DIPLOMACY
Tsai aims for better UK ties
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday expressed hope for stronger ties with the UK at a meeting with members of the British Parliament. The 11-member delegation was led by Andrew Rosindell, vice chairman of the British-Taiwanese All-Party Parliamentary Group. Taiwan hopes to cooperate with the UK in areas such as “green” technology, national defense development, smart machines, agriculture, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, Tsai said, adding that the nation would clear all possible investment hurdles to encourage partnerships with the UK. The delegation’s seven-day visit, which ends tomorrow, is aimed at giving the lawmakers a better understanding of the nation’s political and economic developments, innovative industries, diplomatic relations and cross-strait relations, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
CRIME
Suspects deported to China
Indonesia yesterday deported to China 143 Taiwanese and Chinese fraud suspects who were arrested during a crackdown late last month, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. Expressing “serious concern” over the case, the ministry urged the Indonesian government to protect the rights of Taiwanese. Citing information obtained by Taiwanese representative offices in Jakarta and Surabaya, the ministry said that Indonesian police, in cooperation with China, apprehended the 143 telecom fraud suspects, including 22 Taiwanese, during raids in Jakarta, Surabaya, Bali and Batam on Saturday last week. Upon learning of the incident, the ministry ordered Taiwanese diplomats to make every effort to ask Indonesian authorities to send the Taiwanese suspects to Taiwan to face justice. However, Jakarta refused to provide Taiwan with further information on the case, saying it was China that offered the information to help break the case, the ministry said.
SOCIETY
Taichung beats Kaohsiung
Taichung’s population has exceeded that of Kaohsiung for the first time, making it the second-largest city in the nation after New Taipei City, Taichung Mayor Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said on Wednesday. As of late last month, Taichung had a population of 2,778,182, which is 309 more than Kaohsiung’s, Ministry of the Interior statistics showed. Lin said it is a good time to invest in Taichung, given the population growth, a city development plan that has already been approved by the ministry and the inclusion of a light rail construction project under the central government’s infrastructure plan. Taichung will also relax its standards for evaluating investment projects and offer more investment incentives, the mayor said.
POLITICS
Think tanks to hold forums
Taiwan ThinkTank and Washington-based Global Taiwan Institute are to hold an international forum on Aug. 18, as part of an effort to promote more frequent cooperation between Taiwanese and US think tanks, with the objective of developing proposals on related government policies. Titled “Developing a New Framework for Taiwan-US Relations under Changing Dynamics in the Asia-Pacific,” the forum will bring together academics and experts from Taiwan and the US, as well as former US government officials, Taiwan ThinkTank said. Another Taipei-based think tank, the Prospect Foundation, is to hold a forum to discuss security affairs in the Asia-Pacific region on Sunday in Taipei, with former US vice president Dick Cheney as the featured speaker.
The US-Japan joint statement released on Friday not mentioning the “one China” policy might be a sign that US President Donald Trump intends to decouple US-China relations from Taiwan, a Taiwanese academic said. Following Trump’s meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Friday, the US and Japan issued a joint statement where they reaffirmed the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and support for Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations. Trump has not personally brought up the “one China” policy in more than a year, National Taiwan University Department of Political Science Associate Professor Chen Shih-min (陳世民)
‘NEVER!’ Taiwan FactCheck Center said it had only received donations from the Open Society Foundations, which supports nonprofits that promote democratic values Taiwan FactCheck Center (TFC) has never received any donation from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), a cofounder of the organization wrote on his Facebook page on Sunday. The Taipei-based organization was established in 2018 by Taiwan Media Watch Foundation and the Association of Quality Journalism to monitor and verify news and information accuracy. It was officially registered as a foundation in 2021. National Chung Cheng University communications professor Lo Shih-hung (羅世宏), a cofounder and chairman of TFC, was responding to online rumors that the TFC receives funding from the US government’s humanitarian assistance agency via the Open Society Foundations (OSF),
ANNUAL LIGHT SHOW: The lanterns are exhibited near Taoyuan’s high-speed rail station and around the Taoyuan Sports Park Station of the airport MRT line More than 400 lanterns are to be on display at the annual Taiwan Lantern Festival, which officially starts in Taoyuan today. The city is hosting the festival for the second time — the first time was in 2016. The Tourism Administration held a rehearsal of the festival last night. Chunghwa Telecom donated the main lantern of the festival to the Taoyuan City Government. The lanterns are exhibited in two main areas: near the high-speed rail (HSR) station in Taoyuan, which is at the A18 station of the Taoyuan Airport MRT, and around the Taoyuan Sports Park Station of the MRT
An alleged US government plan to encourage Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) to form a joint venture with Intel to boost US chipmaking would place the Taiwanese foundry giant in a more disadvantageous position than proposed tariffs on imported chips, a semiconductor expert said yesterday. If TSMC forms a joint venture with its US rival, it faces the risk of technology outflow, said Liu Pei-chen (劉佩真), a researcher at the Taiwan Industry Economics Database of the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research. A report by international financial services firm Baird said that Asia semiconductor supply chain talks suggest that the US government would