The budget for this year’s twin-city forum between Taipei and Shanghai would be frozen if China’s military aircraft and ships continue to patrol near Taiwan ahead of the event later this year, the Taipei City Council said on Monday.
Following six days of inter-party negotiations, the decision was made on Monday to budget about NT$1.3 million (US$46,903) for the annual event, on one condition.
The condition put forth by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus was that the budget should be frozen if the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) continues to send aircraft and vessels to areas around Taiwan prior to the event’s opening.
Photo: Cheng Ming-hsiang, Taipei Times
Taipei city councilors from the DPP and their Social Democratic Party counterpart, Councilor Miao Po-ya (苗博雅), initially said that the budget should be scrapped entirely, but Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and New Party councilors opposed the idea.
They eventually reached a consensus and agreed to attach the condition.
KMT Taipei City Councilor Wang Hsin-yi (王欣儀) said that the party’s caucus accepted the proposal with the condition, as the PLA’s patrols near Taiwan have caused resentment.
New Party convener Pan Hwai-tzong (潘懷宗) said that the twin-city forum should be held if cross-strait relations are good at the time, and canceled if they are not.
The council is reviewing the NT$174.532 billion in expenses and NT$171.997 billion in income that the Taipei City Government has budgeted for this year.
MISINFORMATION: The generated content tends to adopt China’s official stance, such as ‘Taiwan is currently governed by the Chinese central government,’ the NSB said Five China-developed artificial intelligence (AI) language models exhibit cybersecurity risks and content biases, an inspection conducted by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The five AI tools are: DeepSeek, Doubao (豆包), Yiyan (文心一言), Tongyi (通義千問) and Yuanbao (騰訊元寶), the bureau said, advising people to remain vigilant to protect personal data privacy and corporate business secrets. The NSB said it, in accordance with the National Intelligence Services Act (國家情報工作法), has reviewed international cybersecurity reports and intelligence, and coordinated with the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau and the National Police Agency’s Criminal Investigation Bureau to conduct an inspection of China-made AI language
LIMITS: While China increases military pressure on Taiwan and expands its use of cognitive warfare, it is unwilling to target tech supply chains, the report said US and Taiwan military officials have warned that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could implement a blockade within “a matter of hours” and need only “minimal conversion time” prior to an attack on Taiwan, a report released on Tuesday by the US Senate’s China Economic and Security Review Commission said. “While there is no indication that China is planning an imminent attack, the United States and its allies and partners can no longer assume that a Taiwan contingency is a distant possibility for which they would have ample time to prepare,” it said. The commission made the comments in its annual
CHECKING BOUNDARIES: China wants to disrupt solidarity among democracies and test their red lines, but it is instead pushing nations to become more united, an expert said The US Department of State on Friday expressed deep concern over a Chinese public security agency’s investigation into Legislator Puma Shen (沈伯洋) for “secession.” “China’s actions threaten free speech and erode norms that have underpinned the cross-strait ‘status quo’ for decades,” a US Department of State spokesperson said. The Chongqing Municipal Public Security Bureau late last month listed Shen as “wanted” and launched an investigation into alleged “secession-related” criminal activities, including his founding of the Kuma Academy, a civil defense organization that prepares people for an invasion by China. The spokesperson said that the US was “deeply concerned” about the bureau investigating Shen
‘TROUBLEMAKER’: Most countries believe that it is China — rather than Taiwan — that is undermining regional peace and stability with its coercive tactics, the president said China should restrain itself and refrain from being a troublemaker that sabotages peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday. Lai made the remarks after China Coast Guard vessels sailed into disputed waters off the Senkaku Islands — known as the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) in Taiwan — following a remark Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi made regarding Taiwan. Takaichi during a parliamentary session on Nov. 7 said that a “Taiwan contingency” involving a Chinese naval blockade could qualify as a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, and trigger Tokyo’s deployment of its military for defense. Asked about the escalating tensions
RSS