After Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairwoman-elect Cheng Li-wun’s (鄭麗文) victory in the party’s leadership race, the KMT’s intent to bring in external forces to counter its domestic political rivals became all the more apparent.There is no shortage of such stories in history. At the end of the Mi
In 1976, the Gang of Four was ousted. The Gang of Four was a leftist political group comprising Chinese Communist Party (CCP) members: Jiang Qing (江青), its leading figure and Mao Zedong’s (毛澤東) last wife; Zhang Chunqiao (張春橋); Yao Wenyuan (姚文元); and Wang Hongwen (王洪文).The four wielded supreme power
During the Double Ten National Day celebrations on Oct. 10, TikTok videos featuring the events did not only come from Taiwanese. Under videos featuring a carnival at Taipei 101 posted by Indonesians in the city, many migrant workers expressed a surprising sentiment about the country.A phrase that st
Amid election interference by China, former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) on Saturday last week was elected as the party’s new chairwoman. After her victory, Cheng expressed her commitment to achieving complete governance, cross-strait peace and shared prosperity by 2
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A ladder truck, an angle-grinder, a maxi-scooter and seven minutes. That appears to be all it took for thieves to steal priceless jewelry from the Louvre, the world’s most-visited museum. The vulnerability of this cornerstone of French soft power adds to the nation’s sense of malaise, and fingers ar
Is artificial intelligence (AI) transforming the economy in any real sense, or is the promise of rapid growth mere hype? US stock markets certainly favor the former view: Shares of AI and tech companies have accounted for about three-quarters of the S&P 500’s gains this year. Venture capital investo
In a rare interview more than 20 years ago, Jonathan Powell, who is British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s national security adviser, admitted: “My job is best done in the shadows.”The collapse of the state’s prosecution of Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry, two Britons accused of spying for Chi
The topic of increased intergenerational conflict has been making headlines in the past few months, showcasing a problem that would only grow as Taiwan approaches “super-aged society” status. A striking example of that tension erupted on the Taipei MRT late last month, when an apparently able-bodied
Japan’s parliament made history yesterday as it elected Sanae Takaichi, president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), as the country’s first female prime minister.What was seen as a crisis just a week ago after the pacifist Komeito party exited the ruling coalition has turned into a decisi
The party of former Czech prime minister Andrej Babis this month won 80 out of 200 seats in parliamentary elections. Combined with the 15 seats of the Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) party and the 13 of the Motorists for Themselves (AUTO) party, the result paves the way for the populist leader’s
The Italian Senate on Oct. 9 hosted a conference titled “Chinese Influence in the EU: The Cases of Italy and Eastern Europe (Romania),” co-organized by Doublethink Lab, Expert Forum and the Global Committee for the Rule of Law “Marco Pannella.”The event brought together a distinguished panel, Taiwan
The Hualien County Government has asked the Legislative Yuan to formulate evacuation plans for another potential barrier lake collapse and to execute them if needed. However, the legal basis for the request is unclear.Under Article 35, Clause 2 of the Disaster Prevention and Protection Act (災害防救法),
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At a start-up office in Bengaluru, India, developers are fine-tuning artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots that talk and message like humans. The company, LimeChat, has an audacious goal: to make customer-service jobs almost obsolete. It says its generative AI agents enable clients to slash by 80 pe
Holding court for the cameras in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, last week, a manically self-congratulatory US President Donald Trump, Gaza’s make-believe savior, hailed his fellow “tough guys” — tame tyrants, such as Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, who helped fabricate his flimsy Israel-Hamas ceas
The Legislative Yuan on Friday passed the Executive Yuan’s special resilience budget, and while lawmakers reduced it to NT$544.7 billion (US$17.8 billion), slicing NT$5.3 billion out — mainly from the Ministry of National Defense, but also the labor and health ministries — they kept the Ministry of
US President Donald Trump’s tariff policy serves as an objective and as a tool for him. Its objectives are twofold: first, to ease the US’ debt burden through tariff revenue; second, to provide a tax base for the “One, Big, Beautiful Bill” tax cuts. The execution lies in pressuring other countries t
A sophomore at Taichung’s Chaoyang University of Technology, surnamed Li (李), died by suicide last month after the university rejected his request for a leave of absence. He was unable to pay one-third of his tuition — about NT$18,000. Many have accused the university of having a rigid and callous s
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