FATES LINKED: The US president said that sanctions on Russia over Ukraine must exact a ‘long-term price,’ because otherwise ‘what signal does that send to China?’
US President Joe Biden yesterday vowed that US forces would defend Taiwan militarily in the event of a Chinese attack in his strongest statement to date on the issue. Beijing is already “flirting with danger,” Biden said following talks with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo, in which the pair agreed to monitor Chinese naval activity and joint Chinese-Russian exercises. Asked if Washington was willing to get involved militarily to defend Taiwan, he replied: “Yes.” “That’s the commitment we made,” Biden said. “We agreed with the ‘one China’ policy, we signed on to it ... but the idea that it can be
INFORMATION LEAKED: Documents from Xinjiang purportedly showed top leaders in Beijing calling for a forceful crackdown and even orders to shoot to kill
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday held a videoconference with UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet as she visited Xinjiang during a mission overshadowed by fresh allegations of Uighur abuses and fears she is being used as a public relations tool. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been accused of detaining more than 1 million Uighurs and other Muslim minorities in the region as part of a years-long crackdown the US and lawmakers in other Western nations have labeled a “genocide.” China denies the allegations. Bachelet was expected to visit the cities of Urumqi and Kashgar on a six-day tour. The US
AVOIDING CONFUSION: Passengers are to be able to check in two items of luggage, while the free weight allowance is to be increased to conform with other airlines
EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空) yesterday announced that from June 23 it is to adopt a new baggage allowance policy for all passengers with a higher weight limit as it aims to benefit passengers and increase efficiency. The airline currently has a two-system baggage policy: It allows passengers flying to the US and Canada to check in two pieces of baggage with a free weight allowance, while for those flying to Asia, Europe and Oceania there is also a free weight allowance, but no limit on the number of pieces of baggage. From June 23, passengers would be able to check in two
Ninth graders were asked to define “trolling” on this year’s standardized exam, reflecting efforts to make the test better reflect real-life situations. Adjustments to this year’s Comprehensive Assessment Program for Junior High School Students were revealed on Sunday, after the last cohort of students completed the test over the weekend. The Ministry of Education solicited feedback about the test from teachers, who approved of the new question in the English portion. Not only was question No. 20 “very much in line with real-life situations,” but it also used a new style in which students were asked to ascertain the correct dictionary definition based
SUBTLE? While Biden said the US policy of ‘strategic ambiguity’ on Taiwan had not changed, the group targeted China and Russia without naming them
Leaders of Australia, India, Japan and the US yesterday warned against attempts to “change the status quo by force,” as concerns grow about whether China could invade Taiwan. The issue of Taiwan loomed over a leadership meeting in Tokyo of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) nations — the US, Japan, Australia and India — who stressed their determination to ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific region in the face of an increasingly assertive China, although Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said the group was not targeting any one country. The four leaders said in a joint statement issued after their talks
Nearly half of Taiwanese believe President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has not done enough to prepare the nation against Chinese aggression, the a poll released yesterday by the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation showed. Asked whether the Tsai administration’s military and non-military preparations to defend Taiwan are adequate, 30.6 percent said they were “mostly inadequate” and 18.9 percent said they “very inadequate,” while 25.7 percent said they were “mostly adequate” and 7.1 percent said they were “very adequate.” Another 17.6 percent had no opinion or did not know enough to form a judgement. Still, 51 percent of respondents approved of Tsai’s national defense policy,
TRAGIC LOSSES: Among yesterday’s 104 reported deaths were a one-year-old girl who died of septic shock and a four-year-old who had developed encephalitis, the CECC said
The government is to provide free COVID-19 antigen rapid test kits to middle and low-income households, as well as long-term care facility residents, Executive Yuan spokesman Lo Ping-cheng (羅秉成) said yesterday, as the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) reported a record death toll for the second consecutive day. Every member of a middle or low-income family is to receive five COVID-19 rapid test kits for free, and each resident of a long-term care facility would receive three, Lo told reporters after the Cabinet’s weekly meeting. Providing the tests would help ease the financial burden of the pandemic for about 800,000 people, Lo
REMOTE AREAS: The plan is to eventually extend the policy to the entire nation, but changes need to be made along the way as needed, the minister of health said
Starting tomorrow, residents of indigenous townships and outlying islands can use a positive rapid test result that has been confirmed by a doctor for COVID-19 diagnosis, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday. The policy could eventually be applied nationwide, the center said. It is difficult for residents of indigenous areas and outlying areas to travel to medical centers, Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said, explaining the reason for the change. The areas include 30 mountain and 20 plains indigenous townships, as well as 19 townships on outlying islands, said Chuang, who is the CECC’s spokesman. Residents
VACCINES FOR KIDS: An official said data showed that the rate of severe infections among kids is relatively low in Taiwan, while a vaccine for ages 5-11 became available
The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported 89,352 new local COVID-19 infections and 76 deaths, the highest daily death count. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director-General Chou Jih-haw (周志浩), head of the CECC’s disease surveillance division, said that 37 imported cases were reported. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the CECC, said that of the new local cases, 191 were moderate or severe, accounting for 0.17 and 0.06 percent respectively of all local cases this year. CDC Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞), deputy head of the CECC’s medical response division, said that 73 of the people whose deaths
US President Joe Biden is expected to unveil a list of nations today who would be joining a long anticipated Indo-Pacific region trade pact, but Taiwan will not be among them. US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said that Taiwan is not among the governments included in the launch of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, a trade pact that is meant to allow the US to work more closely with key Asian economies on issues including supply chains, digital trade, clean energy and anticorruption efforts. The US president is scheduled to highlight the launch of the framework as he meets with Japanese
China is seeking a region-wide deal with almost a dozen Pacific island nations covering policing, security and data communications cooperation when Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) hosts a meeting in Fiji next week, documents seen by Reuters showed, while an Australian official is due in Suva today. A draft communique and five-year action plan sent by Beijing to 10 Pacific islands ahead of a foreign ministers meeting on Monday next week has prompted pushback from at least one of the invited nations, which says it showed China’s intent to control the region and “threatens regional stability.” In a letter
Taiwan is on alert for monkeypox, a rare viral disease that has caused 87 infections in 11 countries over the past three weeks, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said on Saturday. The WHO on Friday convened an emergency session to discuss a sudden outbreak of monkeypox in North America and Europe. Since the beginning of this month, 87 confirmed cases and 28 possible cases have been identified in 11 countries. The countries with the highest case counts are England with 29 cases, and Portugal and Spain with 23 each. Monkeypox is a viral zoonotic disease occurring primarily in the tropical rainforest areas
INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT: The integrity of global disease prevention should not be compromised because of opposition from one country, President Tsai Ing-wen said
Taiwan and the World Health Assembly (WHA), the decisionmaking body of the WHO, need each other in the face of COVID-19 challenges, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday, in response to yet another year of Taipei not receiving an invitation. Despite the support of 71 governments, legislative bodies and parliamentary groups, Taiwan has not been invited to attend the WHA’s annual meeting, which began yesterday in Geneva, Switzerland, and runs until Saturday. In a video recorded for Taiwanese traveling to Geneva in support of the nation’s inclusion in the WHA, Tsai said that Taiwan has contributed to global public health and advanced
Representative to the US Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) on Monday refrained from directly commenting on US President Joe Biden’s vow to defend Taiwan militarily, instead stressing that Taiwan’s primary focus is on its ability to defend itself. Asked about Biden’s remarks, Hsiao said that maintaining self-defense capabilities is of great importance to Taiwan. Maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait serves the interests of all stakeholders in the region and should be a collective responsibility, she said, adding that Taipei would continue to work with the US and other partners on the issue. Hsiao thanked Washington for reaffirming its support for Taiwan and
BIG EFFORT: After a probe in March, the Investigation Bureau teamed up with prosecutors’ offices in five areas to search firms for suspected talent poaching
Authorities this week raided 10 Chinese firms and questioned more than 70 people as part of a crackdown on suspected poaching of talent from Taiwanese semiconductor and high-tech sectors, the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau said yesterday. From Monday to yesterday, the bureau performed a series of unannounced raids in coordination with prosecutors in Hsinchu, New Taipei City, Taipei and Taoyuan, it said in a statement. “The illegal poaching of Taiwan’s high-tech talent by Chinese companies has badly impacted our international competitiveness and endangered our national security,” the bureau said in a statement. Taipei prosecutors earlier announced that they on Tuesday raided the
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday accused the world’s largest free-diving organization of self-censorship, after it tried to make Taiwanese divers compete under the name “Chinese Taipei.” The International Association for the Development of Apnea (AIDA), which organizes free-diving competitions around the world, held this year’s AIDA Caribbean Cup on the Honduran island of Roatan from May 15 through Tuesday. Huang Ming-chun (黃明峻) placed second in the constant weight without fins category with a national record-setting 63m dive, while Lien Lin-lan (連林嵐) set new national records in free immersion and constant weight apnea. Huang on Wednesday wrote on Facebook that the two athletes
The policy of using a positive COVID-19 rapid test result for diagnosis could be expanded to the public starting tomorrow, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday, as it reported 82,363 new domestic cases. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, last week announced that the policy of recognizing a positive COVID-19 rapid test result, after being assessed by a doctor, as the main tool for diagnosis would eventually be expanded to include everyone and could take effect this week. The center has been discussing with hospitals the details of transforming their polymerase chain reaction (PCR)
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday called on Pacific island countries to heed China’s true purpose behind its aid, as Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) arrived in the Solomon Islands at the start of an eight-nation tour. His visit came amid growing concerns about Beijing’s military and financial ambitions in the South Pacific region, after a draft document was leaked showing that he hoped to strike a sweeping agreement with 10 Pacific nations on everything from security to fisheries. In Taipei, Ministry of Foreign Affairs deputy spokesman Tsuei Ching-lin (崔靜麟) said that it would continue to pay close attention
From Wednesday next week, owners of electric vehicles would be charged NT$262.50 per month for household electricity use in addition to varying electricity surcharges, state-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) said on Sunday. Taipower said the new rates aim to encourage vehicle charging during off-peak hours. They would apply to the nation’s about 10,000 electric vehicle owners at their registered residence, as well as public charging stations, the utility said. In addition to the monthly fee, electric vehicle owners would be charged a surcharge of NT$34.6 per kilowatt-hour (KWh) from October to May and NT$47.2 per KWh from June to September. Taipower said it
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