Wed, Mar 18, 2026
NETWORK-MAPPING PROJECT: The database contains 170 detailed files of Taiwanese politicians and about 23 million records of household registration data in Taiwan China has developed a network-mapping project targeting political figures and parties in Taiwan to monitor public opinion during elections and to craft tailored influence campaigns aimed at dividing Taiwanese society, according to documents leaked by Chinese technology firm GoLaxy (中科天璣).The documen
The military has found and retrieved the flight data recorder of an F-16V jet that disappeared off eastern Taiwan in January and is to send it to its manufacturer in the US to decode the data.Air Force Command Headquarters in a statement yesterday said that the salvage company responsible for the mi
Israel yesterday said that it killed two senior Iranian security officials in overnight strikes in a major blow to the nation’s leadership.Tehran defiantly fired new salvos of missiles and drones at its Persian Gulf neighbors and Israel in a war that showed no signs of abating.Ali Larijani, secretar
The Afghan government yesterday said that about 400 people were killed in a Pakistani airstrike on a drug rehabilitation center in the capital, Kabul, in the deadliest attack in months of violence between the two neighbors.Hundreds more were said to have been wounded at the facility, which was hit o
RECOGNITION: Former Fijian prime minister Mahendra Chaudhry said that Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy serves as a stabilizing force in the Indo-Pacific region Taiwan can lead the unification of the Chinese people, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former Polish president Lech Walesa said in Taipei yesterday, adding that as the world order is changing, peaceful discussion would find good solutions, and that the use of force and coercion would always fail.Wale
Taiwan’s main weapons research-and-development unit is working to develop low-cost munitions to counter China’s potential use of similar weapons in a conflict that could deplete Taiwan’s stock of air defense missiles.Speaking at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Com
PROSECUTOR ISSUE: Weng Hsiao-ling failed to follow procedure and hold a vote because not enough KMT members were at the meeting, a DPP lawmaker said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) convener of the legislature’s Procedure Committee “hijacked the vote” amid the process to nominate a new prosecutor-general, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers said yesterday.The committee adjourned amid disagreement over KMT Legislator Weng Hsiao-ling’s
The Ministry of Education and the Overseas Community Affairs Council should conduct a comprehensive review of the government’s New Southbound Talent Policy to improve safeguards of the rights of overseas and international students in Taiwan, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus told a news con
GOVERNANCE PLAN: The Kaohsiung City Government is exploring ways to integrate telecom services with an Nvidia model to address challenges, Chen Chi-mai said Kaohsiung’s Smart Lighthouse Project has great potential to facilitate artificial intelligence (AI) partnerships with international tech firms, Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) told reporters on the sidelines of the Nvidia GPU Technology Conference in San Jose, California, on Monday.The project wo
US President Donald Trump’s meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi this week before his planned meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) later signaled Washington’s priority focus on East Asian security, a Taiwanese defense analyst told an event in Tokyo on Sunday, adding that th
The Taipei District Court yesterday rejected a request by former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) for a short exemption from his travel ban to attend his son’s graduation ceremony in Japan, deeming the trip unnecessary.The court noted in its ruling that Ko’s presence is not essential for the graduat
20-YEAR STUDY: High exposure to the widely used plasticizer, metabolic susceptibility and onset of menstruation before age 14 increases breast cancer risks by seven times A 20-year follow-up study showed that high exposure to the plasticizer di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), metabolic susceptibility and early menarche can increase breast cancer risk by up to seven times among women, Academia Sinica said yesterday.The large-scale longitudinal cohort study was led by
COMMUNICABLE DISEASE: While the risk of severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome infection is relatively low, it can have fatal consequences if left untreated A elderly man diagnosed with severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) was the third locally acquired case since the tick-borne infectious disease was first reported in Taiwan in 2019, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday.The man, in his 70s, lives in northern Taiwan, did no
Older people who carry the apolipoprotein E epsilon-4 allele (APOE e4) gene experience a significantly faster decline in cognitive function, particularly after the age of 70, research released on Monday by the National Health Research Institutes said.Pathological changes associated with dementia oft
The Cabinet has approved a NT$7.8 billion (US$244.6 million) proposal to harden the railroads in Taiwan proper’s eastern and southern regions against natural disasters over five years, beginning this year, officials said yesterday.The central government and state-run rail corporation would provide 9
DOMESTIC COMPONENT: Huang identified several Taiwanese partners to be a key part of Nvidia’s Vera Rubin supply chain, including Asustek, Hon Hai and Wistron Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), addressing crowds at the company’s biggest annual event, unveiled a variety of new products while predicting that its flagship artificial intelligence (AI) processors would help generate US$1 trillion in sales through next year.During a two-and
ELECTRIC DREAMS: Smart cities would use ‘virtual power plants,’ which integrate idle electricity use from households, businesses and factories, Asustek said Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) yesterday showcased key components of its artificial intelligence (AI)-driven smart city initiatives at a trade show in Taipei, eyeing new business opportunities as cities develop sovereign AI infrastructure.Advances in generative, multimodal and physical AI are driving cit
Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控) on Monday forecast earnings to remain solid this year, driven by strong performance in its core businesses and equity investments — including artificial intelligence (AI)-related sectors — even as geopolitical tensions and market volatility pose potential risks.Spea
Former Fijian prime minister Mahendra Chaudhry spoke at the Yushan Forum in Taipei on Monday, saying that while global conflicts were causing economic strife in the world, Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy (NSP) serves as a stabilizing force in the Indo-Pacific region and offers strategic opportunities
Taiwanese pragmatism has long been praised when it comes to addressing Chinese attempts to erase Taiwan from the international stage. “Taipei” and the even more inaccurate and degrading “Chinese Taipei,” imposed titles required to participate in international events, are loathed by Taiwanese. That i
On March 8, the world witnessed three champions in a single day.On the courts of the All England Open Badminton Championships, Lin Chun-yi (林俊易) captured the men’s singles title, while Nicole Gonzales Chan (詹又蓁) and Ye Hong-wei (葉宏蔚) claimed the mixed doubles crown — historic firsts for Taiwan. On S
‘THAT’S US’: Before each WBC game, Venezuelan players gather around a drum in the dugout for the tambor, coastal Afro-Venezuelan music and dance Venezuelan players on Monday night danced in the dugout before the first pitch, then pranced past Italy and into their nation’s first World Baseball Classic (WBC) final. Ronald Acuna Jr, Maikel Garcia and Luis Arraez hit run-scoring, two-out singles in a rapid seventh-inning rally that sparked a 4-2
Japan’s national baseball team manager Hirokazu Ibata has said he would step down following Japan’s 8-5 loss to Venezuela in Miami in the quarter-finals of the World Baseball Classic. The newspaper Sports Hochi reported Ibata saying it was his “intention to resign.” Japan are the defending champions
Luka Doncic on Monday scored 36 points as the in-form Los Angeles Lakers powered to their sixth straight victory with a 100-92 defeat of the Houston Rockets. A crucial showdown between the third and fourth-ranked NBA Western Conference teams ended with the Lakers pulling away in the final minute of
Retired NBA big man LaMarcus Aldridge, a seven-time All-Star, is to visit Taiwan early next month for the first time to promote an NBA event, the league’s Taiwan Web site said on Monday. During his visit, Aldridge would meet fans on April 4 and 5 at Banciao Stadium in New Taipei City during the Risi
NATIONWIDE BLACKOUT: US President Donald Trump cut off Venezuelan oil shipments to Cuba, strangling the Caribbean island’s already antiquated grid Cuba’s national electric grid collapsed on Monday, the nation’s grid operator said, leaving about 10 million people without power amid a US-imposed oil blockade that has crippled the already obsolete generation system.Grid operator UNE on social media said that it is investigating the causes of the
Cannabis-based medicines have shown little evidence of effectiveness for treating most mental health and substance-use disorders, according to a large review of past studies published in a major medical journal on Monday.Medical use of cannabinoids has been expanding, including in the US, Canada and
CONSERVING FUEL: State institutions are to operate only four days a week starting tomorrow, with the measures also applying to schools and universities Sri Lanka on Monday announced a shorter working week to conserve its scarce fuel reserves as it prepares for a prolonged war in the Middle East.The Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway through which about 20 percent of global exports pass in peacetime, has been effectively closed by Iran in retaliation
You would never believe Yancheng District (鹽埕) used to be a salt field. Today, it is a bustling, artsy, Kowloon-ish “old town” of Kaohsiung — full of neon lights, small shops, scooters and street food.Two hundred years ago, before Japanese occupiers developed a shipping powerhouse around it, Yanchen
Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another” was crowned best picture at the 98th Academy Awards, handing Hollywood’s top honor to a comic, multi-generational American saga of political resistance.The ceremony Sunday, which also saw Michael B. Jordan win best actor and “Sinners” cinematographer
In Kaohsiung’s Indigenous People’s Park (原住民主題公園), the dance group Push Hands is training.All its members are from Taiwan’s indigenous community, but their vibe is closer to that of a modern, urban hip-hop posse.MIXING CULTURES“The name Push Hands comes from the idea of pushing away tradition to exp
When people think of Spain, they often picture bullfights and flamenco—but there’s another celebration you shouldn’t miss. Every March, Valencia comes alive with “Las Fallas.” Its origins go back centuries to when carpenters burned wooden scraps they no longer needed to welcome spring as winter ende
Every few years, the World Baseball Classic (WBC) offers sports fans a real World Series. At its finest, as in the shocking upset on Tuesday last week of the US team by Italy, the games generate the kind of electricity fans feel at the FIFA World Cup.That’s exactly how Major League Baseball (MLB), w
對話 Dialogue清清：華華，別忘了這禮拜五晚上，老闆請喝春酒喔！Qīngqing: Huáhua, bié wàngle zhè lǐbàiwǔ wǎnshàng, lǎobǎn qǐng hē chūnjiǔ o!華華：啊！我差點忘了，謝謝提醒。Huáhua: À! Wǒ chàdiǎn wàngle, xièxie tíxǐng.清清：老闆人真好，過年前請我們吃尾牙，過完年又請吃春酒。Qīngqing: Lǎobǎn rén zhēn hǎo, guònián qián qǐng wǒmen chī Wěiyá, guòwán nián yòu qǐng chī chūnjiǔ.華華
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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