The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday hinted that Taiwan might join forces with the Philippines to protect navigational freedoms, days after Beijing blocked Philippine supply ships in the South China Sea.The ministry made the comment when asked whether Taipei would be willing to join forc
The US is willing to accompany Philippine vessels during resupply missions in the disputed South China Sea amid recurring confrontations with Chinese ships, a senior US military official said.“Certainly within the context of consultations, every option between two sovereign nations in terms of our m
‘STRATEGIC CHANNEL’: While Biden has spent more time with Xi than any other world leader, he is set to be the first US president since Jimmy Carter not to travel to China
Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) and US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan discussed setting up new talks between their presidents in meetings aimed at managing the two nations’ difficult relationship.“The two sides discussed a new round of interaction between the two heads of s
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Tuesday last week issued a recall for 11 batches, 306 boxes in total, of two types of contact lenses by Alcon Inc, due to a quality issue that might cause eye irritation, red eyes or blurred vision.The two types of contact lenses are Dailies Total1 One-Day C
Automative giant Toyota Motor Corp is suspending production at all its factories in Japan because of an approaching typhoon, the company said yesterday.“From today’s number-two [afternoon] shift through tomorrow’s number-one [daytime] shift, we will suspend all the production lines at domestic facto
‘LIKE A BLACK HOLE’: The figure is about 7% of China’s reported military spending, although diplomats and experts say that number is often opaque or not fully inclusive
China spent about US$15 billion, or 7 percent of its defense budget, on exercises in the western Pacific last year, according to a previously unpublished Taiwanese estimate, showing Beijing’s investment in military activity around Taiwan and its neighbors.The internal research by the military, revie
NT$5 MILLION BRIBE: The indictment said that Cheng Wen-tsan returned the cash only after he was informed that investigators had tapped the people’s telephones
Former vice premier Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) has been charged with corruption over an alleged NT$5 million (US$156,593) bribe to facilitate an industrial development project, the Taoyuan District Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday.Prosecutors have recommended a 12-year prison sentence for Cheng, given t
Starting from today, international students and overseas Chinese students as well as those from Hong Kong and Macau can work as fulltime housekeeping staff, receptionists and waiters in the hotel and lodging industry, the Ministry of Labor said yesterday.The new policy is being implemented to addres
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres yesterday sent out a global climate “SOS” at the Pacific Islands Forum in Tonga, unveiling research that shows the region’s seas rising much more swiftly than global averages.“I am in Tonga to issue a global SOS — Save Our Seas — on rising sea levels. A worldwid
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) yesterday said that they were hoping for productive talks as they met in Beijing.Washington allies Japan and the Philippines have blamed China for raising regional tensions, with Tokyo accusing Beijing of
PRESSURE: The Solomon Islands, acting under explicit instructions from Beijing, is aiming to prevent Taiwan from attending the next forum to be held in Honiara
Australia has voiced support for Taiwan despite the Solomon Islands’ plan to undermine Taiwan’s status as an observer at the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF).The forum is one of the most important international organizations in the Pacific region, made up of 18 member states, including Australia, New Zea
The military yesterday drilled with anti-amphibious landing missiles as part of a strategy to remain mobile and deadly in an attempt to deter an attack from China.Troops fired tube-launched, optically tracked, wire-guided TOW 2A missiles mounted on M1167 Humvees at floating targets off a beach in Pi
Russian missile and drone strikes battered Ukraine’s power grid yesterday, killing at least four people and forcing authorities to introduce emergency blackouts.Officials said 15 regions across the nation were targeted in the aerial assault which began during the night and was the biggest in weeks.T
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un supervised a demonstration of new exploding drones designed to crash into targets, state media said yesterday, as the US and South Korea engaged in joint military drills.North Korean test photographs showed a white drone with X-shaped tails and wings supposedly crashi
YUANLIN CITY STUNT: A prevalent figure in Taiwanese folklore, legends and movies is a female ghost in a white dress with long hair and a long tongue hanging out
Police in central Taiwan have arrested two men on offenses relating to Ghost Month for allegedly scaring people by dressing up at night as a ghastly female demon with its tongue hanging out.People were frightened and reported it to the police for investigation. The incident took place in Changhua Co
VOICING CONCERNS: Jake Sullivan is to discuss China’s increased military and economic pressure against Taiwan when he visits Beijing tomorrow, a White House official said
The US encourages “all countries to expand engagement with Taiwan,” a US Department of State official said on Saturday, after Palau’s president said that the Micronesian nation has faced economic coercion from China over its ties to Taiwan.“Taiwan is a reliable, like-minded and democratic partner, a
‘INITIAL RESPONSE’: Hezbollah said its attack was a ‘total success,’ while Houthi rebels said they were planning their own response to an Israeli strike
Israel yesterday launched airstrikes into Lebanon, saying that it had thwarted a large-scale Hezbollah attack, while the Lebanese group announced its own cross-border raids to avenge a top commander’s killing.The Israeli military said its fighter jets had destroyed “thousands” of Hezbollah rocket la
A deputy foreign minister is to attend this week’s meeting of Pacific island leaders in Tonga, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, as China and the US jostle for influence in the region.The Pacific is also an area of competition between Taipei and Beijing, as China whittles away at the n
The government is to spend more than NT$10 billion (US$312.73 million) to procure military drones, based on the Ministry of National Defense’s budget proposal for the next fiscal year.Of the NT$647 billion allocated to overall defense spending next year, NT$467.5 billion is to be used to fund minist
A Syrian man has given himself up and confessed to killing three people and wounding eight in a knife rampage at a street festival, German police said yesterday.The attack as thousands of people gathered on Friday night in the western city of Solingen has stunned Germany.A 56-year-old woman and two