Mon, May 11, 2026
‘CLEAR MESSAGE’: The bill would set up an interagency ‘tiger team’ to review sanctions tools and other economic options to help deter any Chinese aggression toward Taiwan US Representative Young Kim has introduced a bill to deter Chinese aggression against Taiwan, calling for an interagency “tiger team” to preplan coordinated sanctions and economic measures in response to possible Chinese military or political action against Taiwan. “[Chinese President] Xi Jinping [習
Peace in the Taiwan Strait benefits all sides, Representative to the US Alexander Yui said in an interview aired on Saturday ahead of a highly anticipated US-China meeting this week. The summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is to take place on Thursday and
Occupants of a cruise ship struck by a deadly hantavirus outbreak that has sparked international alarm began flying home from Spain’s Canary Islands yesterday in a complex repatriation operation. Three passengers from the MV Hondius — a Dutch husband and wife and a German woman — have died, while ot
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday said the war in Ukraine was winding down, slamming Western support for Kyiv, as the first day of a US-brokered ceasefire was marked by mutual accusations of violations. Putin spoke after telling soldiers at the scaled-down parade in Moscow that they were
‘CRITICAL MOMENT’: Any delay in the passage of the remaining funds would weaken Taiwan’s security and play into the hands of the Chinese Communist Party, the AIT said While welcoming the Legislative Yuan’s approval of a supplementary defense budget, the US Department of State said that further delays to Taiwan military spending are a “concession” to China. The remarks came after the legislature on Friday passed the budget bill to fund the purchase of separate pac
ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan ranked ahead of the US, Denmark and Germany, which placed 21st, 22nd and 23rd respectively, in use of generative AI Taiwan recorded the world’s 20th-highest artificial intelligence (AI) diffusion rate in the first quarter of this year, entering the top 20 for the first time, a report released by a Microsoft think tank showed. In the AI Economy Institute report published on Thursday, Taiwan recorded a generative A
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities.The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected th
The legislature's Transportation Committee today froze 10 percent of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications' (MOTC) transportation planning budget, after it failed to meet its annual goals for reducing traffic casualties.During a preliminary review of the central government's budget for t
The government remains confident in stable relations with the US, but is closely watching how the Taiwan issue would be addressed at a summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) later this week, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said today.Trump is
Amid reports of fraudulent refund notifications this tax filing season, the National Taxation Bureau of the Central Area today reminded people that the bureau would never notify people of refunds via text message, e-mail or social media.The bureau has received multiple reports about unsolicited e-ma
The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office today indicted a sales director for illegally recruiting four former colleagues to work at a Chinese microelectronics company.Shen Chi-te (慎基德) was recruited by Suzhou Novosense Microelectronics Co to set up a base in Taiwan, where he later recruited four form
The New Taipei District Prosecutors' Office today urged the owner of the Dr. Shine (光澤) medical aesthetics clinic chain to return to Taiwan from China to face an investigation into a hidden camera scandal, after two executives were detained incommunicado for allegedly destroying evidence.Prosecutors
Taiwanese innovations won 11 gold medals at the 125th edition of the Concours Lépine yesterday, an annual invention competition in Paris.Among the winners was 15-year-old Kao Hsing-hang’s (高星航) magnetic bicycle pedal clip, an invention to improve safety and convenience inspired by his own cycling ac
An escape room in Taipei is facing a lawsuit after a worker was accidentally strangled last night while acting as a hanging ghost.The 30-year-old employee, surnamed Wu (吳), was working as a live actor in a hospital-themed escape room on Songde Road in Xinyi District (信義). During the performance, the
Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) is to implement its annual summer electricity rates for residential users from June 1 through Sept. 30, with the average monthly bill expected to rise to NT$1,084 during the season.According to a notice on the state-run utility's Web site, summer rates for about 15 million
MARKET-DRIVEN: Taiwan and South Korea’s position astride the bucking AI bull makes them a tempting target for investment for profit-hungry stock traders As the focus drifts away from the US-Israeli war on Iran, investors and strategists alike are looking for the next leg up in equities. Many are turning to Asia.Shares in South Korea and Taiwan have rallied the most in the world this month, with the surge in the KOSPI taking it up 78 percent for the
STRAINED SYSTEM: The majority state-owned oil producer, which showed a profit this first quarter after 12 consecutive quarters in decline, said things will be tough The world has lost about 1 billion barrels of oil over the past two months and energy markets would take time to stabilize even if flows resume, Saudi Arabian Oil Co (Saudi Aramco) CEO Amin Nasser said yesterday, as shipping disruptions choke traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.“Our objective is si
CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) on Saturday announced that it would keep domestic gasoline and diesel prices unchanged this week. Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) yesterday said it would follow suit.To ease the impact resulting from a spike in international crude oil prices amid tensions in the Middle
Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang’s (劉世芳) nephew, Yen Wen-chun (顏文群), was forced to quit his job in China after Liu was listed by Beijing as a “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatist,” while Yen was accused of making political donations to two Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) councilors.T
Before the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its People’s Liberation Army (PLA) can blockade, invade, and destroy the democracy on Taiwan, the CCP seeks to make the world an accomplice to Taiwan’s subjugation by harassing any government that confers any degree of marginal recognition, or defies the
The Ciaotou District Prosecutors’ Office in Kaohsiung has indicted former CTi News host and YouTuber Lin Chen-you (林宸佑) on espionage charges, alleging that he received funding from foreign forces, produced videos at the direction of a Chinese agent that were critical of the Democratic Progressive Pa
DEEP TALENT POOL: Japanese bicycle race organizers praised Taiwan’s wide and deep pool of young cyclists and corporate support for growing racers and events Taiwanese cyclist Hsu Shih-ru won the points race in the 96 Cycling Series in Taipei yesterday as city officials signed a partnership agreement with a Japanese delegation from the Tour de Okinawa. Professional and amateur cyclists whipped through the roads around Tianmu Sports Park and Tianmu Baseba
Taiwan’s men’s table tennis team won bronze on Saturday at this year’s International Table Tennis Federation World Team Table Tennis Championships in London, matching the country’s best-ever finish at the regular tournament.Consisting of Lin Yun-ju, Taiwan’s top-ranked player at world No. 7, Feng Yi
Taiwanese fire dancer Yang Li-wei advanced to the final of Britain’s Got Talent this weekend after receiving a Golden Buzzer during her live semi-final performance.Yang, a member of Taiwan’s Coming True Fire Group, awed judges and audiences with a high-intensity fire performance featuring flaming um
England and France set up their destined Grand Slam decider in Women’s Six Nations rugby with big road wins on Saturday.England beat Italy 61-33 in Parma and France downed Scotland 69-28 in Edinburgh.Ireland rose to a distant third after beating Wales 33-12 in Belfast.England and France have finishe
ORBAN GONE: Magyar has pledged that one of his government’s first steps would be to create an office to investigate corruption over the past 20 years Peter Magyar, a pro-EU conservative, was sworn in as Hungary’s new prime minister on Saturday, closing the chapter on the 16-year rule of his nationalist predecessor, Viktor Orban. The former government insider turned critic whose Tisza party resoundingly won April 12 legislative elections, vowed he
A militia attack killed at least 69 people in Ituri province in the conflict-torn northeast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo), local and security sources said on Saturday. For more than 30 years the mineral-rich eastern DR Congo has been a battleground between various armed groups,
Australia’s leading opposition Liberal Party might have to work with a far-right, anti-Islamic party that defeated it in a “bloodbath” by-election, a senior government minister said yesterday. One Nation, whose leader, Pauline Hanson, wants to slash immigration and has repeatedly made anti-Islamic r
What government project has expropriated the most land in Taiwan? According to local media reports, it is the Taoyuan Aerotropolis, eating 2,500 hectares of land in its first phase, with more to come. Forty thousand people are expected to be displaced by the project. Naturally that enormous land gra
May 11 to May 17Traversing the southern slopes of the Yushan Range in 1931, Japanese naturalist Tadao Kano knew he was approaching the last swath of Taiwan still beyond colonial control.The “vast, unknown territory,” protected by the “fierce” Bunun headman Dahu Ali, was “filled with an utterly endle
As a different column was being written, the big news dropped that Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁) announced that negotiations within his caucus, with legislative speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) of the KMT, party Chair Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文), Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) and T
1. 他病了三天。ˇ He has been sick for three days.χ He has been sick since three days.註︰這裡現在完成時態 have / has been 表示從過去某一時日到現在的一段時間存在的行為或狀態，與它連用的時間副詞應為 「for ＋若干時」，如 for a year, for three hours 等，意思是歷時多少。2. 他自從星期三以來都很忙。ˇ He has been busy since Wednesday.χ He has been busy from Wednesday.註︰「自從……以來」，該用 since。說
A growing green movement allows hotel guests to fund tree planting projects simply by opting out of daily room cleans. This approach turns an ordinary hotel stay into a direct contribution to nature. Founded in the Netherlands, the nonprofit “Hotels for Trees” operates on the principle that one ski
The New England Aquarium in Boston, US, has set up a “retirement home” to offer a safe and supportive environment for aging penguins. With over half the aquarium’s penguins now older than the usual 10 to 15 years they reach in the wild, staff separated one island for closer monitoring. The space fe
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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