■ Defense
Arms deal necessary: MND
Vice Minister of National Defense Michael Tsai (蔡明憲) yesterday called on the people to support the government's arms procurement plan, saying Taiwan must beef up its defense and counterattack capability in the face of China's continued military buildup. Tsai made the remarks while giving a speech on "national defense, trade and cross-Taiwan Strait relations" in Taichung City. Tsai pointed out that the international community generally agrees that there are three regions of crisis in the world: the Middle East, the Korean Peninsula and the Taiwan Strait. While China's defense budget is enjoying double-digit growth every year, the number of missiles deployed by the Chinese military targeting Taiwan has risen to more than 600 and is increasing by 60 to 70 per year, Tsai said. With defense spending as a share of the national budget declining year after year, the Ministry of National Defense has put forth a special budget proposal for the NT$610.8 billion (US$18.23 billion) arms procurement, Tsai noted. Tsai argued that Taiwan must keep its military capability strong to maintain cross-strait peace and that the military balance across the Strait in the past managed to deter China from invading Taiwan.
■ Energy
CPC to build gas tankers
Taiwan's state-run Chinese Petroleum Corp (CPC) is planning to build four tankers to deliver liquefied natural gas from Qatar to the Taiwan Power Company's Tatan power plant, CPC officials said yesterday. The tankers are estimated to cost US$600 million and the CPC will invite tenders from shipbuilders later this year, the officials said. In addition to the CPC, the liquefied natural gas supplier in Qatar has expressed an interest in the project, they said. The CPC, the liquefied natural gas supplier and the shipbuilder winning the tender will form a partnership that will be in charge of building the ships, arranging the shipping schedule as well as managing and maintaining the ships, they added.
■ Diplomacy
New envoy arrives in UK
Lin Chun-yi (林俊義), Taiwan's new representative to the UK, arrived in London from Gambia to assume his post on Friday. Lin was greeted warmly at Heathrow International Airport by Taiwanese expatriates residing in the UK, as well as the staff of the Taipei Representative Office. The new representative will be briefed by office staff to learn about the London operations and will start calling on government agencies, parliament, think tanks and industrial and financial institutions next Monday. Lin holds a PhD in biology from Indiana University in the US and was a professor at Tunghai University and a member of the Environmen-tal Protection Agency before serving as ambassador to Gambia.
■ Politics
US anti-CCP march planned
About 30 Chinese groups in the US plan to stage a march in Washington today to protest against the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and urging Chinese around the world to end communism. The march, staged to show solidarity with a campaign to end communism initiated by 60 private and human rights groups around the world, is aimed at encouraging CCP members to desert their party. Organizers of the march said the campaign was triggered by nine anti-communism articles published on an online Chinese-language weekly, the Epoch Times. They said the articles have prompted a "communism-deserting wave" in China, to the alarm of Beijing leaders.
Weather conditions across Taiwan are expected to remain stable today, but cloudy to rainy skies are expected from tomorrow onward due to increasing moisture in the atmosphere, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). Daytime highs today are expected to hit 25-27°C in western Taiwan and 22-24°C in the eastern counties of Yilan, Hualien, and Taitung, data on the CWA website indicated. After sunset, temperatures could drop to 16-17°C in most parts of Taiwan. For tomorrow, precipitation is likely in northern Taiwan as a cloud system moves in from China. Daytime temperatures are expected to hover around 25°C, the CWA said. Starting Monday, areas
A Taiwanese software developer has created a generative artificial intelligence (AI) model to help people use AI without exposing sensitive data, project head Huang Chung-hsiao (黃崇校) said yesterday. Huang, a 55-year-old coder leading a US-based team, said that concerns over data privacy and security in popular generative AIs such as ChatGPT and DeepSeek motivated him to develop a personal AI assistant named “Mei.” One of the biggest security flaws with cloud-based algorithms is that users are required to hand over personal information to access the service, giving developers the opportunity to mine user data, he said. For this reason, many government agencies and
The National Fire Agency on Thursday said a series of drills simulating a magnitude 8.5 earthquake would be held in September to enhance the government’s emergency response capabilities. Since earthquakes cannot be predicted, only by continuously promoting disaster prevention measures could Taiwan enhance its resilience to earthquakes, agency Director-General Hsiao Huan-chang (蕭煥章) said in a news release. The exercises would be held to mark annual National Disaster Prevention Day on Sept. 21, the aim of which is to test Taiwan’s preparedness and improve its earthquake resilience in case of a major temblor, Hsiao said. As part of those drills, an earthquake alert would
STRICTER ENFORCEMENT: Taipei authorities warned against drunk cycling after a sharp rise in riding under the influence, urging greater public awareness of its illegality Taipei authorities have issued a public warning urging people not to ride bicycles after consuming alcohol, following a sharp rise in riding under the influence (DUI) cases involving bicycles. Five hundred and seven people were charged with DUI last year while riding YouBikes, personal bicycles, or other self-propelled two-wheelers — a fourfold increase from the previous year, data released by the Taipei Police Department’s Traffic Division showed. Of these, 33 cases were considered severe enough to be prosecuted under “offenses against public safety,” the data showed. Under the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例), bicycles — including YouBikes and other
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