A migratory duck rarely seen in Taiwan drowned off New Taipei City on Saturday after becoming entangled in an abandoned fishing net. The death of the red-breasted merganser — one of five spotted this year off the city’s coast — prompted renewed concerns about marine waste in Taiwan’s waters.
Discarded fishing nets, fishing lines, plastic and other waste are dangerous to aquatic birds, whales, dolphins, sea turtles and other marine animals, said Huang Shu-ting (黃蜀婷), president of a bird-watching club.
“Today it is a red-breasted merganser, but tomorrow it could be a dolphin, turtle or other birds,” she said.
Fishing and aquaculture industries are major sources of the plastic waste that gets into the ocean, as fishers often lose or discard old nets and fishing lines. That waste often washes ashore, or marine life becomes entangled in it. Waste from single-use plastic consumer products also gets into the ocean after being improperly discarded or blown away from landfills.
The Ministry of Environment works with environmental organizations and coastal management authorities to lead beach cleanups and monitor waste along the coast. Cleanups are also organized by volunteer initiatives such as Taiwan National Clean Up Day, which has run annually since 2017. Such programs are good, but as they are infrequent, they cannot keep pace with the rapid accumulation of waste. The Ocean Cleanup Web site says that about 80 percent of plastic marine waste ends up ashore within a month of washing out to sea.
Banning production of plastic would eliminate plastic waste, but it is simply not feasible to live without any form of plastic in the modern world. At best, governments could mandate the use of alternatives such as bamboo or metal where possible, or plastics that are recyclable or biodegradable. It could also subsidize research into alternatives to commonly used plastics. Those changes would take time, and in the meantime plastics continue to be a threat to marine life. Plastic waste also affects human health when microplastics enter the food chain. That is a major concern, especially given Taiwan’s low birthrate, as microplastics can disrupt the reproductive system by reducing sperm count and motility, impairing ovulation, and causing placental dysfunction.
One solution to keep pace with the accumulation of marine waste is to deploy ocean-cleaning robots. Taiwanese ocean-cleanup initiative Azure Alliance proved the potential for such a solution when it tested its cleanup vessel the Azure Fighter in 2019. The remote-controlled vessel, which is in its third iteration, can collect more than 52 tonnes of waste in a year. The Azure Fighter could be modified to operate on its own using artificial intelligence (AI), which has been demonstrated by Hong Kong-based company Open Ocean Engineering with its AI-powered robot Clearbot. The study “Type and quantity of coastal debris pollution in Taiwan: A 12-year nationwide assessment using citizen science data,” published in the Marine Pollution Bulletin in October 2018, estimated that between October 2004 and December 2016, 500 tonnes to 1,000 tonnes of waste gathered on Taiwan’s coastline.
The government could help subsidize the mass production of ocean cleanup vessels and contract a Taiwanese manufacturer to develop the AI software. Even if only a few dozen robots were operating at any given time, it could greatly bolster the efforts of human volunteers, and the Ministry of Environment could even establish a division to monitor and clean beaches. A three-pronged strategy of reducing nonbiodegradable plastic production, recovering plastic waste and ramping up recycling of plastics could position Taiwan to be a regional leader on tackling marine waste. Such crucial efforts could save marine life and improve human health.
Congratulations to China’s working class — they have officially entered the “Livestock Feed 2.0” era. While others are still researching how to achieve healthy and balanced diets, China has already evolved to the point where it does not matter whether you are actually eating food, as long as you can swallow it. There is no need for cooking, chewing or making decisions — just tear open a package, add some hot water and in a short three minutes you have something that can keep you alive for at least another six hours. This is not science fiction — it is reality.
A foreign colleague of mine asked me recently, “What is a safe distance from potential People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Rocket Force’s (PLARF) Taiwan targets?” This article will answer this question and help people living in Taiwan have a deeper understanding of the threat. Why is it important to understand PLA/PLARF targeting strategy? According to RAND analysis, the PLA’s “systems destruction warfare” focuses on crippling an adversary’s operational system by targeting its networks, especially leadership, command and control (C2) nodes, sensors, and information hubs. Admiral Samuel Paparo, commander of US Indo-Pacific Command, noted in his 15 May 2025 Sedona Forum keynote speech that, as
In a world increasingly defined by unpredictability, two actors stand out as islands of stability: Europe and Taiwan. One, a sprawling union of democracies, but under immense pressure, grappling with a geopolitical reality it was not originally designed for. The other, a vibrant, resilient democracy thriving as a technological global leader, but living under a growing existential threat. In response to rising uncertainties, they are both seeking resilience and learning to better position themselves. It is now time they recognize each other not just as partners of convenience, but as strategic and indispensable lifelines. The US, long seen as the anchor
Kinmen County’s political geography is provocative in and of itself. A pair of islets running up abreast the Chinese mainland, just 20 minutes by ferry from the Chinese city of Xiamen, Kinmen remains under the Taiwanese government’s control, after China’s failed invasion attempt in 1949. The provocative nature of Kinmen’s existence, along with the Matsu Islands off the coast of China’s Fuzhou City, has led to no shortage of outrageous takes and analyses in foreign media either fearmongering of a Chinese invasion or using these accidents of history to somehow understand Taiwan. Every few months a foreign reporter goes to
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