatlantic ties were at risk.European nations including Denmark, of which Greenland is an autonomous territory, said they “stand united” against Trump’s vow
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Sunday announced a deal with the chief of Kurdish-led forces that includes a ceasefire, after government troops advanced across Kurdish-held areas of the country’s north and east.Syrian Kurdish leader Mazloum Abdi said he had agreed to the deal to avoid a broader
The collective wealth of the planet’s billionaires soared to a record level last year, charity Oxfam reported yesterday, warning of “highly dangerous” political consequences as the global elite gathers for the World Economic Forum.US President Donald Trump’s policies in particular spurred the fortun
There is no question that Tyrannosaurus rex got big. In fact, this fearsome dinosaur may have been Earth’s most massive land predator of all time. But the question of how quickly T. rex achieved its maximum size has been a matter of debate.A new study examining bone tissue microstructure in the leg
Sharks are the most feared predators in the sea, and their survival hinges on fearsome teeth that regrow throughout their lives. But changes in the ocean’s chemistry could put those weapons at risk.That is the takeaway from a study performed by a group of German scientists who tested the effects of
Francis William White, an Englishman who late in the 1860s served as Commissioner of the Imperial Customs Service in Tainan, published the tale of a jaunt he took one winter in 1868: A visit to the interior of south Formosa (1870). White’s journey took him into the mountains, where he mused on the d
For many introverts, shy individuals and people with social anxiety, mingling at parties is often draining or arouses uncomfortable emotions. The internal debate about whether or not to attend large get-togethers can get especially intense during the holiday season, a time when many workplaces celeb
對話 Dialogue清清：你看到小陳最近發的滑雪照了嗎？看起來真帥氣。Qīngqing: Nǐ kàndào Xiǎo Chén zuìjìn fā de huáxuě zhào le ma? Kàn qǐlái zhēn shuàiqì.華華：感覺滑雪很好玩。看了他的照片以後，我在想要不要去學滑雪。Huáhua: Gǎnjué huáxuě hěn hǎowán. Kàn le tā de zhàopiàn yǐhòu, wǒ zài xiǎng yào bú yào qù xué huáxuě.清清：我聽說報名滑雪教室的話，會有教練帶你練習。Qīngqing: Wǒ tīngshuō b
1. 她看起來很失望。ˇ She looks disappointed.χ She looks disappointing.註︰disappointed 意思是「某人感到失望」，disappointing 是「某事令人失望」，例如：a disappointing experience、a disappointing result。2. 他的話使我不安。ˇ His remark disturbed me.ˇ His remark made me disturbed.χ His remark made me disturbing.註︰同上例，凡是由於某種外來的因素而產生某種情緒，都用過去分詞；這些
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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