The next eight months are “going to be bumpy” for President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), US-Taiwan Business Council president Rupert Hammond-Chambers said.
Tsai, who took office yesterday, inherits a difficult hand when it comes to national defense, he said.
Writing in the Wall Street Journal earlier this week, he said Tsai would focus on developing Taiwan’s domestic defense industry in an attempt to counteract the poor state of US arms sales commitment to the nation.
“Playing catchup on defense after the past eight years of inattention is likely to expose her to accusations that she is provoking China,” Hammond-Chambers said.
He said Tsai’s national security team would engage with the administration of US President Barack Obama this summer and should be clear about what it wants from its relationship with the US.
“Taiwan needs to accept the risk of friction if it makes big requests, such as material support for the design and production of submarines, new fighter trainers and a new front-line fighter,” he said.
According to Hammond-Chambers, after years of “lackluster support” in arms sales to Taiwan, the Obama administration is likely to stall.
“That will put further weight on the outcome of the US presidential election and the willingness of the next US president to uphold the Taiwan Relations Act,” he said.
Hammond-Chambers said there is much that Tsai could achieve unilaterally without relying on tepid US support while ignoring Chinese belligerence, but she should brace herself for a rough start with Beijing.
The Taipei City Government yesterday said contractors organizing its New Year’s Eve celebrations would be held responsible after a jumbo screen played a Beijing-ran television channel near the event’s end. An image showing China Central Television (CCTV) Channel 3 being displayed was posted on the social media platform Threads, sparking an outcry on the Internet over Beijing’s alleged political infiltration of the municipal government. A Taipei Department of Information and Tourism spokesman said event workers had made a “grave mistake” and that the Television Broadcasts Satellite (TVBS) group had the contract to operate the screens. The city would apply contractual penalties on TVBS
The lowest temperature in a low-lying area recorded early yesterday morning was in Miaoli County’s Gongguan Township (公館), at 6.8°C, due to a strong cold air mass and the effect of radiative cooling, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. In other areas, Chiayi’s East District (東區) recorded a low of 8.2°C and Yunlin County’s Huwei Township (虎尾) recorded 8.5°C, CWA data showed. The cold air mass was at its strongest from Saturday night to the early hours of yesterday. It brought temperatures down to 9°C to 11°C in areas across the nation and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties,
A new board game set against the backdrop of armed conflict around Taiwan is to be released next month, amid renewed threats from Beijing, inviting players to participate in an imaginary Chinese invasion 20 years from now. China has ramped up military activity close to Taiwan in the past few years, including massing naval forces around the nation. The game, titled 2045, tasks players with navigating the troubles of war using colorful action cards and role-playing as characters involved in operations 10 days before a fictional Chinese invasion of Taiwan. That includes members of the armed forces, Chinese sleeper agents and pro-China politicians
STAY VIGILANT: When experiencing symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning, such as dizziness or fatigue, near a water heater, open windows and doors to ventilate the area Rooftop flue water heaters should only be installed outdoors or in properly ventilated areas to prevent toxic gas from building up, the Yilan County Fire Department said, after a man in Taipei died of carbon monoxide poisoning on Monday last week. The 39-year-old man, surnamed Chen (陳), an assistant professor at Providence University in Taichung, was at his Taipei home for the holidays when the incident occurred, news reports said. He was taking a shower in the bathroom of a rooftop addition when carbon monoxide — a poisonous byproduct of combustion — leaked from a water heater installed in a poorly ventilated
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