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.
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
MILITARY AID: Taiwan has received a first batch of US long-range tactical missiles ahead of schedule, with a second shipment expected to be delivered by 2026 The US’ early delivery of long-range tactical ballistic missiles to Taiwan last month carries political and strategic significance, a military source said yesterday. According to the Ministry of National Defense’s budget report, the batch of military hardware from the US, including 11 sets of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and 64 MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, had been scheduled to be delivered to Taiwan between the end of this year and the beginning of next year. However, the first batch arrived last month, earlier than scheduled, with the second batch —18 sets of HIMARS, 20 MGM-140 missiles and 864 M30
Representative to the US Alexander Yui delivered a letter from the government to US president-elect Donald Trump during a meeting with a former Trump administration official, CNN reported yesterday. Yui on Thursday met with former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien over a private lunch in Salt Lake City, Utah, with US Representative Chris Stewart, the Web site of the US cable news channel reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. “During that lunch the letter was passed along, and then shared with Trump, two of the sources said,” CNN said. O’Brien declined to comment on the lunch, as did the Taipei
A woman who allegedly attacked a high-school student with a utility knife, injuring his face, on a Taipei metro train late on Friday has been transferred to prosecutors, police said yesterday. The incident occurred near MRT Xinpu Station at about 10:17pm on a Bannan Line train headed toward Dingpu, New Taipei City police said. Before police arrived at the station to arrest the suspect, a woman surnamed Wang (王) who is in her early 40s, she had already been subdued by four male passengers, one of whom was an off-duty Taipei police officer, police said. The student, 17, who sustained a cut about
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