HONG KONG
Chief forced to resign
The head of a Hong Kong sports association resigned yesterday after making a comment that the government said contravened the “one China” principle by implying Taiwanese independence. Josephine Ip (葉永玉), chairperson of the Hong Kong, China Weightlifting and Powerlifting Association, was criticized this month after giving a speech that listed “Chinese Taipei” among the “countries” taking part in a tournament in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong government on May 11 said that Ip’s speech was “absolutely unacceptable” and gave rise to a “suspected violation of the ‘one China’ principle,” adding that local sports officials would investigate. The association yesterday said that Ip has stepped down “due to personal reasons.” The body earlier apologized for the “serious oversight” and said Ip bungled the speech which had meant to refer to Taiwan as a “region.” Critics such as pro-Beijing politician Adrian Ho (何敬康) cast doubt on the explanation, pointing to a similar comment Ip made in March that referred to Hong Kong as “a relatively small country.” Last year, Hong Kong’s sports associations were told to include “China” in their official names or risk having funding pulled.
CRIME
Chris Wang jailed
Actor Chris Wang (宥勝) was sentenced to eight months in jail by the Taipei District Court yesterday for assaulting a woman. The court said that Wang, 41, was a well-known entertainer who attracted considerable media attention at the time of the incident in 2016 and that he had a superior-subordinate relationship with the woman. It added that Wang exploited the woman’s trust and his violent actions severely infringed upon her sexual autonomy and bodily integrity. The court said that Wang contacted the victim and witnesses of the case before the cross-examination while court proceedings were still ongoing, showing a lack of sincere remorse. This led to the court deciding to impose an eight-month jail sentence on Wang. The ruling can be appealed. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office indicted Wang in November last year.
TECHNOLOGY
Taiwan LLM to be expanded
Taiwan’s self-built large language model, Trustworthy AI Dialogue Engine (TAIDE), is to have its application fields further expanded to accelerate improvements in industry productivity and public sector efficiency, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said on Thursday. Cabinet spokesperson Chen Shi-kai (陳世凱) told a news conference that as an indispensable partner in the global semiconductor supply chain, Taiwan must keep up with artificial intelligence (AI) developments. TAIDE was initiated by the National Science and Technology Council in April last year to create a foundational model for a traditional Chinese generative AI dialogue engine specifically for Taiwan. According to a council report on TAIDE presented during a Cabinet meeting, a TAIDE model based on Meta’s Llama 2 (Large Language Model Meta AI) model (TAIDE-LX-7B) was released for commercial use on April 15, and another version for research only (TAIDE-LX-13B) has also been released. Both models have excelled in a variety of tasks, such as English to Chinese-language translations, with results comparable to Open AI’s ChatGPT 3.5, the council said. It added that the TAIDE team is working with industries and academia to develop diversified applications, including agricultural knowledge searches and a Hoklo-English AI chatbot for elementary and junior-high schools.
SCENARIOS: A potential conflict with Beijing would not be similar to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and China would target energy and food supplies, a researcher said China is likely to continue using economic and cyberoperations against Taiwan to force it to capitulate without resorting to a military attack, Fox News reported yesterday, citing the outcome of a tabletop exercise. Washington-based think tank the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) earlier this month held a tabletop exercise in Taipei focusing on Beijing’s use of economic and cybercoercion against Taiwan. The FDD mentioned an “anaconda strategy,” in which Beijing would likely use cyberwarfare and disinformation campaigns followed by a blockade or other measures to strangulate Taiwan, rather than attempting an invasion, the report said. A large-scale cyberattack would be
China sent 50 military planes and vessels to the vicinity of Taiwan in the 24 hours starting at 6am on Friday, while President William Lai (賴清德) was visiting Kinmen for the first time since taking office in May to mark the 66th anniversary of the 823 Artillery Bombardment. Flight paths released yesterday by the Ministry of National Defense showed that 38 military aircraft were detected in Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ), the highest number recorded in recent weeks. The figure included 32 that crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait or its extension. Of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft
Former US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley yesterday called for more international backing for Taiwan and a coordinated pushback against China’s claims over the nation. “The United States should elevate Taiwan on the world stage. You should no longer be silenced in global affairs,” Haley told an audience at the Ketagalan Forum, a Taipei conference focused on security issues in the Asia-Pacific region. She called for Taiwan to become a full member of the UN, even though it is being blocked by China from representation in international bodies. While the US does not formally recognize Taiwan, it is the nation's strongest
Kanye West on Wednesday announced the cancelation of the Taiwan part of the “Vultures Listening Experience” event, but said that the cancelation had nothing to do with him or his team. The US rapper, also known as Ye, was to hold the event with musical partner Ty Dolla $ign on Sunday at the Taoyuan City Stadium. The rapper had previously said he wished to travel to the event with his wife and eldest daughter. Ticketing Web sites had posted special notices about the event, calling it “a listening and fashion party,” not a "regular concert.” As of press time, no other information was known