Last week, two US military vessels transited the Taiwan Strait for the first time since US President Donald Trump took office last month.US Navy Commander Matthew Comer, a spokesman at the US Indo-Pacific Command, said that “the transit occurred through a corridor in the Taiwan Strait that is beyond
Last month, a Chinese-owned vessel was accused of cutting an undersea fiber-optic cable near Keelung Harbor, highlighting the vulnerability of critical communications infrastructure. While the incident caused only minor disruptions to Internet service, it aligned with China’s broader “gray zone” tac
US President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba met at the White House on Feb. 7 for official talks, in Trump’s second meeting with a foreign head of state since returning to office. Some of the central items of discussion concerning Taiwan, Japan and the US are praiseworthy.Fir
EDITORIAL CARTOON
When Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) hosted entrepreneurs at a rare meeting in Beijing in 2018, the executives granted coveted front-row seats came from industries ranging from high-tech to energy, and few were familiar names.Fast-forward seven years and that lineup has changed markedly as Beijin
Faced with US demands to provide the military muscle to enforce a future Ukraine peace deal, Europe finds itself in a bind.Experts say that sending European peacekeepers to Ukraine might stretch and weaken NATO’s own defenses, and that the mission would still need US support to succeed.While US boot
US President Donald Trump’s return to the White House is so far proving more nightmarish for US allies and friends than adversaries.China certainly does not relish a trade war with the US, but it was better prepared than others for Trump’s tariffs, and both sides appear to be leaving room for a pote
The Cabinet and the legislature must collaborate to solve Taiwan Power Co’s (Taipower) financial problems to avert more electricity rate hikes from April after a NT$100 billion (US$3.1 billion) subsidy was cut. Further electricity price increases would add to Taiwan’s already high inflation and put
The large-scale cuts and freezes proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party during deliberations over this year’s central government budget have caused government agencies to face unprecedented operational challenges.Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statis
The first phase of a recall movement launched early this month, beginning with petitions against 18 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators and suspended Hsinchu mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) delivered to the Central Election Commission (CEC) for approval. The first phase required signatures from more tha
One year after its corporatization, the state-owned Taiwan Railway Corp (TRC) is estimated to have sustained NT$12 billion (US$366.24 million) in losses, exceeding the NT$11.4 billion it lost in 2023. The company’s financial report after its corporatization showed that asset depreciation accounted f
EDITORIAL CARTOON
In one of his first acts in office, newly confirmed US Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy put out a memo dictating that “communities with marriage and birth rates higher than the national average” be given preference in transportation funding. What kinds of communities would benefit from this po
Microsoft Corp plans to spend US$80 billion on artificial intelligence (AI) this year, reinforcing its position as a leading vendor. So why has it published a research paper showing an erosion of critical-thinking skills among workers using generative AI tools such as ChatGPT? If we were being gener
US Republican and Democratic administrations alike benefited from the sacrifices of Afghans who put their lives on the line to support US troops, and spread US values, in the 20-year war against the Taliban. Both have now betrayed the trust those allies placed in them. The administration of former U
US President Donald Trump on Thursday directed the US trade representative and commerce secretary to complete all studies related to the so-called reciprocal tariffs by April 1, as he aims to increase US tariffs to match the rates other countries charge on imports. The calculation for the reciprocal
A South Korean friend told me that if their country had a reasonable recall law, suspended South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol would not have implemented martial law and caused so much social unrest. South Korean voters have no easy way to implement their right of recall. Yoon and his People Power
US President Donald Trump last week announced plans to impose reciprocal tariffs on eight countries. As Taiwan, a key hub for semiconductor manufacturing, is among them, the policy would significantly affect the country. In response, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) dispatched two officia
The government’s annual tax surplus last year exceeded NT$528.3 billion (US$16.16 billion), setting an unprecedented record, Ministry of Finance data showed. To reduce the pressure of recalls, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislative caucus has announced a “return money to the people 2.0” cam
RSS