FOREIGN AFFAIRS
AIT halts Facebook updates
The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) yesterday said it would temporarily suspend updates to its Facebook page due to a lapse in funding caused by the US government shutdown. Because of the lapse in appropriations, “this account will not be regularly updated until full operations resume, with the exception of urgent safety or security information,” AIT wrote on Facebook. “At this time, scheduled passport and visa services in the United States, at the American Institute in Taiwan (Taipei and Kaohsiung), as well as at U.S. Embassies and Consulates overseas, will continue during the lapse in appropriations as the situation permits,” the post said. The US federal government shutdown began at midnight Eastern Time yesterday after a deadlocked US Congress failed to reach a spending deal. The shutdown, the first since 2018, would halt some government services and programs, and see some non-essential workers placed on unpaid leave, US media reports said. The AIT represents US interests in Taiwan in the absence of official ties.
Photo: Screen grab from the AIT Web site
TRANSPORT
Tigerair adds Japan flights
The Tainan City Government yesterday announced that Taiwan Tigerair is to launch new routes from the city to the Japanese prefectures of Kumamoto and Okinawa at the end of December, beginning with two flights a week on each route. Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲) wrote on Facebook that the new routes mark “an important breakthrough” in the city’s efforts to expand its international tourism market. The Tainan-Kumamoto route is to start on Dec. 23, with flights scheduled every Tuesday and Friday, while the Tainan-Okinawa route is to begin on Dec. 25, operating every Thursday and Sunday, the Tainan City Government said. Detailed flight schedules are to be announced at a later date. The Tainan Tourism Bureau said in statement that Tainan, Kumamoto and Okinawa are among the most attractive tourist destinations in Taiwan and Japan, and share strong connections in history, culture, cuisine and regional exchanges. Tainan and Kumamoto are both home to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co facilities, while Tainan and Okinawa share a maritime cultural heritage shaped by sea trade, the bureau said.
SOCIETY
Nara donates NT$2mn
Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara yesterday announced a donation of NT$2 million (US$65,681) and a plan to raise funds in Japan to support Hualien County after severe damage caused by overflow flooding from a barrier lake bursting during Super Typhoon Ragasa on Tuesday last week. In a social media post, Nara announced that NT$2 million from merchandise sales during her ongoing touring exhibition in Taiwan, Hazy Humid Day, which has run since April 2023, would be donated to Hualien to help flood victims. Nara also announced that he would hold a fundraising event called “Marker Tattoos” at the “Kaze to Rock Imonikai” music festival in Fukushima, Japan, on Saturday and Sunday, where participants can have drawings on their arms with markers, with all proceeds to be donated to Hualien. The overflow flooding from the Mataian River’s (馬太鞍溪) barrier lake affected Guangfu (光復), Wanrong (萬榮) and Fonglin (鳳林) townships in the eastern county, causing 18 deaths and six people missing, and resulting in those communities being inundated with mud and debris.
Beijing could eventually see a full amphibious invasion of Taiwan as the only "prudent" way to bring about unification, the US Department of Defense said in a newly released annual report to Congress. The Pentagon's "Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2025," was in many ways similar to last year’s report but reorganized the analysis of the options China has to take over Taiwan. Generally, according to the report, Chinese leaders view the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) capabilities for a Taiwan campaign as improving, but they remain uncertain about its readiness to successfully seize
Taiwan is getting a day off on Christmas for the first time in 25 years. The change comes after opposition parties passed a law earlier this year to add or restore five public holidays, including Constitution Day, which falls on today, Dec. 25. The day marks the 1947 adoption of the constitution of the Republic of China, as the government in Taipei is formally known. Back then the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) governed China from Nanjing. When the KMT, now an opposition party in Taiwan, passed the legislation on holidays, it said that they would help “commemorate the history of national development.” That
Taiwan has overtaken South Korea this year in per capita income for the first time in 23 years, IMF data showed. Per capita income is a nation’s GDP divided by the total population, used to compare average wealth levels across countries. Taiwan also beat Japan this year on per capita income, after surpassing it for the first time last year, US magazine Newsweek reported yesterday. Across Asia, Taiwan ranked fourth for per capita income at US$37,827 this year due to sustained economic growth, the report said. In the top three spots were Singapore, Macau and Hong Kong, it said. South
Police today said they are stepping up patrols throughout the Taipei MRT system, after a social media user threatened to detonate a bomb at an unspecified station this afternoon. Although they strongly believe the threat to be unsubstantiated, Taipei Metro police and the Railway Police Bureau still said that security and patrols would be heightened through the system. Many copycat messages have been posted since Friday’s stabbing attacks at Taipei Main Station and near Zhongshan MRT Station that left three dead and 11 injured, police said. Last night, a Threads user in a post said they would detonate a bomb on the Taipei
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