US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) were born under the sign of Gemini. Geminis are known for their intelligence, creativity, adaptability and flexibility. It is unlikely, then, that the trade conflict between the US and China would escalate into a catastrophic collision
In response to US President Donald Trump’s tariffs, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus on Tuesday proposed a bill that includes a provision to distribute cash handouts of NT$10,000 to each Taiwanese national before the end of October. However, at this stage, this is not an appropriate soluti
A high-school student was making a video with his phone in class, uninterested in what was going on. His behavior showed a lot about the situation in the class. He panned clockwise from the back of the class. One student had both feet nonchalantly on top of their desk as they swiped through their ce
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Europe’s aging power grid and lack of energy storage capacity would require trillions of dollars in investments to cope with rising green energy output, increasing electricity demand and to avoid blackouts.On Monday last week, Spain and Portugal lost power in their worst blackout. Authorities are in
The Israeli plan to occupy and depopulate Gaza might not be identical to US President Donald Trump’s vision of a new riviera, but his inspiration and the US’ walkaway diplomacy have ushered Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the precipice of a dire new chapter in the Israel-Gaza war.The co
Kyiv still relies heavily on foreign support for its war effort, and it has agreed to difficult terms to keep the US on its side.Despite Russia’s occupation of its territory, missile attacks on its infrastructure and the enormous human costs of the war, Ukraine’s economy has been impressively resili
The Presidential Office on Tuesday thanked the US House of Representatives for passing two Taiwan-related bills. One of them, the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the representation of Taiwan or its people in the UN or related organizations. UN
From May to November last year, the Health Promotion Administration commissioned the non-profit Consumers’ Foundation to operate “undercover observations” of 854 vendors across the nation’s 22 administrative regions. They found that 26.9 percent of vendors did not ask customers to verify their age w
In their recent op-ed “Trump Should Rein In Taiwan” in Foreign Policy magazine, Christopher Chivvis and Stephen Wertheim argued that the US should pressure President William Lai (賴清德) to “tone it down” to de-escalate tensions in the Taiwan Strait — as if Taiwan’s words are more of a threat to peace
Although Taiwan continues to encourage people to have children by increasing maternity subsidies, its fertility rate is still among the lowest in the world. This contradiction shows that the real cost of raising children is much more than money. For many young couples, childbirth is not only an econ
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Singapore’s ruling party was always going to win this election, but in a world rocked by the unpredictability of the US, the trade-dependent nation reached for security. The People’s Action Party (PAP), which has been in power since before the city-state became independent in 1965, won a resounding
It is easy to be direct with an adversary — far less so with an ally. Australia’s new government faces a greater strategic challenge from Washington than from Beijing. US foreign policy has become increasingly unpredictable, just as China is growing more forceful.Voters have returned Australian Prim
The initial failure of coalition members to back the new German chancellor in sufficient numbers was a bad beginning at a treacherous moment for the nation.The election of Friedrich Merz as chancellor by German legislators on Tuesday morning was meant to end months of political instability, since th
A proposed amendment that would raise fines for ticket scalping passed a preliminary reading in the legislature on Monday. The amendment to the Social Order Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法), which was proposed by three Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators and one independent legislator, would see th
The call for justice, fair treatment and protection under the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法) was echoed at a rally on Thursday last week, when hundreds of migrant workers gathered in Taipei. Migrant workers from various countries and sectors urged the government to strengthen protections for all, parti
In 2023, a one-year-old boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), was allegedly beaten to death by his caregivers, Liu Tsai-hsuan (劉彩萱) and Liu Juo-lin (劉若琳). A doctor testified in court that Kai Kai’s medical examination showed evidence of severe physical and psychological trauma caused by long-term physical, m
Legal nightmare in TaiwanFor more than 15 years, I have called Taiwan my home. I worked as an English educator, building a life, a business and meaningful relationships here. However, since 2020, I have been trapped in a Kafkaesque nightmare at the hands of the judicial system — a nightmare that con
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