There are believed to be about 3,200 tigers left in the wild and more than 13,000 in captivity — half of which are in China. Assessing populations in the wild is notoriously difficult, given the remoteness of their habitats and the animals’ tendency to avoid human contact. It is believed numbers have fallen by 97 percent over the past century and the trend remains downwards, but several revisions have taken place in recent years.
In March, India unveiled a new census that put the total number of wild tigers in the country close to 1,550 — 10 percent more than the figure in 2008.
In Indonesia, camera traps have recently caught images of 12 Sumatran tigers, including a mother playing with cubs. The WWF estimates that there are only 400 Sumatran tigers left in the wild. A recent study conducted by the Wildlife Conservation Society said the population could be much larger than previously believed.
About 350 adult Siberian or Amur tigers — physically, the largest subspecies — are left in the wild, with 95 percent of them inhabiting the far eastern regions of Russia.
Thailand is thought to be home to 250 to 300 wild tigers, though camera traps have revealed that Thap Lan National Park has more of the animals than previously believed.
Bangladesh has between 400 and 450 wild tigers, mostly in the Sunderbans mangrove forests which overlap with India. Last year, they killed 44 people.
Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on April 9 said that the first group of Indian workers could arrive as early as this year as part of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the Taipei Economic and Cultural Center in India and the India Taipei Association. Signed in February 2024, the MOU stipulates that Taipei would decide the number of migrant workers and which industries would employ them, while New Delhi would manage recruitment and training. Employment would be governed by the laws of both countries. Months after its signing, the two sides agreed that 1,000 migrant workers from India would
In recent weeks, Taiwan has witnessed a surge of public anxiety over the possible introduction of Indian migrant workers. What began as a policy signal from the Ministry of Labor quickly escalated into a broader controversy. Petitions gathered thousands of signatures within days, political figures issued strong warnings, and social media became saturated with concerns about public safety and social stability. At first glance, this appears to be a straightforward policy question: Should Taiwan introduce Indian migrant workers or not? However, this framing is misleading. The current debate is not fundamentally about India. It is about Taiwan’s labor system, its
On March 31, the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs released declassified diplomatic records from 1995 that drew wide domestic media attention. One revelation stood out: North Korea had once raised the possibility of diplomatic relations with Taiwan. In a meeting with visiting Chinese officials in May 1995, as then-Chinese president Jiang Zemin (江澤民) prepared for a visit to South Korea, North Korean officials objected to Beijing’s growing ties with Seoul and raised Taiwan directly. According to the newly released records, North Korean officials asked why Pyongyang should refrain from developing relations with Taiwan while China and South Korea were expanding high-level
Japan’s imminent easing of arms export rules has sparked strong interest from Warsaw to Manila, Reuters reporting found, as US President Donald Trump wavers on security commitments to allies, and the wars in Iran and Ukraine strain US weapons supplies. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s ruling party approved the changes this week as she tries to invigorate the pacifist country’s military industrial base. Her government would formally adopt the new rules as soon as this month, three Japanese government officials told Reuters. Despite largely isolating itself from global arms markets since World War II, Japan spends enough on its own
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