DEFENSE
Budget for backbone network
The Ministry of National Defense (MND) has earmarked about NT$4.9 billion (US$153.5 million) to acquire backbone subnetworks for faster and more stable battlefield data transmission. The budget request, pending legislative review, would fund 213 backbone subnetworks, 179 microwave transmission subsystems, power generators and fiber channels to facilitate data transmission to command centers and weapons launch platforms across different services of the armed forces, according to the spending plan delivered to the legislature by the ministry on Friday last week. The planned systems are expected to boost the survivability of critical military command and control systems during wartime by establishing a fiber optic communication system and a high-capacity data transmission network across the nation. They are also expected to ensure uninterrupted data transmissions between command and control centers, harbors, airports, and joint intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems, the ministry said. For fiscal year 2025, about NT$59 million has been earmarked for the design and planning of the systems and on-site evaluations. The project would take place from next year to 2030, the plans show.
DIPLOMACY
Garafil to head MECO
Cheloy Garafil, a former press secretary to Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., is to be the new representative to Taiwan, a Philippine official said on Thursday. Garafil is to head the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO), Marcos’ newly appointed press secretary Cesar Chavez told reporters in Manila without giving a specific date. MECO, which serves as the Philippines’ de facto embassy in Taiwan in the absence of diplomatic ties, is currently headed by Silvestre Hernando Bello III, who has held the post since July 2022. In June 2022, Garafil was appointed as head of the Philippines’ Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board. She also worked as a prosecutor at the Department of Justice during the administration of former Philippine president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Philippine media reports said. Prior to her government jobs, Garafil worked as a reporter for the Malaya newspaper and also as a stringer for Taiwan’s Central News Agency. The announcement of her appointment to the MECO post was made during Chavez’s swearing in as the new press secretary.
CROSS-STRAIT
SEF urges more exchanges
Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Acting Chairman Rock Hsu (許勝雄) on Thursday called for greater exchanges among Taiwan, China, Hong Kong and Macau businesses to boost enterprises’ competitiveness. “Increased cooperation and integration among enterprises across the Strait is pivotal to help enhance Taiwanese companies’ competitive edge and to lay a sound foundation for them to expand internationally,” Hsu told reporters before the opening of the 10th Cross-Strait, Hong Kong and Macau Forum on Economic and Trade in Taipei. Hsu said the SEF is also hopeful that Taiwan and China can reopen tourism and educational exchanges, as limiting them creates misgivings. Opening up to tourists would undoubtedly increase mutual understanding and interactions, he said, describing it as a “positive development.” The annual Cross-Strait, Hong Kong and Macau Forum on Economic and Trade has been held by rotating hosts since 2012. It was held in Suzhou last year.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
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