title: Deterring Taiwan conflict a priority: US

content_text:
STAYING ALERT:  China this week deployed its largest maritime show of force to date in the region, prompting concern in Taipei and Tokyo, which Beijing has brushed off

Deterring conflict over Taiwan is a priority, the White House said in its National Security Strategy published yesterday, which also called on Japan and South Korea to increase their defense spending to help protect the first island chain.

Taiwan is strategically positioned between Northeast and Southeast Asia, and provides direct access to the second island chain, with one-third of global shipping passing through the South China Sea, the report said.

Given the implications for the US economy, along with Taiwan’s dominance in semiconductors, “deterring a conflict over Taiwan, ideally by preserving military overmatch, is a priority,” it said.

However, the strategy also reiterated Washington’s decades-long policy that the US “does not support any unilateral change to the status quo.”

It continued to urge for more support from its allies, calling for US diplomatic efforts to focus on pressuring its partners in the first island chain to grant the US military greater access to their facilities and spend more on defense.

Deterrence is necessary to protect Taiwan and keep the South China Sea open, both of which are in the US’ best interests, the report said.

“This will require not just further investment in our military — especially naval — capabilities, but also strong cooperation with every nation that stands to suffer, from India to Japan and beyond, if this problem is not addressed,” it said.

The strategy said Japan and South Korea should increase their defense spending, with a focus on deterrence and protecting the first island chain.

As for Taiwan and Australia, it said the US would continue its “determined rhetoric on increased defense spending.”

In other news, Taiwan and Japan yesterday voiced concerns over Chinese military activities in the region, after Reuters reported that Beijing had deployed a large number of vessels across East Asian waters this week, in its largest maritime show of force to date.

Reuters on Thursday reported that China was deploying a large number of naval and coast guard ships across East Asian waters — at one point more than 100 — citing sources and intelligence reports.

Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) told reporters that the Chinese activity stretched from the Yellow Sea down through waters near the disputed Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) in the East China Sea, and into the South China Sea and the western Pacific.

“This indeed poses a threat and impact to the Indo-Pacific and the whole region,” she said. “We also especially call on China to live up to its responsibilities as a major power and to exercise restraint in its actions.”

Kuo said President William Lai (賴清德) had instructed the military to maintain full situational awareness and provide timely updates.

Taiwan would keep close contact and cooperation with unspecified “friendly partners” to jointly safeguard peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region, she said.

Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi said Tokyo was aware of the reports and was watching Chinese military movements “with great attention,” but declined to comment on deployment.

“China has been expanding and stepping up its military activities in the areas surrounding Japan, and we make a constant effort to gather and analyze information on Chinese military movements with great attention,” Koizumi said. “In any event, the government will continue to monitor developments around Japan with deep concern and will make every effort to ensure thorough information gathering and surveillance.”

China’s military has not commented, but Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Lin Jian (林劍) said navy and coast guard activities in “relevant maritime areas” adhered strictly to domestic and international law.

“There is no need for any party to overreact, overinterpret or engage in baseless speculation,” he said.

November and December are traditionally a busy season for Chinese military exercises, although the Chinese People’s Liberation Army has not made any announcements of large-scale officially named drills.

The operations exceed China’s mass naval deployment in December last year that prompted Taiwan to raise its alert level, the sources said.


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By Chang Wen-chuan and Fion Khan / Staff reporter, with staff writer and CNA

The Supreme Court yesterday upheld the jail sentences for four former servicemembers who were found guilty of passing information to Chinese intelligence in exchange for bribes totaling NT$1.84 million (US$58,865).

In the final verdict, Lai Chung-yu (賴重宇) was sentenced to seven years in prison, Li Yu-erh (黎育爾) received six years and seven months, Chen Wen-hao (陳文豪) six years and five months, and Lin Yu-kai (林裕凱) five years and 10 months.

Lai, Li and Lin were assigned to the 211th Military Police Battalion, which guards the Presidential Office Building, while Chen served in the Ministry of National Defense’s Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command.

From left, former servicemembers Li Yu-erh, Chen Wen-hao and Lai Chung-yu are led while in custody on Dec. 6 last year. Photo: Wang Ting-chuan, Taipei Times

The four men betrayed the nation after years of training and service in highly sensitive roles, the Supreme Court said.

They took bribes from Chinese intelligence in exchange for internal information from the Presidential Office and the military, and endangered national security, it added.

Lai and Chen began passing information to Chinese intelligence in April 2022, while they were still in the military, the indictment said.

They were allegedly recruited and paid by a Taiwanese man surnamed Huang (黃), who remains at large.

Initially, Chen was the one taking photographs of internal documents, which Lai then handed to Huang or a Chinese operative, the indictment said.

Lai later also photographed documents himself, but was caught and reassigned, it added.

After getting transferred, Lai recruited Li to photograph documents, the indictment said, adding that Li passed the task on to Lin before retiring in February last year.

Prosecutors estimated Lai received NT$460,000, while Chen, Li and Lin got NT$450,000, NT$664,100 and NT$265,900 respectively.

All illegal proceeds were confiscated, and all four men confessed during the investigation and trial.

The High Court in August handed them prison terms ranging from five years and 10 months to seven years for bribery, breach of duty and leaking confidential government documents under the National Security Act (國家安全法).

The Supreme Court upheld the verdicts, which are final.

Lin withdrew his appeal during the Supreme Court proceedings and was transferred to prison to begin serving his term.

Lai, Li and Chen are in custody, and are expected to be moved to prison soon.

title: Court upholds ex-soldiers’ prison terms in spy case


title: Semiconductor market to rise 11% on AI boom: IDC

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LANDSCAPE CHANGE: By 2029, China could overtake Taiwan’s market share in the foundry sector, given Beijing’s heavy subsidies for chips, an analyst said

The global semiconductor market is expected to expand at least 11 percent annually to US$890 billion next year, as significant artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure investments continue to drive demand for AI accelerators, power management chips and other chips for AI devices, International Data Corp (IDC) said yesterday.

There is a slim chance that the AI bubble would burst next year, as the world’s major cloud service providers (CSP) plan to continue spending heftily on AI infrastructure buildup over the next two years, IDC senior semiconductor research manager Galen Zeng (曾冠瑋) said yesterday.

“The risk of seeing that occur in 2026 is very low,” Zeng said. “The AI infrastructure deployment is limited by energy availability.”

International Data Corp senior semiconductor research manager Galen Zeng speaks at a news briefing in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Lisa Wang, Taipei Times

The CSP companies would factor in the availability of energy resources before making orders, Zeng said, adding that they would not squander the outlay only on chips.

Foundry service providers are expected to grow 20 percent year-on-year next year, outpacing the overall semiconductor industry and becoming one of the biggest beneficiaries of the AI boom, he said.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest chip foundry and a major chip supplier to Nvidia Corp, is projected to expand its revenue by 22 percent to 26 percent next year, Zeng said.

To cope with strong AI chip demand, TSMC is also expected to boost its capital expenditure to between US$48 billion and US$50 billion next year, primarily focused on boosting 3-nanometer, 2-nanometer and advanced chip packaging capacities, in Taiwan and in the US, he said.

That would represent a 20 percent increase from TSMC’s capital expenditure budget this year of between US$40 billion and US$42 billion.

To mitigate supply constraints, TSMC would also likely dramatically expand its advanced chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) capacity by more than 66 percent next year to 1.1 million wafers a year from 660,000 wafers this year, IDC said.

However, that would not fully resolve the supply scarcity, as more than half of the CoWoS capacity is expected to be consumed by Nvidia, it said.

IDC said it expects mounting geopolitical risks to drive a major landscape change in the foundry segment, with China overtaking Taiwan as the world’s biggest foundry service provider by 2029.

China could expand its foundry market share to 37 percent by that time, benefiting from the Chinese government’s heavy subsidies for the chip industry, which aims to increase semiconductor sufficiency, Zeng said, adding that he estimates Chinese chipmakers to see a compound annual growth rate of 9.8 percent in capacity during the 2025-2029 period, mostly in mature process technologies.

Taiwan is expected to seize a 35 percent market share, with a capacity increase of 2.8 percent, as local chipmakers are diversifying their production overseas in the US, Japan and Europe, IDC said.


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Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday held talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at an annual summit and agreed to diversify mutual economic ties, as the US presses India to revise its decades-old partnership with Russia.

The 23rd Russia-India Summit comes at a pivotal moment, as the US pushes for a Ukraine peace deal while seeking global cooperation.

After the talks, Putin and Modi announced that India and Russia have finalized an economic cooperation program until 2030, which would help diversify mutual businesses to boost annual trade to US$100 billion by 2030.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi shake hands before a meeting at Hyderabad House in New Delhi yesterday. Photo: Mikhail Tereshchenko, Sputnik, EPA

They also emphasized strong energy ties.

Bilateral trade between the two countries was US$68.7 billion in the fiscal year which ended in March, with trade heavily skewed in favor of Russia and deep deficits for India, which it is looking to bridge by pushing exports.

Putin said work is underway on an agreement for India to establish a free-trade zone with the Eurasian Economic Union, a Moscow-dominated economic grouping of several former Soviet nations, adding that it could help increase trade.

“Russia is a reliable supplier of energy resources and everything necessary for the development of India’s energy sector,” Putin said. “We are ready to continue ensuring the uninterrupted supply of fuel for the rapidly growing Indian economy.”

Modi said the two countries would work toward early conclusion of a free-trade agreement with the Eurasian Economic Union, and announced that India would soon start issuing free electronic visas for Russian tourists and groups visiting the country.

Energy security has long anchored India-Russia ties, with civil nuclear cooperation spanning decades, Modi said, adding that such cooperation would continue, alongside collaboration in clean energy, shipbuilding, fertilizers and labor mobility.

Indian officials earlier said that Modi would push for faster delivery of two further Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile systems. It has already received three under a 2018 deal worth about US$5.4 billion. The delay has been tied to supply chain disruptions linked to the war in Ukraine.

India is also expecting to upgrade its Russian-made Su-30MKI fighter jets and accelerate deliveries of military hardware.

India is keen to increase exports of pharmaceuticals, agriculture and textiles to Russia, and is seeking the removal of non-tariff barrier as well as long-term supplies of fertilizers from Moscow.

Another key area where the two countries hoped to finalize an agreement is the safety and regulation of migration of Indian skilled workers to Russia.

title: Putin, Modi announce deeper ties amid US pressure


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The Pentagon said Thursday it has endorsed the tripartite AUKUS security pact with the United Kingdom and Australia, which would involve Canberra’s acquisition of at least three Virginia-class nuclear submarines within 15 years.

The administration of US President Donald Trump said earlier this year it was reviewing a 2021 deal for the nuclear-powered attack subs signed under his presidential predecessor Joe Biden.

The Department of Defense completed its five-month review, which endorsed the AUKUS agreement and determined it is "in alignment with President Trump’s

The Pentagon is seen on Sunday, Aug. 27, 2023, in Washington. Photo: AP

America First agenda," Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement.

"Consistent with President Trump’s guidance that AUKUS should move ’full steam ahead,’ the review identified opportunities to put AUKUS on the strongest possible footing."

Congressman Joe Courtney, the top Democrat on a US House subcommittee on sea power, said the review’s completion assures that the pact’s "framework is aligned with our country’s national security interest."

"With its completion, it is important to note that the 2021 AUKUS agreement has now survived three changes of government in all three nations and still stands strong."

Courtney is a vocal champion of AUKUS in Congress, and represents a Connecticut district that is home to the primary submarine manufacturing facility in the United States.

The AUKUS pact aims to arm Australia with a fleet of cutting-edge submarines from the United States and would provide for cooperation in developing an array of warfare technologies.

The submarines, the sale of which will begin in 2032, lie at the heart of Australia’s strategy of improving its long-range strike capabilities in the Pacific, particularly against China.

The deal could cost Canberra up to US$235 billion over the next 30 years, and also includes the technology to build its own vessels in the future.

Australia’s defense industry minister, Pat Conroy, said yesterday he was pleased the US review had confirmed that AUKUS was "full steam ahead."

"We’ll engage constructively with its findings and its recommendations on how to improve AUKUS even further."

Conroy said it was up to Washington to decide whether to release the document publicly.

"We’re working through the review right now, and we’ve said publicly over the last two years where we can improve delivery, improve performance of AUKUS, we will do that."

Australia had a major bust-up with France in 2021 when it canceled a multi-billion-dollar deal to buy a fleet of diesel-powered submarines from Paris and go with the AUKUS program instead.

In related news, Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles will travel to Japan today to meet his counterpart, Shinjiro Koizumi, and discuss deepening defence ties, his office said yesterday.

Australia wanted to engage early with the new government of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, Australian officials said, noting the two countries had a "shared vision for our region" and were working to respond to increasingly complex global challenges.

"Our relationship with Japan continues to grow from strength to strength – underpinned by close strategic alignment, mutual ambition and enormous potential," Marles said in a statement ahead of the two-day visit.

Japan and China are in their worst diplomatic crisis in years, after Takaichi said last month in parliament that a hypothetical Chinese attack on democratically governed Taiwan could trigger a military response from Tokyo.

Australia awarded a A$10 billion (US$6.5 billion) contract to Japanese company Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in August to build warships for Australia, marking Tokyo’s most consequential defence sale since ending a military export ban in 2014 as it steps away from postwar pacifism.

Marles is scheduled to visit the company’s shipyard in Nagasaki, southern Japan, Koizumi said.

Australia plans to deploy the Mogami-class frigates to defend critical maritime trade routes and its northern approaches in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, where China’s military footprint is expanding.

"At this meeting, we plan to share the understanding of the regional situation between the two countries and hold concrete discussions for further progress in Japan-Australia defence cooperation," Koizumi told a regularly scheduled press conference.

Marles is expected to travel next week to Washington, to meet with the US and British defence ministers and discuss the AUKUS nuclear powered submarine partnership.

title: Pentagon confirms submarine sales to Australia


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PROBLEMATIC APP:  Citing more than 1,000 fraud cases, the government is taking the app down for a year, but opposition voices are calling it censorship

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday decried a government plan to suspend access to Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu (小紅書) for one year as censorship, while the Presidential Office backed the plan.

The Ministry of the Interior on Thursday cited security risks and accusations that the Instagram-like app, known as Rednote in English, had figured in more than 1,700 fraud cases since last year.

The company, which has about 3 million users in Taiwan, has not yet responded to requests for comment.

A photo illustration shows a woman holding her smartphone displaying the Chinese social networking and e-commerce app Xiaohongshu, also known as RedNote, in Beijing on January 15, 2025. Photo: AFP

“Many people online are already asking ‘How to climb over the firewall to access Xiaohongshu,’” Cheng posted on social media.

Employing an expression from China about use of virtual private networks to skirt the country’s pervasive online censorship, Cheng said banning the app was a major restriction of Internet freedom.

This “only makes us lament that Taiwan’s long-prized Internet freedom and freedom of speech have already been restricted and strangled by the Democratic Progressive Party in the name of national security,” Cheng added.

Xiaohongshu saw a surge of US users in January as expectations grew that the similarly

Chinese-owned app TikTok could be banned, a risk averted by a divestiture plan.

Taiwan has repeatedly warned people of the dangers of using Chinese apps, mostly due to the risk of disinformation from Beijing.

The ministry said it did not get a response from Xiaohongshu when the government contacted it asking for concrete measures to ensure data safety.

Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) yesterday said the ministry had offered a prompt explanation about the fraud and security risks.

“We respect the ministry’s decision and express our support,” she told reporters.

Later yesterday, the Executive Yuan said it supports regulatory measures to prevent fraud.

Xiaohongshu failed to cooperate with investigations and improve its practices, and is outside Taiwan’s jurisdiction, making investigation difficult, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) said through a media group.

Article 42 of the amended Fraud Crime Hazard Prevention Act (詐欺犯罪危害防制條例) allows authorities to “order Internet access service providers to suspend analysis or restrict access when they consider it necessary,” she added.

Taiwan has complained that China has targeted Taiwanese to spread disinformation and undermine public trust by using Western social media it has banned domestically.

In October, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office launched a Facebook page using traditional Chinese characters.

It was quickly spammed by Internet users who posted Taiwanese flags and poked fun at China’s official censorship.

Additional reporting by Kayleigh Madjar

title: KMT cries censorship as government bans Rednote


title: Defensively diversify energy options: panel

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Taiwan should pursue cooperation with Washington to forge supply chains and expand energy storage capacity in its quest to reinforce energy resilience, a panel of Taiwanese and US experts said in Washington on Thursday.

They made the comments at a seminar on enhancing Taiwan’s energy resilience hosted by US think tank the Atlantic Council.

The ability to sustain electricity production and energy shipments amid hostile actions are key components to resilience, they said.

Solar panels are pictured in Pingtung County in an undated photograph. Photo courtesy of the Pingtung County Government

Atlantic Council senior fellow Joseph Webster called for a rotating team of US government personnel to advise Taiwan on energy resilience in connection with humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, cybersecurity and physical security.

The joint energy resilience task force could draw from the US Department of Energy, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission and national labs, taking pains to reduce the publicity surrounding its work if necessary, he said.

“The US should prefer substantive support for Taiwan over showy displays and emphasis on China policy,” Webster said. “But at the same time, the US should not shy away from upsetting Beijing.”

Taiwan imports virtually all petroleum products via predictable maritime routes and the nation’s strategically key northern region — the seat of government and home to 40 percent of the population — is not self-sufficient in energy, Webster said.

Electricity sufficiency for the northern region of Taiwan requires diversifying energy sources and expanding its supply, he said.

This means building up energy reserves and investing in nuclear, oil and solar energy according to the differing needs and conditions of each region, Webster said.

Taiwan has done a commendable effort in increasing defense spending, and buying US arms, agricultural products and energy exports, he said.

Protecting national security might require Taiwan to look beyond conventional military capabilities, he said.

Liu Tsai-ying (呂采穎), director of the Energy Resilience Program at the Taiwan-based Research Institute for Democracy, Science and Emerging Technology, said Beijing could use maritime maneuvers to exhaust Taiwan’s energy stockpile.

Taiwan could begin to mitigate the impact of a Chinese blockade on energy shipments by increasing logistical flexibility, including making use of cargo swapping with Japan, South Korea and other trustworthy allies, she said.

Building power storage systems and transforming the energy structure would help Taiwan harden its energy infrastructure, Liu said, adding that coal and renewables could provide 80 percent of the nation’s essential energy needs, assuming conservation and rationing.

Additionally, Taiwan must address vulnerabilities stemming from its overly centralized power systems by dispersing critical cyber and physical nodes, she said.


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Japan’s representative at the UN issued a rebuttal against the latest Chinese letter to the UN, as a spat between the two nations over Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comments on Taiwan continues to simmer.

“The assertions contained therein are inconsistent with the facts, unsubstantiated and are categorically unacceptable,” Japanese Ambassador to the UN Kazuyuki Yamazaki wrote, referring to a letter submitted by China on Monday that accused Japan of violating UN values and provoking China.

“Japan has consistently respected and adhered to international law, including the UN Charter, and has actively contributed to maintaining and strengthening a free and open international order underpinned by the rule of law,” Yamazaki wrote in the letter addressed to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi speaks during a press conference after the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Gyeongju, South Korea, November 1, 2025. Photo: Reuters

The letter follows on from China’s second missive to the UN complaining about Japan after Takaichi last month said that a Chinese attack on Taiwan could mean a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, implying that Tokyo could deploy its military with other nations in that scenario.

In its most recent letter to the UN, China said Takaichi’s remarks “openly challenge the victorious outcomes of World War II and the postwar international order, and constitute a serious violation of the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations.”

The letter accused Japan of harboring ambitions to “expand its military capabilities and revive militarism.”

Japan has denied such accusations and said that its position on Taiwan has remained consistent.

Beijing has sought a retraction of the comments, but Takaichi has refused to do so.

Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara reiterated that there was no change to Japan’s position on the matter when asked for comment yesterday morning.

“Japan’s stance, including the recent exchanges in parliament, has been consistent and we have repeatedly conveyed this to China,” he said, adding that Japan would continue to “respond appropriately.”

As ties remain strained, the Japanese embassy in Beijing yesterday urged Japanese residents to be cautious ahead of China’s annual memorial for the Nanjing Massacre on Saturday next week.

The notice warned that anti-Japanese sentiment often rises around sensitive historical dates, and advised residents to keep a low profile and respect local customs.

Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday told Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association Chairman Sumi Shuzo that Taiwan is “moved” and grateful for Takaichi’s support for cross-strait peace, calling her remarks a reflection of justice despite external pressure.

“Japan believes that differences of views should be addressed through dialogue, for that is at the core of the spirit of the UN Charter,” the Japanese letter to the UN said. “Japan will continue to respond calmly through dialogue.”

title: Japan rebuts Chinese letter to UN


title: Premier says Japanese artists could sell out shows here

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Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday said Taiwanese fans would deliver “one sold-out show after another” for Japanese performers facing a backlash in China after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi suggested Tokyo could intervene if Taiwan were attacked.

“Prime Minister Takaichi’s deeply moving remarks reflect the Japanese government and its people’s commitment to justice and peace despite tremendous pressure,” Cho said during a meeting with Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association chairman Shuzo Sumi in Taipei.

Takaichi’s remarks sparked a salvo of retaliatory measures by Beijing, including discouraging tourism to Japan, suspending some Japanese seafood imports, and pressuring organizers to cancel or disrupt concerts in China by Japanese performers, including singers Ayumi Hamasaki and Maki Otsuki.

Premier Cho Jung-tai, right, exchanges a gift with Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association head Shuzo Sumi in Taipei yesterday. Photo: CNA

Cho said the situation had prompted a shift in destinations among Taiwanese travelers, with many choosing Japan in support.

He said that the show of solidarity extended to Japanese entertainers, adding that performers targeted by China could expect a rapturous reception and sold-out shows in Taiwan.

Sumi said that at the 49th Taiwan-Japan Economic and Trade Conference on Thursday, the two sides had signed a memorandum of understanding on regional customs cooperation and a digital trade agreement, advancing bilateral cooperation.

He added that he was attending a Taiwan-Japan Third Market Business Cooperation Forum later in the day, which aimed to forge partnerships between Taiwanese and Japanese businesses to jointly tap into foreign markets.


title: Executive Yuan will not bow to pressure: Premier

people: 賴士葆 鍾佳濱 卓榮泰

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The Executive Yuan would not be pressured to implement any resolutions that go against legislative procedures or ethics, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday in response to the legislature rejecting a reconsideration of fiscal planning amendments.

The opposition parties used their combined majority to reject the reconsideration requested on Thursday last week and uphold the original legislation by 59 to 50 votes.

The legislature passed amendments to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法) on Nov. 14, which the Cabinet said would be difficult — if not impossible — to implement.

Staffers tally votes on a Cabinet proposal to reconsider amendments at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times

The amendments would impair the central government’s ability to adjust subsidies to local governments, exceed the annual borrowing ceiling and hinder the smooth implementation of central government policies, the Cabinet said.

Party caucuses agreed to review the request yesterday, but did not invite Cho to explain the Cabinet’s reasoning, instead designating one representative from each caucus to speak.

Speaking to reporters before a firefighters’ awards ceremony, Cho said that this outcome was predictable, as the Legislative Yuan did not invite the Cabinet to report on the request.

Some recent situations in the legislature — such as sending bills directly to a second reading and forcing a vote, or reviewing reconsiderations without reports or questioning — are aimed at preventing people from seeing what bills they are trying to pass, he said.

The Cabinet’s report would explain the errors in the amendments so that people are clear on the issues, and questioning would make the dispute more understandable, Cho said.

During yesterday’s review of the request, Democratic Progressive Party caucus chief executive Chung Chia-pin (鍾佳濱) said that the opposition has pushed through three flawed amendments to the fiscal planning act.

Cho warned the legislature in March that last year’s amendments were problematic, but last month’s amendments repeated the same mistakes, Chung said.

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆) accused Cho of requesting a reconsideration every time the legislature passes a bill he does not like.

He has filed the most reconsiderations of any premier — the eighth in just over a year — yet has failed each time, Lai said.

Treating reconsiderations as a mere game shows the arrogance of the Cabinet and its disregard for legislative power, he added.

This is the time to set things right and defend local government subsidies, which the Executive Yuan has unlawfully slashed by more than NT$200 billion (US$6.4 billion), Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Chang Chi-kai (張?楷) said, adding that the opposition parties aim to recover this funding.


title: Taiwan expanding home dialysis: Lai

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KIDNEY DISEASE: Taiwan has shifted its focus from treatment to prevention and aims to raise home dialysis prevalence to 18% by 2035, the president told a nephrology congress

With the rising prevalence of kidney disease, Taiwan is taking steps to address this health challenge, from prevention to integrated care, including a goal to raise the prevalence of home dialysis to 18 percent by 2035, President William Lai (賴清德) said at the opening of the Asian Pacific Congress of Nephrology yesterday.

Taiwan is hosting the event again after 25 years, Lai said, with the theme of this year’s congress being “Link the Future Kidney Health with GIVE.”

“As a nephrologist myself, I know that kidney health is one of the pillars of health and happiness for our people,” he added.

President William Lai speaks at the opening of the Asian Pacific Congress of Nephrology in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times

This year’s theme calls “addressing kidney health issues from the perspectives of genetics, immunology, vast data analytics, metabolic science and sustainability ... and for scientific results to be transformed into safeguards for people’s health,” the president said.

Taiwan has achieved significant clinical and research results in nephrology, and has worked closely with the Asian Pacific Society of Nephrology and the International Society of Nephrology to share “Taiwan’s experience in dialysis quality, integrated care for chronic kidney disease and cooperation across specialties,” Lai said.

As Taiwan shifts its focus from treatment to prevention, the government has provided free exams for adults and encouraged early screening, he said.

Last year, it also launched the 888 Program for the prevention and treatment of the three highs — hyperlipidemia, hyperglycemia and hypertension — which are known causes of chronic kidney disease, Lai said.

The program aims to enroll 80 percent of people with the “three highs” in the nation’s care network by encouraging health screenings, provide 80 percent of the people in the care network with personalized lifestyle consultations on managing their own health, and ensure that these 80 percent achieve stable control of their conditions and improve their health by integrating digital tools that helps doctors assess and adjust their health management plans, the Ministry of Health and Welfare has said.

Furthermore, the government in March approved an increase in National Health Insurance (NHI) payouts for sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitors for people with chronic kidney disease in hopes of reducing the disease incidence rate or delaying its progression, Lai said.

These efforts are showing progress, with the age-standardized incidence rate of dialysis dropping from 318 per million people in 2005 to 290 per million in 2022, he said.

Growth rates for patient visits and medical expenditure are also on the decline, he added.

Lai also touted the publication of the Taiwan Home Dialysis White Paper for 2026 to 2035 — a joint collaboration of the Taiwan Society of Nephorology, the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the International Society for Peritoneal Dialysis — that aims to integrate medical care into homes and communities.

The goal is to enable more patients to safely receive dialysis at home to enhance their quality of Life, Lai said, adding that the aim is to raise home dialysis prevalence to 18 percent by 2035.

Saying that he believed “a healthier Taiwan can drive a healthier Asia-Pacific,” the president expressed the hope that the nation could “deepen engagement with other countries in research, clinical practice and policy” and that it could become “a key force for promoting kidney health in the region ... and work together to make greater contributions to global health.”

Meanwhile, Minister of Health and Welfare Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) said that while the incident rate for renal disease has dropped, given Taiwan’s aging population, the number of people on dialysis would not drop immediately and could still rise.

Taiwan has for several years the world’s highest dialysis rate per 10,000 people, Shih said, adding that with more than 900,000 people with chronic kidney disease and more than 90,000 receiving dialysis treatment, annual medical expenditure runs to about NT$50 billion (US$1.6 billion).

Preventive measures, such as increased screening rates, are being adopted to initiate early treatment and reduce or even avoid the need for dialysis, Shih said.

NHI payouts for drugs to treat diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol are world class, he said.

The government is also stepping up digital education so that the public can take care of themselves instead of solely relying on medical treatment, Shih said.

Additional reporting by Pao Hui-min


title: Kaohsiung mayor furious over tilapia test tampering

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VERIFICATION:  Subsequent tests of the same batch of tilapia fillets by multiple agencies found that they did not contain contaminants and fully met safety standards

Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) yesterday demanded accountability from local health authorities after data tampering by a staff member produced false-positive drug test results in tilapia fillets, prompting a mass recall.

Speaking to reporters, Chen apologized to supermarket chain PX Mart and tilapia farmers for the serious oversight, saying it stemmed from a research assistant at the city’s Department of Health failing to follow standard operating procedures.

“Such a mistake is completely unacceptable,” he added.

Earlier this week, the department said it had issued a recall order on Nov. 27 for a product named “Taiwan tilapia fillets” with an expiration date of Sept. 16, 2027, after samples were found to contain enrofloxacin, a bactericide legally permitted in Taiwan for animal use, but not approved for aquatic products.

PX Mart later reported that more than 13,000 packs of the frozen tilapia fillets had already been sold across the nation, but efforts to remove the remaining stock from shelves nationwide were ongoing.

The department said that the 29-year-old research assistant — surnamed Chen (陳) — was responsible for conducting and interpreting the sample tests.

For unknown reasons, she altered the instrument’s settings during sampling, amplifying enrofloxacin values 10-fold and producing exaggerated results, it said.

The testing process relies on fixed procedures, calculation formulas and reaction times, meaning a single incorrect setting can significantly affect the outcome, department Deputy Director-General Pan Chao-ying (潘炤穎) said.

The assistant resigned from the department on Nov. 4, he added.

The Kaohsiung Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Corps said that the woman was questioned on Thursday night and admitted to improperly handling test procedures, including adjusting the instrument’s values.

She was released early yesterday morning.

Prosecutors said they would continue gathering evidence to determine whether her actions were deliberate or due to negligence.

Separately yesterday, Kouhu Fisheries, a Yunlin County-based cooperative that supplied the product to PX Mart, told a news conference that the recall of 120,000 packs has already caused more than NT$12 million (US$383,902) in losses.

Kouhu Fisheries said it would seek compensation only after the total amount of losses is confirmed and, for now, would not pursue government compensation or legal action.

The incident sparked public panic and all of its tilapia products had to be pulled from shelves, which seriously affected its reputation, Kouhu Fisheries general manager Wang Yi-feng (王益豐) said.

He reiterated that the batch in question has since been retested by multiple agencies, and found to contain no contaminants and to fully meet safety standards.


content_text:
Ban on household kitchen waste for pigs from Jan. 1

Starting on Jan. 1, household leftovers may not be fed to pigs in line with the policy of “raising pigs without kitchen waste” by 2027, the Ministry of Environment (MOENV) said yesterday, while black pig farmers launched a campaign to stop collecting kitchen waste until the end of this year.

The Cabinet on Thursday approved the policy to ban feeding pigs kitchen waste by the end of next year to reduce the threat of African swine fever following a controlled outbreak in October.

Minister of Agriculture Chen Junne-jih (陳駿季) on Thursday said that only 8 percent of pigs nationwide are raised on feed.

Pig farms would have to replace kitchen waste with feed to raise pigs within the next year, while local governments could roll out a local ban within the period if they consider it feasible in their respective administrative area, he said.

Regarding the increase in costs due to shifting to feed, Chen said that black pigs require about a year to reach maturity, while white pigs need only 180 days.

Black pigs are known to have better texture and are priced higher than white pigs, accounting for 12.7 percent of all pigs nationwide in 2019, Ministry of Agriculture data showed.

Most black pig farmers are unwilling to replace kitchen waste with feed given the higher costs, but newly developed high-protein feed could increase production efficiency by reducing the rearing period, Chen said, adding that his ministry would help market black pig brands to raise their prices and help hog raisers cope with increased costs.

To align with the policy, the MOENV yesterday said it would first ban feeding pigs leftovers from households or food stands from Jan. 1, while kitchen waste from other places, such as restaurants, schools, supermarkets or food processing plants, would still be allowed next year.

About 1,100 tonnes of the 1,384 tonnes per day of kitchen waste banned from being fed to pigs would be processed into fertilizer or biomass fuel from next year, while the other 284 tonnes would be incinerated or buried, it said.

The total capacity of kitchen waste recycling and repurposing facilities is expected to be raised to 2,119 tonnes per day by the end of 2027, which would be sufficient to process all leftovers from households or food stands, the MOENV added.

All pig farmers would be required to install a system using artificial intelligence to monitor farm temperatures and situations in real-time, while their kitchen waste vehicles must all be equipped with GPS, it said, adding that legislation on the issue would be completed by the end of this year.

Meanwhile, about 200 black pig farmers yesterday attended a meeting of the New Taipei City Swine Association to discuss the new policy.

They decided to immediately stop collecting kitchen waste until the end of this year and let the government handle the extra leftovers.

Association president Huang Ching-wen (黃靖文) said that raising black pigs on feed instead of kitchen waste would not only results in a more than 10-fold increase in costs, but would also change the flavor of black pork.

Many black pig farmers have invested millions in kitchen waste steaming equipment, and are willing to install real-time monitoring equipment as required by the government, he said.

The government should not implement the ban simply because of the African swine fever case identified at a white pig farm, Huang said.

The permanent ban on feeding pigs kitchen waste is unacceptable and unfair to law-abiding black pig farmers, who account for 8 percent of all pig farmers nationwide and would be seriously affected by the policy, he said.


title: Heating plastic releases carcinogens: study

content_text:
By Yang Mien-chiech and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writer

A Taiwanese study revealed that heating common food packaging could release hundreds of millions of potentially carcinogenic microplastic particles, raising troubling questions about food safety standards.

National Taiwan University professor of occupational medicine Cheng Tsun-jen (鄭尊仁) on Thursday said that he launched the research as the head of a Taiwanese team to confirm a recent study in Canada suggesting that heat could trigger the release of minute plastic particles.

The observation is concerning, as plasticine products are widely found in various food containers and lining materials, he said.

Plastic food containers are pictured in a trash bag on Sept. 19, 2021. Photo: Lo Chi, Taipei Times

The team was able to confirm that commonly utilized plastic vessels emit nanoscopic plastic particles after being heated, and that tube-feeding these substances to lab mice causes cancer, Cheng said.

Examination of the mice showed that the microplastics can spread to organs throughout the body, resulting in changes in gut microbiota, oxidative stress and inflammation, he said.

Microplastics in the liver were linked to changes to enzymatic changes, an increase in sugar and triglyceride levels, and liver diseases including fibrosis and tumors, Cheng said.

Researchers also observed changes in the synapses of the central nervous systems of older mice that had been fed microplastics, he said.

The findings suggest that plastic particles could have a negative health impact on humans, but more evidence is needed to confirm the hypothesis, Cheng said.

The team discovered traces of microplastics in the feces of all 50 young Taiwanese volunteers in the study, showing that ingestion of the substance is widespread, he said.

National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences director Chen Pau-chung (陳保中) said the study has increased the uncertainty in an already murky area for public health.

There is no reliable definition for single-use and reusable plastics, or guidance on their safe utilization, he said, adding that the public is urged to minimize exposure to such products as much as possible.


title: Carrefour selling Meinong’s white water snowflakes

content_text:
White water snowflakes cultivated along the habitat of pheasant-tailed jacanas for ecological restoration in Meinong Lake (美濃湖) hit the shelves of Carrefour Taiwan’s 63 wholesale stores nationwide yesterday.

The Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency has been collaborating with the Kaohsiung City Government to promote the Payment of Ecosystem Services scheme since 2021, agency official Wang Chao-hua (汪昭華) told a news conference yesterday.

While white water snowflakes are classified as a critically endangered plant species in Taiwan, pheasant-tailed jacanas are listed as a rare and valuable bird species, she said, citing the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species and the Act on Wildlife Conservation (野生動物保育法) respectively.

Pheasant-tailed jacanas protect their nest at Meinong Lake in Kaohsiung in an undated photograph. Photo courtesy of a Meinong Lake volunteer

Under the program, agricultural workers based in the city’s Meinong District (美濃) reserved spaces as the bird’s habitat while cultivating the plant as a cash crop at the lake, Wang said.

The number of pheasant-tailed jacanas dropped to about 50 nationwide in 2000, but through restoration efforts over the years, the number has climbed to nearly 10,000, Kaohsiung Wild Bird Society president Chuang Ching-fu (莊清富) said.

The conservation of the bird in the district started in 2017, when a small population was identified, and ecological workers Huang Shu-mei (黃淑玫) and Liu Hsiao-shen (劉孝伸) volunteered their pensions and raised funds from local residents to build an artificial habitat around the lake, Chuang said.

In 2021, the Kaohsiung Tourism Bureau helped expand the habitat, making it a foothold for conservation of pheasant-tailed jacanas, he said.

As the population grew bigger, more and more pheasant-tailed jacanas flew to nearby white water snowflake farms and built nests at the lake, Chuang said.

The society persuaded local farm workers to postpone harvesting white water snowflakes where there were nestlings, while the agency’s scheme compensated partly for the incurred financial loss, he said.

Although the financial loss cannot be fully offset by such subsidies, many farm workers continued to cooperate and some of them donated the subsidies to the association to aid conservation efforts, Chuang said.

Carrefour Taiwan Foundation chief sustainability officer Marilyn Su (蘇小真) said the company is committed to making traceable food products accessible to people at affordable prices.

The company also seeks to promote sustainability by combining agricultural products with Taiwanese lifestyles, such as Taiwanese egg pancake with white water snowflakes, she said.

In other news, Carrefour Taiwan on Monday said it has discontinued the sale of cage-reared eggs at all its stores in Taipei and aims to expand the policy to all its stores nationwide by October next year.

Carrefour Taiwan’s shift to cage-free eggs began in 2017, when large numbers of eggs containing excessive levels of the insecticide fipronil sparked food safety concerns, Su said on Monday.

It took the company eight years to increase its revenue from cage-free eggs from 4 percent of all eggs in 2018 to more than 30 percent this year, she said.


content_text:
A leopard cat was spotted in Alishan Township (阿里山) for the first time in 31 years, marking the highest altitude at which sightings of the locally endangered species have been documented, the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency’s Chiayi branch reported last month.

Infrared cameras set up in the state-owned forests around Lijia Village (里佳部落) in Chiayi County’s Alishan Township earlier this month caught a leopard cat at an altitude of 1,752m, it said.

That marked a record-high altitude at which sightings of leopard cats have been documented, the branch said.

A leopard cat is captured by a wildlife camera in Nantou County in an undated photograph. Photo courtesy of the Nantou County Government

It was also the first sighting of a leopard cat in Alishan since 1994, it said.

The cameras were set up by the branch in collaboration with the Tsou Hunters Association and the National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, originally to monitor the distribution of Formosan black bears in the township, it said.

Previous leopard cat sighting records in the county include one in Jhongpu Township (中埔) in 2018 and another at the Chiayi interchange of Freeway No. 1, it said.

The leopard cat was caught on camera upstream near the Zengwen River (曾文溪), while another leopard cat had been spotted at a floodplain downstream of the river in July 2023, it said.

The connection showed that the Zengwen River conservation corridor of the National Ecological Network is significant in linking habitats and that rivers are important corridors for wildlife activities, it said.

In other news, the branch’s renovation of Alishan’s Tefuye Historic Trail (特富野古道) on Nov. 21 won the Engineering Sustainability and Environmental Aesthetics Award from the Chinese Institute of Civil and Hydraulic Engineering.

The trail is part of the Mountains to Sea Greenway — which connects the Jianan Plain (嘉南平原) to Alishan — and has become a friendship trail of Canada’s Bruce Trail, the branch said.

The Tefuye Historic Trail’s 13 bridges were all renovated to ensure visitors’ safety, with a focus on the coexistence of the trail, natural landscapes and ecological conservation, it said.

The project began in June 2022 and was completed in September 2023 at a cost of more than NT$24 million (US$767,803), branch director Lee Ting-chung (李定忠) said.

Additional reporting by CNA

taiwan-subdivisions: 中埔 阿里山

title: Alishan reports first leopard cat sighting in 31 years


title: China Airlines allows crew to wear framed glasses

content_text:
China Airlines (CAL) yesterday said it has started to allow cabin crew to wear framed glasses on duty, while Tigerair Taiwan also announced plans to adopt a similar policy.

In a statement, CAL said that cabin crew may now wear framed glasses to improve comfort on long-haul services across multiple time zones.

Approved glasses must be simple and single-colored, with metal or rimless frames and clear lenses.

China Airlines cabin crew members wear framed glasses at a press event yesterday. Photo courtesy of China Airlines

Crew members are also required to carry a spare pair to ensure duties can be carried out effectively, the airline said.

Previously, CAL rules permitted only contact lenses for nearsighted crew members, primarily for aesthetic reasons.

CAL added that it is also reviewing whether to allow cabin crew to wear casual athletic shoes on duty to reduce foot strain from long periods of standing and walking.

Separately, Tigerair Taiwan yesterday said it would soon allow its cabin crew to wear glasses on duty to improve comfort, although it did not specify when the change would take effect.

The airline said it has also launched a new uniform project that is to be unveiled when it takes delivery of its A321neo fleet.

Meanwhile, Taiwanese carrier EVA Airways said its cabin crew are allowed to wear framed glasses on duty if they are unable to wear contact lenses due to eye conditions.

Since May 1, 2023, EVA Air has allowed its cabin crew to choose comfortable shoes suited to their individual needs, provided the heel height is at least 2.5cm.


title: Still going strong

content_text: The South Gate along the historic Hengchun City Wall in Pingtung County is lit up last night in a test for today’s celebration of the old town’s 150th anniversary and the opening of the Hengchun Cultural Center Theater.


content_text: Worshipers stand around a palanquin bearing the statue of Baishatun Matsu yesterday, in front of the Kaohsiung Fishermen’s Association. Miaoli County’s Baishatun Gongtian Matsu Temple agreed to take part in the 313th anniversary of Gangshan Matsu Temple.

title: Religious devotion


title: Field test

content_text: Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Tseng Hsien-ying, left, and Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an, center, test out a robot built by Taipei students for a combat event at Taipei City Hall yesterday.


content_text:
FOOD PRICES RISE: Despite easing headline inflation, prices for consumer staples climbed 2.76 percent from a year earlier, increasing for the sixth consecutive month

The consumer price index (CPI) rose 1.23 percent last month from a year earlier, the lowest rate of increase in 56 months as easing international crude oil and commodity prices along with stable weather helped contain food prices, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday.

The reading has been below the central bank’s 2 percent target for seven consecutive months, theoretically giving policymakers room to lower interest rates.

However, the central bank is widely expected to keep policy unchanged at its board meeting next week, given projections that Taiwan’s stronger-than-expected GDP growth of more than 7 percent this year would lower the need for monetary easing.

DGBAS official Tsao Chih-hung (曹志弘) said that although egg and pork prices posted sizeable annual increases, the effect was offset by greater vegetable supply and slower growth in rents.

Inflation this month is likely to be below 1.5 percent, as last year’s vegetable prices were elevated by bad weather, creating a high comparison base.

Core CPI — the central bank’s favored measure of underlying inflation as it excludes volatile food and energy prices — this month is expected to stay near last month’s 1.72 percent annual increase, Tsao said.

Despite easing headline inflation, prices for key consumer staples climbed 2.76 percent from a year earlier, rising for the sixth consecutive month and hitting a 21-month high, he said.

Egg prices surged 15.33 percent, the fastest pace in nearly 31 months, due to weather effects and a low base last year, while pork prices increased 8.7 percent, slower than October, but still elevated, he said.

Meanwhile, prices of more than 60 percent of items in the CPI basket increased, Tsao said.

Dining-out costs have risen more than 3 percent for each of the past 13 months, contributing to the public’s perception of persistent inflation, he said.

By category, food, housing, medical care and miscellaneous goods all posted modest annual increases, he said.

Housing costs inched up due to rents and electricity fees, while medical and personal services also had mild gains, he said.

Transportation and communications remained the main source of deflation, with falling global oil prices pushing fuel and vehicle costs down, despite higher maintenance expenses and train fares, he said.

Overall, most categories showed only limited increases, reinforcing the view that price pressures are softening, Tsao said, citing the rental component, which rose 2.02 percent, the smallest gain in 27 months.

Tsao attributed the slowdown to softer property prices filtering into the rental market, easing the upward pressure created by consumer prices, maintenance costs and home prices.

Separately, the producer price index (PPI) fell 2.8 percent last month from a year earlier, dragged down by lower prices for agricultural products, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, petroleum and basic metals, the DGBAS said.

For the first 11 months of this year, the CPI grew 1.69 percent, while the PPI declined 1.79 percent, the agency added.

title: CPI up 1.23%, rate hits 56-month low


title: Hon Hai revenue increases 25.53%

content_text:
ONE UP, ONE DOWN: Largan said revenue last month fell 11.8% from a year earlier, while Qisda Co said that it is targeting growth in its medical business next year

Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), which assembles servers for Nvidia Corp, yesterday said that revenue last month rose 25.53 percent year-on-year, driven by growth in cloud and networking products amid continued front-loading of orders for artificial intelligence (AI) server racks.

Consolidated revenue expanded to NT$844.3 billion (US$27.01 billion) last month from NT$672.59 billion a year earlier, marking the highest ever for November, the company said in a statement.

Hon Hai attributed last month’s revenue growth to robust sales at its cloud and networking businesses amid rapid growth in server rack shipments.

Revenue from its computing division fell from a year earlier, affected by a shift in ordering patterns, it said.

The firm, which is also a major iPhone assembler, said that its electronic components division reported robust revenue growth last month, boosted by front-loading momentum from customers of its core business.

Sales in the smart consumer electronics division were flat from a year earlier, as rising front-loading momentum was partly offset by fluctuations in foreign exchange rates, it said.

Revenue in the first 11 months of this year totaled NT$7.24 trillion, a 16.63 percent increase from the same period last year, it said.

Revenue growth is expected to accelerate this month, as order visibility has improved from last month, the information and communications technology industry has entered its peak season, and the company continues to ramp up AI server rack shipments, Hon Hai said.

Overall performance this quarter is roughly in line with market expectations, but global political and economic conditions, as well as exchange rate fluctuations still need to be monitored, it said.

Separately, handset camera lens maker Largan Precision Co (大立光) said that its revenue last month fell 11.8 percent to NT$5.3 billion from NT$6.02 billion a year earlier.

The figure was down 15.3 percent from NT$6.26 billion the previous month, Largan said in a statement.

Revenue in the first 11 months of the year rose 3 percent from a year earlier to NT$55.51 billion, the company said.

Shipments last month were led by 10-megapixel lenses, which accounted for 50 to 60 percent of total volume, followed by high-end lenses above 20 megapixels at 10 to 20 percent, other products at 20 to 30 percent and 8-megapixel lenses at less than 10 percent, Largan said.

Shipments this month are expected to be flat from last month, it said.

Meanwhile, Qisda Co (佳世達) said it is targeting healthy year-on-year revenue growth in its medical business next year, driven by greater contributions from its hemodialysis operations, overseas expansion in China and Southeast Asia, and increased channel sales following its acquisition of drugstore chain TinTin (丁丁藥局) last year.

Qisda last month reported that third-quarter revenue from its medical business rose 15 percent year-on-year to NT$22.3 billion.

Revenue from its medical business is expected to be about NT$30 billion this year, with growth momentum likely to extend into next year, mainly driven by demand from China’s hemodialysis market, Qisda chairman Peter Chen (陳其宏) said on the sidelines of the Healthcare+ Expo in Taipei.

As the company has long invested in the sector in Taiwan and China, it expects a major takeoff next year and is optimistic about the division’s revenue contribution, Chen said, adding that momentum next year is also expected to be generated by the TinTin acquisition last year.


content_text:
The US government plans to take more equity stakes in critical minerals companies, a White House official said on Thursday, calling the once-rare move necessary to counter China’s dominance in the raw materials used in everything from semiconductors to MRI machines.

“I think they’re the norm from our perspective,” US National Energy Dominance Council executive director Jarrod Agen said at a forum in Washington. “There is a broad scope of different companies who are coming to us. They’re making the right case.”

Critical minerals such as gallium and cobalt are used in products ranging from iPhones to industrial magnets. They are also vital for defense systems, including missile guidance, radar and jet engines, as well as batteries and other technologies.

US President Donald Trump attends a ceremony at the US Institute of Peace in Washington on Thursday. Photo: AFP

Over the past year, the administration of US President Donald Trump has spent more than US$1 billion to take stakes in critical minerals and mining companies.

Among the deals are US$400 million in exchange for a 15 percent stake in MP Materials Corp, with the deal announced in July, US$670 million in exchange for a stake in magnet producer Vulcan Elements Inc and US$35.6 million for a 10 percent stake in Canadian minerals explorer Trilogy Metals Inc.

The Trump administration in September announced that it was acquiring a stake in Lithium Americas Corp, which is developing the largest lithium deposit in the country, as part of a deal to restructure a US$2.23 billion loan that the Canadian company held with the US Department of Energy.

Agen, in a brief interview, declined to specify what company could be next.

The strategy of investing taxpayer dollars in companies that the administration has deemed essential to national security comes as the US’ reliance on China for the crucial materials has become a flash point in a trade dispute.

Beijing responded to US export restrictions by curbing shipments of rare earths, a move that briefly disrupted global supplies before China eased the limits after Washington lifted its countermeasures.

“We’re literally buying equity, getting equity in companies to give the backing of the US, because that’s the only way we’re going to catch up with China on these things,” Agen said in his remarks at the American Growth Summit, which was sponsored by companies such as Citigroup Inc and Nvidia Corp.

“They know the government is backing us,” he said. “No one wants to mess with President Trump and so we can actually get the materials.”

title: US plans more stakes in critical mineral companies


content_text:
OpenAI has partnered with Australian data center operator NextDC Ltd to build a A$7 billion (US$4.6 billion) large-scale computing cluster in Sydney, accelerating its expansion in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region.

The new data center is part of a broader artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure partnership between the two companies, NextDC said yesterday.

NextDC’s stock price yesterday soared as much as 11 percent.

The OpenAI logo is pictured in an arranged photograph taken on May 20 last year. Photo: Reuters

The project, slated to get up and running by the second half of 2027, comes as OpenAI is launching its first office in Australia and the country pushes forward with its sovereign AI efforts.

OpenAI chief executive officer Sam Altman is broadening the San Francisco-based firm’s reach, targeting companies and governments across the planet as its rivalry with Alphabet Inc’s Google, Meta Platforms Inc and others intensifies.

Australia is emerging as a regional hot spot for data centers, attracting investment alongside the growing adoption of AI services.

“The momentum that Australia has when it comes to AI” drove the firm’s investment decision, OpenAI chief strategy officer Jason Kwon told reporters in Sydney.

The center would have “some of the most sophisticated architecture and infrastructure for AI models in all the APAC region,” he said.

Shares of NextDC closed 3.1 percent higher in Sydney trading, valuing it at about A$9 billion.

OpenAI and NextDC are to collaborate on the planning, development and operation of a “next-generation hyperscale AI campus and large-scale GPU supercluster” in Sydney’s Eastern Creek, about 45km west of the city center. The facility would serve OpenAI clients including Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Wesfarmers Ltd, Canva and Virgin Australia.

The Australian government welcomed the project, which is expected to create thousands of direct and indirect jobs while it is being developed, as well as ongoing technical, manufacturing, engineering and operational roles.

The data center “will demonstrate that Australia can be a leader in digital infrastructure and artificial intelligence,” NextDC chief executive officer Craig Scroggie said.

Australia is drawing AI investment from other global contenders. Blackstone Inc bought Sydney-based data center operator AirTrunk for A$24 billion last year, Amazon.com Inc has announced plans to invest A$20 billion to expand its Australian infrastructure by 2029 and Microsoft Corp in 2023 said it plans to invest A$5 billion to expand its data center portfolio in the country.

The country’s deployable capacity is to more than double to 3.1 gigawatts by 2030 from 1.35 gigawatts last year, consultancy Mandala said, estimating additional investment of more than A$26 billion over the period.

The Australian government this month released a framework for a national AI roadmap — boosting investment, expanding infrastructure and skills, and embedding AI across public services.

title: OpenAI and NextDC outline plans for Sydney data center


content_text:
India’s central bank cuts rate, says it is open to further cuts

India’s central bank yesterday lowered its benchmark interest rate for the first time in six months and signaled that it is open to further easing, predicting inflation would remain relatively low even as the economy continues to boom.

The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) six-member monetary policy committee voted unanimously to cut the repurchase rate by 25 basis points to 5.25, in line with the forecasts of most economists surveyed by Bloomberg.

The policy stance was retained at neutral.

Reserve Bank of India Governor Sanjay Malhotra attends a news conference at the bank’s headquarters in Mumbai yesterday. Photo: AFP

RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra said that inflation at a record low and growth above 8 percent mean India was in a “rare Goldilocks period.”

Inflation is expected to remain relatively muted, while the economy is proving resilient in the face of high US tariffs, giving policymakers scope to ease.

“The growth-inflation balance, especially the benign inflation outlook on both headline and core, continues to provide the policy space to support the growth momentum,” Malhotra said in a televised speech.

At a news conference later, he said that “going forward, we expect benign inflation and so if inflation continues to be the way it is, we expect the policy rates to be low and not high.”

Yesterday’s decision was one of the more challenging for the RBI in the past few months. Several economists had predicted that the central bank would keep rates unchanged this week after strong economic growth data and the rupee’s plunge to a record low this week.

The currency is down almost 5 percent against the US dollar this year, the worst performer in Asia, largely because of the slump in exports after US President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on Indian goods of 50 percent.

“The governor’s comments show that the RBI has kept the door open for more policy action,” said Madhavi Arora, an economist at Emkay Global Financial Services. “This is dovish commentary.”

The rupee erased all gains made during an early trading session yesterday and was steady at 90.01 per US dollar as of 2:40pm.

India’s sovereign 10-year bonds rose, with the yields falling as much as 6 basis points to 6.45 percent, after the RBI also announced steps to inject about US$16 billion into the banking system through bond purchases and a foreign exchange swap.

Inflation weakened to 0.25 percent in October, well below the central bank’s 4 percent target, prompting the RBI to lower its forecast for the fiscal year through March to 2 percent from 2.6 percent.

The RBI raised its growth projection for the period to 7.3 percent from 6.8 percent previously.

“Despite an unfavorable and challenging external environment, the Indian economy has shown remarkable resilience,” Malhotra said.

“The headroom provided by the inflation outlook has allowed us to remain growth supportive,” he added.


title: Toys galore

content_text: A woman looks at Marvel figures at Tokyo Comic Con at Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan, yesterday. The three-day convention is open to the public until tomorrow.


content_text:
The Chiayi District Court last week sentenced an Indonesian caregiver to six months in prison for abandoning a patient.

Cicih Nurhayati, who was employed as a live-in caregiver to a man surnamed Lin (林), left the residence in the middle of the night in September 2021, leaving Lin — whose chronic conditions make it impossible for him to survive on his own — alone in the home.

She was indicted for abandoning a helpless person in contravention of her contractual duties.

The incident should draw attention to a broader issue: Taiwan’s growing population of migrant workers, especially live-in caregivers, face a system rife with flaws that often push them to flee their posts.

Taiwan has more than 820,000 migrant workers, who play crucial roles in the industrial and care sectors. Yet the number of cases of migrant workers running away are increasing. As of November last year, more than 90,000 were unaccounted for — roughly 11 percent of the total migrant workforce.

The data represent not only a social and economic strain on families, employers and the broader labor system, but also the consequences of insufficient protections for migrant workers. The decision to run away is often driven by low wages, harsh conditions and limited avenues to seek help. This is exacerbated by those seeking to profit from the vulnerabilities.

The National Immigration Agency in October dismantled an illegal labor brokerage in Taichung that recruited absconded migrant workers and visa overstayers for odd jobs and skimmed their wages.

Illicit networks like the one in Taichung exploit systemic gaps, funneling migrant workers into illegal jobs, and trapping them in cycles of debt, fear and exploitation. Nowhere are these problems more acute than among migrant caregivers, whose circumstances tend to differ sharply from those in the industrial sector.

Domestic work is not covered in the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法), leaving caregivers without minimum-wage protections or standardized work conditions. Many caregivers, nearly all of them women, live with their employers and work an average of 10 hours a day without regular days off.

Abuse by family members of employers — whether physical, psychological or sexual — is not uncommon and is rarely reported. Caregivers are often pressured into quietly settling disputes.

Meanwhile, high recruitment fees and dependence on labor brokers restrict the mobility and bargaining power of workers, putting even more pressure on them not to report abuse, quit or return home early. For caregivers living and working under such conditions, running away might seem like the only avenue of escape.

However, employers of migrant caregivers do not have it easy, either. Families relying on live-in caregivers often operate on tight budgets and have few alternatives if their caregiver disappears. When caregivers take time off, family members usually have to provide the care themselves.

Additionally, employers are barred from immediately replacing runaway caregivers. Amendments to the Employment Service Act (就業服務法) in 2023 shortened the wait period to one month, but that is still a long time to provide full-time care, especially for family members with regular jobs.

While families are technically eligible to apply for temporary respite care when a caregiver disappears, the support is far from sufficient. Most local governments only offer short, single-day sessions, and the system is chronically understaffed and underfunded.

The exact details of Cicih Nurhayati’s working conditions and relationship with her employer are not fully known, but it was confirmed that she was denied leave prior to abandoning her post. It is fortunate that the incident did not result in immediate medical harm, but the government should nonetheless view her case as a warning — Taiwan’s domestic care system is in urgent need of reform.

Migrant caregivers deserve enforceable labor protections, standardized contracts and accessible, impartial complaint channels. Likewise, families who rely on live-in caregivers need reliable support systems to fall back on when their caregivers need time off.

Taiwan’s elderly population is growing rapidly, as is its dependence on migrant caregivers. The problem is not going away. The government cannot continue to ease hiring restrictions and expect the long list of systemic flaws to resolve itself. If legislative action is not taken soon, the already strained system would become even more untenable — and migrant caregivers and the families who rely on them would continue to bear the consequences.

title: EDITORIAL: Care worker system needs fixing


title: Beware of China stealing bases

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The inaugural Chinese Professional Baseball (CPB) season is to open on Jan. 1. In the CPB’s introduction to the league on its social media page, it called Taiwan a “Chinese province.” What should purely be about sports has been twisted into a tool for China’s “united front” work.

The CPB’s name in English closely resembles that of Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League and the visual design of its Web site features Taipei 101. The CPB says that baseball — which starts and ends at home plate — is a sport about “returning home,” an apparent reference to “national unification.”

China is using “united front” codes or team formation regulations to construct a “one China” image, as well as luring investors from Taiwan by leveraging baseball’s commercial aspects.

The government should implement clear countermeasures, so Taiwanese enterprises can avoid becoming tools of “united front” work. If Taiwanese companies are sponsoring CPB teams, they should ensure that national security is safeguarded and not allow themselves to be manipulated by Beijing into becoming a political tool.

China’s “united front” work has increased in the sports sector, even reaching grassroots levels to target students in Taiwan. Through generous subsidies and career development, it aims to lure Taiwanese sports talent to China, ostensibly fostering an atmosphere of “sports is sports” that blurs national identity.

Chinese media have promoted the plan, calling on the two sides to construct their “baseball dream” together, while inviting Taiwanese baseball stars to “return home” and join the “motherland’s teams.”

It seems that no effort has gone into disguising the political nature of the maneuvers. The goal is clearly to hollow out Taiwanese baseball through sports cooperation.

The government should not take this matter lightly.

Wen Shun-te is the principal of a high school in Taichung.

Translated by Eddy Chang


title: Watching the quiet dance of Trump

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Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi lit a fuse the moment she declared that trouble for Taiwan means trouble for Japan. Beijing roared, Tokyo braced and like a plot twist nobody expected that early in the story, US President Donald Trump suddenly picked up the phone to talk to her.

For a man who normally prefers to keep Asia guessing, the move itself was striking.

What followed was even more intriguing. No one outside the room knows the exact phrasing, the tone or the diplomatic eyebrow raises exchanged, but the broad takeaway circulating among people familiar with the call was this: Trump did not try to yank her away from her position, yet he did nudge the conversation toward “dialing things down a notch.”

That subtle shift matters — not because it changes Japan’s policy, but because it exposes Trump’s deep reluctance to plant a firm flag on anything Taiwan-related right now.

The reluctance is not random. It is part of a pattern. If Trump’s first administration was marked by loud, fiery confrontations with Beijing — especially after the COVID-19 pandemic upended the global order — his political comeback has been the opposite.

His instinct today is transactional, not ideological. In Trump’s worldview, China is less a hostile rival to contain and more a massive bargaining partner holding the keys to economic wins he desperately wants to claim.

That is precisely why his careful silence on Taiwan should worry everyone.

After his latest conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), Trump released a message so polished it might as well have been written by a bored intern with a thesaurus.The usual Trumpian verbal fireworks were gone. Instead, every line read like it had been scrubbed for anything that could accidentally irritate Beijing or complicate his quest for trade concessions.

China has dangled promises — more US farm imports, maybe a loosening on rare earths restrictions — but nothing concrete has landed. Trump wants those wins. Until he gets them, he clearly sees no upside in poking the Taiwan issue with anything sharper than a feather.

Some analysts spin this as a clever strategy: “Deterrence without drama,” or “quiet strength,” but anyone watching US-China dynamics knows that the truth is much simpler.

The two sides are easing into a thaw. Plans for mutual visits are already forming. Business interests on both sides are pushing for calmer waters.

In that environment, Trump’s caution is not some 4D chess move — it is the political equivalent of bubble-wrapping the furniture and hoping that nothing breaks before the deal closes.

That is why the notion that Trump would reliably “stand tough on China” is becoming less persuasive by the day. Could he swing back to confrontation? Of course. He has a history of snapping from warm handshakes to cold hostility when it suits him.

However, such shifts have always been driven by personal political need, not strategic conviction. The first time he broke with Xi, the trigger was domestic: The pandemic wrecked his re-election prospects. If he turns again next year, the trigger will almost certainly be transactional — Beijing not offering enough or demanding something Trump cannot afford to give.

There lies the real danger for Taiwan: The “something” China wants most is rhetorical validation of its narrative. A single phrase from Trump — however symbolic — could send tremors through the region. A leader who prioritizes economic optics over long-term strategy might find such a trade tempting.

Taipei knows this and the conclusion is unavoidable: Being cautious about Trump is not the same as being skeptical of the US. Support for Taiwan among US institutions and alliances, as well as across party lines, remains far steadier than Trump’s moods.

In the end, Takaichi’s comments did more than stir Beijing’s anger. They pulled back the curtain on Trump’s risk-averse calculus. What he is not saying about Taiwan speaks louder than what he ever has — and that silence is its own bright red flag.

Bonnie Yushih Liao is an assistant professor in the Department of Diplomacy and International Relations at Tamkang University.


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The legislature has passed the long-awaited National Health Insurance Data Management Act (全民健康保險資料管理條例), fulfilling the Constitutional Court’s August 2022 order to establish opt-out rights for the use of health records for research purposes.

The law arrived within the court’s three-year deadline and includes penalties for data thieves and misusers. Officials will celebrate this as balancing privacy with research utility.

However, did Taiwan solve the right problem?

The law grants individuals 30 days to opt out of nonmedical uses of their National Health Insurance (NHI) data, with failure to act within the window considered to be consent.

The legislation’s core assumption is that participation in research should be the default and autonomy is satisfied by creating an exit. This raises questions about autonomy.

While the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation permits processing of health data for research, it typically requires either explicit consent or robust public-interest safeguards with independent oversight. Taiwan’s approach treats inertia as authorization, a legal fiction that undermines the informed autonomy that the Constitutional Court sought to protect.

The 30-day window makes the problem acute. In a society where health data governance remains poorly understood, expecting millions of people to navigate bureaucratic opt-out procedures transforms a constitutional right into an administrative hurdle.

Research from other jurisdictions demonstrates that opt-out models depend on the inertia of the public and assume majority willingness to share data — assumptions that erode public trust when tested.

What makes this disappointing is the missed opportunity. The NHI Research Database is extraordinary — covering 99.9 percent of the population and comprising more than 70 billion medical records, it has been used in more than 8,400 peer-reviewed publications and serves as a global model for real-world evidence. The database represents the accumulated health experience of an entire society, a collective asset built through compulsory participation in universal healthcare. Few democracies have such a resource; fewer still have squandered the chance to govern it democratically.

Taiwan could have pioneered a participatory model — one in which individuals could meaningfully opt in to specific research priorities, receive feedback on how their data contributed to discoveries or even help govern the research agenda. Such an approach would have distinguished Taiwan from authoritarian neighbors who treat health data as state property.

The law’s severe penalties address concerns about breaches, but heavy punishments for bad actors do not address whether routine, authorized research access adequately protects individual dignity.

The exceptions are equally telling: Authorities can override opt-out requests when “legally obligated” or to “prevent imminent danger.”

The new law is competent legislation responding to a judicial mandate, but competence is not vision.

As Taiwan positions itself as a leader in digital health research and innovation, it should aspire to more than procedural adequacy. The next reform should ask not whether people can exit the system, but whether they can enter it as partners.

Until then, the nation has complied with the letter of the Constitutional Court’s ruling, while perhaps missing its spirit, which is that in a democracy, the public deserves genuine control over their most intimate information.

Y. Tony Yang is an endowed professor at George Washington University and a visiting professor at National Taiwan University’s College of Law.

title: Health data law lacks vision and democracy


title: [ LETTER ]

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Community preparedness

On Thursday last week, contractors working on a construction project on Danbei Road in New Taipei City’s Tamsui District (淡水) accidentally burst a water pipe, causing a massive water outage affecting about 62,000 homes. Some residents’ homes had no internal water supply for four days. Full service was restored on Tuesday morning.

As Tamsui is one of the areas in New Taipei City with the largest net population inflow in the past few years, the fragility of its water supply is shocking — a single broken pipe paralyzed supply to 62,000 households. With natural disasters so frequent, it is important to establish more robust disaster preparedness and adaptive awareness.

Major cities around the world often find that their infrastructure and risk planning are vulnerable.

Taiwan promotes “whole-of-society resilience,” so the ability of communities to swiftly recover after an incident is pertinent. Beyond holding the government accountable, each member of society should equip themselves with the knowledge to respond to emergencies.

A few weeks ago, the All-Out Defense Mobilization Agency released its updated civil defense handbook, commonly referred to as the “little orange book.”

It appears that the handbook is a must-have reference. Regarding the issue of water, page 4 advises that “each person should have at least 3 liters of drinking water per day.” The page also says that food and water should be stored for pets.

On page 22, the handbook provides information on where to go if the home becomes uninhabitable to ensure a stable supply of meals and water.

The emergency survival kit section on the last page recommends having at least two 0.6l bottles of drinking water on hand at all times.

Although many Tamsui residents were affected by the water outage, a few communities responded immediately.

Upon learning of the outage, their management committees halted nonessential irrigation and quickly arranged for deliveries of water, allowing the communities to get through the crisis safely.

However, other communities went without water supply until early on Saturday morning.

In times of crisis, coordination of information and resource allocation become critical. After Taiwan Water Corp announced the resumption of water supply, some village officials quickly took stock of the status of water stores in their neighborhoods and reported what was needed to local representatives. It was not that no one was able to identify the issues — but rather that the local government failed to properly consolidate the needs.

If the local government had acted more effectively, the impact of the incident could have been mitigated.

These are observations from some Tamsui residents regarding the water outage. Communities that possess adequate crisis awareness and emergency response capabilities are generally better able to weather such difficulties.

Wang Yu-ting

Tamsui, New Taipei City


content_text:
Apart from the first arms sales approval for Taiwan since US President Donald Trump took office, last month also witnessed another milestone for Taiwan-US relations. Trump signed the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act into law on Tuesday. Its passing without objection in the US Senate underscores how bipartisan US support for Taiwan has evolved.The new law would further help normalize exchanges between Taiwanese and US government officials. We have already seen a flurry of visits to Washington earlier this summer, not only with Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍), but also delegations led by National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu

By Rath Wang 王健智

When the towers of Wang Fuk Court turned into a seven-building inferno on Wednesday last week, killing 128 people, including a firefighter, Hong Kong officials promised investigations, pledged to review regulations and within hours issued a plan to replace bamboo scaffolding with steel. It sounded decisive. It was not.The gestures are about political optics, not accountability. The tragedy was not caused by bamboo or by outdated laws. Flame-retardant netting is already required. Under Hong Kong’s Mandatory Building Inspection Scheme — which requires buildings more than 30 years old to undergo inspection every decade and compulsory repairs — the framework for

By John Cheng

title: EDITORIAL CARTOON


content_text:
The world’s factory is transforming into something new, but can China guide its course through turbulent waters?

Another great transformation is underway in China. The world’s factory is fast becoming its first electro-state, with an economy increasingly built on clean energy, artificial intelligence (AI), advanced manufacturing, and control of key strategic materials. This new model is full of promise, but it faces major challenges.

China has established itself as the world’s undisputed leader in clean-tech manufacturing. It controls about 60 percent of all solar, wind and battery-equipment manufacturing capacity, and more than 80 percent of global solar-module output. The scale of these activities has contributed to a sharp decline in costs, with solar-module prices falling by about 80 percent in the past decade.

Reinforcing this dominance, China has gained a stranglehold on rare earths — vital to the manufacture of a wide range of high-tech products, such as electric vehicles, wind turbines and AI-enabled sensors. Today, China controls more than 40 to 50 percent of global rare earths reserves, and almost 70 percent of rare earths production and refinement.

China’s massive investments in strengthening its innovation capacity, particularly in AI, are paying off. China boasts more than half the world’s AI researchers and 70 percent of its AI patents, and has cracked the top 10 in global innovation indices, such as that produced by the World Intellectual Property Organization.

All of this amounts to an astonishing feat of long-term strategic positioning. Every element of the unfolding global economic transition — from the supply of key inputs to the manufacture of high-tech goods to the design and financing of new industrial and energy systems — depends significantly on China. Whether you are the US seeking access to rare earths, or a developing economy in need of clean-energy infrastructure, you turn to China.

At least, that is the plan. As powerful as China might seem as a leading exporter of critical minerals and technologies, its position perpetuates the dependence on external demand from which it has been trying to escape. At a time when rising protectionism and national-security concerns are reshaping global supply chains — often away from Chinese suppliers — this might turn out to be a serious vulnerability.

China’s looming demographic crisis compounds the risks. The working-age population is shrinking, the old-age dependency ratio is rising, and the fertility rate has fallen to well below replacement levels. With fewer workers, income and consumption growth might slow, undercutting the government’s efforts to shift the economy to a consumption-led growth model.

Housing-sector developments do not help matters. Real-estate prices have soared in China, owing to factors like rapid urbanization, local governments’ dependence on land sales for revenue, and robust growth expectations. Housing became the primary mechanism whereby Chinese households increased their wealth.

However, a combination of weak demand, overcapacity and high leverage has caused China’s real-estate sector to tumble, destroying household wealth and eroding consumer confidence. The decline in prices might have resulted in more than 3 trillion yuan (US$424 billion) in foregone household spending since 2021. Add to that slowing productivity growth and high youth unemployment (about 17.5 percent for people aged 16 to 24), and China’s middle class might struggle to serve as the consumer base and innovation engine the country needs.

China has reached an inflection point. It has built the machinery of an innovative, low-carbon industrial economy — one that could lead the global net zero transition and the unfolding AI revolution. If this electro-state is to be sustainable, China must make progress in three critical areas.

First, productivity must increase, not through more robots or factories, but through continued innovation, skills-building, effective management and service-sector upgrading. Research and development (R&D) intensity matters here: a 10 percent increase in R&D expenditure as a share of GDP could deliver a 7 percent boost to manufacturing productivity.

Second, China must find ways to accelerate the economy’s rebalancing toward domestic demand. To this end, efforts must be made to bolster household incomes and wealth, consumer confidence, and job creation, such as by fostering service industries — including care activities such as senior care and healthcare — and shifting labor from manufacturing and real estate into consumption-oriented sectors.

Lastly, China must manage external dependencies wisely. While greater self-reliance is essential, so are strategic partnerships, predictable trade relationships and transparent frameworks for cooperation.

Whatever happens next, the implications for the rest of the world are far-reaching. On the upside, China’s transformation is lowering the cost of renewables, expanding the supply of clean tech, and delivering new infrastructure investment across Asia and Africa. Already, China is playing a critical role in helping developing economies to leap-frog fossil fuel-based systems.

China’s “electro-state” strategy gives it considerable leverage over other countries, which, as its imposition of export restrictions on rare earths showed, it might weaponize. China’s techno-industrial advancement is always going to be viewed through a geostrategic lens. As the country tightens its grip on raw materials and high-tech manufacturing, others must decide whether to double down on cooperation with China, diversify their supply chains away from it, or risk being locked out altogether.

For Hong Kong and the wider Asia-Pacific region, the message is clear: the era of low-cost manufacturing arbitrage is ending, and AI, green infrastructure, and digital hardware are the new frontiers of economic growth and prosperity. With China positioning itself as a supplier, designer and powerhouse of this new economy, countries across Asia and beyond are going to need to adapt, engaging with China, hedging against bottlenecks and reworking their own industrial models.

Ludovic Subran is chief investment officer and chief economist at Allianz.

Copyright: Project Syndicate

title: The future  of China’s ‘electro-state’


title: Aid cuts have shaken HIV/AIDS care to its core

content_text:
Reports highlight the devastating impact of slashed funding, potentially leading to 3.3 million new infections by 2030

In Mozambique, a teenage rape victim sought care at a health clinic only to find it closed. In Zimbabwe, AIDS-related deaths have risen for the first time in five years. In Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), patients with suspected HIV went undiagnosed due to test-kit stocks running out.

Stories of the devastating impact of US, British and wider European aid cuts on the fight against HIV — particularly in sub-Saharan Africa — continue to mount as the year comes to an end, and are set out in a series of reports released in the past week.

US President Donald Trump’s administration abruptly cut all overseas aid spending in January, with only piecemeal restorations to funding since then. Other countries, including the UK, have announced their own cuts. It has been estimated that external health assistance this year would be between 30 and 40 percent lower than it was in 2023.

“The complex ecosystem that sustains HIV services in dozens of low and middle-income countries was shaken to its core,” UNAIDS executive director Winnie Byanyima said.

Without swift action to get services back on track, UNAIDS has predicted there would be 3.3 million more new HIV infections by 2030 than expected. Moreover, while there are signs of recovery, including new domestic funding in some countries, access remains far from universal.

The UN agency’s report found that services working to prevent HIV infections were particularly likely to be donor-funded and are among the hardest hit — with resources limited, treatment for existing patients has been prioritized. In Burundi, for example, the number of people receiving preventive HIV medicines fell by 64 percent.

A separate series of country-level reports from the British charity Frontline AIDS — covering Angola, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe — highlight similar issues.

The full figures will take time to collate, but in some places there are already signs that new HIV cases, or AIDS-related deaths, are rising after years of heading downward.

Many of the gains in the fight against HIV in the past few years have come via the recognition that some groups of people are at higher risk of infection — known as “key populations.” They include men who have sex with men, people who inject drugs, sex workers, transgender people and prison inmates.

In each case, offering services specifically designed around those groups’ needs has borne fruit: For example, LGBTQ+ friendly walk-in clinics can mean access to care for people who stay away from public clinics due to the stigma around HIV.

Many of those clinics and other outreach services have closed, along with swathes of community-led organizations, previously reliant on donor funding. One member of the LGBTQ+ community in Uganda, quoted in the Frontline AIDS country report, said the loss of safe spaces had left them “isolated and exposed ... the mental strain is overwhelming.”

In sub-Saharan Africa, teenage girls and young women are disproportionately affected by HIV, but programs designed specifically for them are another common casualty of the cuts.

In Kenya, activists report that people who can do so are hiding the fact they belong to a key population so as to access care in public clinics safely. They fear this would mean a loss of information on where and how the virus is spreading.

“We are already seeing progress slip backwards,” Frontline AIDS executive director John Plastow said.

However, Plastow also saw the potential for a reset of health policies.

“In several countries, we are seeing the first signs of governments and communities working together to build more sustainable, homegrown HIV responses,” he said.

UNAIDS also said there were signs of hope, with countries including Nigeria, Uganda, Ivory Coast, South Africa and Tanzania all pledging to increase domestic investment.

Moreover, innovations such as new long-acting injectable drugs to prevent infection were “gaining momentum,” it said.

“We know what works — we have the science, tools and proven strategies,” Byanyima said. “What we need now is political courage: investing in communities, in prevention, in innovation and in protecting human rights as the path to end AIDS.”