Wed, Mar 04, 2026
ESCALATION: The Israeli military yesterday said that it had moved additional troops into southern Lebanon and taken new positions at strategic points close to the border Iran yesterday expanded its targets, striking the US embassy in Saudi Arabia as Washington began to pull many staff out of the Middle East. The US and Israel battered Iran with airstrikes in what US President Donald Trump suggested was just the start of a war that has severely disrupted the world’s
The Central Election Commission (CEC) reportedly plans to file a lawsuit to invalidate the election of Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Legislator-at-large Li Zhenxiu (李貞秀) on the grounds that Li was ineligible to run for office under cross-strait law, a source said yesterday.Li, who was sworn into offic
Treatment of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in Taiwan emits an estimated 1.03 million tonnes of greenhouse gases annually and is to cost NT$62.18 billion (US$1.97 billion) by next year, medical experts said yesterday, calling for stronger preventive healthcare.Taiwan Society of Nephrology and pharmace
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs today criticized Iran’s “indiscriminate” military attacks and expressed support for international efforts to assist Iranians in pursuing freedom and democracy.As an ally of the US and Israel, Taiwan condemns Iran’s “indiscriminate” attacks against other nations, Deput
Taiwan would not have to resort to power rationing due to a shortage of gas, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said today, after reports that the Strait of Hormuz was closed amid the conflict in the Middle East.The government has secured liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies for this
NOT IN DANGER: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that it has made contact with approximately 3,000 Taiwanese in the Middle East and they are all safe In response to airstrikes by the US and Israel on Iran at the weekend, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday convened a meeting of the Cabinet and instructed the Ministry of Economic Affairs to activate an energy response task force, while tasking Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君) to lead a price sta
FLU SURGE: Hospital visits for flu symptoms jumped 59.4 percent last week from the previous week, but the CDC said it expects flu activity to fall in the next two weeks The year’s first two cases of enterovirus infection with severe complications were reported last week, including a child younger than five who is being treated in an intensive care unit (ICU), the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday.One of the cases is a junior-high school student in no
SAFE SKIES: New regulations prohibit drone operators from engaging in behavior that endangers lives, as well as racing, or using them to drop items or spray substances Flying drones over the nation’s seaports without permission or operating them under the influence of alcohol or drugs is now punishable by a fine of up to NT$1.5 million (US$47,455) after the government last month began implementing amendments to the Commercial Port Act (商港法), the Maritime and Port
Starlux Airlines passengers flying to Tokyo until Sunday would receive a World Baseball Classic (WBC)-themed tea bag as a gift and can watch sports-related movies on board, the Taipei-based airline said yesterday.Taiwan is competing in Group C of the pool round of the tournament at the Tokyo Dome fr
The number of women who underwent breast cancer screenings last year rose 36.3 percent from the previous year, after eligibility for publicly funded breast cancer screenings was expanded, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said on Monday.Ahead of International Women’s Day on Sunday, the agenc
‘POLITICAL UNITY’: Jason Hsu told a US body that ‘resilience, resolve and backing commitments with action’ were required for Taiwan to see support from the world The legislature should approve a defense funding bill, former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator Jason Hsu (許毓仁) told a US Senate security panel hearing on undersea cable security in Washington on Monday.The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission on Monday held a hearing on US-Chin
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) lawmakers yesterday agreed to deliberate on Friday the government’s military budget.The move came following negotiations with the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and might signal that the KMT-TPP alliance could pass President William
SWITCH INCOMING? US representatives Tom Tiffany and Andy Ogles said Nasry Asfura’s election win represented Hondurans’ rejection of Xiomara Castro’s policies Two US representatives in a letter last week urged Honduran President Nasry Asfura to re-establish ties with Taiwan, which would reverse the “misguided decision” of the newly elected leader’s predecessor.US representatives Tom Tiffany and Andy Ogles said in a letter dated Thursday last week congratu
Taiwan is awaiting official notification from the US regarding the status of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade after the US Supreme Court ruled that US President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs were unconstitutional, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) told reporters at the legislature in Taipei yesterda
A vow by China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) to investigate Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang’s (劉世芳) nephew is a case of transnational repression and is detrimental to cross-strait interactions, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said in an interview published yester
US-IRAN WAR: With banks, insurers and securities firms’ exposure reaching NT$2.35 trillion, the FSC urged them to boost risks controls and monitor potential volatility The intensifying military tensions between the US and Iran are beginning to ripple through Taiwan’s financial sector, with banks, insurers and securities firms holding sizable exposure to the Middle East, the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) said.As of the end of last year, the three major fin
MIDDLE EAST CONFLICT: Taiwan has enough LNG to meet its needs through the end of March after emergency coordination, Premier Cho Jung-tai said Oil and gas traders have spent days scrambling for alternative sources of supply to Asia outside of the Middle East on concerns a prolonged conflict could choke off flows from the energy-rich region.Some liquefied natural gas (LNG) traders spent all night on Monday speaking to contacts about availab
AP Memory Technology Corp (愛普科技) yesterday said that revenue this year would benefit from robust demand for memory chips and silicon capacitors used in artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) devices.The growth momentum is driven by a major shift in adoption of its customiz
The US-Israeli military action against Iran is dominating the headlines and this page, and for good reason: The repercussions will be considerable, in large part due to the increased instability and unpredictability the intervention has injected into an international situation already in dangerous f
For Taiwan, the ongoing US and Israeli strikes on Iranian targets are a warning signal: When a major power stretches the boundaries of self-defense, smaller states feel the tremors first. Taiwan’s security rests on two pillars: US deterrence and the credibility of international law. The first deters
Since being re-elected, US President Donald Trump has consistently taken concrete action to counter China and to safeguard the interests of the US and other democratic nations. The attacks on Iran, the earlier capture of deposed of Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro and efforts to remove Chinese in
HOSTILE HOST: Iran’s role in the tournament may be dicey, as the host country of many of the scheduled games is currently engaged in a shooting war with them Iran’s place at the men’s World Cup in three months was cast into doubt on Monday amid the war started by the soccer tournament’s co-host, the US.Iran is due to play its three group stage games in the US — two in Inglewood, California, then in Seattle — from June 15 to 26. Cities in Canada and Mexic
Ireland scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park’s decisionmaking and quickfire passing reminds his former teammate Mike Ross of France’s tradition of having a “petit general” on the field. New Zealand-born Gibson-Park, perhaps stung by being on the replacements bench for the Six Nations match against Italy,
Taiwan yesterday defeated the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks’ farm team 5-1 in their final warm-up game ahead of their World Baseball Classic (WBC) Pool C opener.Taiwan’s bullpen used an unconventional rotation, with a different pitcher throwing each inning for the first seven innings. Together, they combin
Taiwanese ultramarathon runner Tommy Chen (陳彥博) clinched second at the Lapland 185-kilometer Arctic Ultra in Sweden on Tuesday, finishing in a time of 1 day, 19 hours and 13 minutes.Competing in temperatures ranging from minus 10 to minus 30 degrees Celsius, Chen was among 35 athletes in the gruelin
UNPRECEDENTED PLAN: France maintains the world’s fourth-largest nuclear arsenal, with about 290 warheads, while the UK is the only other European nuclear power French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday said that France would expand its atomic arsenal and could deploy nuclear-armed aircraft to allied nations for the first time, as he unveiled an unprecedented plan to bolster security on the continent.Speaking from the Ile Longue nuclear submarine base as t
VIDEO DEPOSITION: Former US president Bill Clinton said he broke ties with Jeffrey Epstein before the late financier’s sex crimes came to light in 2008 Former US president Bill Clinton in sworn testimony released on Monday by a US congressional committee said that he had no knowledge of the sex crimes of the late financier Jeffrey Epstein.Clinton also said that US President Donald Trump, a one-time close friend of Epstein, “never said anything to m
Gaza is rapidly running out of its limited fuel supply and stocks of food staples might become tight, officials said, after Israel blocked the entry of fuel and goods into the war-shattered territory, citing fighting with Iran.The Israeli military closed all Gaza border crossings on Saturday after a
Since ChatGPT stunned the world three years ago with the powers of generative AI, countries have grappled with how to govern the rapidly developing technology.As Vietnam’s artificial intelligence law goes into effect on Sunday, here is a look at regulation efforts around the globe: EU: FIRST MOVEThe
The second-hand market for smartphones has surged in recent years, borne up by lower prices as well as interest in eco-friendly consumption even as some still fear buying a dud.The success of refurbished phones is a reminder that flashy new gadgets and cutting-edge capabilities, on show this week at
Taiwan has next to no political engagement in Myanmar, either with the ruling military junta nor the dozens of armed groups who’ve in the last five years taken over around two-thirds of the nation’s territory in a sprawling, patchwork civil war. But early last month, the leader of one relatively min
Every February, the US observes Black History Month, a time dedicated to recognizing the contributions, experiences, and achievements of African Americans. The tradition began in 1926, when historian Carter G. Woodson proposed a national week to promote the teaching of Black history in schools. He d
★ Bilingual Story is a fictionalized account. 雙語故事部分內容純屬虛構。The fog came before the knock. It covered the street and pressed against the window. Chao Gung-dao lit a small oil lamp, but his makeshift hut stayed dim. Another knock. Chao opened the door. The inspector stepped inside and removed his ha
對話 Dialogue清清：今天是元宵節，你晚上有什麼節目？Qīngqing: Jīntiān shì Yuánxiāo jié, nǐ wǎnshàng yǒu shénme jiémù?華華：我家人要一起去參加臺北燈節，這次有兩個展區，週末我們去了西門的，今晚要去花博的。你呢？Huáhua: Wǒ jiārén yào yìqǐ qù cānjiā Táiběi Dēngjié, zhè cì yǒu liǎng ge zhǎnqū, zhōumò wǒmen qù le Xīmén de, jīnwǎn yào qù Huābó de. Nǐ ne?清清：我週末去看了今年在嘉義舉辦的臺灣
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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