Wed, Mar 11, 2026
The Ministry of National Defense has received a letter of acceptance (LOA) from the US for the sale of High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) that expires on March 26, Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said yesterday. Koo confirmed receipt of the LOA while speaking with repor
Mutual visits between Taiwan and Japan reached a record-high 8.213 million last year, with visits by members of Japan’s ruling and opposition parties also setting a new record at 120, the Taiwan-Japan Relations Association said yesterday.Mutual visits have steadily increased after the COVID-19 pande
The US has not approached Taiwan about transfers of weapons to the Middle East, Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said yesterday, after South Korea said it was in talks about the possible redeployment of some US Patriot missile systems.South Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs Cho Hyu
WAR OF WORDS: An Iranian official said ‘the aggressor should be punched in the mouth,’ while the US promised ‘the most intense’ strikes Iran yesterday launched new attacks at Israel and Gulf Arab countries as it kept up pressure on the Middle East in a war started by Israel and the US that has rattled world markets and shows no signs of a letup.In Bahrain, authorities said an Iranian attack hit a residential building in the capital,
ARMS PROCUREMENT: A KMT proposal slashing the budget to NT$380 billion from the Cabinet’s NT$1.25 trillion could cast doubt on Taiwan’s self-defense commitment The US government on Sunday called on Taiwanese lawmakers across party lines to pass a special defense budget bill that would finance Taiwan’s planned purchases of US weapon systems for self-defense.“We encourage all parties in Taiwan’s legislature to work through political differences and quickly p
Taiwan received a letter of acceptance (LOA) for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) from the US on Friday last week, which must be authorized by the Legislative Yuan and signed before March 26 to ensure the systems can be obtained on time, Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立
CONFLICT WATCH: The Cabinet has implemented a 14 percent and 50 percent subsidy for fuel for the fishing and agricultural sectors respectively, Cho Jung-tai said Taiwan would not sharply increase its gasoline and liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices, despite surging global oil prices triggered by the Middle East conflict that began with US and Israeli attacks on Iran, officials said yesterday.Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that the Cabinet on Monday activated
Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday said that he paid all of the flight, bus fare and match admission costs on a recent trip to Japan, adding that “only the Chinese Communist Party [CCP] and you [the Chinese Nationalist Party, KMT] are upset” about the visit.Cho attended the World Baseball Classic
Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君) and her husband, Shen Hsueh-jung (沈學榮), had more than NT$750 million (US$23.56 million) in combined business investments, claims and trust stock holdings, declaration data released yesterday by the Control Yuan showed.The couple owned two properties for personal use
KNIFE CASE: In a separate case, a court denied a request to detain a man who allegedly attempted to enter the Presidential Office compound with a knife The sentence given to a former security agent was increased in a second ruling yesterday in a case over leaks of President William Lai’s (賴清德) confidential itinerary, while a businessman who received the data had his initial acquittal overturned.The Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office had indicted T
About two-thirds of respondents support the expedited passage of a draft special act to bolster Taiwan’s defense, a poll released by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday showed.The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) last week proposed a special defense budget of NT$380 billion (US$11.94 bil
The final 28 of 108 M1A2T Abrams tanks ordered from the US are at sea and expected to arrive in Taiwan before the end of March, a Ministry of National Defense (MND) official said yesterday.Speaking on condition of anonymity, the MND official said the scheduled delivery would ensure no gap in trainin
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) will lead a city delegation to the US starting today to engage with American industry, government, and academia and enhance the southern city’s role in the global high-tech supply chain, the city government said yesterday.In a statement, the city government sai
HIGH COST: About 90,000 people are on dialysis in Taiwan, costing nearly NT$50 billion annually, with about 10,000 more people needing the treatment every year, experts said One in five people aged 40 or older with the “three highs” — high blood sugar, high blood pressure and high cholesterol — have impaired kidney function, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday.From 2021 to 2023, 11 to 13 percent of adults older than 40 have impaired kidney function,
THE DROP CONTINUES: Monthly births fell below 7,000 for the first time, while 4.7 million people were aged 65 and older, or 20.22 percent of the population Taiwan’s population last month declined for the 26th consecutive month, as births sank to a record low of 6,523, data released yesterday by the Ministry of the Interior showed.Factoring in births, deaths and net migration, Taiwan’s population was 23,280,273 as of the end of last month, a month-on-mo
DIPLOMATIC MANEUVER: A new source of funding for overseas ventures would give Taiwan more financial muscle to counter Beijing’s efforts to isolate the nation Taiwan is considering selling debt for the first time to finance overseas investments as it intensifies efforts to resist the diplomatic isolation imposed by China, officials familiar with the matter said. The department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs responsible for international aid is prepari
PROJECTION: TSMC said it expects strong growth this year, with revenue in US dollars projected to grow by about 30 percent, outperforming the industry Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reported consolidated sales last month reached NT$317.66 billion (US$9.98 billion), the highest ever for the month of February, driven by robust demand for chips built using the company’s advanced 3-nanometer (3nm) process. Last month’s fig
The nation’s machinery exports in the first two months of the year grew 20.6 percent year-on-year to US$5.298 billion, driven mainly by strong growth in semiconductor machines and electronic devices, the Taiwan Association of Machinery Industry said yesterday. Machinery exports in the first two mont
Taiwan might not face immediate supply disruptions in crude oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) due to the escalating US-Israeli war on Iran, but it must enhance its energy resilience by diversifying its sources to avoid surges in imported fuel costs as inflation fears grow. Taiwan is heavily relian
Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) made a surprise appearance on Saturday at the Tokyo Dome — accompanied by Representative to Japan Lee Yi-yang (李逸洋), Minister of Sports Lee Yang (李洋) and Chinese Professional Baseball League commissioner Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) — to watch the World Baseball Classic (WBC) matc
As Chinese military aircraft and naval vessels continue to operate around Taiwan with increasingly complex maneuvers, the public debate in Taipei often centers on a familiar set of questions: How many missiles are enough? How many drones should be acquired? How large should next year’s defense budge
EYEING TOP SPOT: The Thunder’s 129-126 victory left them three wins clear of the San Antonio Spurs at the top of the Western Conference standings Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on Monday equaled Wilt Chamberlain’s 63-year-old 20-point scoring record as the Oklahoma City Thunder defeated the Denver Nuggets 129-126 in a pulsating clash of Western Conference titans.Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 35 points, 15 assists and nine rebounds to pull level w
Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz were both made to work hard on Monday before reaching the fourth round of Indian Wells, but defending women’s singles champion Mirra Andreeva crashed out and let her frustrations boil over on court.Third seed Djokovic overcame a second-set reverse to beat Aleksandar
West Ham United on Monday advanced to the FA Cup quarter-finals with a 5-3 penalty shoot-out win against Brentford, who paid the price for Dango Ouattara’s spot-kick blunder.Nuno Espirito Santo’s side twice blew the lead as Jarrod Bowen’s double was canceled out by an Igor Thiago brace to force extr
Germany’s Max Kanter on Monday sprinted to victory in the second stage of Paris-Nice in Montargis as American Luke Lamperti kept the leader’s yellow jersey.Astana’s Kanter powered clear of New Zealand’s Laurence Pithie and Belgium’s Jasper Stuyven in a nervy finale as the peloton caught Dutch rider
EXCESSIVE VIOLENCE: The rights group urged the government to rein in its security forces and private contractors that have been using drones equipped with explosives Drones operated by Haitian security forces and private contractors have killed at least 1,243 people and injured 738, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said yesterday.Of those killed, 17 were children and 43 were adults not believed to be members of any criminal group; of those injured, at least 49 were beli
Croatia is resuming mandatory military training after nearly two decades, with the initial recruits joined by far more volunteers than officials were expecting.?Beginning this week, 800 Croats are to fan out across three sites, where they will learn a range of combat skills, from shooting an assault
Since 1918, the clocks in Creston, a town in eastern British Columbia, ran an hour ahead of nearby communities for half the year. For the other six months, they slipped back into sync. Not because the town changed them, but because its neighbors changed back and forth from daylight saving time.Crest
Last month, media outlets including the BBC World Service and Bloomberg reported that China’s greenhouse gas emissions are currently flat or falling, and that the economic giant appears to be on course to comfortably meet Beijing’s stated goal that total emissions will peak no later than 2030.China
Four mounted cowboys jostle for position near the bull pen gate. When the bull bolts out into the ring, a mad scramble begins as the riders vie to grab its tail and knock it to the ground.Bull tailing, or coleo is to Venezuela’s llanos (tropical grasslands) what rodeo is to Texas — an integral part
Skipper Sampsa Jalo greets three young children on their way home from school as they board an unusual amphibious vessel docked and humming at a wooden pier on the frozen Baltic Sea.Due to unusually thick ice this winter, a hovercraft called “Snovit” (“Snow White”) has replaced the ferries that norm
The English Lake District, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2017, is renowned for its landscapes, literary legacy and traditional farming. Yet, its esteemed status now sits at the center of a debate: is the designation protecting the region—or harming it? Conservationist Lee Schofield has sparked
The US-Israeli war on Iran, launched on Feb. 28, has set the Middle East alight, threatening millions of people’s lives and livelihoods as the violence spreads in widening arc stretching from central Asia to the edge of Europe.The joint operation, named “Epic Fury” by the US and “Roaring Lion” by Is
對話 Dialogue清清：我剛剛看到經理的桌上有一盒純白色的巧克力，好特別！Qīngqing: Wǒ gānggāng kàndào jīnglǐ de zhuōshàng yǒu yì hé chún báisè de qiǎokèlì, hǎo tèbié!華華：喔！那可能是經理有喜歡的人了！Huáhua: Ō! nà kěnéng shì jīnglǐ yǒu xǐhuān de rén le! 清清：你怎麼知道？這麼八卦！Qīngqing: Nǐ zěnme zhīdào? Zhème bāguà!華華：3月14號就是白色情人節了，如果在2月14號有女生送他巧克力，他也喜歡那個女生
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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