Wed, Apr 02, 2025
‘TROUBLEMAKER’: China’s military provocations are escalating regional tensions and are a blatant challenge to the international order, the Presidential Office said The Presidential Office yesterday denounced the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) for launching joint military drills around Taiwan, calling Beijing a “troublemaker.”The condemnation came after the PLA’s Eastern Theater Command yesterday morning announced the start of a new round of joint exerc
A bipartisan group of US lawmakers on Monday reintroduced the Taiwan International Solidarity Act in the House of Representatives after the pro-Taiwan legislation stalled in the Senate in 2023.The act “encourages the US to work with allies and partners to oppose the People’s Republic of China’s effo
A Chinese national whose dependent-based residency permit was revoked over social media posts that advocated China using military force to unite with Taiwan was forcibly deported yesterday after failing to leave the country before the deadline of her deportation order.Known by her online pseudonym X
‘BULLY’: Beijing vowed to take strong measures against the ‘despicable’ acts by the US, while an activist lauded the effort to stop the crackdown The US has sanctioned six Chinese and Hong Kong officials who it alleged were involved in “transnational repression” and acts that threaten to further erode the territory’s autonomy, with Beijing threatening to take countermeasures.The six officials included Hong Kong Secretary for Justice Paul Lam
Myanmar yesterday held a minute’s silence in tribute to victims of a catastrophic earthquake that has killed more than 2,000 people, buckling roads and flattening buildings as far away as Bangkok.Four days after the shallow magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck, many people in Myanmar are still sleeping o
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite."The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" l
Taiwan is to remain cold in the morning and evening today, while Taipei and other northern areas are to be chilly all day, the Central Weather Agency (CWA) said.The agency predicted lows between 12°C and 14°C in northern and northeastern areas, with other areas experiencing temperatures between 15°C
‘TWO DATES’: A coast guard official said China could launch war games next month or in October, around dates linked to President William Lai China could find a “pretext” to stage new war games around Taiwan this year, coinciding with sensitive dates such as the anniversary next month of a year since President William Lai (賴清德) took office, Coast Guard Administration (CGA) Deputy Director-General Hsieh Ching-chin (謝慶欽) said yesterday.Chin
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began.Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend
GIANT ‘BA’ SIGN: DPP lawmakers put up a banner with the Mandarin word ‘ba,’ or ‘recall’ at the center of the chamber, symbolizing recall bids against the KMT Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers yesterday continued to occupy the speaker’s podium at the Legislative Yuan to block proceedings on referendums proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).The legislature on March 25 passed a motion sending two KMT referendum proposals on “opposing th
Former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday was temporarily released from jail to receive medical treatment for a health emergency.The former Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) chairman had been held at the Taipei Detention Center to await trial after being indicted for alleged embezzlement and corruptio
The Taipei First Girls High School (TFG) has banned its teachers from participating in interviews with Chinese state media after one instructor sparked an outcry by criticizing President William Lai (賴清德) on China Central Television (CCTV).In an announcement to staff and students Monday, Princip
WARNING: The number of pertussis cases this year is higher than in previous years, and people should be cautious during the Tomb Sweeping holiday, an official said Two cases of pertussis, also known as whooping cough, were reported last week among members of a family in southern Taiwan, and 99 close contacts are being monitored, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said the tw
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday confirmed that a Taiwanese woman is presumed to have died after being trapped under a collapsed hotel in Myanmar after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake hit the country on Friday last week. At a weekly news conference in Taipei yesterday, several local reporters as
The main communications payload for Taiwan’s first “Beyond 5G” (B5G) low Earth orbit satellite would be provided by US aerospace company CesiumAstro, a bid decision yesterday showed. The roughly 400kg satellite, named 1A, would be launched in 2027 and would orbit at an altitude of about 600km, the T
MULTIFACETED: A task force has analyzed possible scenarios and created responses to assist domestic industries in dealing with US tariffs, the economics minister said The Executive Yuan is tomorrow to announce countermeasures to US President Donald Trump’s planned reciprocal tariffs, although the details of the plan would not be made public until Monday next week, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday.The Cabinet established an economic and t
TIGHT-LIPPED: UMC said it had no merger plans at the moment, after Nikkei Asia reported that the firm and GlobalFoundries were considering restarting merger talks United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 4 contract chipmaker, yesterday launched a new US$5 billion 12-inch chip factory in Singapore as part of its latest effort to diversify its manufacturing footprint amid growing geopolitical risks.The new factory, adjacent to UMC’s existing Sing
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday.Whi
China poses a dire threat to Taiwan’s semiconductor industry as it steps up efforts to poach Taiwan’s top chip talent, following the US’ implementation of stringent chip restrictions. Beijing is keen to develop its own semiconductor technologies, leveraging skilled engineers from Taiwan, Europe and
Iwasaki Shigeru, former chief of staff of the joint staff of the Japan Self-Defense Forces (SDF), has been appointed as a political consultant for a one-year renewable term by the Executive Yuan. For the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)-led administration, he might serve as an additional informal
Deflation in China is persisting, raising growing concerns domestically and internationally. Beijing’s stimulus policies introduced in September last year have largely been short-lived in financial markets and negligible in the real economy.Recent data showing disproportionately low bank loan growth
LATE RALLY: The Pacers rallied from 16 points down in the third quarter to beat the Kings and maintain their grip on fourth place in the Eastern Conference Veteran Al Horford turned back the clock on Monday to help NBA champions the Boston Celtics notch a ninth straight victory and nab a franchise first with a 117-103 win over the Grizzlies in Memphis.Horford, 38, led the Celtics scoring with 26 points off the bench.Jayson Tatum added 25 points and 14
Carson Kelly had come close to hitting for the cycle, yet that elusive triple kept holding him back. He had just two triples over a 10-year major league career before Monday.That is when Kelly became the first Chicago Cubs player in 32 years to hit for the cycle. He tripled in the eighth inning of a
Matvei Michkov did not score on Monday, but the Philadelphia rookie had a hand in both goals as hosts the Flyers earned a 2-1 victory over the Nashville Predators.Ryan Poehling and Jamie Drysdale got the goals for the Flyers (31-36-9, 71 points), who won their third straight. Michkov and Travis Kone
Russian-born Daria Kasatkina on Monday said that she was emotional and excited to begin a fresh chapter in her career under the Australian flag at the Charleston Open after being granted permanent residency last week.The 27-year-old has been playing on the WTA Tour as a neutral athlete after Russian
MASS GRAVE: The slain workers and their vehicles clearly showed that they were humanitarian personnel, and Israel killed them in ‘cold blood,’ the Red Crescent said Palestinians held funerals on Monday for 15 medics and emergency responders killed by Israeli troops in southern Gaza, after their bodies and mangled ambulances were found buried in an impromptu mass grave, apparently plowed over by Israeli military bulldozers.The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRC
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people.The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several
A volcanic eruption restarted in Iceland, with lava flow threatening the already severely damaged fishing town Grindavik.An eruption — the eighth on the same volcanic rift since late 2023 — started at 9:45am yesterday “just north of the protective barrier by Grindavik,” the Met Office said in a stat
For over half a century the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) patronage faction system remained fairly stable, but then quickly evolved with democratization. To understand these fascinating developments, we have to first understand how the system evolved in the first place. The KMT’s Republic of Chi
The baby was born in the aftermath of Myanmar’s earthquake and given to the flames of Buddhist funeral rites two days later, too young to have been named.The child’s pregnant mother was knocked over by the force of the quake while working in a paddy field, said grandmother Khin Myo Swe, and gave bir
Experts say that the devastating earthquake in Myanmar on Friday was likely the strongest to hit the country in decades, with disaster modeling suggesting thousands could be dead.Automatic assessments from the US Geological Survey (USGS) said the shallow 7.7-magnitude quake northwest of the central
In the vast landscapes of Australia, a unique and charming creature roams — the “wombat.” These round, adorable animals possess surprising abilities and fascinating traits that never fail to amaze. Let’s explore the world of this remarkable creature. Wombats are marsupials native to Australia, meas
Bilingual Story is a fictionalized account. 雙語故事部分內容純屬虛構。Echo pulled out a worn and tattered shoe box under father’s large oak desk. “Mariko, what should we do with these family photos?” Mariko stared at the old box with a slightly hurt expression, and then blankly at the photos. “Throw them in t
對話 Dialogue清清：清明節又快到了，你們家要不要去掃墓？Qīngqing: Qīngmíng jié yòu kuài dàole, nǐmen jiā yào búyào qù sǎomù?華華：我們家上個週末就先去過了，怕這個禮拜人太多，整理起來比較麻煩。Huáhua: Wǒmen jiā shàng ge zhōumò jiù xiān qù guò le, pà zhège lǐbài rén tài duō, zhěnglǐ qǐlái bǐjiào máfán. 清清：你們家祖先還有墓地嗎？我們家是放在塔位，只要帶供品和金紙去拜拜就好了。Qīngqing: Nǐmen ji
In 2020, a labor attache from the Philippines in Taipei sent a letter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs demanding that a Filipina worker accused of “cyber-libel” against then-president Rodrigo Duterte be deported. A press release from the Philippines office from the attache accused the woman of “using several social media accounts” to “discredit and malign the President and destabilize the government.” The attache also claimed that the woman had broken Taiwan’s laws. The government responded that she had broken no laws, and that all foreign workers were treated the same as Taiwan citizens and that “their rights are protected, including freedom of speech.” Last week the government announced that the National Immigration Agency (NIA) would revoke the spouse-based residence permit of social media influencer Liu Zhenya (劉振亞), a national of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), who is married to a local. This became a major news story, even making the international media. The NIA investigated reports that Liu advocated annexing Taiwan to the PRC through military force in videos posted on social media, including Douyin (where she has 400,000 followers), YouTube and TikTok. On all three, her account name is Yaya in Taiwan (亞亞在台灣). The NIA press release said that Liu’s residence permit will be revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the Measures for the Permission of Family-based Residence, Long-term Residence and Settlement of People from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area (大陸地區人民在台灣地區依親居留長期居留或定居許可辦法). The NIA said that her calls for military force against the people of Taiwan violate the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例). Liu thus violated specific rules that govern PRC citizens. She will be barred from re-applying for residence within the next five years. The government is giving her time on humanitarian grounds to arrange her family
March 24 to March 30 When Yang Bing-yi (楊秉彝) needed a name for his new cooking oil shop in 1958, he first thought of honoring his previous employer, Heng Tai Fung (恆泰豐). The owner, Wang Yi-fu (王伊夫), had taken care of him over the previous 10 years, shortly after the native of Shanxi Province arrived in Taiwan in 1948 as a penniless 21 year old. His oil supplier was called Din Mei (鼎美), so he simply combined the names. Over the next decade, Yang and his wife Lai Pen-mei (賴盆妹) built up a booming business delivering oil to shops and restaurants all over Taipei and Taoyuan. The major Shanghai restaurants in Taipei all ordered from him, and the owners were quite fond of the honest, no-nonsense and hard-working Yang. In 1963, the couple bought their own shop front, a one-story red brick structure on Xinyi Road (信義路) by Yongkang Street (永康街). Unfortunately, the traditional oil industry took a major hit around 1972 due to a health scare and the advent of mass-produced “salad oil.” With sales faltering, Yang’s friends suggested that he switch to selling Shanxi specialties such as knife-sliced noodles. However, Tang Yung-chang (唐永昌), owner of Shanghai restaurant Fuxingyuan (復興園), recommended the more delicate, varied Shanghai-style dim sum instead, even setting him up with one of his former dim sum chefs Lu Chi-chung (魯紀忠). In 1972, Yang set up three tables in one-half of his oil shop, and Lu got to work. Business was lousy at first, but Yang persisted, thinking that he had nothing to lose — at that time, he never expected Din Tai Fung (鼎泰豐) to become a global empire. ESCAPING WAR Several books provide details on Yang’s early life, including Huang Hung-hu’s (黃鴻湖) Exemplary Din Tai Fung (典範鼎泰豐), Lin Ching-yi’s (林靜宜) Din Tai Fung: Warmth in Perfection (有溫度的完美)
| New Taipei City | 16-17 | 10% |  |
| Hsinchu County | 16-17 | 10% |  |
| Hsinchu City | 16-17 | 10% | |
| Taipei City | 16-18 | 10% | |
| Miaoli County | 15-18 | 10% | |
| Taoyuan City | 15-17 | 10% | |
| Keelung City | 16-17 | 20% | |
| Yunlin County | 17-20 | 20% | |
| Taichung City | 18-20 | 10% | |
| Nantou County | 18-20 | 20% | |
| Changhua County | 17-20 | 10% |  |
| Chiayi County | 18-21 | 10% | |
| Chiayi City | 18-21 | 20% | |
| Tainan City | 20-22 | 10% | |
| Kaohsiung City | 22-23 | 10% | |
| Pingtung County | 22-23 | 20% | |
| Yilan County | 16-19 | 20% | |
| Hualien County | 18-20 | 20% | |
| Taitung County | 19-21 | 20% | |
| Kinmen County | 17-20 | 10% | |
| Penghu County | 19-20 | 10% |  |
| Lienchiang County | 15-17 | 10% | |
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