Mon, Mar 30, 2026
AUTONOMOUS PRODUCTION: The special budget is expected to generate about NT$400bn in economic output and 90,000 jobs, supporting industries, the MND said Separating the Executive Yuan’s proposed eight-year NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.21 billion) special defense budget from the general budget would help avoid crowding out spending on public needs, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said.The ministry made the remarks in a report to the legislature, del
The nation’s fastest supercomputer, Nano 4 (晶創26), is scheduled to be launched in the third quarter, and would be used to train large language models in finance and national defense sectors, the National Center for High-Performance Computing (NCHC) said.The supercomputer, which would operate at abou
Iran’s parliament speaker yesterday accused the US of plotting a ground attack despite talking about diplomacy, after a US warship with about 3,500 military personnel arrived in the Middle East. Iranian Parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf’s comments come after more than a month of aerial
Tens of thousands of protesters on Thursday rallied in the northern US city of Minneapolis, Minnesota, as part of the national “No Kings” movement, months after it was wracked with protests due to federal immigration raids. The January raids led to the deaths of two US citizens, Renee Good and Alex
DEVELOPMENT PLANS: Efforts are under way to promote the nation’s self-sufficiency in semiconductor materials and equipment, assisting companies, government officials said The Executive Yuan has determined 13 strategic industries as the focus of Taiwan’s development this year, including key minerals, essential public infrastructure and urban renewal projects, government officials said. The 13 strategic industries are: the semiconductor industry, artificial intelligenc
RESILIENT NETWORK: Taiwan would deepen cooperation with the EU and other like-minded countries through its ‘integrated diplomacy’ framework, MOFA said The European Parliament on Thursday passed a report calling for closer cooperation with like-minded partners, including Taiwan, to build a resilient web of trusted connectivity. The European Commission and the EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy in 2021 launched the Global
CONSOLIDATED PRODUCTION: Local production of ordnance could make money and aid security in peace time and help refill rapidly depleted arsenals in wartime The US supports a comprehensive special defense budget because it focuses on two core objectives — building a “non-red supply chain” and building redundancy for “logistics and replenishment,” a defense analyst said yesterday.Deliberations over the special defense budget hit a stalemate last week as
A FINE LINE: Should a film that received government subsidies for its production bill itself as coming from the ‘China-Taiwan Region,’ the DPP lawmaker asked Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Ngalim Tiunn (張雅琳) yesterday criticized Sunshine Women’s Choir (陽光女子合唱團), a Taiwanese production that received a government subsidy, for calling itself the “all-time box office champion for Chinese-language films from the China-Taiwan region.” In a post on the
China’s reportedly ban on Malaysian singer Fish Leong’s (梁靜茹) 2005 song Unfortunately Not You (可惜不是你) reflects a more aggressive effort by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to eliminate content that could resonate with the public, said the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) in its latest quarterly repor
Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) supporters protested in Taipei against former chairman Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) conviction for corruption, saying that the judiciary is no longer about fairness and justice, but has become a tool for those in power.The Taipei District Court on Thursday sentenced Ko to 17 years i
Taiwan’s new ambassador to Belize, Amino Chi (紀欽耀), has arrived in the Central American country to take up his post, the Republic of China (Taiwan) embassy announced yesterday.Chi, who most recently served as director-general of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Los Angeles, arrived in
UPGRADES: The NHIA touted the new functions of the My Health Bank app, such as AI-assisted assessments, that it said would help people better manage their health National Health Insurance (NHI) spending on cancer treatments last year rose to a record NT$156.7 billion (US$4.92 billion), up NT$26.5 billion from 2020, with an average annual growth rate of about 5 percent, NHI data showed.The number of patients seeking cancer treatment last year increased to 970
The Ministry of Digital Affairs’ Administration for Cyber Security has released a list of nine Web sites that maliciously pose as official Line pages, warning of possible hacking and data breaches when visiting and downloading software from the sites.There were several cases where people downloaded
The Taipei City Government is investing NT$2 billion (US$62.74 million) to renovate the Zhoumei Elementary School in Beitou-Shilin Technology Park, the city government said during the inauguration of the school’s prepatory office on Saturday.The school would focus on bilingual education, artificial
The weather in Taiwan is expected to become unstable as a frontal weather system approaches ahead of the Tomb Sweeping Festival from Friday to Monday next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. With the approach of a frontal system tomorrow, northern and northeastern Taiwan w
MIDDLE EAST IMPACT: CPC would have absorbed an estimated NT$6.99 billion in fuel costs from Feb. 28 to yesterday under a government policy to stabilize prices State-owned oil supplier CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) on Saturday said it would raise gasoline and diesel prices by NT$1.7 and NT$1.5 per liter respectively this week, while Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) yesterday announced similar increases.CPC and Formosa cited higher global energy prices amid
DOLLAR VALUE: While the NT dollar rose 4.27% against the greenback last year, it was less than the Swiss franc’s 14.48% increase or the euro’s 13.44% rise The central bank bought US$7.69 billion more US dollars than it sold last year on the local foreign exchange market to “smooth currency volatility,” it said in a report released on Friday.In the report submitted to the Legislative Yuan ahead of a legislative hearing scheduled for today, the central
Taiwan’s food delivery market could undergo a major shift if Singapore-based Grab Holdings Ltd completes its planned acquisition of Delivery Hero SE’s Foodpanda business in Taiwan, industry experts said.Grab on Monday last week announced it would acquire Foodpanda’s Taiwan operations for US$600 mill
Former Taipei mayor and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) founding chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was sentenced to 17 years in prison on Thursday, making headlines across major media. However, another case linked to the TPP — the indictment of Chinese immigrant Xu Chunying (徐春鶯) for alleged violations of the An
A gap appears to be emerging between Washington’s foreign policy elites and the broader American public on how the United States should respond to China’s rise. From my vantage working at a think tank in Washington, DC, and through regular travel around the United States, I increasingly experience t
A storm has broken within the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation (馬英九基金會), shocking the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). Earlier last month, former National Security Council secretary-general King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) delivered a letter of authorization from former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), the foundation’s chai
FEEL THE LOVE: Ketel Marte showed Freddie Freeman a little bit of tough love by blocking the Dodgers slugger’s path and forcing him into a hug and an out Will Smith on Saturday hit a go-ahead, two-run homer with two outs in the eighth inning on his 31st birthday, lifting the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 3-2 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks for a season-opening three-game sweep, while Freddie Freeman was forced to hug it out.Smith began his bobblehead ni
Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli yesterday vowed to “keep raising the bar” after winning the Japanese Grand Prix to become the youngest driver in Formula One history to lead the championship standings.The 19-year-old Italian took advantage of a mid-race safety car to jump into the lead after a dreadful star
American Ilia Malinin on Saturday returned to the pinnacle of his sport as he skated to a third world title and shrugged off the shock of an eighth-place finish at last month’s Olympics.Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron of France added their first world ice dance title to last month’s
The Fubon Guardians last night dominated the CTBC Brothers 8-2, while the Uni-President Lions earned their first win of the season and the Wei Chuan Dragons humbled the Rakuten Monkeys on the second day of the CPBL season.First baseman Fan Kuo-chen got his team’s season opener off on the right foot,
‘TOXIC CLIMATE’: ‘I don’t really recognize Labour anymore... The idea that you can implement far-right ideas in order to stop the far right is nonsense,’ a protester said Tens of thousands of people on Saturday marched through central London to protest against the far right, weeks ahead of local elections and six months after Britain saw one of its largest far-right demonstrations. Organized by hundreds of civic groups, including trade unions, anti-racism campaigners
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un oversaw the ground test of an upgraded rocket engine, state media reported yesterday, another key step in Pyongyang’s weapons program. Defense experts believe North Korea is planning to use its solid-fuel rocket engines for launching intercontinental ballistic missile
CONFIDENCE BOOSTER: ’After parkour ... you dare to do a lot of things that you think only young people can do,’ a 67-year-old parkour enthusiast said In a corner of suburban Singapore, Betty Boon vaults a guardrail, crawls underneath a slide, executes forward shoulder rolls and scales a steep slope, finishing the course to applause. “Good job,” the 69-year-old’s coach cheers. This is “geriatric parkour,” where about 20 retirees learned to tackle
The Portuguese never established a presence on Taiwan, but they must have traded with the indigenous people because later traders reported that the locals referred to parts of deer using Portuguese words. What goods might the Portuguese have offered their indigenous trade partners? Among them must h
March 30 to April 5 The discovery of 32 charred bodies on a smoldering ferry in China’s Qiandao Lake shocked the nation, as 24 were Taiwanese tourists. For over two weeks, Chinese authorities insisted that the blaze was an accident and kept silent about the details, igniting outrage in Taiwan over t
Jason Han says that the e-arrival card spat between South Korea and Taiwan shows that Seoul is signaling adherence to its “one-China” policy, while Taiwan’s response reflects a reciprocal approach.“Attempts to alter the diplomatic status quo often lead to tit-for-tat responses,” the analyst on inter
Dos & Don’ts — 想想看，這句話英語該怎麼說？1. 我們很早到達電影院。ˇ We arrived at the theater very early.χ We arrived the theater very early.註︰arrive 為不及物動詞，後面如果有受詞要用 at 或 in。例如：They arrived in Taipei yesterday.。一般大地方，如國家、省、大城市等前面用 in，凡小地方城鎮、學校等則用 at。 2. 開車半小時以後，我們到達了海灘。ˇ After half an hour’s drive, we got to the beach.χ A
Continued from yesterday（延續自昨日）https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/langGig Tripping“Gig tripping” combines concerts with travel. People fly to see their favorite artists perform — usually abroad—and spend a few days sightseeing before or after the show. While die-hard fans have done this since the 1960
Travel fever is back, and it’s contagious. After years of being kept home during the COVID-19 pandemic, people are once again eager to explore the world. Rather than just book any trip, travelers are getting smarter about how they scratch that travel itch.MicrocationDefined as four days or fewer and
Two moves show Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) is gunning for Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) party chair and the 2028 presidential election. Technically, these are not yet “officially” official, but by the rules of Taiwan politics, she is now on the dance floor. Earlier this month Lu confirmed in an interview in Japan’s Nikkei that she was considering running for KMT chair. This is not new news, but according to reports from her camp she previously was still considering the case for and against running. By choosing a respected, international news outlet, she declared it to the world. While the outside world likely paid little attention, domestically the message was unmistakable: She is moving on to a larger stage. Part of the dance is to leave options open before formally committing, and with the chair race due in late September, she has time. If something goes wrong in the meantime, or if power brokers in the party offer her a deal that provides more benefits than taking on the role of chair, she can pivot accordingly. Earlier this year, I suggested that strategically, she would be better off concentrating on her job as Taichung mayor until she is term-limited out of office in December next year. Taichung mayor is obviously a full-time job, and concurrently running the Taipei-headquartered party runs the risk of doing one or both jobs poorly and making mistakes that could imperil her shot at the presidency in 2028. The situation has changed. Current KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), knowing he is likely to face challengers of a higher caliber than the three relative nobodies already declared, has gone all in on appealing to the base. The base is more likely to turn out to vote in the chair election, so this makes some strategic sense in the short term.
Among Thailand’s Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) villages, a certain rivalry exists between Arunothai, the largest of these villages, and Mae Salong, which is currently the most prosperous. Historically, the rivalry stems from a split in KMT military factions in the early 1960s, which divided command and opium territories after Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) cut off open support in 1961 due to international pressure (see part two, “The KMT opium lords of the Golden Triangle,” on May 20). But today this rivalry manifests as a different kind of split, with Arunothai leading a pro-China faction and Mae Salong staunchly aligned to Taiwan. Last spring at Arunothai’s Jiaolian School, principal Wang Mingming (王明明) had forewarned me of the division between villages, saying, “We are not like the people in Mae Salong. They are rich. Because of the Taiwanese.” Arunothai has in recent years become split in its loyalties between Taiwan and China (see part one, “A tale of two schools,” on May 15), but in Mae Salong, links to Taiwan remain strong. Taiwan-funded monuments pay homage to the Lost Army, villagers wear T-shirts emblazoned with the Republic of China (ROC) flag and tea plantations grown Taiwan’s most famous tea varieties, including Dong Ding (“frozen peak”) Oolong, Oriental Beauty and Jin Xuan (Golden Daylily or Milk Oolong). Even the numerical classifications of the teas — Oolong No. 12 or No. 17, for example — are the same, and the shops resemble those found on Alishan. At the tomb of General Tuan Hsi-wen (段希文) — perched on a Mae Salong hilltop with a view of his ancestral homeland in China’s Yunnan province — a third generation villager wearing a vintage KMT army uniform, Yan Si-Chung (岩思中), greets visitors with sharp military salutes. “Both my father and my grandfather were soldiers in the KMT army,” the 44-year-old
| New Taipei City | 27-28 | 20% |  |
| Hsinchu County | 26-27 | 10% | |
| Hsinchu City | 26-27 | 10% | |
| Taipei City | 27-28 | 20% |  |
| Miaoli County | 24-26 | 10% | |
| Taoyuan City | 26-27 | 10% | |
| Keelung City | 27-28 | 20% | |
| Yunlin County | 26-27 | 10% | |
| Taichung City | 26-28 | 10% | |
| Nantou County | 25-26 | 10% | |
| Changhua County | 27-28 | 10% | |
| Chiayi County | 26-27 | 10% | |
| Chiayi City | 25-27 | 10% | |
| Tainan City | 27-28 | 10% | |
| Kaohsiung City | 27-28 | 10% | |
| Pingtung County | 26-27 | 10% | |
| Yilan County | 25-26 | 30% |  |
| Hualien County | 25-26 | 30% | |
| Taitung County | 25-27 | 30% | |
| Kinmen County | 27-28 | 10% | |
| Penghu County | 27-27 | 20% | |
| Lienchiang County | 27-28 | 20% | |
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