The China Coast Guard yesterday said it had “expelled” a Japanese ship from waters around the Diaoyutais (釣魚台). The uninhabited islands — which are known as the Senkakus in Japan — are claimed by Taipei and Beijing, but are administered by Tokyo. China Coast Guard spokesman Liu Dejun (劉德軍) said that a Japanese fishing vessel had “illegally entered territorial waters” around the islands from Tuesday to Wednesday. The coast guard “took necessary control measures in accordance with the law, warned [the ship] and expelled it,” Liu said in an online statement. “The Diaoyu and affiliated islands are China’s inherent territory and we urge the
A research team led by National Tsing Hua University Department of Physics and Center for Quantum Science and Technology professor Chuu Chih-sung (褚志崧) has developed Taiwan’s first and the world’s smallest quantum computer, using a single photon, the university said yesterday. Chuu said in the study, which was published in the journal Physical Review Applied last month, that they had resolved the main obstacles for quantum computing development — high energy costs and a low-temperature operating environment. Chuu said that photons are the smallest possible particle of electromagnetic energy, and his team had devised a way to encode information in 32time
China simultaneously employed cognitive warfare while conducting military drills around Taiwan on Monday, the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau insinuated yesterday The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) early on Monday launched military drills code-named “Joint Sword-2024B” involving its army, navy, air and rocket forces in the Taiwan Strait and areas to the north, south and east of Taiwan. They ended at 6pm. The bureau said it had found several false reports online, such as untrue assertions of Taiwan’s military failing to respond quickly and that ships carrying liquefied natural gas had been forced to turn around. The messages formed “cognitive manipulation” by “overseas
GREEN ENERGY: The AIT would assist Taiwan in finding suitable locations overseas, including the Philippines and Japan, to develop renewable energy, J.W. Kuo said
Taiwan is considering setting up renewable power plants in neighboring countries, such as the Philippines, and transporting the electricity back home to meet the green power needs of Taiwanese manufacturers, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. “The green power could be brought back via ships or submarine cables,” the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) quoted Kuo as saying on the sidelines of the annual Taipei Innovative Textile Application Show at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center. As local governments and residents frequently differ in opinion about constructing new power plants, and it takes time to communicate
OUT OF TAIPEI? Agencies have been told to formulate a response that would ‘uphold Taiwan’s sovereignty’ after South Africa ordered Taiwan to move its office
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs does not rule out demanding that South Africa move its representative office outside of Taipei in retaliation for its ultimatum that Taiwan relocate its representative office to Johannesburg, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. South Africa on Oct. 7 issued an ultimatum via e-mail to Taiwan to move its representative office out of the country’s administrative capital of Pretoria by the end of this month, adding that the move was “unnegotiable,” the source said. The ministry said that it would work out all possible responses based on the principle of reciprocity if South Africa “insists
TROUBLED WATERS: The ministers also said they opposed China’s obstruction of freedom of navigation in the South China Sea and the militarization of disputed features
G7 defense ministers in a joint statement on Saturday singled out China over a number of concerns, including its “provocative actions” near Taiwan. The defense ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US gathered in Naples, Italy, from Friday to yesterday for the group’s first ministerial meeting dedicated to defense. In the joint declaration, they stressed “enduring unity and common determination to address, in a cohesive and concrete manner, security challenges, at a time in history marked by great instability.” In addition to voicing support for Ukraine, expressing concern about the escalating conflict in the Middle East and condemning
Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) yesterday temporarily shut down the nation’s nuclear energy generation as the state-run utility started regular maintenance on the remaining reactor at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant for 41 days. The No. 2 reactor of the nation’s only active nuclear plant in Pingtung County’s Hengchun Township (恆春) is set to be decommissioned next year. The No. 1 reactor has been offline since July. The shutdown is to perform equipment maintenance and fuel replacement in preparation for the power plant’s next operating cycle, Taipower said in a statement. With support from other energy sources, Taipower would ensure sufficient power supply
Taiwan’s population could fall below 15 million by 2070, suggesting that issues with the nation’s aging population and declining birthrate would not improve, the National Development Council (NDC) said in its latest population projection released yesterday. The council publishes its population projections every two years using household registration data, with this year being the first that it included a survey of experts to help model more accurate fertility trends. Taiwan’s aging population has already started to affect all aspects of society, the council said, adding that it would continue to collaborate with ministries to address demographic issues. According to the latest projections, if
OLIVE BRANCH: Despite their differences, both sides of the Taiwan Strait must seek common ground to resolve issues peacefully, SEF Secretary-General Luo Wen-jia said
The Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) yesterday said it is planning to give two Formosan sika deer to the Fuzhou Zoo (福州動物園) in China as an olive branch, despite the military exercises by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) on Monday. While visiting Daciou Island (大坵) in Lienchiang County (Matsu), SEF Secretary-General Luo Wen-jia (羅文嘉) said that the foundation might coordinate with China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) to send the two animals. The deer are named He He (和和) and Ping Ping (平平), a play on the word for “peace” (heping, 和平), Luo said. Despite the differences
STRONG RELATIONSHIPS: China would not blockade Taiwan, because President Xi respects him, and Russia would not have invaded if he were president, he said
Former US president and the Republican candidate in next month’s presidential election Donald Trump said he would impose additional tariffs on China if China were to “go into Taiwan,” the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported. “I would say: If you go into Taiwan, I’m sorry to do this, I’m going to tax you, at 150 percent to 200 percent,” Trump was quoted as saying in an interview with the WSJ published on Friday. Asked if he would use military force against a blockade on Taiwan by China, Trump said it would not come to that because Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) respected
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) is to make it compulsory for all fishing vessels with gross tonnage under 20 tonnes to install an automatic identification system (AIS) by next year to prevent Chinese speedboat incursions. CGA Director-General Chang Chung-lung (張忠龍) said his agency has been in talks with the Maritime Port Bureau and the Fisheries Agency to demand that all Taiwanese fishing vessels to install an AIS before the end of next year. All Taiwanese offshore fishing vessels with gross tonnage of 20 tonnes or higher have already installed an AIS, an automatic tracking system that uses transceivers on ships and is
FLOURISH: Taiwan’s progress shows that a society rooted in freedom, democracy and respect for human dignity can thrive, even in the face of authoritarianism, Tsai said
Taiwan always stands with Europe in facing global challenges as partners sharing the values of democracy, freedom and human rights, former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said in Brussels yesterday as she wrapped up her visit in Europe. In a post on Facebook, Tsai said she deeply felt Europe’s support for Taiwan after meeting with more than 80 members of the European Parliament, Belgian Federal Parliament and Dutch Parliament, adding that she had expressed to them the gratitude of Taiwanese. “Taiwan and Europe enjoy the values of democracy, freedom and human rights, and we are also good partners in facing global challenges together,”
There is considerable speculation among foreign, and particularly US, observers of when Beijing will launch an invasion — made existential with Monday’s military drills around Taiwan. The most famous is the “Davidson window,” named after then admiral leading the US Indo-Pacific Command Philip Davidson, who told a Senate Armed Services Committee in 2021: “I think the threat is manifest during this decade, in fact in the next six years.” Chinese leader Xi Jinping (習近平) has told the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027. CIA Director William Burns, however, has said that a military conflict is
MILITARY TOUR: The president spoke via radio to an air force pilot in the sky, thanking ‘Viper One’ for his hard work and wishing him a safe and smooth flight
President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday thanked pilots for their efforts to safeguard the country and pledged that the nation would build 11 1,000-tonne ships to bolster national security. Lai for the first time as president visited officers at the air force’s Combat Command, and visited the navy’s Hai Feng Shore-Based Anti-ship Missile Group and the Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) fleet branch office to thank members for their service. The government would be the military and coast guard’s most trustworthy ally and bulwark, and would continue promoting defense reforms, he said. Over the next seven years, the nation would receive up to 11 1,000-tonne
Prosecutors yesterday questioned Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and former Taipei deputy mayor Pong Cheng-sheng (彭振聲), while members of the other two main political parties called on Ko, a former Taipei mayor, to come clean about the ongoing corruption probe. Ko was taken by bailiffs to the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office, where he was questioned for two-and-a-half hours in the morning, returning at about noon to the Taipei Detention Center in New Taipei City, where he has been held in pretrial detention since Sept. 5. In the afternoon, prosecutors reportedly asked Pong about his role while working in Ko’s
Former president Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) office yesterday said it would not comment on a US media outlet’s report saying that Tsai is to visit the US in the next few weeks after finishing her current travels in Europe. Politico’s National Security Daily newsletter cited two people familiar with the plans as saying that the former president plans to visit the US “sometime after her current trip” to the EU. The White House and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US declined to respond to the publication’s request for comment. Tsai’s office yesterday declined to comment on the
The military is to cut retired general Tsang You-hsia’s (臧幼俠) pension by 75 percent for the next five years after he was found guilty of contravening laws governing cross-strait relations by standing for the Chinese national anthem in Hong Kong, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday. On Aug. 20, Tsang, a former head of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Huang Fu-hsing chapter, stood to attention when the Chinese national anthem was played and its flag raised at a Hong Kong event hosted by China Council for the Promotion of Peaceful National Reunification. That act is an offense under the Act Governing
FREE MARKET: Artists who make pro-Beijing statements while working in China would not be targeted, as they are free to pursue opportunities there, Puma Shen said
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Puma Shen (沈伯洋) and other lawmakers have proposed amendments to the Criminal Code defining four crimes of collusion with foreign powers. As collusion, which is currently not well-defined under the law, carries a severe penalty, judges tend not to invoke it, Shen said. After consulting with the National Security Bureau, he and other DPP members have proposed defining four types of criminal behavior that would fall under the category of collusion. They are publicly declaring or recognizing the right of a foreign power to exercise rule over the Republic of China (ROC); failing to perform one’s official duties
CHINESE AGGRESSION: Manila accused Beijing’s ‘maritime militia’ of sideswiping a Philippine civilian patrol boat, which sustained minor damage
Thousands of US and Filipino troops yesterday launched joint exercises in the northern and western Philippines, after China held huge drills around Taiwan and a Chinese vessel collided with a Philippine patrol boat. The annual Kamandag, or Venom, exercises are focused on defending the north coast of the Philippines’ main island of Luzon, which lies several hundreds kilometers from Taiwan. Beijing considers Taiwan part of its territory and has vowed it would never rule out using force to take it, calling Monday’s drills a “stern warning” to “separatist” forces in Taiwan. The joint US-Philippine exercises, which run until Wednesday next week, also
Oct. 21 to Oct. 27 Sanbanqiao Cemetery (三板橋) was once reserved for prominent Japanese residents of Taipei, including former governor-general Motojiro Akashi, who died in Japan in 1919 but requested to be buried in Taiwan. Akashi may have reconsidered his decision if he had known that by the 1980s, his grave had been overrun by the city’s largest illegal settlement, which contained more than 1,000 households and a bustling market with around 170 stalls. Fans of Taiwan New Cinema would recognize the slum, as it was featured in several of director Wan Jen’s (萬仁) films about Taipei’s disadvantaged, including The Sandwich