content_text:
Amid election interference by China, former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) on Saturday last week was elected as the party’s new chairwoman. After her victory, Cheng expressed her commitment to achieving complete governance, cross-strait peace and shared prosperity by 2028.

Compared with Eric Chu (朱立倫), who is chairman until the end of this month, Cheng — who loudly proclaims herself Chinese — is even more pro-China. If, under her leadership, the KMT continues to firmly uphold the so-called “1992 consensus” and the “one China” principle, does Taiwan risk being further trapped within the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “one China” framework and ultimately swallowed by China — or, as the CCP calls it, “reunification”?

In the past few years, China has expanded its military presence in the South China and East China seas. To maintain the balance of power in the western Pacific, the US has bolstered its alliance with Japan and extended the scope of its defense to include Taiwan, incorporating the nation into its Indo-Pacific strategic framework to counter China. Amid an international environment defined by the US-China strategic competition, if the KMT were to return to power and promote the “1992 consensus” — a policy that so strongly favors Beijing — how could it possibly win the trust and assistance of the US? Without US military support, how could the Republic of China (ROC) defend itself?

After taking office on Nov. 1, could Cheng’s pro-peace, pro-China slogan really deter a Chinese invasion and guarantee cross-strait peace and shared prosperity? Has she forgotten the bitter lesson the KMT learned after World War II, when it extended an olive branch to the CCP that only served to accelerate China’s downfall?

Located along the first island chain, Taiwan holds a position central to the US’ Indo-Pacific strategy. It is a critical gateway for China’s entrance into the East and South China seas and the expansion of its maritime power. If China were to seize Taiwan’s critical, geopolitically strategic position, its power would significantly increase, posing a direct threat to US hegemony.

Taiwan controls two major maritime routes linking Northeast Asia to the South China Sea — both vital energy supply lines and major shipping routes to Europe and Africa. They are also lifelines for Japan’s maritime trade.

Additionally, Taiwan’s world-leading high-tech industry supplies about 90 percent of the advanced, high-quality and affordable semiconductors used by the US and other nations. China knows that without Taiwan, democratic nations would struggle to function.

Peace is dependent upon strength. In the past few years, Taiwan has increased its national defense budget, purchased new weapons, extended compulsory military service to one year and expanded its armed forces to more than 260,000 personnel. Coupled with the powerful deterrent force posed by the coalition of the US, the EU, Australia, Japan and the Philippines in the Indo-Pacific region, these measures have discouraged the CCP from recklessly invading Taiwan.

However, if the KMT returns to power, it would likely scale back on defense and distance Taiwan from democratic alliances, providing the CCP with an opening to seize Taiwan, exploit its strategic location and semiconductor supply chain, and directly challenge the US — and Taiwanese would be dragged into the confrontation.

Taiwanese are all in the same boat. After taking office, does Cheng plan to lean heavily toward China — seeking peace with Beijing, distancing Taiwan from the US and drastically cutting the national defense budget?

Michael Lin is a retired diplomat formerly posted in the US.

Translated by Kyra Gustavsen

title: Pro-China stance of the new chair of the KMT

people: 朱立倫 鄭麗文


content_text: The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has its chairperson election tomorrow. Although the party has long positioned itself as “China friendly,” the election is overshadowed by “an overwhelming wave of Chinese intervention.”The six candidates vying for the chair are former Taipei mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), former lawmaker Cheng Li-wen (鄭麗文), Legislator Luo Chih-chiang (羅智強), Sun Yat-sen School president Chang Ya-chung (張亞中), former National Assembly representative Tsai Chih-hong (蔡志弘) and former Changhua County comissioner Zhuo Bo-yuan (卓伯源).While Cheng and Hau are front-runners in different surveys, Hau has complained of an online defamation campaign against him coming from accounts with foreign IP addresses,

title: EDITORIAL CARTOON

people: 鄭麗文 卓伯源 郝龍斌 羅智強 蔡志弘


content_text:
What makes the Louvre a ‘slap in the face’ for all museums is that if it can happen to the grand old lady of such establishments, what hope do others have

A ladder truck, an angle-grinder, a maxi-scooter and seven minutes. That appears to be all it took for thieves to steal priceless jewelry from the Louvre, the world’s most-visited museum. The vulnerability of this cornerstone of French soft power adds to the nation’s sense of malaise, and fingers are being pointed over apparent security flaws, but it speaks to something much broader, too: criminals’ boundless hunger for gold and other precious metals and gems — not fine art — as the value of these commodities soars.

Museum raids are becoming ever more audacious as the gold price has doubled in a year and jumped 10-fold in two decades. A stampede of investors fleeing erstwhile safe assets such as government bonds is making real stuff you can keep in safes or vaults hugely desirable. The smash-and-grabbers are taking note. Just last month thieves used a blow torch and an angle-grinder to steal 600,000 euros (US$696,282) of gold nuggets from the Paris Natural History Museum.

Back in November last year, four masked men brazenly smashed display cases in the Cognacq-Jay Museum in the French capital and made off with seven 18th-century snuff boxes. Five of the seven have been recovered, according to Paris’ museum association, but people working in this corner of the art world are in a state of perpetual anxiety.

Is France a soft touch?

Three heists in the space of a year does start to look careless. Louvre employees have warned about staff shortages before and they went on strike in June, but nowhere looks secure. In January, robbers blew up the door to the Drents Museum in the Netherlands to loot artifacts, including a gold helmet from about 450 BC.

Some thieves have started to break down stolen gold in the getaway van, ready for smelting, according to accounts from the art-dealing fraternity. A US$6 million gold toilet was ripped out of Britain’s Blenheim Palace a few years back, ostensibly for its metal value.

The shambolic nature of the Louvre caper suggests a new level of boldness for even the lower reaches of organized crime as they look for a slice of a booming market for illicit art and antiquities, estimated at US$2 billion to US$6 billion.

Like cybercrime and digital currency scams, it is all an unhappy byproduct of our increasingly cashless existence. With fewer banks to rob and less money held in shop registers, those who like to do their thieving in the real world have been turning to newly loaded cryptocurrency entrepreneurs or looking for easily lifted items like top-end watches. Art exhibits now find themselves at the more rarefied end of this unpleasant business.

This will only add to the misery of small museums, three out of five of whom say they are worried about their future as footfall declines and costs rise. How can they fund extra security in that environment?

What makes the Louvre a “slap in the face” for all museums, as art detective Christopher Marinello said, is that if it can happen to the grand old lady of such establishments, what hope do others have. It has already been slated to receive a lavish 800 million euros makeover. The less exalted will not be so lucky.

What happens next?

The entire French state has been put into gear to track down the miscreants. The tiaras, brooch, necklaces and earrings from the collection of Empress Eugenie and assorted royals might be difficult to launder even if they are broken apart and sold in hard-to-identify pieces. Security measures are to be beefed up. The art community is on red alert, but what can it do stop the next band of chancers?

Museums need to be far more careful about crudely luring visitors with the value of their exhibits, as will collectors. Magistrates are under pressure to hand down tough sentences to deter copycats.

Outsiders are not the only threat. The British Museum sacked a staff member in 2023 after about 2,000 treasures were reported missing, stolen or damaged. It is all very different from the epoch-defining theft of the Mona Lisa from the Louvre a century ago, which ended up inflating its legend. With today’s Arsene Lupins having their eye squarely on shiny metals and not Leonardo da Vincis, it looks like the gold boom has made philistines of us all.

Lionel Laurent is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist writing about the future of money and the future of Europe. Previously, he was a reporter for Reuters and Forbes. This column reflects the personal views of the author and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

title: Louvre heist is part of a treasure-grabbing criminal pattern


content_text:
Is artificial intelligence (AI) transforming the economy in any real sense, or is the promise of rapid growth mere hype? US stock markets certainly favor the former view: Shares of AI and tech companies have accounted for about three-quarters of the S&P 500’s gains this year. Venture capital investors appear equally convinced, having poured US$200 billion into the AI sector this year alone, according to one estimate.

It is no surprise, then, that analysts are increasingly asking whether we are witnessing another tech bubble, reminiscent of the dot-com boom of the 1990s, and whether, as before, it might eventually burst and drag equity markets down with it. Yet, as my Cambridge colleague William Janeway points out, even speculative bubbles can leave behind vital infrastructure and innovations that sustain long-term growth.

If AI follows that pattern, how powerful could its impact be?

The dot-com boom offers some useful lessons. In the second half of the 1990s, emerging digital technologies nearly doubled US productivity growth to 2.5 percent. Although economists’ forecasts vary, some studies suggest that today’s wave of AI investment could produce a similarly significant boost in GDP growth.

The most fervent AI evangelists go further, arguing that the imminent arrival of artificial general intelligence (AGI) could be utterly transformative. Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei, for example, has contended that AI’s potential is being radically underestimated and that, if developed safely, such systems could drive breakthroughs in biology, neuroscience and economic development, potentially eradicating disease, reducing poverty and fostering global cooperation.

If such a world of abundance is indeed on the horizon — and even if it materializes only in the distant future — it is crucial to track how this transformation plays out, but as I explain in my book The Measure of Progress: Counting What Really Matters, traditional economic metrics still struggle to capture the effects of the “old” digital economy, let alone the emerging AI-driven one.

GDP growth is a prime example. At best, it is a lagging indicator of structural change. Economic historians have shown that transformative technologies such as steam power and electricity took decades to register in official statistics, and even when their effects became visible, the measured income gains were surprisingly modest. However, it would be absurd to claim these technologies were not transformative; their impact simply manifested in ways that conventional metrics failed to reflect.

When it comes to AI, some of the most basic facts are missing or incomplete. For example, how many companies are using generative AI, and in which sectors? What are they using it for? How are AI tools being applied in areas such as marketing, logistics or customer service? Which firms are deploying AI agents and who is actually using them?

Although research on AI is expanding rapidly, what is required now is systematic data collection. Reliable statistics would not only help businesses gauge demand and opportunity, but also enable governments to design policies that foster growth and protect consumers.

Tech companies such as Anthropic and OpenAI have begun to recognize that the current information vacuum does them no favors, especially given their products’ reliance on data. Without a clearer understanding of AI’s economic impact, public debate would inevitably focus on risks and anxieties, from the prospect of a “jobpocalypse” to the potential psychological effects of human-like chatbots. Industry initiatives aimed at closing this gap, though limited in scope, are essential.

That said, other indicators can provide valuable insight into AI’s transformative effects. In a working paper with John Poquiz, I argue that any meaningful set of indicators should include key inputs for AI development, particularly energy consumption, labor-market shifts and data use. Another important measure is the adoption of AI-driven services, so-called agentic AI.

Time-use data, both at home and in the workplace, could also prove useful, as would structural indicators such as shifts in industrial composition and organizational design. More broadly, a fuller picture of structural change would help us understand AI’s broader economic effects, from sectoral reallocation to shifting workflows.

Unfortunately, few such metrics currently exist. Compounding the problem, many statistical agencies — most notably in the US — are in disarray, and most policymakers remain overly cautious about drawing on new data sources and methodologies.

Academics, for their part, are eager to improve how we measure and understand AI’s economic impact, but for now we are in the same position as the Victorians, who learned more about how steam power, railways and the telegraph were reshaping their world from the novels of Charles Dickens and George Eliot than from official statistics.

Diane Coyle, professor of public policy at the University of Cambridge, is the author of Cogs and Monsters: What Economics Is, and What It Should Be and The Measure of Progress: Counting What Really Matters.

Copyright: Project Syndicate

title: Measuring the economic impact of artificial intelligence


content_text:
Britain should not be conducting foreign policy in the shadows

In a rare interview more than 20 years ago, Jonathan Powell, who is British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s national security adviser, admitted: “My job is best done in the shadows.”

The collapse of the state’s prosecution of Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry, two Britons accused of spying for China, has thrust this reclusive civil servant into an unwelcome spotlight.

The intelligence agencies, MI5 and MI6, have been increasingly vocal about the threat from Chinese cyberwarfare and intelligence gathering, and appear to be furious that the prosecution was dropped.

Both men have denied the accusations. Director of Public Prosecutions Stephen Parkinson has implicitly accused No. 10 Downing State of sabotaging the case weeks before the trial. Powell has been fingered as the chief culprit. The alleged motive? Fear of antagonizing Beijing and jeopardizing hopes of a better trade relationship. On this view, the government deliberately failed to provide sufficient legal proof that China is an active enemy of the British state, such that spying for it would merit a court conviction.

With the Conservative Party and China hawks in full hue-and-cry mode, this murky affair has topped the news agenda for two weeks and shows no signs of quieting down — a reproof to the Whitehall view that this sort of thing is of little interest outside of London. Starmer, having belatedly released some official witness documentation, is still under pressure to publish the minutes of an allegedly pivotal Sept. 1 meeting involving Powell, and as many as 20 senior mandarins and spy chiefs.

Behind the blame trading, the case shows the prime minister failing to articulate another key policy — how to manage relations with China. What we do know is that Beijing was left off the enhanced tier of the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme when it was introduced in July (Russia and Iran made the cut). A “China audit” was buried inside the national security strategy. It does not take a wild cynic to speculate that the administration wants as little discussion about Britain’s multilayered relationship with Beijing as possible.

As a result, the government is in the midst of its own China syndrome, triggered by an unelected mandarinate making decisions without due scrutiny.

The world of diplomacy is novel to Starmer, and that makes Powell one of the most powerful unelected people in government as his chief adviser on sensitive international issues. Powell is the brains behind foreign policy where Starmer has had more visible successes, including forging an affable relationship with the administration of US President Donald Trump, than at home. The civil servant’s role in conflict resolution has, as he admitted, been best done out of the glare of publicity. That is less healthy when democracies need to know what their leaders are doing in key relationships with powers that might benefit Britain — but also threaten it.

The Powell family business is a mix of diplomatic service and networking. Jonathan Powell is the younger and more Labour-loyal brother of Charles Powell, who was Margaret Thatcher’s foreign-policy guru and was elevated to the House of Lords for his assistance. Charles Powell helped his boss discover an up-and-coming Mikhail Gorbachev; Jonathan Powell was the mastermind behind the Good Friday peace agreement that brought peace to Northern Ireland. Neither man, despite their achievements, is a glory hunter, but both brothers have thrived best under leaders with a strong political compass.

The national security adviser, too, often operates without oversight (as does Morgan McSweeney, Starmer’s chief of staff, who has been embroiled in bitter infighting over his role). No one in No. 10 Downing Street other than Jonathan Powell, for instance, seems to have been across the agreement to hand sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius while retaining a 99-year lease of a UK-US air base in the territory. Johnathan Powell and the Foreign Office delivered the goods, but Starmer seemed wholly unprepared for the domestic fallout over the ￡3.4 billion (US$4.5 billion) price tag and the embarrassment that Mauritius is also an ally of China.

More revelations followed last week about Chinese intelligence penetration of critical British infrastructure; on Thursday last week, MI5 Director General Ken McCallum revealed that his service had disrupted yet another unspecified threat from China. He, too, vented frustration at the collapse of the espionage case. Meanwhile, a decision on a new Chinese super-embassy in London has been delayed until December, prompting the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs to warn of unspecified “consequences.” None of this looks like a confident way of handling an adversary, whatever the potential rewards of inward investment.

The objectives of the Starmer-Jonathan Powell world view are typically sensible: Keep the US lifeline to Ukraine open, shore up a crumbling NATO alliance and lighten the load of US tariffs on British exports. Job partly done, but a political price always has to be paid. Starmer’s obsequiousness to the White House sticks in the craw of his party and might prompt some voters to defect to Labour’s left-wing upstart rivals.

The lesson of the British government’s China crisis is that the cloistered world of high statecraft with great powers, conducted by a few figures on their own terms, cannot be separated from the rough-and-tumble of everyday domestic politics, so it is better to be transparent about the grand scheming from the get-go. That is the price of operating in a democracy: Britain is not China, so it might be a good idea for No. 10 Downing Street and its secretive mandarins to stop behaving as if it is.

Jonathan Powell clearly thinks relations with China need a reset, too — Starmer is due to visit Beijing in April next year — but the lure of Chinese billions has proved illusory before. When the Conservative Party wooed Beijing in the vaunted era of so-called golden relations a decade ago, trade actually declined. As it is, China’s exports to Britian amount to ￡70 billion, dwarfing the ￡28 billion flowing the other way. Major Chinese investments in sensitive British infrastructure have been frozen or reversed as the security implications have slowly dawned on successive governments.

The foreign policy logic of Jonathan Powell and those he serves needs contesting in the public sphere. The British government, like the national security adviser himself, is shy about defending its China policy in public. Consequently, ministers are suspected of putting commerce before security — and the rule of law. Once more, the prime minister has absented himself from the field of battle.

Martin Ivens is the editor of the Times Literary Supplement. Previously, he was editor of the Sunday Times and its chief political commentator. This column reflects the personal views of the author and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.


content_text:
MEMORABLE NIGHT: PSG, Barcelona, Arsenal, Manchester City and PSV Eindhoven were among winners, as a total of 43 goals were scored across nine games on Tuesday

Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) on Tuesday scored seven and both Barcelona and PSV Eindhoven hit six in big victories while Arsenal crushed Atletico Madrid 4-0 on a prolific night of UEFA Champions League action.

Erling Haaland was among the scorers in Manchester City’s 2-0 win at Villarreal as a total of 43 goals rained down across nine games.

However, it was champions PSG who stole the show with their 7-2 win at Bayer 04 Leverkusen in Germany.

Kairat Almaty’s Temirlan Anarbekov, left, makes a save against Pafos during their UEFA Champions League league phase match in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on Tuesday. Photo: Reuters

Desire Doue scored twice in between goals by Willian Pacho and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia for PSG in the first half which saw Alejandro Grimaldo miss a penalty and Aleix Garcia net from the spot for Leverkusen.

Both sides had a man sent off in the opening period, with Robert Andrich seeing red for Leverkusen and Illia Zabarnyi walking for the visitors.

Nuno Mendes got the French side’s fifth goal shortly after the break and Garcia pulled it back to 5-2. Ousmane Dembele, on his return from injury and first appearance since winning the Ballon d’Or, got PSG’s sixth and Vitinha completed the scoring at the death.

“I am not yet at 100 percent. I wanted to play at the weekend, and the coach told me to wait a bit, but I felt great,” Dembele told broadcaster Canal Plus.

It is the first time PSG have scored seven goals away from home in a Champions League game, and they are top of the standings after three outings in the league phase, with a maximum nine points and the best goal difference.

Inter and Arsenal are the other teams with a 100 percent record after three outings, with the Italians easing to a 4-0 victory at Union Saint-Gilloise in Brussels.

Denzel Dumfries and Lautaro Martinez both netted late in the first half before Hakan Calhanoglu added a penalty soon after the restart and Pio Esposito completed the scoring.

Meanwhile, English Premier League leaders Arsenal hammered Atletico at the Emirates Stadium in London, as Mikel Arteta’s side made it three straight wins all with clean sheets in Europe this season.

All the goals came in the second half, with Gabriel putting them ahead and Gabriel Martinelli getting the second before Viktor Gyokeres struck twice to end a run of seven club appearances without finding the net.

“Hopefully it’s the start of some beautiful sequence now,” Arteta said of the Sweden striker.

Haaland put City ahead against Villarreal in Spain and Bernardo Silva got their second goal before halftime as Pep Guardiola’s team moved on to seven points from three outings.

Norway superstar Haaland kept up his remarkable record in front of goal this season, and he has found the net 15 times in 11 appearances for City in all competitions.

“I see that things are looking good, we are playing a little bit better day after day, and that’s a good sign,” Guardiola told broadcaster Movistar.

Felix Nmecha hit a brace as Borussia Dortmund won 4-2 away to FC Copenhagen, with Ramy Bensebaini converting a penalty and Fabio Silva also scoring.

Waldemar Anton’s own goal had brought the Danes back level at one point in the first half, while Viktor Dadason got their other goal late on. They are yet to win in the league phase.

Beaten at home by PSG last time out, Barcelona bounced back to thump Olympiacos 6-1 as Fermin Lopez starred with a hat trick.

Lamine Yamal got his name on the scoresheet with a penalty and Marcus Rashford scored twice, with Ayoub el-Kaabi’s spot-kick scant consolation for the Greeks.

Newcastle United got their second straight win in the competition by easing to a 3-0 victory against Benfica at St James’ Park.

Anthony Gordon got the opener and Harvey Barnes emerged from the bench to score twice in the second half, leaving Jose Mourinho’s Benfica as the only team to have no points having played three games.

PSV claimed a stunning 6-2 home win against Italian champions SSC Napoli, despite Scott McTominay giving the visitors the lead in the first half.

An Alessandro Buongiorno own goal restored parity and Ismael Saibari put PSV ahead before Dennis Man scored twice, and Ricardo Pepi and Couhaib Driouech also found the net.

McTominay pulled another one back for Napoli, who had Lorenzo Lucca sent off.

The night’s other game ended in a 0-0 draw between rank outsiders Kairat Almaty and Pafos of Cyprus in Kazakhstan.

title: UEFA Champions League rains goals


content_text:
Game 4 of the CPBL’s Taiwan Series between the Rakuten Monkeys and the CTBC Brothers yesterday was postponed to today, after incessant rain over the past few days flooded the field at Taoyuan Baseball Stadium.

The Brothers on Tuesday kept their hopes of a repeat championship alive with a 2-0 win over the Rakuten Monkeys in Game 3.

The reigning champions seized the shutout victory before a crowd of 37,088 at Taipei Dome, snapping the Monkeys’ five-game post-season winning streak this year. They still trail 1-2 in the best-of-seven series.

Brothers starting pitcher Jesus Vargas was named Most Valuable Player after tossing 6-2/3 scoreless innings on just 68 pitches.

Vargas, 27, joined the Brothers in the second half of the season and did not face the Monkeys during the regular season. He started two of his three appearances and finished with a 3.72 ERA over 19-1/3 innings.

The Brothers’ starter did a good job locating his pitches on the edges of the strike zone, Monkeys manager Kenji Furukubo said, adding that he regretted that all the team’s scoring opportunities were thwarted by the Brothers’ solid defense.

The CTBC Brothers’ Wang Cheng-shun connects during Game 3 of the CPBL’s Taiwan Series against the Rakuten Monkeys at the Taipei Dome on Tuesday. Photo: CNA

A DAZN commentator attributed much of Vargas’ success to the Monkeys’ unfamiliarity with his pitching. Although the Monkeys made contact often, their swings proved fruitless, as they failed to time their swings effectively.

Vargas found himself in trouble only once, in the bottom of the sixth inning, when the Monkeys put runners on the corners with one out.

He escaped the jam thanks to first baseman Hsu Chi-hung, who caught a sharp line drive by Chen Chen-wei and tagged first base with his glove before the runner could return, completing a double play.

title: Game 4 of Taiwan Series postponed due to heavy rain


content_text:
La Liga’s plan to hold a Barcelona match in Miami in December has been called off because of “uncertainty” about the game within Spain, the Spanish top flight said in a statement on Tuesday.

Champions Barca were set to face Villarreal in the US on Dec. 20, which would have been the first European league fixture to be played abroad.

La Liga said their promoter for the match decided to cancel the organization of the event because of “uncertainty generated in Spain in recent weeks.”

Players stand on the pitch in a symbolic protest against the proposed relocation of a match to Miami, prior to the Spanish La Liga match between Villarreal and Real Betis Balompie at the Estadio de la Ceramica in Villarreal, Spain, on Saturday. Photo: AFP

The Spanish top flight said they “deeply regret that the project, which represented a historic and unparallelled opportunity to take Spanish football to the international stage, cannot go ahead.”

Tickets for the game at the Hard Rock Stadium were due to become available on Tuesday, but organizers said the presale was “delayed” before the plan was scrapped.

The match is to be held at Villarreal’s Estadio de la Ceramica home as normal.

“Barcelona respect and accept the decision to cancel the match against Villarreal in Miami ... just as we respected and accepted the decision to play when it was made at the time,” Barca said in a statement.

The Catalan giants said they regret “the lost opportunity to expand the image of the competition in a strategic market with growth potential,” and that US-based fans “will be deprived of witnessing” the game in the flesh.

La Liga published their statement during Villarreal’s 2-0 UEFA Champions League defeat by Manchester City.

“It seems to me an absolute lack of respect to put out a statement at half-time of a game about something that was planned, but will not happen,” Villarreal coach Marcelino Garcia Toral said. “It’s a lack of respect to the directors of the club, the club itself, the professionals and the fans.”

“Tomorrow the club will make a statement about what they think, those are my thoughts,” he said.

The plan to hold the match in the US was criticized by various parties.

The Spanish Footballers’ Association organized protests against it last weekend, with players from every team not moving for 15 seconds at the start of each league match.

Spanish giants Real Madrid also railed against it institutionally, while goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois said on Tuesday it would adulterate the competition.

Madrid captain Dani Carvajal told La Liga president Javier Tebas the game being held abroad would be “a stain” on the competition.

La Liga have been trying to hold a match abroad for several years, with this the closest they have got after European soccer governing body UEFA granted them permission.

UEFA said it opposed the idea of games being played overseas, but would allow it on an exceptional basis, along with an Italian Serie A match set to take place in Australia in February next year between AC Milan and Como.

title: La Liga cancels plan to organize match in Miami


content_text:
Women’s leagues would feature in the new Football Manager video game, which is to be released next month, a first in the decades-long history of the popular series that simulates team tactics and transfer drama.

Football Manager 26 reflects the fast-rising profile of women’s soccer, with UEFA Women’s Euro 2025 and the last FIFA Women’s World Cup drawing record crowds.

“It’s been a long time coming,” said Tina Keech, who led the creation from scratch of a vast metrics database that gives gamers behind-the-scenes control of 14 global women’s leagues.

Barcelona’s Aitana Bonmati dribbles during their UEFA Women’s Champions League match against Bayern Munich at Johan Cruyff Stadium in Barcelona, Spain, on Oct. 7. Photo: AFP

“Of course” some fans have made sexist complaints, but “the majority have been really positive,” Keech said.

“It’s actually just enhancing the game and making it a good experience, and a different experience,” she said.

Of the millions of Football Manager gamers, 96 percent are men, British developer Sports Interactive said.

Keech hopes the decision would attract women to the video game while boosting ticket sales for real-life women’s teams that punters have virtually managed on their gaming console or PC.

Football Manager 26, which would maintain the usual staple of men’s teams, comes out on Nov. 4 after Football Manager 25 was delayed and eventually canceled over problems including the upgrade of technical specs.

A major competitor — career mode in EA Sports FC — introduced women’s sides last year.

For its main on-pitch gameplay, EA Sports FC, previously called FIFA, has featured women soccer stars for a decade.

Back in 2015, then-EA Sports executive Peter Moore said he was “so sad to see the misogynistic vitriol” about the move to include women, adding that “we are better than this.”

The first Football Manager video game was created in 1982 by Kevin Toms, with the title later adopted by Sports Interactive for its Championship Manager series.

“When I first did Football Manager ... and I did the graphics, they were little stick men, but they could have been stick women,” Toms said.

In the 1980s women’s soccer was “very much smaller,” but “fundamentally, there’s nothing in football that women really can’t do,” said Toms, who has revived his original video game, now called Football Star Manager.

Sports Interactive announced plans for women’s teams in 2021, and they had been set to debut in Football Manager 25.

The year’s delay meant Keech and her team had to stay on top of fast-moving developments in the women’s game.

In July, Arsenal spent a then-record ￡1 million (US$1.3 million) to sign Canadian forward Olivia Smith from Liverpool.

“A year ago we never thought we’d see a million pounds being spent on a [female] player,” Keech said.

Shorter contract lengths and certain injuries that affect women more often were among the differences Keech encountered when building the database of more than 36,000 women players.

Her international team of about 50 researchers, or scouts, is “massive” — although “not massive compared to the men’s,” she said.

Football Manager developers also filmed new motion capture for women’s players to better reflect their physical movements in the game’s match scenes.

Sports Interactive and its Japanese parent company, Sega, declined to reveal how much they spent on bringing women’s teams to Football Manager.

Critics have blamed women’s teams for the new game’s delay or said it is pointless to spend resources on teams that few fans would play.

Kevin Chapman, whose Football Manager YouTube channel has about 200,000 subscribers, said he expects those fans to deliberately leave the game bad reviews.

“Overall the reaction has been positive — probably a 50/30/20 split between people in favor, people who don’t care and people against it [respectively],” Chapman said.

However, his analytics show that interest in Football Manager is “higher than ever.”

“And I think women’s football is contributing to that,” he said.

title: New ‘Football Manager’ game includes women’s clubs


content_text:
The Golden State Warriors on Tuesday emphatically signaled their intentions for the new NBA season, romping past Luka Doncic and the Los Angeles Lakers 119-109 in a clash of Western Conference rivals.

Jimmy Butler scored 31 points, Stephen Curry added 23, and the Warriors broke open a close game with a 18-4 run to start the third quarter and never looked back.

Golden State withstood a 43-point performance from Doncic. The Slovenian star, acquired in a blockbuster trade in February, added 12 rebounds and nine assists.

Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry dribbles during their NBA game against the Los Angeles Lakers in Los Angeles on Tuesday. Photo: AP

It was not enough, and Lakers superstar LeBron James could only watch from the sideline.

James, entering an unprecedented 23rd season, was sidelined for the first opening night of his career as he deals with sciatica.

“It’s always different when he’s not there,” Warriors veteran Draymond Green said. “Obviously we’ve had battles with Luka. Luka is an incredible player, but Bron is Bron.”

The NBA’s all-time leading scorer, chasing a fifth title, would not be available before next month and after Tuesday’s performance, it looked as if the four-time champion’s season debut cannot come too soon for the Lakers.

Warriors coach Steve Kerr said Butler’s performance — which included a perfect 16 for 16 from the free-throw line — was key, and just what the Warriors were looking for when they acquired him in February.

“He really complements Steph and Draymond as well,” Kerr said. “Not only the free throws, but the ball security. We’ve been a high turnover team for a long time. We need his ability to settle down.”

“And when you get to the line like that, it puts a ton of pressure on your opponent,” he added.

The Warriors emerged from a tight first quarter with a 28-22 lead. Butler led the way with 12 points.

Green was slapped with his first technical foul of the season midway through the first quarter for chirping at officials from the bench.

Curry scored just three points in the first quarter, but came up with three steals as the Lakers turned the ball over nine times.

The Warriors had pushed their lead to as many as 10 points in the third, but the Lakers clawed back, taking a one-point lead after a pair of three-pointers from Rui Hachimura to energize the Crypto.com Arena crowd.

They went up 54-53 on a three-pointer by Doncic before Butler closed the first half with a pair of free-throws to make it 55-54 Warriors at the break, and Golden State had all the answers in the second half.

“It’s good to get a win to start the season,” Green said, but added that with a long campaign stretching ahead “it don’t really mean much.”

“We were fighting upstream most of last year, and we don’t want to do that this year, so it’s important to get off to a good start,” he said.

title: Warriors thump Lakers in NBA season opener


content_text:
‘GREAT OPTIMISM’: Vance said he was confident the truce would hold, but added that it was a tough task, requiring that Hamas disarm and Gaza be rebuilt

Israel has identified the bodies of two more hostages, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said yesterday, as US Vice President J.D. Vance sounded a buoyant note about progress in Gaza’s fragile ceasefire during a visit to Israel.

Authorities identified the deceased hostages as Arie Zalmanovich and Tamir Adar. Their bodies were transported in coffins by the Red Cross and handed over to the Israeli military in the Gaza Strip.

A military ceremony attended by the chief rabbi of the Israel Defense Forces was planned for later in the day, Netanyahu’s office said.

People in Deir al-Balah in the Gaza Strip yesterday prepare graves at a mass burial site for unidentified bodies of Palestinians who had been held in Israel during the war, after they were handed over by Israel, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Photo: Reuters

The two were killed in Kibbutz Nir Oz during the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas militants, which triggered the two-year war.

Since the ceasefire began on Oct. 10, the remains of 15 hostages have been returned to Israel. Thirteen more still need to be recovered in Gaza and handed over, a key element to the ceasefire agreement.

Meanwhile, the burial of more than 50 Palestinians was set for yesterday at a cemetery in Deir al-Balah, Gaza.

The bodies were displayed outside Nasser hospital in Khan Younis ahead of burial. The 50 are among the 165 bodies of Palestinians that Israel has so far handed over.

During a joint news conference with Netanyahu in Jerusalem, Vance said there were challenges ahead in terms of disarming Hamas and rebuilding Gaza as part of the ceasefire.

“We have a very, very tough task ahead of us, which is to disarm Hamas, but rebuild Gaza, to make life better for the people of Gaza, but also to ensure that Hamas is no longer a threat to our friends in Israel,” he said.

During a news conference on Tuesday in Kiryat Gat, in southern Israel where a US-led mission is monitoring the Gaza ceasefire, Vance expressed “great optimism” that the truce would hold.

He said Washington would not set a deadline for Hamas to disarm under the deal, despite concerns in Israel that the group has seized on the halt in fighting to reassert itself in Gaza.

Netanyahu yesterday said ideas for “the day after” had been discussed.

“We’re just creating an unbelievable day after with a completely new vision of how to have the civil government, how to have the security there, who could provide that security there,” he said.

“It’s not going to be easy, but I think it’s possible... We’re really creating a peace plan and an infrastructure here where nothing existed even a week and a day ago,” he said. “That’s going to require a lot of work. It requires a lot of ingenuity.”

Vance said the Gaza deal could also pave the way for broader alliances for Israel in the Middle East.

“I think this Gaza deal is a critical piece of unlocking the Abraham Accords,” he said, referring to the series of normalization agreements between Israel and several Arab countries in 2020.

“But what it could allow is an alliance structure in the Middle East that perseveres, that endures, and that allows the good people in this region, the world, to step up and take ownership of their own backyard,” he added.

Additional reporting by AFP

title: Israel identifies 2 more hostages’ bodies


title: Trump brushes off White House demolition critics

content_text:
US President Donald Trump on Tuesday brushed off criticism over the demolition of part of the White House to build a new ballroom, saying the sound of the construction work was “music to my ears.”

Democrats including former first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton accused the Republican of failing to respect the presidential mansion after excavators tore off the facade of the building’s East Wing.

“We’re building a world-class ballroom,” Trump told a lunch for Republican senators at the White House as the grinding and beeping of machinery could be heard in the background. “You probably hear the beautiful sound of construction to the back. You hear that sound? Oh, that’s music to my ears. I love that sound.”

Machines demolish part of the East Wing of the White House in Washington on Tuesday. Photo: AP

The 79-year-old property mogul also said taxpayers would not pay for any of the US$250 million plan.

“When I hear that sound [the demolition noise] it reminds me me of money. In this case it reminds of lack of money, because I’m paying for it,” he said.

Trump has said that he is partly funding work on the giant ballroom while private and corporate donors would cover the rest.

Critics, aghast about images of the White House walls crumbling after Trump had pledged the project would not interfere with the existing landmark, said a review process should have taken place before the work began.

The White House still intends to submit those plans to the National Capital Planning Commission, which oversees federal construction in Washington and neighboring states, a White House official said.

Last week, Trump hosted a glitzy dinner for donors with guests including several top US tech firms, but the White House has not released a list yet or given any figures.

Journalists saw demolition work under way for a second day on the East Wing, which is where the offices of US first ladies are located.

One former occupant of the East Wing led criticism of Trump’s project.

“It’s not his house. It’s your house, and he’s destroying it,” said former US secretary of state Clinton, who lost to Trump in the 2016 election.

Other Democrats compared it to Trump’s own radical efforts to reshape the federal government and target his political opponents.

“The demolition of the East Wing feels very symbolic of what Trump is doing to our democracy,” US Senator Mazie Hirono wrote on X. “He’ll lie about protecting it, then destroy it right in front of your face.”

Additional reporting by Reuters


title: Takaichi preps deals for first Trump meeting

content_text:
PRESSURE: Trump is expected to demand that Tokyo raise its defense spending, but Japan’s new foreign minister said the amount is less important than how it is spent

Japan plans to show its determination to further build up its defense to rapidly adapt to changing warfare realities and growing tension in the region when US President Donald Trump visits Tokyo next week, Minister of Foreign Affairs Toshimitsu Motegi said.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s administration is also finalizing a purchase package, including US pickups, soybeans and gas, to present to Trump, but would not commit to any new defense spending target at the meeting, a source with knowledge of the preparations said.

The two leaders are to sit down in Tokyo on Monday and Tuesday next week during Trump’s first visit to Japan since his re-election last year, following an agreement by her predecessor, former Japanese prime minister Shigeru Ishiba, to invest as much as US$550 billion in the US in return for lower auto tariffs.

“The alliance with the United States is the cornerstone of Japan’s foreign and security policy,” Takaichi said on Tuesday at her inaugural news conference as prime minister.

“It would be premature to comment on any discussions during President Trump’s visit,” a Japanese government spokesperson said when asked about the planned purchase package and potential investments.

Motegi said that he hoped Trump’s first meeting with Takaichi would serve as an opportunity for the two leaders to discuss further strengthening the US-Japan alliance, while fostering their personal relationship of trust.

Japan also hopes to further cooperate with South Korea, along with other regional partners, including Australia and the Philippines, while seeking stable and constructive relations with China, he said.

Japan is undergoing a five-year military buildup through 2027 as part of its national security strategy, including doubling its annual defense spending to 2 percent of GDP. The strategy that promotes Japan’s strike-back capability with long-range missiles marks a major break from Japan’s defense-only principle under its postwar pacifist constitution.

Japan is expected to face tough demands from Trump to further increase its defense spending to NATO levels of 5 percent of GDP, more purchases of costly US arsenals and additional spending for 50,000 US troops in Japan under the bilateral security pact.

“Our national defense should be based on our own independent decision,” Motegi said. “What’s important is not the amount or the GDP ratio, but what’s in it.”

Meanwhile, the sweeteners Takaichi plans to offer Trump in her first major diplomatic test include the purchase of Ford F-150 pickup trucks, an idea floated by Trump, and an agreement to buy more US soybeans, which US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick requested in a call with his Japanese counterpart last week, said two sources, who asked not to be identified because they are not authorized to talk to the media.

Beijing curbs of US soybean imports have hurt US farmers reliant on Asian markets. Last month, exports to China dropped to zero for the first time in almost seven years.

The F-150s, designed for wider US roads, might be used in Japan as snow plows.

Trump is also to meet Japanese Emperor Naruhito. The US leader and Takaichi are expected to travel to Malaysia for an ASEAN gathering from Sunday next week, and later to South Korea, which is hosting an APEC summit.


title: Japan PM Takaichi’s spouse vows quiet support

content_text:
The spouse of Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, the nation’s first female leader, said he hoped to support his wife by being a “stealth husband,” cooking meals for her, but staying out of the spotlight, reports said.

“Unlike in the West, it is better for a partner to stay out of the spotlight,” Fukui Television quoted Taku Yamamoto, 73, as saying on Tuesday after Takaichi became prime minister.

He said it was essential that Takaichi, who won the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) leadership this month, is able to work with the coalition “to pursue her vision of prime minister.”

Former lawmaker Taku Yamamoto, husband of Japan’s first female prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, poses for a photograph at the Fukui Prefectural Government Office, on Oct. 11 last year. Photo: Jiji Press via AFP

“I want to provide solid support as ‘a stealth husband’ to ensure that my presence does not become an obstacle to that,” he added, according to the Asahi Shimbun daily, Fuji Television and other media.

Yamamoto, a former fellow LDP lawmaker, married Takaichi in 2004, but the couple divorced in 2017 citing “differences in political views.” The couple remarried in 2021, after Yamamoto reportedly supported Takaichi when she ran for the LDP leadership election that year. He lost his seat in the lower house in the subsequent snap election.

Takaichi’s views on gender place the 64-year-old on the right of an already conservative LDP. She named only two other women to her Cabinet, with Satsuki Katayama as minister of finance and Kimi Onoda as minister in charge of economic security.

Takaichi opposes revising a 19th-century law requiring married couples to share the same surname, a rule that overwhelmingly results in women taking their husband’s name.

That is despite the difficulties the law has given the couple.

During Takaichi and Yamamoto’s first marriage, she took his name. In the second, he took hers.

The pair live together in a house complex for members of parliament in Tokyo, where Takaichi helps care for Yamamoto after he suffered a stroke this year and was also diagnosed with prostate cancer, reports said.

Media reports said that he first proposed to Takaichi in 2004 over the phone.

He told her that “as I have a chef’s license, I’ll make sure you eat delicious food throughout your life,” Jiji Press reported.

Takaichi, an admirer of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher and a heavy metal drummer in her youth, said that he “was a rather unsociable person, someone I would say I wasn’t very comfortable to be with.”

He won her over, saying that “if you’re seriously looking for a marriage partner, I’m divorced so I’ll run as a candidate,” Takaichi said on her Web site.

Takaichi had lost her parliamentary seat in 2003, but regained it two years later, so both of them became parliament members.

As Takaichi was not good at cooking, he continued to prepare meals, saying that “the kitchen is my domain, so please don’t enter,” Jiji reported.


content_text:
US prosecutors back off after convicting record-setting Grand Teton runner

Michelino Sunseri climbed past boulders on his way to a record-breaking feat: The extreme runner reached the summit of Grand Teton, one of the highest mountains in the US West, and then rushed back down, all in less than three hours.

However, the US National Park Service did not celebrate. Instead, it charged him with a crime.

Sunseri was found guilty of a misdemeanor for spending just two minutes during the run on a prohibited trail in Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.

Michelino Sunseri, right, accepts a ceremonial belt buckle from Andy Anderson in Truckee, California, on Sept. 6 last year, after breaking Anderson’s record time for running up and down Grand Teton mountain in Wyoming. Photo: Michelino Sunseri via AP

The remarkable solo triumph last year has been overshadowed by his legal saga. “Free Michelino” stickers are on posts and benches in Jackson, Wyoming. Sunseri’s supporters, including members of the US Congress, are appalled by what they consider to be a glaring example of excessive enforcement by the government.

However, Sunseri, 33, might be getting a break.

His lawyer, Alex Rienzie, said prosecutors have agreed to seek a dismissal if the runner completes 60 hours of community service and a course on wilderness stewardship.

A judge on Tuesday expressed concern about the shift and still would need to sign off. Another hearing was set for Nov. 18.

“It is an evolution of what is right and was made to preserve prosecutive and judicial resources, while upholding the best interests of the public and the justice system,” the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Wyoming said.

Sunseri said he is hopeful for a “rational and reasonable agreement” that puts the matter behind him.

Prosecutors in May insisted on pressing ahead with a two-day trial, despite a lack of support from officials in US President Donald Trump’s administration.

Joey Wilson of Salt Lake City, an ultramarathoner who designs training programs for athletes, said the significance of Sunseri’s achievement sometimes gets lost.

“It’s an unbelievable thing that he accomplished — world class,” Wilson said.

Sunseri defended himself by saying he took the same route as many previous record holders on Grand Teton, including Kilian Jornet, one of the world’s greatest mountain athletes, in 2012, without any blowback from the Park Service.

He set out on Sept. 2 last year, sharing the mountain with Labor Day holiday hikers. The path starts flat and wide before becoming extremely rocky on the way up.

“There are boulders the size of small houses,” said Wilson, whose father was a park ranger. “You’ve got to use your hands. If your hands were to pop off in a couple of places, you’re going to fall a long way down.”

On his way down, shirtless and wearing a hat backwards, he made a split-second decision that would later land him in court: He left a switchback to avoid casual hikers and possible injury, taking a path known as the Old Climber’s Trail for two minutes.

“I was ahead of pace,” said Sunseri, who had trained by running the mountain more than 40 times. “I knew I was going to get the record regardless of which trail I took. I didn’t want to be yelling at people to get out of my way.”

Later, Sunseri dropped to his knees in exhaustion at the base of the mountain. He had set a new fastest-known time on Grand Teton of 2 hours, 50 minutes, 50 seconds.

He had run 21.4km, while gaining an elevation of 2,133m on his way up the mountain. The summit rests at 4,198m.

“I was stoked,” he said. “It’s one of those things where every single thing has to go right — and everything did go right.”

Sunseri wrote about his epic run on social media. Those words doomed him. Federal investigators used search warrants to get access to the posts, which led to a misdemeanor charge of shortcutting a designated trail in the national park.

Because of the court case, Sunseri’s performance on Grand Teton is not being recognized by fastestknowntime.com, a Web site for the best times on routes considered to have remarkable scenery or historical and cultural value around the world.

US Representative Andy Biggs is sponsoring a bill that would make willful intent a requirement for prosecuting certain crimes such as Sunseri’s trail-cutting misdemeanor.

He called the case a “prime example of the problem of overcriminalization.”


content_text:
UNITED STATES

Trump pick withdraws

Paul Ingrassia, President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead a government watchdog agency on Tuesday announced he was withdrawing his candidacy after it was revealed he reportedly boasted about having a “Nazi streak.” The 30-year-old attorney, whom Trump picked to head the Office of Special Counsel, was facing mounting criticism from Democrats and Republicans after media reports this week revealed text messages with racist content. His nomination became embroiled in controversy after it was revealed that he told some fellow Republicans in a text chain that he had a “Nazi streak” and advocated for the Martin Luther King Jr national holiday to be scrapped, Politico reported on Monday, citing a text chat it had viewed. “MLK Jr was the 1960s George Floyd and his ‘holiday’ should be ended and tossed into the seventh circle of hell where it belongs,” Ingrassia allegedly wrote in the chat from January last year, Politico reported. Without confirming the authenticity of the texts, Ingrassia’s lawyer Andrew Paltzik told Politico they were “taken out of context” and imbued with “self-mockery and satirical humor.”

SRI LANKA

Lawmaker killed in his office

An opposition politician was yesterday shot dead in his office, police said, the latest in a wave of assassinations and the first to target a political figure. Weligama Council Chairman Lasantha Wickramasekara, 38, was meeting with constituents when a gunman burst in and fired multiple times with a revolver. No one else was wounded, and the shooter fled the scene. “An investigation is under way to track down the killer,” police said in a statement, adding that the motive for the attack remains unclear. Wickramasekara was a member of the opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya party, which has been locked in a bitter power struggle with the ruling party over control of the Weligama council.

PERU

State of emergency declared

Interim President Jose Jeri on Tuesday announced a state of emergency in Lima and the neighboring Port of Callao, after weeks of anti-government protests over corruption and organized crime. “The state of emergency approved by the Council of Ministers will take effect at midnight on Wednesday and will last for 30 days in Metropolitan Lima and Callao,” Jeri said in an address to the nation broadcast by state television. Under the state of emergency, the government can send the army to patrol the streets and restrict freedom of assembly and other rights. This is the first major action by the interim president since he took office nearly two weeks ago to address the spiraling crime crisis.

FRANCE

Louvre reopens after heist

The Louvre Museum in Paris yesterday reopened its doors to visitors, three days after it had been shuttered over the theft of precious royal jewelry. From 9am, the museum’s usual opening time, the first visitors began entering the world-famous institution, although the museum said the Apollo Gallery, where Sunday’s theft occurred, remained closed. Disappointed tourists were turned away at the entrance of the Louvre in the heart of Paris the day after the audacious daylight theft of about 88 million euros (US$102 million) in jewelry, and it remained closed on Tuesday. “We were really hoping it would be open. We had booked for today, and we wouldn’t have had another chance to come,” said one visitor, Fanny, who traveled from south of the country with her daughter.

title: World News Quick Take


content_text:
Notes from Central Taiwan: KMT chair election: History repeating? Or just rhyming?

The recent Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) election for party chair was an excellent reminder of how far out of the mainstream the KMT truly is. Former KMT legislator Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) was elected by the party rank and file over lifetime meh politician and former Taipei mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), who was strongly supported by party elites and powerful local factions.

Cheng stated that the KMT’s main political goal should be to “gather mainstream public support within Taiwan.” Like the people who ran against her during the chair election, she said she would be willing to meet with People’s Republic of China (PRC) dictator Xi Jin-ping (習近平). Note that the leaders of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) would also be happy to meet Xi, but won’t because of PRC demand that Taiwan subordinate itself to the PRC.

As longtime Taiwan watcher Sense Hofstede pointed out, “mainstream public opinion” is a favorite code-phrase of Xinhua in describing the situation in Taiwan. Scholar Sanho Chung (鍾燊豪) chimed in on Cheng on Bluesky, observing of her voter base that in 2016 the KMT waived annual fees for older and poorer party members. The ratio of waiver members has grown since then, “making them decisive in party elections.” They turn out in droves, and are closer to China, he noted.

Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Huang Kuo-chang speaks yesterday in the legislature. The rise and demise of earlier KMT splinter parties is not an object lesson for studying Cheng Li-wun and the KMT, but rather, for Huang and the TPP, another party composed of numerous ex-KMT politicians, run by a pan-Green turncoat now mouthing anti-DPP propaganda stances. Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times

The predominant emotion among supports of Taiwan appears to be that her election was a good thing. She is wildly out of the Taiwan mainstream and will only further marginalize and isolate the KMT. For example, she claimed that “Taiwan is a part of China, and mainland China is surrounding Taiwan today by deploying security units to protect Taiwan, maintain law and order in Taiwan and keep foreign forces that want to take over Taiwan away from Taiwan.”

These are PRC positions. No one can win election at the national level in Taiwan making such noises.

CLANS AND FACTIONS

Another interesting monkey wrench she has tossed into the KMT machine is its relationship with local clans, who have become quite influential. The Chang faction, based in the south, perhaps the most powerful local machine in the nation, backed her rival Hau, a clear sign of the faction’s desire to move closer to the mainlander elites at the core of the party.

Seen from that angle, in some ways this election reprises the 2005 KMT chairmanship election between Taiwanese politician, power broker, and Taiwanese KMT leader Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) and future president and mainlander elite Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九). Party elites backed Wang, a pragmatic and skilled politician, while the rank and file swooned for Ma. As ETTV news reported in 2005, Ma had “the overwhelming endorsement … from the hard-core mainlander community, especially the massive Huang Fu-hsing party branch for retired soldiers.”

The March 2016 chairmanship election featured Chiayi’s Huang Min-hui (黃敏惠, currently the mayor of Chiayi City) against another fiery hardcore pro-China mainlander uttering PRC platitudes, Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱). Hung won despite having been removed as the party candidate in the run-up to the disastrous 2016 presidential election, and despite Huang’s support from party elites, because she had backing of the party rank and file, among whom she had rock-star status.

After the 2005 election, the relationship between the KMT elites and the Taiwanese factions and legislators in the KMT became fraught. When Ma became president he sponsored two trade pacts with China that threatened local businesses, especially the services pact. Local faction legislators, protecting local businesses and local organized crime, brewed up a revolt. Many KMT legislators refused to vote for the services pact. Ma kept them in line by threatening to withhold party support for local legislators. Legislators who might have left the party were compelled to remain because there was no other place for them to go. Ironically the “reforms” the DPP and KMT had passed to change the way legislators were elected and reduce the number of seats, intended to eliminate small parties, left rogue legislators no room to start a new party or run as independents and still gain a seat. In other words, one effect of the reforms was enforcement of party discipline that cost the big parties nothing.

In those days Taiwan was still a place where local businessmen could make money and small and medium-sized businesses played a major role in the economy. It was their screaming, after all, that forced local KMT politicians to oppose the destructive services pact. It is hardly surprising that as local business viability has suffered in the wake of the pandemic and the rise of real estate as the domestic economy’s driver, local politics have shifted away from the DPP.

The 2016 election again exposed these deep rifts in the KMT between the Taiwanese factions and the party elites. As Hung’s candidacy loomed in May and June of 2015 several KMT legislators left the party, and many others threatened to. An existential crisis loomed. KMT insiders warned of the “New Party-ization” of the KMT (the threat of the hardcore, pro-China, non-mainstream faction taking over the party). Hung was pulled from the election and the KMT lost in a blowout. Hung became chair and was a major factor in the recovery of the KMT: it was she who found the cash to keep the party going.

REPLAY OF MA-HUNG YEARS?

Once again, with Cheng Li-wun, who was a DPP member until 2002 and joined the KMT in 2005, is a far-right nationalist who won over the rank and file in defiance of party elites who have close connections to local factions. Many observers are wondering if we will have another replay of the Ma-Hung years, when local faction politicians repeatedly threatened to leave the party. This seems doubtful. The faction environment is much different than it was a decade ago. A few local factions have metastasized and now operate at the regional and national level, while other local leaders, such as Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁) of Hualien, appear to be attempting to. Indeed, some observers are already contending that Fu and Cheng will inevitably clash, a feeling strong enough that Fu publicly stated he would work with her.

But another issue is: will it matter? In March of 2000 James Soong (宋楚瑜) started the People First Party (PFP), taking a clutch of legislators out of the KMT. After the 2001 election it was the number three party in the legislature, by 2008 it held a single seat. Many of its politicians rejoined the KMT. It is now a memory. The Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU), established by former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) in August of 2001 by taking politicians out of the KMT, is now also a memory.

There are always more local faction politicians out there, hungry for a place at the subsidy table. Hence, the rise and demise of the PFP and TSU are not object lessons for studying Cheng Li-wun and the KMT, but rather, for Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), another party composed of numerous ex-KMT politicians, run by a pan-Green turncoat now mouthing anti-DPP propaganda stances.

Notes from Central Taiwan is a column written by long-term resident Michael Turton, who provides incisive commentary informed by three decades of living in and writing about his adoptive country. The views expressed here are his own.

people: 李登輝 黃國昌 黃敏惠 習近平 鄭麗文 洪秀柱 郝龍斌 馬英九 宋楚瑜 王金平


content_text:
The new KMT chair is an unambiguous Chinese ethnonationalist, proudly Chinese and seeks the ultimate dream of annexation into China, which won’t be popular among the public

The election of Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) as chair of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) marked a triumphant return of pride in the “Chinese” in the party name. Cheng wants Taiwanese to be proud to call themselves Chinese again.

The unambiguous winner was a return to the KMT ideology that formed in the early 2000s under then chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) put into practice as far as he could, until ultimately thwarted by hundreds of thousands of protestors thronging the streets in what became known as the Sunflower movement in 2014.

Cheng is an unambiguous Chinese ethnonationalist, proudly Chinese, and seeks the ultimate dream of annexation into China. The plan is to reach a peaceful agreement with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to coexist in some form, reduce military spending to reduce tensions, harmonize and integrate both sides into one Chinese cultural and economic sphere, then ultimately restore the glory of the Chinese nation by reunifying and rectifying the perceived 100 years of humiliation to reach the common dream of all Chinese people in restoring Chinese civilization to its rightful place on the world stage.

Of course, any deal for her would come with promises of significant autonomy so “Taiwanese compatriot,” as the CPP calls Taiwanese, could maintain their unique system and way of life within the greater Chinese nation. As the Tibetans, the Uighurs, the Mongolians and Hong Kongers will tell you, life in a Chinese autonomous region is a tribute to the wise and glorious leadership of the CCP, whose love of the people has brought peace and prosperity and strengthened local culture and traditions. If they do not say that, they could go to jail, or worse.

MA’S SOFT EDGES

Ma campaigned publicly with softer edges, including promises to raise defense spending and protect the Republic of China (ROC). In several interviews, including just prior to the last presidential election in an interview with media outlet DW, he has been clear that he had been laying the groundwork for reunification.

Former president Ma Ying-jeou on Oct. 18 casts his ballet in Taipei for the Chinese Nationalist Party chair. The election of Cheng Li-wun to the party chair marks a return to the kinds of policies championed by Ma. Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times

Cheng is Ma with no soft edges and no apologies. All six of the candidates for chair were ideologically within this ideological framework to varying degrees, so no matter who won, the party was going to return to these older ideological roots.

After losing three presidential races in a row to the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which campaigned on protecting Taiwanese sovereignty, culture and identity, there was considerable talk and some attempts to move the KMT closer to the mainstream of public opinion, which had shifted towards the DPP on these issues in the wake of the Ma era and the Sunflower movement.

Some considered dropping the “Chinese” from the party name, and others went so far as to suggest renaming the party to “Taiwanese Nationalist Party.”

In 2020, the party elected the youthful moderate Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) in a byelection for party chair. He attempted to get the party to drop support for the so-called “1992 consensus,” which posits that there is only one China and that includes the province of Taiwan, but the KMT softens by adding “both sides with their own interpretation” of what “China” means — an addition the CCP has never accepted, insisting that China is only the People’s Republic of China (PRC), and not the ROC.

Chiang failed after pushback from the KMT membership. However, with an eye on electability, the party continued to try to tailor its message to sound more mainstream.

Mindful of Chiang’s failure, outgoing Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) tried to spin the “1992 consensus” as a “non-consensus consensus” to American audiences, while praising it to Chinese audiences. His “all things to all people” approach kept the party together, but satisfied no one.

After years of voter distrust in this ideology and the KMT’s intentions, why is the party now returning to this ideology with such fervor?

BACK TO BASICS

Most importantly, because this is what the KMT is. They revere Chinese civilization and identify with it ethnically and culturally.

The KMT was formed out of movements to reform Chinese civilization to bring it into the modern world and restore it to glory. Being cut off from the “motherland” is considered a painful aberration, and as long as the KMT’s reforms can be maintained in Taiwan, they would welcome “reunification,” as long as the “mainland” shows “sincerity and goodwill.”

They hate and fear DPP moves to put Taiwanese history, culture, identity and sovereignty on center stage. They feel this is a direct attack on their very sense of who and what they are, rendering their identity “foreign” or even the “enemy.”

To KMT party members, Cheng’s unapologetically proud and defiant defense of their identity must have felt liberating after years of waffling in the name of electability.

They also believe the pendulum is swinging back in their direction.

Last year, voters restored their party’s status as the biggest in the legislature, and with their allies in the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), they voted along ideological lines to significantly hamper the DPP administration’s efforts to double down on defending against the CCP and counter their threats.

Pro-Taiwan protestors arose in the Bluebird Movement and failing to convince the KMT to back down, they launched recall campaigns against KMT lawmakers. The recalls failed miserably, with some receiving more votes defending them than they received when elected — which many in the party interpreted as support for the positions their lawmakers took

The DPP has also lost its lock on young voters, and there are signs that, especially those under 25 who are on Chinese-owned social media apps like TikTok, are more pro-China. Some who used to be fiercely pro-Taiwan, like TPP Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌), influencer Holger Chen (陳之漢 aka 館長) and even Cheng herself, have defected to their side.

Though most polls showing voter support indicate the DPP is still larger, in Formosa polling the KMT has pulled ahead in being viewed more positively.

There is a sense of fatigue with the DPP after nearly 10 years in power, and democracies typically throw out ruling parties eventually. Problems continue to fester, housing prices are still sky high, incomes low and dreams of having a home and family out of reach for many.

TINY MINORITY

There are good reasons to believe the KMT membership may have overestimated the appeal of their ideology and how far the pendulum can swing.

Only 65,122 people voted for Cheng. There are roughly 330,000 KMT party members, and only 39 percent came out to vote in the chair election.

KMT party members are a tiny minority, and even many KMT voters find their ideology extreme. The percentage of the population identifying as “Chinese only” is in the low single digits, and support for annexation into China not much higher.

The big jump in legislative seats last year disguises that they actually won a lower percentage of the vote than in 2020, and only gained seats due to better strategic get-out-the-vote efforts in key districts.

They forget that the KMT’s efforts to launch recalls against DPP lawmakers all failed to even get off the ground.

They also fail to recognize that voters only rallied to their lawmakers after the DPP officially backed the recall campaigns against them, turning the KMT’s previously largely untrue claims that the DPP was trying to overturn last year’s elections into a legitimate fact. Polling consistently showed some recalls would likely have succeeded until the DPP got involved, so the results were more a rejection of the DPP and efforts to overturn a democratic election than they were any show of support for the KMT.

The KMT membership is correct that the current circumstances are more favorable to the party than they have been in a long time, but they are taking a risk that Cheng’s ideology may drive more people away from the party than she attracts.

Donovan’s Deep Dives is a regular column by Courtney Donovan Smith (石東文) who writes in-depth analysis on everything about Taiwan’s political scene and geopolitics. Donovan is also the central Taiwan correspondent at ICRT FM100 Radio News, co-publisher of Compass Magazine, co-founder Taiwan Report (report.tw) and former chair of the Taichung American Chamber of Commerce. Follow him on X: @donovan_smith.

people: 鄭麗文 馬英九 朱立倫 黃國昌 江啟臣 連戰

title: Donovan’s Deep Dives: The KMT’s retro revival


content_text:
Takaichi, whose hero is Margaret Thatcher, had promised to appoint a cabinet with “Nordic” levels of women, but on Tuesday, she appointed just two

After Sanae Takaichi took office as Japan’s first woman prime minister, some of her younger counterparts called it a symbolic victory.

The three local councilors anticipate Takaichi’s win will do little to shift the male-dominated world of politics or entrenched expectations that women will prioritize family over career.

‘GET MARRIED’

Newly elected Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Tuesday arrives at the prime minister’s office in Tokyo, Japan. Photo: AP

After spending time away, Makoto Sasaki returned to her northern hometown Miyako, hoping to change local politics.

But as soon as she arrived, she was told by members of the public to focus on having a family.

“They said, ‘You won’t be able to get married if you work so hard,’” Sasaki said.

A staff member yesterday arranges souvenir snacks marking the inauguration of Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi at a souvenir shop in the National Diet Building in Tokyo, Japan. Photo: Reuters

They also said I “wouldn’t be a proper adult without giving birth,” she recalled. “It was shocking.”

In Japan, gender roles are rigid, with women usually expected to look after the home and family, even if they work.

As a result, women are grossly underrepresented at all political levels, as well as in business and media.

Last year, Sasaki ran for election, aged 27, and became one of 22 local councillors.

“Unless we start cutting into these larger societal structures — like the gender gap, the division of household chores by gender or care work — (the number of women politicians) won’t increase,” she said.

Takaichi, whose hero is Margaret Thatcher, had promised to appoint a cabinet with “Nordic” levels of women, but on Tuesday, she appointed just two, the same number as her predecessor, Shigeru Ishiba.

“My region, Iwate, has never had a female political leader, whether for governor or mayor,” Sasaki said, emphasizing the magnitude of the problem in Japan, which ranked 118 out of 148 this year in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report.

Men older than 70 make up about half of Sasaki’s council in Miyako, and there are just three women.

JUGGLING DOMESTIC LABOR

In the coastal city of Toba, Chihiro Igarashi “worries constantly” about juggling her work as a councillor with caring for her two children, aged two and three. “The belief that mothers are the ones who step in when children need them in an emergency remains deeply ingrained,” said Igarashi, 37, stressing that her husband and in-laws fully support her.

For couples with children under six in Japan, women spend an average of seven hours and 28 minutes on housework, caregiving, childcare and shopping, while men spend 1 hour and 54 minutes, according to 2021 government data, the latest available.

Igarashi said she initially did not want Takaichi to be elected as prime minister because of her conservative policies, including opposition to same-sex marriage and support for a 19th-century law requiring married couples to share the same surname.

Takaichi also wants Japan’s imperial family to stick to its male-only succession rules. But equally, “her toughness is appealing... she must have made extraordinary efforts to reach the level,” said Igarashi, one of two women councillors out of 13 in Toba. “In my region, it’s often civil servants, company executives or other locally well-known figures who become politicians,” she said. “And they’re all men.”

SINGLE MOTHER STIGMA

Erika Tsumori, a 34-year-old councilor in Atsugi city, near Tokyo, wants women to be given a chance to work without the constraints of societal expectations and stigma. As a mother of two raising her children alone, she was told during her campaign that she should try to hide her family dynamics.

“My city is conservative, so I was told (during the election) not to openly reveal that I was a single mother,” she said. “I was also told I was not a proper candidate as I wore dangly earrings,” she added, explaining that people saw them as too casual.

Tsumori believes Takaichi’s win is a “symbolic victory” but that the situation is changing, with the number of women candidates growing.

In 2024, just over 23 percent of candidates who ran in the election for the powerful lower house were women, compared with nearly 18 percent in 2017 and 13 percent in 2005, according to official data.

Eventually, said Tsumori, “there will surely be more women politicians.”

title: ‘Get married’: The reality of Japanese politics for women


content_text:
Book review: A devastating expose of power, corruption and abuseVirginia Roberts Giuffre’s posthumously published memoir lays bare the life-wrecking impact of Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes — but it is also the story of how a young woman becomes a hero

There is a strand running through Nobody’s Girl — a memoir by Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who died by suicide in April — in which the activist and survivor of Jeffrey Epstein grapples with something more insidious than abuse.

“I know it is a lot to take in,” she writes after a grueling early passage detailing how she was sexually abused as a child. “But please don’t stop reading.”

After recounting the first time Epstein allegedly forced her to have sex with one of his billionaire friends, she writes, “I need a breather. I bet you do too.”

Throughout the book, Giuffre beguiles, apologizes and cheerfully breaks the fourth wall in an effort to soften the distaste she assumes her story will trigger. Make no mistake: this is a book about power, corruption, industrial-scale sex abuse and the way in which institutions sided with the perpetrator over his victims.

Epstein hanged himself in prison while awaiting trial in 2019 and Ghislaine Maxwell, his co-conspirator, is serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking, outcomes largely enabled by Giuffre’s testimony. But it is also a book about how a young woman becomes a hero. And yet here she is, having to charm us out of shrinking from her in horror.

Of course, these assumptions of hers aren’t wrong. Giuffre, who was 41 when she died and whose deft, smart book is co-written with the journalist Amy Wallace, knows that to be a victim of sexual violence is to be at best pitied, at worst reviled. (Sample headline from the Daily News: “Jeffrey Epstein Accuser Was Not a Sex Slave, but a Money-Hungry Sex Kitten, Her Former Friends Say.”)

I approached Nobody’s Girl with two questions. First, does it give any insight into the so-called Epstein list, the catalog of prominent men to whom Giuffre and others were trafficked? The closest we get to a fresh allegation is Giuffre’s description of one of the scores of men Epstein forced her to have sex with as a “politician” and “former minister,” who choked and beat her almost unconscious, but who, she writes, is too powerful to name. (When she told Epstein how violent the man had been, he said coldly: “You’ll get that sometimes.”)

Second, does the book make life harder for Ghislaine Maxwell, currently in a low security prison in Texas and sucking up to US President Donald Trump to have her sentence reduced? (Her latest appeal was rejected earlier this month.) On this score, Giuffre’s account must shunt the possibility of reprieve further out of reach. It was Maxwell — or “G Max” as she insisted the girls call her — who spotted Giuffre working as a 16-year-old locker-room assistant at Mar-a-Lago in 2000, and brought her to Epstein’s house to be “interviewed” as a possible masseuse. Giuffre was forced to have sex with Epstein that day and both then and in subsequent assaults, Maxwell participated. “Maxwell began lashing out at me during our threesomes,” writes Giuffre. “If I complained, she hurt me more.”

This brings me to a third question: given its punishing nature, why read this book? I’ve heard more than one person say they “don’t have the stomach” for it — not phrasing any victim needs to hear — but while the book is relentlessly, shockingly hard, it is also a clear-eyed and necessary account of how sex offenders operate.

Giuffre’s greatest fear — that being raped and trafficked puts her beyond empathetic reach of most people — is not, in fact, what happens. Narrative does what deposition can’t by taking us into the room with her. The book breathes life into Giuffre’s legal status as a victim, showing us a girl like any we know, like us, and enlivening the reality of those who are trafficked while being “free” to walk away.

Abused since the age of six, by the time she met Epstein, Giuffre writes: “I had been sexualized against my will and had survived by acquiescing. I was a pleaser, even when pleasing others cost me dearly. For 10 years, men had cloaked their abuse of me in a fake mantle of ‘love.’ Epstein and Maxwell knew just how to tap into that same crooked vein.”

Giuffre’s recollections of Prince Andrew, meanwhile, a man with whom she was allegedly forced to have sex three times — once in the context of an orgy on Epstein’s island — present him in an even more buffoonish and grotesque light.

“We disrobed and got in the tub, but we didn’t stay there long because the prince was eager to get to the bed … In my memory, the whole thing lasted less than half an hour.”

Prince Andrew denies Giuffre’s allegations that he had sex with her, that she had been trafficked to him by Epstein or that he had ever met her. But so much focus has been put on the prince that after reading this book, it wasn’t him I thought about most; it was the casual visitors to Epstein’s New York mansion, the illustrious men and occasional woman whom Giuffre says she encountered at dinners there.

In respect of these people I’d like to ask: who the fuck did they think the 17-year-old at the table was? What did they think she was doing there? Only Melinda Gates, who met Epstein once and cited him as a factor in the breakdown of her marriage to Bill Gates, sensed what apparently none of these people could put their finger on. Giuffre quotes from a statement made by Gates after her meeting with Epstein: “I regretted it the second I walked in the door. He was abhorrent. He was evil personified.” It was an insight that evidently escaped geniuses like the MIT professors Epstein continued to advise long after he’d become a convicted sex offender.

Giuffre was rightly proud of holding Epstein and Maxwell to account. And yet for any survivor of sexual violence, the cost of recovery — let alone of confronting her abusers in front of the world — can be impossibly steep. At the beginning of the book, Amy Wallace shares details of Giuffre’s fraught final months, including multiple health problems and alleged domestic violence at the hands of Robert Giuffre, her Australian husband. (Robert Giuffre’s lawyer has declined to comment on the allegations, citing ongoing court proceedings.) On April 1, Giuffre wrote to Wallace: “It is my heartfelt wish that this work be published, regardless of my circumstances at the time.”

Three weeks later, she was found dead on her remote Australian farm, leaving behind three children. In a lawsuit Giuffre brought against Epstein in 2009, her lawyers stated the injuries she suffered as a result of his abuse included “a loss of the capacity to enjoy life,” and were of a magnitude that made them “permanent in nature.”

The same might be said for this important, courageous, tragically posthumous book.


countries: 台灣 日本

content_text:
SPEAK UP: ‘Taiwan Pride’ parade heats up Taipei on Saturday (1/2) 台灣同志遊行週六嗨翻台北（上）

A: The 23rd Taiwan Pride parade will be marching again on Saturday, Oct. 25.

B: Will the parade kick off from Taipei City Hall Plaza as usual?

A: Yup, and there will be over 110 LGBT-themed booths at the Rainbow Festival in the plaza.

B: The organizer is reportedly teaming up with Japanese, South Korean and other international groups.

A: So we are likely to see more foreign visitors from across the world. Hopefully, this year’s parade can smash the record of 200,000 marchers set in 2019.

A: 第 23 屆台灣同志遊行本週六即將登場。

B: 遊行還是從台北市政府前廣場出發嗎？

A: 對，廣場「彩虹市集」還有超過 110 個酷兒主題攤位呢。

B: 聽說活動並串聯日本、南韓等國際社團。

A: 那今年來自各地的外國訪客應該很多，希望能打破2019年20萬人來遊行的紀錄！

（By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times／台北時報張迪）

For your information Language Tip 語文小提示 LGBT abbr. / adj. 女同性戀、男同性戀、雙性戀和跨性別者1. Abbreviation for “lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender” 2. Relating to or characteristic of people who are not heterosexual, or who are not cisgender (= having a gender that matches the body you were born with)


content_text:
軍武中心／台北報導

澳洲國防部日前發布聲明稱，19日澳軍P-8A巡邏機在南海巡邏時，中方軍機對其採取「不安全和不專業互動」，施放照明彈，對澳飛機和人員「構成危險」。中國國防部新聞發言人蔣斌22日表示，澳方有關聲明顛倒黑白，妄圖掩蓋其軍機非法侵闖中國領空的惡劣行徑，中國對此強烈不滿，已向澳方提出嚴正交涉。

▲▼中國宣稱對南海的西沙群島擁有主權，其中永興島是西沙群島面積最大的島噢。（圖／達志影像／newscom）

蔣斌指出，需要強調的是，南部戰區組織兵力對侵闖西沙領空的澳洲軍機堅決攔阻驅離，相關行動正當合法、專業克制，「我們敦促澳方立即停止侵權挑釁和煽宣炒作，嚴格約束一線海空兵力行動，避免破壞中澳兩國兩軍關係。中國軍隊將繼續採取必要措施，堅決捍衛國家主權安全，堅定維護地區和平穩定。」

根據報導，這次中澳在南海的對峙行動，中國空軍出動殲-16 戰鬥機驅離，雙方一度進入近距離對峙，最近時距離僅有30公尺，殲-16 更對澳軍機發射熱焰干擾彈。

對此，中華戰略學會資深研究員張競表示，以新聞稿來看，解放軍蘇愷-35型戰機針對入侵澳機實施攔防任務，最後仍讓澳機進入領空，基本上係屬任務失敗；究竟是因為預警距離與時間不夠，抑或是應變不及攔防任務機緊急起飛太慢，還是攔防作業無法引導任務機，在澳機進入西沙領空前及時迫近壓迫澳機轉向，前述狀況皆有可能，但解放軍南部戰區空軍確實存在檢討改善空間。

他指出，其次是，澳洲政府回應立場確實相當無賴，在本質上就是政治挑釁，「說實在話，其實就是對美國效忠表態之投名狀」，依據澳洲政府2020年7月23日向聯合國針對南海島礁主權所提聲明立場，澳洲基於越南與菲律賓對於南沙西沙主權歸屬有所異議，因此表示不接受中國大陸對西沙南沙島礁主權立場，但不論西沙群島主權存在爭議，其畢竟不是無主之地，因此「澳洲軍機直闖西沙空域，毋庸置疑總是侵入他國領空。」

張競表示，澳洲政府依據認定該國政府西沙群島主權存在爭議，就肆無忌憚亂闖該處空域，此種心態顯然就是亂鑽法理空隙，曲解法條原則之流氓無賴行徑，而且還以此為由，振振有辭狡言強辯，猶如闖空門宵小被人捕獲後，聲稱被闖入宅院，目前存在產權糾紛，企圖藉此脱罪。

張競指出，解放軍空軍攔防任務機在攔截澳機過程中，相互通話內容為判斷整個事件是非公道最重要證據，解放軍軍機與澳機是否透過通話辨識表明身份與意圖，才真正是判斷在空中應對作為是否專業最關鍵依據。

他認為，解放軍空軍這次出動的攔防任務機，運用熱焰誘標干擾澳機運動，並藉此表達警告；相對於先口頭示警，然後以機炮向澳機前方實施警告射擊，相對上更能明確表達要求其轉向意圖。不過說實在話，澳機侵門踏戶到如此程度，假若確認其航跡確實進入領空，只要將其擊落，殘骸確實落於領海或是陸地，則其入侵領空證據就會更加確鑿無疑。

countries: 澳洲 越南 美國 菲律賓 中國

taiwan-subdivisions: 南沙 和平

title: 澳洲P-8A巡邏機闖西沙群島領空　殲-16驅離距離一度僅30公尺


title: 無人機競賽戰場穿越　八軍團「干城盃」43砲指部獲總冠軍

content_text:
軍聞社／記者林庭暉高雄22日電

陸軍第八軍團今（22）日舉行114年「干城盃」戰技競賽決賽，來自各單位共10支參賽隊伍齊聚一堂、同場較勁；歷經連日激烈賽事，各單位展現平時訓練成果與團隊合作精神。最終，由43砲指部勇奪「干城盃」總冠軍，為單位贏得最高榮譽。

為強化官兵戰技，今年度陸軍第八軍團「干城盃」戰技競賽，共有「快速反應射擊」、「手榴彈投擲」、「武裝接力」、「無人機競賽」等項目，期透由分組競賽，鼓勵官兵強化體能戰技及本職學能，並激發單位團結與榮譽感、凝聚向心與提升士氣。

值得一提的是，為因應近年戰爭型態變化與威脅，今年度干城盃特別新增「無人機競賽」項目，參賽隊伍各派遣10員參賽者，測驗「精準控制、戰場穿越」等競賽項目，充分展現各單位積極強化無人機訓練與作戰應用。

競賽結束後，由陸軍第八軍團指揮官廖中將主持閉幕典禮，逐一頒發團體與個人競賽獎項，表揚在競賽中全力以赴、奮力拼搏爭取榮譽的官兵。其中，43砲指部榮獲「干城盃」總冠軍殊榮，並且額外摘下「無人機競賽」、「武裝接力」兩項單項冠軍，成績斐然；「快速反應射擊」、「手榴彈投擲」則分別由39化學兵群、機步333旅奪得，為單位爭取榮譽。

廖指揮官閉幕致詞時表示，平時落實駐地訓練，才能在競賽或戰時，將訓練成果轉化爲戰力。這兩日的競賽，正是在驗收大家平常訓練的成果，無論團體或個人是否有獲獎，所有同仁都能在這兩日的比賽中得到收穫，也和友軍單位彼此切磋、建立更深一層的友誼。

「體力就是戰力、戰力就是國力」廖指揮官強調，軍人必須具備有良好的體格，才能履行保家衛國的責任。舉辦體能戰技競賽的目的，就是希望藉由這一系列的戰技競賽，培養良好的運動風氣，達到促進身心健康，提升部隊戰力的目標。

「勝不驕，敗不餒」廖指揮官指出，本次競賽中，無論是參賽選手，或是加油團隊，都盡了最大的努力；運動精神除了競技之外，賽前的整備過程也很重要。唯有不斷的練習與準備，培養團隊默契，彼此相輔相成，才能在比賽中發揮堅強實力，並在無形之中提升單位的向心力和榮譽感。

最後，廖指揮官勉勵全體官兵，在返回單位後，應持續秉持運動家精神，在各自崗位上再接再厲，發揮更卓越的表現與團隊默契，讓整體戰力在原有基礎上更上一層樓。


content_text:
▲新加坡新一代多用途作戰艦（MRCV）勝利號正式下水，未來將重於成為自主無人載具的母艦能力。（圖／翻攝自新加坡海軍官方臉書，下同。）

軍武中心／綜合報導

新加坡新一代多用途作戰艦（MRCV）勝利號近期正式下水，未來將逐步取代自1989年服役的同名巡邏艦「大前輩」，成為星國海軍艦隊現代化的核心力量。據了解，該艦除了是新加坡海軍至今最大、性能最強、結構最複雜的軍艦，還要成為能夠施放無人機、無人艦艇的母艦。

綜合外媒報導，新加坡新科工程公司（ST Engineering）所屬的造船廠於21日為新式艦艇舉行下水儀式，這艘新艦不僅沿用勝利級導彈護衛艦首艦「勝利號」的艦名，也沿用相同的「88」舷號。

公開數據顯示，新一代多用途作戰艦勝利號排水量高達8300噸，艦全長150公尺，航速超過22節。未來艦上擁有32單元的垂直發射系統，可能搭載「雲母」、「阿斯特」防空飛彈，另搭載8枚「藍矛」反艦飛彈。感測器配備由Thales集團出品多功能防空雷達及火控雷達，以及SAFRAN集團出品光電偵搜系統。

值得注意的是，從鋪設龍骨到下水，這艘新艦僅僅花費12個月，預計下水後將轉移至另一造船廠進行後續舾裝、系統集成和海試，而新加坡海軍計畫採購6艘同級艦，自2028年起陸續獲得，未來也將重於讓該型艦艇成為自主無人載具的母艦能力。

title: 新加坡「勝利號」新艦下水　未來還要當「無人機母艦」


content_text:
▲「國務院台辦發言人」臉書頁面。（圖／／翻攝自Facebook／國務院台辦發言人）

記者董美琪／綜合報導

中國大陸國務院台灣事務辦公室（國台辦）22日宣布，正式在臉書（Facebook）設立「國務院台辦發言人」帳號，以加強對台新聞發布與政策宣傳。截至今晚9時，追蹤人數已突破5701人，留言區也出現大量「于朦朧」相關討論。

國台辦發言人朱鳳蓮在22日上午例行記者會上表示，新成立的臉書帳號將與今日頭條、微博「國台辦發布」、微信公眾號「國務院台辦」保持一致，及時發布對台工作的重要資訊，包括政策解讀、大陸發展成果，以及各地對台交流合作情況等。

據了解，「國務院台辦發言人」臉書頁面於21日發布首篇內容「Facebook帳號上線啦」，22日當天又連續發出4篇貼文，皆為當日例行記者會片段，每篇貼文留言數量均破千。

值得注意的是，留言中出現大量台灣網友寫下關於「于朦朧」的討論，包括「于朦朧怎麼死的」、「誰殺了于朦朧」、「查案進度能公布嗎」以及「為于朦朧申冤」等，引發網友熱議。同時，也有人疑惑中國大陸官方是否透過此帳號帶頭「翻牆」。

title: 陸國台辦開FB帳號追蹤已破5000人　台人留言狂刷「于朦朧」

countries: 中國 台灣

references: Facebook 臉書 網友


title: 香港首例屈公病死亡患者　9天前從大陸回來

events: 死亡 疫情

countries: 香港 中國

content_text:
▲香港的屈公病患者大多到過廣東。（圖／CFP）

記者蔡紹堅／綜合報導

香港衛生署衛生防護中心22日通報首例屈公病死亡病例，患者為一名77歲老翁，患有慢性疾病。

衛生防護中心表示，香港今年累計42宗屈公病確診個案，全部屬輸入個案，其中，一名早前公布的77歲有慢性疾病的老翁今日情況轉差病逝。

衛生防護中心提到，老翁10月13日由中國大陸返港，同日出現發燒及關節痛，10月14日出現皮疹，到私立醫院求醫並入院接受治療，其後病情惡化被轉送律敦治醫院深切治療部。

衛生防護中心指出，老翁的臨床診斷為屈公病併發多器官衰竭。

衛生防護中心說，由屈公病所引起的嚴重症狀及死亡十分罕見，死亡率少於千分之一，出現嚴重併發症大多與病人的自身健康情況有關。長者、幼童、懷孕婦女及慢性病患者感染屈公病後，有較大的機會引起併發症，康復時間也較長。

衛生防護中心提醒，如到訪受屈公病影響的地區後出現相關症狀，尤其是發燒、關節突然劇痛及出現皮疹，應盡快求醫。

▼佛山疫情嚴峻，官方加強消毒作業。（圖／CFP）


title: 國台辦批「不認九二共識」製造障礙　陸委會：不願溝通才是障礙

countries: 中華民國 台灣 中華人民共和國

content_text:
▲陸委會主委邱垂正。（圖／記者屠惠剛攝）

記者蔡紹堅／台北報導

陸委會主委邱垂正21日表示不會接受陸方「九二共識」及「一中原則」等政治前提，被國台辦批評「為兩岸對話協商製造障礙」。對此，陸委會22日表示，中共堅持沒有中華民國生存空間的「一中原則」和「九二共識」的政治前提，不願與我方就攸關兩岸民眾福祉的具體問題溝通，才是製造兩岸對話協商的障礙。

陸委會提到，政府兩岸政策立場一貫，不卑不亢、維持現狀，中華民國是主權獨立國家，與中華人民共和國「互不隸屬」才是客觀事實與台海現狀。在2015年「馬習會」後，國民黨雖稱「九二共識」是兩岸間的「通關密語」，惟實則中共於2019年1月2日宣布「習五條」，提出「一國兩制台灣方案」，並將「九二共識」重新定義為「兩岸同屬一中，共謀國家統一的『九二共識』」。

陸委會指出，中共所謂「一中原則」、「九二共識」及「一國兩制」是「三位一體」的對台政策，最終目標在消滅中華民國、併吞台灣、推進統一，都沒有中華民國的生存空間，已為台灣主流民意堅決反對。

陸委會強調，中共堅持沒有中華民國生存空間的「一中原則」和「九二共識」的政治前提，不願與我方就攸關兩岸民眾福祉的具體問題溝通，才是製造兩岸對話協商的障礙。

陸委會說，依最新民調與長期調查均顯示，「一中原則」和「九二共識」也為大多數國人無法接受。

陸委會也呼籲中共，應放棄僵化的政治思維與對台複合性施壓，務實面對台灣主流民意，與我合法民選政府透過不設前提的溝通對話，共同承擔維護台海和平穩定的責任。


content_text:
記者鮑璿安／綜合報導

H&M 攜手時尚界鬼才級設計師 Glenn Martens 推出全新設計師合作系列！這位比利時設計師以在 Y/Project 與 Diesel 的作品聞名，超群的解構結構與錯視線條聞名於世，如今他將這份前衛美學帶入大眾時尚，系列囊括從女裝、男裝到中性配件，全面展現 Martens 標誌性的「幽默建構主義」風格。

▲H&M 攜手時尚界鬼才級設計師 Glenn Martens 推出全新設計師合作系列。（圖／品牌提供）

Glenn Martens 表示：「我希望這個系列像一個充滿個性的時裝家族。每件作品都像人一樣，有多重特質，也會隨時間蛻變。」這次系列以 Martens 拿手的視覺錯位為設計主軸，首推的印花薄紗上衣以透膚材質呈現仿針織立體線條，打造出像針織卻更輕盈的錯覺質感；另一款 V 領印花上衣則結合橘棕與灰藍色調，呈現彷彿照片拼貼的織紋層次。包款部分同樣驚喜連連，皺褶尼龍托特包以輕盈材質結構打造誇張份量感，既像藝術雕塑，也能實際裝下日常必需品；而水洗丹寧棒球帽則印有「GLENN MARTENS」刺繡，融合街頭與高級質感，是最容易融入日常穿搭的入門款。

為呼應設計師擅長的戲劇性與幽默敘事，H&M 特別邀請英國銀幕傳奇 Joanna Lumley 與 Richard E. Grant 共同出演形象廣告。兩人化身一對古怪又優雅的「時尚家族」父母，搭配新生代模特一同演繹跨世代的時尚對話，Glenn Martens × H&M 系列將於 10 月 30 日起在 H&M 網路商店限定販售。

與此同時，美國名媛金卡戴珊（Kim Kardashian）主理的塑身衣品牌 SKIMS，近日與運動巨頭 Nike 聯手推出全新 NikeSKIMS 系列，成為運動與時尚界的焦點。首發系列涵蓋 7 大系列、58 款單品，從運動內衣、緊身褲到日常單品一應俱全。系列設計秉持由上到下的完整思考，修身剪裁、塑形布料搭配創新材質，貼合女性身體線條並在運動中提供支撐。特別是 Nike Dri-FIT 科技，具備優異的排汗與透氣效果，讓穿著者在高強度運動與日常生活之間自在切換，不僅舒適，更能凸顯自我風格。

title: H＆M x Glenn Martens搶先看！平價入手設計金童作品　皺褶包、印花裝必收

countries: 美國 比利時 英國


content_text:
▲許多人已習慣處在高壓而不自知。（圖／Pexels，以下同）

記者曾怡嘉／台北報導

你壓力大嗎？當壓力逐漸影響到生活時，許多人可能會忽略其嚴重性，認為「撐一下就過去了」。但當開始出現一些明顯且持續的身心反應，就應該正視壓力問題，這時需要及時喊停，讓自己緩一下再回歸正軌。

#出現身體不適或食慾改變

觀察自己的身體狀況。若你經常出現頭痛、肩頸僵硬、心跳加快、胃痛、失眠、疲倦或食慾改變（暴飲暴食或食慾不振），代表身體已經處於長期緊繃狀態，是壓力過大的警訊。

#常感到焦慮煩躁

若你常感到焦慮、煩躁、易怒、難以放鬆，甚至感到無助或悲觀，表示壓力可能已經影響到心理健康。對原本喜歡的事物失去興趣，也是一項值得注意的指標。

#開始懶得與人互動

壓力會對人際關係造成衝擊。當你開始不想與人互動、對家人朋友態度冷漠，或與同事起爭執變多，可能是你在情緒上已經超出負荷。

#開始出現逃避行為

開始出現逃避行為，例如沉迷於手機、追劇、酗酒或過度依賴咖啡因等方式來轉移注意力。這些行為無法真正緩解壓力，反而可能形成惡性循環。

最後，若上述情況持續兩周以上，且影響到日常生活、工作效率或睡眠品質，就應尋求專業協助。壓力不是脆弱的表現，而是一種正常反應，學會正視與處理，才是保護自己最重要的方式。

title: 硬撐有礙健康！「4個警訊」代表你壓力已經超標


title: 史瑞克式戀愛是什麼？找「條件差」對象反而更安心　背後4大動機曝光

content_text:
▲「史瑞克式戀愛」（Shrekking）形容人們刻意選擇外貌或條件不如自己的人交往，以確保在關係中佔據主導地位。（示意圖／sbsdrama.official IG）

記者鮑璿安／綜合報導

在社群媒體主導的戀愛時代，一段感情不僅關乎愛與被愛，還牽涉自尊、焦慮與控制。近來席捲歐美的「史瑞克式戀愛」（Shrekking）現象，正反映了這股心理變化。這個詞源自經典動畫《史瑞克》（Shrek），形容人們刻意選擇外貌或條件不如自己的人交往，以確保在關係中佔據主導、降低受傷風險。這股「理性戀愛」浪潮，看似聰明務實，卻揭露了現代人對愛的深層不安。

「Shrekking」的出發點其實並非輕視對方，而是一種防禦本能。許多人在過去被背叛、被冷落的經驗中留下陰影，於是學會在愛情裡設防，試圖用「條件優勢」確保自己不再成為受害者。只是，當戀愛變成風險管理，愛的真誠與熱度也隨之流失。

1.自我防衛機制：愛情成了心理避險工具

「史瑞克式戀愛」的核心心理，是一種自我防衛。當人們在感情中受到創傷後，容易建立起「安全優勢」的信念，只要另一半條件不如自己，就能避免被拋棄。這種想法在潛意識中是一種「掌控恐懼」的方式：與其被拒絕，不如先確保自己是關係中不會被拒絕的那一方。然而，這樣的戀愛往往缺乏平等與信任，反而讓彼此之間的距離越拉越遠。

2.掌控慾與焦慮：優越感背後的脆弱

選擇「條件較差」的伴侶，往往能讓自己在關係中感到被仰望與依賴。這種掌控感對焦慮型依附的人來說，是暫時的安全鎮定劑。這類人害怕失控，也害怕情感過深，因此寧可用主導的姿態保持距離。然而這樣的關係往往失衡：主導者不願袒露脆弱，依附者也感受不到真實的愛。

3. 社群焦慮：戀愛變成展示與競賽

社群平台上「完美情侶」的形象，不知不覺成為壓力來源。當戀愛被量化成外貌、財力、人氣的競技場，許多人選擇「往下談」來逃離比，這種現象反映出年輕世代對「真實」的渴望，他們不再追求理想化對象，而是想找一個「能安心相處、不必拼命表演」的人。然而，當戀愛的出發點是逃避而非連結，關係也難以長久。

4. 情感疲勞：在低風險裡尋找穩定幻象

經歷過高耗損感情的人，往往對強烈的激情感到厭倦，轉而選擇「平靜、安全」的關係。對他們而言，「Shrekking」是一種情緒復原的過程：沒有戲劇衝突、也沒有過度期待。但這樣的「降級戀愛」若只是為了避風港，最終仍可能陷入空洞的相處，讓愛變成習慣，而非共鳴。


title: 《藥師少女的獨語》推出第三季、劇場版！亞洲特展巡迴至台北

countries: 中國 香港

content_text:
記者楊智仁／綜合報導

電視動畫《藥師少女的獨語》迎來播出兩周年，官方公開了紀念 PV，同時宣布第 3 季將於 2026 年 10 月與 2027 年 4 月分割兩季播出，並預計於 2026 年 12 月推出系列首部劇場版，這部劇場版將由原作者日向夏親自撰寫全新原創劇情。

◆◇❖◆❖◇❖◆❖◇❖◆❖◇❖◆

『#薬屋のひとりごと』TVアニメ第3期 & 劇場版制作決定！

◆◇❖◆❖◇❖◆❖◇❖◆❖◇❖◆

――その瞳にゆらめくは極上の謎（ミステリー）

猫猫への新たな試練を思わせる〈スーパーティザービジュアル〉解禁????#薬屋2周年 pic.twitter.com/fMG8CoNkZo

— 『薬屋のひとりごと』アニメ公式 (@kusuriya_PR) October 22, 2025 系列小說 + 漫畫全球銷量突破 3800 萬冊，《藥師少女的獨語》第二季今年在各大動畫排行榜上名列前茅，貓貓不斷在勾心鬥角的後宮中破解案件之外，關於壬氏以及皇室真相逐漸明朗、被捲進漩渦身處偌大要塞中的貓貓，樓蘭妃與子翠沉重的秘密，《藥師少女的獨語》每季都帶來相當精彩的故事。隨著 7 月第二季完結播出，官方即預告將推出後續新作，如今終於確認會以動畫第三季與劇場版雙線展開。

在兩周年紀念 PV 中，觀眾熟悉的名場面「這個，有毒喔」開場，並搭配歷代主題曲〈花になって〉、〈アンビバレント〉、〈百花繚亂〉、〈クスシキ〉，回顧從第一季到令觀眾落淚的第二季結尾。此外，PV 也揭露了第三季與劇場版製作確定、回顧上映會與特別活動的追加情報。第三季將描繪國家面臨災厄預兆、迷惑人心的神秘巫女，以及壬氏被賦予的全新責任，故事舞台將從後宮移至民間，貓貓與壬氏將面對前所未有的挑戰。

系列首部劇場版由原作者日向夏撰寫全新劇情，導演則由第一季監督、第二季總監督的長沼範裕擔綱，公開的超級前導視覺圖中，描繪了神情堅定的貓貓，其眼中映著燃燒般的光芒，搭配標語「在那雙眼中搖曳的，是極致的謎團」，暗示著劇情將揭開全新謎題。

此外，自 2025 年 3 月東京特展《藥師少女的獨語》展覽將巡迴亞洲，首站為 香港（2025 年 11 月 2 日至 2026 年 1 月 11 日），之後將前往中國、曼谷、台北、吉隆坡等地。亞洲巡展將增設限定展區並公開專屬視覺圖，帶領粉絲沉浸在藥與謎的世界中。


title: 「最辣菇農」新片尺度大開！當眾掀衣抽出內在美粉絲暴動

content_text:
▲Mika近日在IG發布掀衣短片，大方秀出「內在美」，影片隨即引發全網瘋傳。 （圖／翻攝自Instagram／mikanaka9999）

記者楊庭蒝／綜合報導

以火辣身材與甜美外型聞名的泰國知名網紅兼DJ Mika（本名Niparat konyai），因時常分享在自家菇園工作的性感照片，被粉絲封為「最辣菇農」，在社群媒體上坐擁超過376萬粉絲，人氣極高。近日，她再度因發布的火辣Reels成為網路熱議焦點。

在這幾支新發布的影片中，Mika穿著寬鬆上衣與熱褲，隨著音樂節奏搖擺，接著突然掀起外衣，甚至抽出「內在美」對著鏡頭展示，大方展現自信與性感魅力。影片一出，隨即吸引大批粉絲朝聖，並在網路上被瘋狂轉發。

事實上，Mika的本業是一名DJ，但由於家中經營香菇農園，她閒暇時常會親自到菇寮幫忙。她最初便是因為分享在菇寮工作的照片而意外爆紅；據悉，當時她因工作環境炎熱，常穿著輕薄衣物，有時滿身香汗浸透了衣服，反而更凸顯其傲人身材，讓她一夕成名，並獲得「最兇女菇農」的封號。

Mika個性大方，除了DJ工作與推廣自家香菇外，也從不吝嗇在社群上分享清涼美照。她不僅皮膚白皙、身材勻稱，除了正面火辣，更因緊緻的纖腰與臀部線條，被部分粉絲譽為「背殺女神」，每次發文總能成功製造話題。


content_text:
▲《使女的故事》被翻拍成大受好評的同名電視劇。（圖／翻攝自Hulu）

文／朱錦華

加拿大作家兼女權主義者瑪格麗特·愛特伍 (Margaret Atwood)在1985年出版了一本預言性的反烏托邦小說：《使女的故事》(The Handmaid's Tale)。它不但預言了塔利班（或譯神學士）的興起和掌權（阿富汗的塔利班在1994年才崛起），對照美國今天的政情發展，其相似度更讓人不寒而慄。

故事描述在不久的未來，一個名為「雅各之子」(Sons of Jacob）的激進政治團體發動攻擊、殺死了美國總統和大部分國會議員後，利用神權意識形態發動革命，成立了「基列共和國」(Republic of Gilead)。這個軍事獨裁政權接著透過對《聖經舊約》的特殊解讀，建構了「基本教義派」的統治基礎及重組社會階級。在這個軍事化、階級森嚴的神權統治模式裡，最高統治者是一群被稱為「司令官」（Commanders．或譯主教）的人。

▲《使女的故事》作者瑪格麗特．愛特伍是加拿大國寶級作家。（圖／達志影像／美聯社）

而婦女權利遭到大幅度的剝奪和限制，淪為最底層階級：不准擁有金錢或財產、也不准接受讀或寫的教育；甚至淪為高官們生孩子的工具。上述種種，是不是跟塔利班統治下的社會很像？故事中的未來社會由於輻射和環境污染，嚴重影響了女性的生育。少數還能夠懷孕生育的女性遂被集中起來，稱為「使女」(Handmaid)。她們分別被指派到各個「司令」的府中，在其不能生育的髮妻的監督下「行房」，旨在為其繁衍後代。

這本小說之所以讓人不寒而慄，在於它非但精準預言了後來塔利班政權成立後、其統治下女性的命運，更遙遙呼應川普統治下美國社會的走向。2021年1月6日發生的「美國國會山莊暴動案」讓人們餘悸猶存。

▲2018年，伊莉莎白摩斯憑《使女的故事》獲金球獎劇情類最佳女主角獎。（圖／達志影像／美聯社）

而當今共和黨掌政下的美國，採取強烈的保守主義施政方針：禁止婦女墮胎、反多元性別平權、反移民、反宗教多元化。協助川普奪權的「2025年總統過渡計劃」(2025 Presidential Transition Project)，目前更是在逐步進行中（包括大幅裁減聯邦政府人員、派國民警衛隊進駐民主黨執政的各州「平亂」）。瑪格麗特·愛特伍預言的「基列共和國」，在美國誕生的可能性似乎已經越來越高。

《使女的故事》出版後獲獎無數，包括1986年的英國「布克獎」。它也被改編成廣播劇、歌劇和舞台劇。1990年被拍成電影（台灣譯名《世紀滴血》）。2017年被拍成同名電視劇（總共6季），並且多次獲得艾美獎和金球獎。

countries: 美國 台灣 英國 加拿大 阿富汗

title: 國際火線／美國變成塔利班國家：使女的故事會預言成真？


title: 「看見家鄉　照亮家鄉eye幸福」永續豐年影展成果發表會周末上場

content_text:
▲「看見家鄉．永續豐年」影展暨成果發表會即將舉行。（圖／台灣看見家鄉推廣教育協會提供）

記者吳銘峯／台北報導

由「台灣看見家鄉推廣教育協會」持續推動的「看見家鄉．永續豐年」計畫，今年邁入第九年，並於本週六（25日）舉辦影展暨成果發表會，共計10部蘊含深厚「情緒價值」的家鄉紀錄片登台首度亮相，歡迎各界共襄盛舉。

「看見家鄉」計畫自2017年啟動，2021年由台灣看見家鄉推廣教育協會持續推動。帶領學童操作空拍機，掌握另一項說故事工具，並注入人文關懷與思考，向全民傳遞家鄉價值。本計畫由教育部資訊及科技教育司指導，獲得永豐金控、永豐銀行、財團法人聯華電子科技文教基金會、財團法人瑞儀教育基金會、台北市華朋扶輪社等企業贊助。至今已產出78部影片，培育311位小導演，吸引超過200位青年隊輔加入，實作時數達6,000小時以上。

今年以「照亮家鄉eye幸福」為主軸，透過7所基地學校和3組回流小導演的鏡頭，記錄台灣這片土地的故事，傳遞濃厚的家鄉情感，累積屬於家鄉的幸福。該計畫透過專業導演與青年隊輔的陪伴，引領孩子重新靠近熟悉卻常被忽略的土地。

從空拍機掠過田野的視角，到相機捕捉街巷裡的日常，小導演們用鏡頭訴說自己家鄉的故事，拿著簡單的攝影器材，用最真誠的眼光記錄家鄉的細節。不只傳承地方文化，也開始思索環境的未來，讓土地的故事得以延續。

最引人矚目是在發表會將特別放映《看見家鄉的旅程》紀錄片，該作品完整記錄計畫推動初期辛苦動人的歷程，串連孩子的影像心聲，深刻展現「愛家鄉」的情感力量與教育意涵。本次發表會將於本周六上午10點，於永豐金控中崙大樓3樓表演廳舉行。