content_text:
墨新聞｜記者梁偉華／台北報導

助攻式爆料，意外更迅速增加了樂團的知名度。集「最忙碌新人」、「最幸運新人」與「最猛爆一飛沖天新人」多項頭銜於一身的帕拉斯，是橫空出世的怪物新人樂團，專輯發行不到半個月即制霸2025北、中、南跨年演唱會舞台，精彩演出迅速讓首波主打歌曲《下天堂》MV播出二週狂吸睛60萬眼球，突破30萬播放，不愧是被稱之為最幸運的新人樂團帕拉斯。

帕拉斯PALLAS貝斯手漢堡(左起)、主唱FAMA、鼓手大寶、吉他手小葵 照片提供：迷音樂

對於日前網路上掀起的爆料討論，團員表示：「非常感謝當初辛苦製作MV的每一位工作人員們。」團長小葵也說：「除了感謝還是感謝，我們前後忙了快半年，途中被迷音樂看到簽約，接下來尊重公司的決定，對於跟這部MV擦身而過感到遺憾。」而經紀公司「迷音樂」日前也發出聲明稿，成員皆表示一切尊重公司的安排。

帕拉斯PALLAS(前排左起)貝斯手漢堡、吉他手小葵(後排左起)主唱FAMA、鼓手大寶 照片提供：迷音樂

雖然幸運之神眷顧，但成團前經歷各種魔鬼式訓練及自我要求，好不容易被「迷音樂」相中才會發生接二連三的好事與考驗，更在F3、阿信、周杰倫合唱的《恆星不忘 Forever Forever》音樂錄影帶中，飾演青春期的五月天，對於這個月經歷過的一切及台下的每一個掌聲跟尖叫，團員們心懷感謝，也會逼迫自己更進步，絕不讓大家失望。

(前坐者)吉他手小葵(後排左起)主唱FAMA、鼓手大寶、貝斯手漢堡 照片提供：迷音樂

為讓帕拉斯在歌壇闖出好成績，經紀公司下達「禁愛令」， 希望他們專注事業，連同有「新店金城武」美譽的主唱FAMA，全部4名團員皆是光棍，FAMA正色說：「被抓到要繳戀愛稅。」至於金額？小葵嘆，沒細看過合約內容，不曉得違約金，經紀人則在旁棒喝：「我是寫千萬沒錯吧，這樣才能好好限制住他們啊！」

帕拉斯PALLAS(前排左起)貝斯手漢堡、吉他手小葵(後排左起)主唱FAMA、鼓手大寶 照片提供：迷音樂

小葵則笑說：「過陣子我會盧，希望早點放寬。」 由於團員間互動很有愛，默契極佳，媒體打趣詢問，如果是團員之間產生情愫OK嗎？經紀人說若是團內戀愛就沒關係，「這可以接受！」，讓全場笑翻。

帕拉斯PALLAS跨年連趕三場，制霸北中南，把跨年夜變成自己的大型主場，更可說是破了新人團體的紀錄，12/31當日展開極限挑戰的「北中南連趕三場」行程，橫掃新北、台中、台南三大跨年舞台，被樂迷封為名副其實的「跨年王」。發片半個月，出道專輯《下天堂 Falling Down to Heaven》首批二千張已幾乎銷售一空。「迷音樂」正加緊追加生產，抱歉讓歌迷等待。

此篇文章最開始出處為: 帕拉斯 PALLAS 橫空出世 發片半月制霸北中南跨年舞台

title: 帕拉斯 PALLAS 橫空出世 發片半月制霸北中南跨年舞台

taiwan-subdivisions: 金城 新北 新店


title: 綠聯在2026年CES上推出由AI NAS領銜的新智能生態系統

content_text:
從智能存儲到主動式家庭安防，再到先進充電技術，綠聯展現互聯生活的新願景。

拉斯維加斯2026年1月6日 /美通社/ — 全球領先的消費電子品牌綠聯(UGREEN)在2026年國際消費電子展(CES)上發佈其「Activate Smarter Living」（激活智能生活）願景，並推出迄今為止最具雄心的互聯生活產品組合。其亮點包括NASync iDX系列——新一代網絡附屬存儲(NAS)硬件，該硬件將頂級性能與強大的設備端人工智能(AI)相結合，把私人本地智能引入家庭。在進軍智能家庭安防領域方面，綠聯還發佈了SynCare系列，這是該品牌首款專為每個家庭提供智能主動防護的智能家庭安防生態系統，綠聯同時還推出了Nexode Pro 300W桌面充電器，該充電器具備卓越的充電性能、8個接口以及一系列智能功能。

CES參會者可以在拉斯維加斯國際會展中心(LVCC)南廳30025號展位，體驗由綠聯打造的智能家庭生態系統，該品牌全系列產品均在此展出。

NASync iDX6011及iDX6011 Pro：由安全的本地AI驅動的終極私有雲

綠聯憑借iDX6011和iDX6011 Pro這兩款新一代NAS設備，進一步拓展其屢獲殊榮的NASync產品組合。這兩款設備在大幅提升性能的同時，將安全的本地AI引入家庭、工作室及小型企業場景。它們搭載英特爾® 酷睿™ Ultra處理器，配備最高64GB LPDDR5x內存、雙10GbE網絡接口、雙雷電™ 4接口，並支持最高196TB的可擴展存儲容量，可以實現極速數據傳輸與處理、智能文件管理以及企業級安全防護，且全程無需依賴任何雲服務。

搭載新一代設備端智能技術，NASync iDX系列採用完全本地化的AI，助力用戶以自然的方式搜索文件並與文件互動，可以即時定位特定時刻、人臉、物體、文檔及記憶片段。這種AI還能自動整理照片庫、支持離線AI對話，並能在數秒內完成語音筆記的轉錄或摘要生成。關鍵能力包括：

全語義搜索：以您的思維方式而非計算機的方式搜索文件。用戶可以描述概念、場景、想法或記憶片段，系統會即刻檢索出相關文檔、照片、應用內容等。Uliya AI聊天：內置的大語言模型讓用戶能夠就存儲的文件提出自然問題、總結文檔、生成筆記，並完全離線與私有知識庫進行互動。AI相冊：可以識別人臉、動物、物體、場景及文字，隨後根據指令自動分類並檢索對應圖片。只需輸入「爸爸騎自行車」，相關圖片便會立即呈現。語音備忘錄：音頻錄音可以被上傳至設備，並在設備端完成轉錄、翻譯及摘要生成。非常適用於會議、訪談、課堂或家庭記錄場景。AI文件整理：文檔、照片和下載內容在上傳瞬間即可按類型、日期與名稱自動分類，確保所有文件井然有序、清晰明瞭，且可即時檢索。

綠聯SynCare系列：為現實生活打造的智能家庭安防解決方案

推出SynCare標誌著綠聯正式進軍家庭安防領域，其推出的一體化系統將搭載AI增強技術的室內外攝像頭、可視門鈴及中央控制顯示屏整合為單一智能網絡。該系統的核心在於，AI賦予其理解場景並預判需求的能力，強大的物聯網(IoT)連接則構成其支撐骨架。SynCare遠不止於被動記錄，它能夠主動解析事件並作出響應，將家庭監控轉變為敏銳且一體化的守護者。

該生態系統涵蓋一整套先進的攝像頭及接口設備。其中，SynCare室內攝像頭ID500 Pro（4K版）與ID500 Plus（2K版）為核心產品，二者均具備流暢的雲台追蹤功能及多模態AI，可以精準識別人、寵物及關鍵事件。針對戶外場景，SynCare室外攝像頭OD600 Pro具備防風雨特性，採用槍球一體式設計，配備光學變焦功能，支持一周七天全天候不間斷錄製，可以全面監控周邊環境。最後，SynCare可視門鈴DB600 Pro還提供從頭到腳的4K+2K高清視頻，具備智能檢測功能，並能無縫連接本地存儲設備。

所有這些設備均通過SynCare智能顯示屏D500實現互聯，該中央家庭控制中心配備雙頻Wi-Fi、基於應用程序的控制功能及實時事件報告能力，將整個安防體驗集成於一個直觀的界面之中。這一先進的監控系統融合了UltraColor夜視技術與AI多模態識別功能，可以實現接近白晝的清晰度與精準檢測，具備跨攝像頭感知能力及基於智能風險分析的警報功能，並依托綠聯NASync的加密本地存儲技術確保用戶隱私安全，免除雲服務費用及潛在數據洩露風險。

Nexode Pro 300W桌面充電器：為每台設備提供更智能的電力供應

綠聯在CES展會上推出的壓軸產品是Nexode Pro 300W氮化鎵桌面充電器，這是一款專為多設備家庭和工作空間設計的八口桌面充電站。它可以智能地分配電力至所連接的筆記本電腦、平板電腦和手機，確保每台設備都能獲得最佳充電速度與保護。其核心功能包括：三個140W PD 3.1接口，可以為筆記本電腦快速充電；一個專為遊戲本和工作站設計的240W DC（直流電）接口；以及一塊3英吋TFT（薄膜晶體管）顯示屏，可以實時顯示充電狀態。用戶還能從五種智能充電模式中選擇，通過綠聯App監控和調節設置，並依托Thermal Guard熱防護技術實現安全大功率充電。

價格與可售性

iDX系列今天在nas.ugreen.com開啟預售。消費者支付30美元定金預訂，即可享受最高1040美元的優惠。該產品的Kickstarter眾籌活動將於三月正式啟動。

iDX6011 Pro（64GB內存）：售價1559美元（廠商建議零售價2599美元）iDX6011（64GB內存）：售價1199美元（廠商建議零售價1999美元）iDX6011（32GB內存）：售價999美元（廠商建議零售價1699美元）

SynCare系列產品將於2026年下半年上市，Nexode Pro系列產品則將於2026年第二季度左右在www.ugreen.com上發售。

關於綠聯

自2012年以來，綠聯始終致力於為消費者打造技術先進、價格實惠的創新型電子設備及配件。以用戶為中心是該品牌的核心理念，這使其贏得了全球超過2億用戶的信賴。近年來，綠聯不斷拓展到新的創新領域，包括由AI驅動的NAS解決方案，這有助於進一步加強其承諾，即滿足消費者不斷變化的需求。

如需瞭解更多信息，請聯繫：

Gabrielle Wang（北美市場）—電郵：[email protected]Polina Zhang（歐盟市場）—電郵：[email protected]其他地區—電郵：[email protected]

查看更多產品圖片，請訪問：https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1-9QFBSDGEvnUFEzB0JYI6obC3DIE7f_a


people: 賴清德 蕭美琴

title: China’s attitude ‘unacceptable’: MEP

content_text:
EUROPEAN DELEGATION: President William Lai said that the European Parliament’s staunch support for Taiwan sent the message ‘that the virtuous never stand alone’

The military exercises China staged around Taiwan last week were provocative and revealed Beijing’s “unacceptable attitude” that threatens “peaceful coexistence across the Taiwan Strait,” Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Michael Gahler said yesterday.

Alluding to global geopolitical challenges, Gahler said while meeting President William Lai (賴清德) at the Presidential Office in Taipei that “many certainties that we have had over decades seem to be fading away,” without going into detail.

Against this backdrop, Gahler, who chairs the European Taiwan Friendship Group, underlined the importance of the European Parliament and democracies worldwide speaking out about maintaining peace in the Taiwan Strait, a condition Gahler said China has attempted to alter.

President William Lai, right, shakes hands with Member of the European Parliament Michael Gahler at the Presidential Office in Taipei yesterday. Photo courtesy of the Presidential Office

“The Taiwan Strait is an international strait, and it’s good that different countries demonstrate that by sending ships through the Strait and making it clear that we do not accept a unilateral change of the status quo,” said Gahler, who is leading a 10-member group on a six-day visit to Taiwan until Friday.

Gahler said the international community has strongly condemned Beijing’s “belligerent and aggressive posture,” as witnessed in last week’s large-scale military drills in the waters and airspace around Taiwan.

“This is such a provocation and an unacceptable attitude that endangers the peaceful coexistence across the Strait,” he said.

One common challenge facing Taiwan and Europe is the “unlawful and unfriendly” sabotage of undersea communications cables, he said, adding that his delegation exchanged opinions on this issue with Taiwanese officials on Monday.

Lai said that due to China’s incessant military intimidation and harassment of Taiwan, and its coercion through economic and diplomatic avenues, many Taiwanese have embraced the adage of “peace through strength.”

Only by democracies working together can democratic values and the rules-based international order be upheld, he said.

Lai also highlighted progress in Taiwan-Europe interactions, including the Formosa Club holding its annual conference in Taiwan for the first time last year and Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) addressing the European Parliament at the invitation of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China in November last year.

The parliament’s staunch support for Taiwan over the years has “sent the clear message to the international community that the virtuous never stand alone,” he said.

During the trip, the delegation is to meet with representatives of Taiwan’s semiconductor industry, and hold talks with specialists on a range of issues, including countering misinformation and cyberattacks, hybrid security threats, Taiwan-EU economic and trade cooperation, and situations in the Indo-Pacific region and the Taiwan Strait, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said last week.

The delegation is also scheduled to visit outlying Kinmen County, it said.

In addition to Gahler, the delegation includes MEPs Sven Simon, Wouter Beke, Christophe Gomart, Marion Walsmann, Iuliu Winkler, Michal Szczerba and Jan Farsky.

Additional reporting by Kayleigh Madjar


title: Taiwan conflict ‘catastrophic’ for China: US report

content_text:
Conflict with Taiwan could leave China with “massive economic disruption, catastrophic military losses, significant social unrest, and devastating sanctions,” a US think tank said in a report released on Monday.

The German Marshall Fund released a report titled If China Attacks Taiwan: The Consequences for China of “Minor Conflict” and “Major War” Scenarios.

The report details the “massive” economic, military, social and international costs to China in the event of a minor conflict or major war with Taiwan, estimating that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could sustain losses of more than half of its active-duty ground forces, including 100,000 troops.

A Chinese People’s Liberation Army honor guard marches at a welcoming ceremony for Spain’s King Felipe VI at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Nov. 12 last year. Photo: Reuters

Understanding Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) risk calculus is “crucial” to understanding Beijing’s possible actions, it says.

The report was edited by Bonnie Glaser, managing director of the fund’s Indo-Pacific program, and its contributors include Zack Cooper, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

It details how a minor conflict or a major war scenario would affect the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in contingencies expected to occur between this year and 2030.

The report defines a minor conflict as a blockade by Chinese ships and aircraft involving deadly air and maritime confrontations between the PLA and Taiwan, without losses of foreign personnel, concluding with the US intervening to ensure both sides agree to de-escalate the situation.

A “major war” scenario would entail several months of armed conflict resulting in a PLA defeat, although it would establish control of islands in Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, the report says.

That scenario would begin with an amphibious invasion of Taiwan, and involve attacks on US military bases in Japan and Guam, it says.

It would result in losses of 100,000 personnel for the PLA, and 50,000 military and 50,000 civilian casualties for Taiwan, while the US would suffer 5,000 military and 1,000 civilian casualties, and Japan would lose 1,000 military personnel and 500 civilians, the report says.

“The costs to the PRC of a failed military operation against Taiwan would be substantial,” it says.

However, “national humiliation” in the event of a PLA defeat would leave Beijing “strongly tempted to relaunch the war,” it says.

It could also result in military backing for a rival civilian leader or even a coup designed to restore national pride, the report says.

Starting with the economic implications, the paper references estimates by Rhodium of US$2 trillion to US$3 trillion, and Bloomberg of US$10 trillion in economic losses in a limited escalation scenario.

As China’s annual exports account for 20 percent of GDP, compared with 10 percent for the US, any conflict “risks cutting off the country’s only sources of economic growth in the future, leaving its economy entirely dependent on weakening domestic demand,” the report says.

Meanwhile, a war could bring “near-total embargoes on trade with China,” US economic sanctions, major fluctuations in global financial markets and disruption to manufacturing supply chains, and Hong Kong might cease to be a global economic hub, it says.

The international economy could split into three blocs — a larger group of countries aligned with the US, a smaller group of countries aligned with Beijing and a group of countries attempting to remain neutral while continuing to trade with both groups, it says.

A Taiwan contingency could also bring major social unrest and “strain the Chinese Communist Party’s [CCP] ability to maintain internal political order and social control,” particularly if defeated, the report says.

It lists the risks as a loss of legitimacy for the CCP, casualty sensitivity during a demographic decline, political dissatisfaction due to the economic consequences and emboldened ethnic separatist movements that could threaten China’s territorial integrity.

The CCP is preparing by developing an intensive surveillance and internal security apparatus, but it would struggle to maintain control in a major conflict due to material shortages, political disillusionment and population dislocation, the report says.

As for the international costs, a major conflict could set China back “decades on the global stage,” it says.

Global markets could accelerate de-risking, shifting supply chains away from China, while embargoes and sanctions could affect China’s access to imported energy and raw materials, it says.

Nations could respond by withdrawing foreign ambassadors and noncombatants from China, pulling out of the Belt and Road Initiative and withdrawing from organizations such as the BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, it says.

As China holds a veto in the UN Security Council, it is unlikely to be suspended from the UN General Assembly, but it could face condemnation or an International Court of Justice case, the report says.

However, Chinese leaders would likely view the international implications of a minor conflict as “manageable,” it says.

“Deterrence rests on perceptions, rather than reality,” and Chinese leaders are likely to underestimate the effects of a possible conflict and remain undeterred, it says.

China might misjudge Taiwan’s or the US’ capabilities or commitment, underestimate the potential costs of a conflict or could feel that it has “no better alternative” and must achieve “reunification” within a set time frame, the report says.


content_text:
Air Force lauches search for F-16 pilot ejected off Hualien coast

A captain surnamed Hsin (辛) is believed to have ejected from an F-16V (Block 20) single-seat jet about 10 nautical miles (18.5km) east of Fongbin Township (豐濱) in Hualien County during a routine training mission at 7:29pm yesterday, the air force said.

The air force said that it had established an emergency response center and launched a search-and-rescue operation.

The fighter took off from Hualien Air Base at 6:17pm for a routine training mission, the air force said.

A technician works on an F-16 plane at an air force base in Hualien, Taiwan April 8, 2023. Photo: Reuters

The Coast Guard Administration later said that it had dispatched vessels from its northern, eastern and southern fleets to the scene, and had also contacted nearby commercial cargo ships to assist in the search-and-rescue operation.

Vessels from the Sixth (Hualien) Coast Guard Corps were expected to be among the first to reach the site, sources said.

A Black Hawk helicopter from the National Airborne Service Corps had also been deployed to waters off Fongbin to conduct an aerial search, while rescue aircraft had arrived at the target area and a C-130 transport plane had dropped illumination flares to aid nighttime operations, an airborne service official said.

Ocean Affairs Council Minister Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) wrote on Facebook that joint air and sea rescue efforts involving the Ministry of National Defense, the coast guard and airborne rescue teams were under way.

A cargo ship about 6.3 nautical miles from the scene had also been contacted to assist in the operation, Kuan said.

Formosa Television reported that the aircraft’s light source had malfunctioned prior to the pilot ejecting.


content_text:
The Internet is abuzz over the sudden and unexplained removal of most of Taiwanese Hakka singer-songwriter Lin Sheng-hsiang’s (林生祥) works from China-based Web sites over the past three days.

There have been discussions since Sunday regarding the removal of Lin’s music, followed by further discussion on Chinese social media platforms Sina Weibo and Xiaohongshu, known as RedNote in English.

On China’s major music streaming service, NetEase Cloud Music, Lin’s recent work has been removed, leaving only work dating to the early 2000s, when Lin was with other bands.

Hakka singer-songwriter Lin Sheng-hsiang poses for pictures at a news conference in Taipei on Dec. 22, 2021. Photo: Chen Yi-kuan, Taipei Times

Lin and his band have visited China many times, with their most recent tour, “Planting Trees and Growing up Wild,” conducted only last year.

People online expressed confusion about why Lin’s music — based on his observations of farming villages, the relationship between the city and the countryside, and environmental issues — have been taken down.

Some Chinese commenters on Sina Weibo said that the truth would eventually come out.

Lin’s work has won multiple Golden Melody Awards and Golden Indie Music Awards.

His band’s composition for the 2017 dark comedy The Great Buddha+ (大佛普拉斯) won him the Best Original Film Score at the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival that year.

Lin and his band also composed songs for the three-part documentary Eyes on Democracy (民主之眼) released last year, which documents Taiwan’s democratic transition and social transformations from 1980 to 2000.

title: Singer’s music disappears from China-based sites


content_text:
US airstrikes on Venezuela and the seizing of the nation’s leader at the weekend clearly “undermined a fundamental principle of international law,” the UN said yesterday.

“States must not threaten or use force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state,” UN rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told reporters in Geneva, Switzerland.

“And this is what we are seeing,” she said, calling on the international community to “come together with one voice.”

Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez, left, is sworn in as interim president by National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez, right, in Caracas on Monday. Photo: Reuters / Miraflores Palace

US commandos backed by warplanes, the navy and airstrikes forcibly seized deposed Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in the early hours of Saturday.

Maduro appeared in court in New York on Monday to deny drug trafficking and other charges brought by Washington, insisting that he had been kidnapped and remained Venezuela’s president.

The US and EU say Maduro stayed in power by rigging elections — most recently in 2024 — and imprisoning opponents, while overseeing rampant corruption.

Shamdasani said the UN rights office had spent years reporting on the “continued deterioration” in Venezuela, but she dismissed US justifications for its actions, saying accountability for rights violations “cannot be achieved by unilateral military intervention in violation of international law.”

“Using human rights arguments as a justification for this kind of military intervention is unacceptable,” she said, adding that she feared the US intervention “will only make the situation worse.”

Shamdasani said that a state of emergency declared by Venezuelan authorities on Saturday allows property seizures, restricts free movement and suspends the right to protest, among other measures.

“Far from being a victory for human rights, this military intervention ... damages the architecture of international security, making every country less safe,” she said.

title: US ‘undermined’ international law in Venezuela: UN


content_text:
ACCIDENT? Two soldiers were injured yesterday when ‘an explosion occurred from a pile of garbage,’ a Cambodian government official said

Thailand yesterday accused Cambodia of violating a 10-day-old truce, saying cross-border mortar fire wounded a soldier, while Phnom Penh said a “pile of garbage” exploded, injuring two of its own troops.

The Thai military said it warned Cambodian forces to exercise caution, stressing that if a similar incident occurred, Thailand might need to retaliate.

A decades-old border dispute between the Southeast Asian nations erupted into military clashes several times last year, with fighting last month killing dozens of people and displacing about 1 million on both sides.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet, center left, and his wife Pich Chanmony, center right, pose for a picture with soldiers who had been captured by Thai soldiers after their release at the Peace Palace in Phnom Penh on Dec.31 last year. Photo: AFP / Agence Kampuchea Press

The two nations agreed a fragile truce on Dec. 27, ending three weeks of clashes.

“Cambodia has violated the ceasefire,” the Thai army said in a statement, accusing Cambodian forces of firing mortar rounds into Thailand’s Ubon Ratchathani Province.

One Thai soldier was hospitalized due to non-life-threatening shrapnel wounds to his right arm, the army said.

The Thai army in a separate statement said that the Cambodian side had contacted a Thai military unit and claimed “there was no intention to fire into Thai territory,” adding “the incident was caused by an operational error by Cambodian personnel.”

Cambodian Ministry of National Defense spokeswoman Maly Socheata said two Cambodian soldiers were injured, one severely, yesterday morning when “an explosion occurred from a pile of garbage.”

The incident happened while Cambodian forces were performing “organization and orderliness” duties in Cambodia’s Preah Vihear Province, which is opposite Thailand’s Ubon Ratchathani Province, she said in a statement.

The two injured soldiers were hospitalized.

Maly Socheata did not mention the strike alleged by Thailand, but said both nations’ border coordination teams had consulted on the incident involving the Cambodian soldiers and addressed the matter.

The explosion occurred in a frontier region known as the Emerald Triangle, where the borders of both nations and Laos meet, she said.

A Cambodian soldier in May last year was killed in a firefight with Thai troops in the area, reigniting the border conflict.

Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said his government had lodged a protest with Phnom Penh, stating “the truce was violated.”

“At the military-to-military level, we have been told the incident was an accident, but we are seeking clarification on how responsibility will be taken,” Anutin told reporters in Bangkok.

He added that Thailand had the “capability to respond” to Cambodia, which is vastly outgunned by its neighbor.

The nations’ long-standing conflict stems from a dispute over the colonial-era demarcation of their 800km border, where both sides claim territory.

Under the truce, Cambodia and Thailand pledged to cease fire, freeze troop movements and cooperate on demining efforts along the border.

title: Cambodia violated 10-day-old truce, Thailand says


title: Legislators pass bill on delivery workers’ rights

content_text:
ARRIVING SOON: While some drivers welcomed the act, whether it can improve delivery workers’ situations depends on how it is implemented, a union chairman said

The Legislative Yuan yesterday passed the third reading of a bill on delivery workers’ rights and managing delivery platforms, stipulating that, per delivery, workers must earn at least 1.25 times the minimum hourly wage, or a minimum of NT$45.

The pay rate would be adjusted annually depending on the minimum wage, the act says.

The current hourly minimum wage is NT$196.

The act is to take effect six months after its promulgation, and the Ministry of Labor would specify how it would be implemented after consulting with affected businesses.

The act would require delivery platforms to pay their workers at least twice per month and provide clear payment statements showing how earnings and deductions are calculated.

It also requires delivery platforms to set up a complaint system, allowing delivery workers to raise concerns about pay, account suspensions or contract terminations, and disputes with cooperating businesses or customers.

Platforms must also set up a task force of no fewer than three people to address complaints, including at least one union representative, and may not treat workers unfairly for filing complaints.

Platforms may not stipulate delivery personnel’s working hours, require them to work against their will, or treat them unfairly for refusing orders or going offline to rest.

When a local government cancels work due to dangerous weather or natural disasters, delivery platforms should suspend operations in the area and inform delivery personnel and cooperating businesses.

Platforms must provide contracted delivery workers with accident and liability insurance, and workers may not deliver until insured.

In terms of fines, the bill stipulates that delivery platforms may be fined NT$30,000 to NT$300,000 for failing to report a work-related injury within eight hours, NT$30,000 to NT$150,000 for avoiding supervision and inspection, and NT$20,000 to NT$100,000 for contravening payment regulations.

Delivery workers’ unions said that the law is a milestone for the industry, as it establishes a minimum wage, guarantees workers insurance and gives them a system through which to file complaints.

Establishing a minimum wage, insurance and grievance mechanisms under the law would clarify the rights and responsibilities of platforms and delivery workers, Taiwan Delivery Industry Rights Promotion Alliance spokesman Su Pai-hao (蘇柏豪) said.

It not only protects workers’ rights, but is key to the healthy and sustainable growth of the industry, Su said.

Whether the system can truly improve delivery workers’ situations depends on how the act is implemented and applied, National Delivery Industrial Union chairman Chen Yu-an (陳昱安) said.

Uber Eats said that it hopes the implementation of the act considers the industry’s needs, balancing the interests of all parties.

Foodpanda said it would start running operational tests to prepare for the act’s potential impacts on the market.

Additional reporting by Lin Che-yuan


title: Taiwan not part of China: Hei Seki

content_text:
SANCTIONED:  The Japanese lawmaker, who became a Japanese citizen in 2007, was banned last year by Beijing from entering China for his support of Taiwan

China-born Japanese lawmaker Hei Seki said upon his arrival in Taipei yesterday that his trip proves that “Taiwan is not part of China, Taiwan is Taiwan,” and that the two countries are not subordinate to each other.

Greeted at Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) by a group of pro-independence supporters and a small group of pro-unification protesters, Seki told reporters that he was “thrilled” to visit Taiwan.

“The People’s Republic of China [PRC] has sanctioned me and forbidden me from entering PRC territory. Today I successfully entered Taiwan’s territory to clearly demonstrate that the PRC and the Republic of China [ROC] are two different countries,” he said.

Japanese lawmaker Hei Seki, center, waves to supporters gathered to welcome him at Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) yesterday. Photo: Chen Yi-kuan, Taipei Times

“Taiwan is Taiwan, Taiwan is the ROC, and has no relations with the PRC,” he said, adding that his trip proved that Taiwan is an independent country.

The politician, a member of the Japan Innovation Party, has served as a member of the Japanese House of Councillors since last year.

Born in China, Seki graduated from Peking University before moving to Japan to study in 1988, one year before the Tiananmen Square Massacre.

He became a naturalized Japanese citizen in 2007, and a university lecturer and political commentator before moving into politics.

In September last year, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced sanctions targeting Seki for his position on China, his support of Taiwan and his visits to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine that honors Japan’s war dead, including 30,304 Taiwanese soldiers who died in World War II.

The sanctions included banning him from entering China, including Hong Kong and Macau.

Japanese officials at the time said that Seki was the first Japanese lawmaker to be sanctioned by the Chinese government and that Tokyo had lodged a protest with Beijing to demand that it withdraw the measures.

Seki was invited to Taiwan by the Taipei-based Indo-Pacific Strategy Thinktank and is to attend a seminar on Friday.

Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Mao Ning (毛寧) told reporters in Beijing that the “rantings of petty villains are not worth responding to.”

Additional reporting by AFP


content_text:
CCP seeks to control optics of Lee visit, academic says

China’s state-run Xinhua news agency’s near-exclusive coverage of Monday’s China-South Korea meeting highlighted Beijing’s anxiety over the political optics of the visit and its desire to control the narrative, Tunghai University Cross-Strait Research Center deputy executive director Hung Pu-chao (洪浦釗) said yesterday.

South Korean President Lee Jae-myung met with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) as part of Lee’s four-day trip to China, his first since taking office in June last year.

Xinhua had near-exclusive coverage of the Lee-Xi meeting, showing that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was eager to set a positive tone for the event, Hung said.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, left, and South Korean President Lee Jae-myung inspect an honor guard during a welcoming ceremony for the South Korean leader at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Monday. Photo: EPA

Lee’s comment that South Korea “respects” China’s “one China” policy during the meeting, as reported by Xinhua, does not indicate an abrupt change in South Korea’s Taiwan policy, nor is it a signal to other countries in the Indo-Pacific region that Seoul is changing its defense policies, he said.

South Korea’s economy and supply chains are highly interconnected with China, and it is more than willing to pay lip service for some diplomatic leeway, allowing Lee time to deal with more pressing issues, Hung said.

The CCP has consistently arranged for such statements to be made, he said, adding that Beijing is sending a message to its neighbors that, in light of an increasingly “hardline” Japan, it can still maintain its political narrative in the region.

The need for Xinhua to issue the first reports of the meeting underscores China’s anxiety about the political optics of the meeting and proves that Beijing “puts politics first” in diplomacy and economic collaboration, he said.

Taipei should not be overly concerned about other nations’ comments when meeting in China, but it should closely monitor whether their defense policies and actions have shifted toward a pro-China stance, Hung said.

Chun Kalim, a professor specializing in cross-strait relations at Hoseo University, said that Lee’s ambiguity on Taiwan during the meeting differed from his predecessor, Yoon Suk-yeol.

Lee said only that South Korea “respects” the CCP’s “one China” position, while Yoon invoked protests from Beijing after stating that any conflict over Taiwan should be resolved in accordance with international norms and rules, and that Seoul resolutely opposes unilateral attempts to alter the “status quo” in the Strait, Chun said.

Discussions between Xi and Lee were focused on “resolving bilateral disputes,” and, therefore, issues involving third parties were largely avoided, he added.

Additional reporting by CNA


content_text:
President William Lai (賴清德) is to join Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators in holding public events around the country to promote the passage of this year’s general budget, a source said on Sunday.

Cho plans to organize events in collaboration with local leaders to open up discussions about how the blocking of the budget by opposition party legislators would affect people’s livelihoods, the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Cabinet and ministry officials must get out of their offices and visit municipalities across the country to turn the discussion about abstract budget figures into tangible issues such as how construction projects and social programs directly benefit the public, shifting the pressure to opposition lawmakers who are blocking passage of the budget, they said.

President William Lai, right, shakes hands with a woman during a visit to a senior care center in Yilan County on Friday last week. Photo: Wang Chun-chi, Taipei Times

Lai and Cho in the past few days have emphasized close cooperation between the central and local governments, they said.

At a ceremony marking the opening of the north concourse of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s Terminal 3 last month, Lai said the government aims for the airport to handle 83 million passengers by 2045, creating an economic impact of NT$2.2 trillion (US$69.81 billion).

At an inspection of a senior care center in Yilan County last week, the president said that if the legislature does not pass the government’s NT$120 billion allocation for the Long-term Care 3.0 plan, it would leave many elderly people without the funding and assistance they need.

“We have seen a number of public surveys indicating that a majority of people are worried about the general budget not being approved, which would lead to the suspension of important programs and projects, and delay the disbursement of funds for social welfare assistance,” the source said.

“Most people are concerned about these issues. The DPP plans to commission surveys and publicize the results, to show that the actions of opposition parties to block the budget run contrary to mainstream public sentiment,” they said.

title: Lai and Cho to take budget fight to local level

people: 賴清德 卓榮泰


people: 賴清德 習近平

content_text:
CCP paired Taiwan drills with cyberattacks, cognitive warfare: NSB

Taipei, Jan. 6 (CNA) Taiwan’s National Security Bureau (NSB) said that between Dec. 29 and Jan. 2 the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) paired military drills against Taiwan with information operations and cyberattacks, spreading more than 19,000 "controversial" messages and launching millions of hacking intrusions.

In a report submitted to the Legislative Yuan, the NSB said the online activity involved 799 abnormal accounts and focused on amplifying skepticism about the United States, Taiwan’s military and President Lai Ching-te (賴清德), referring to concerns about Taiwan’s ability to defend itself.

Cyber intrusions targeting government networks increased during the exercises, reaching about 2.08 million attacks on the first day of the drills and increasing to about 2.09 million on the second day, the agency said.

A television in a New Taipei City restaurant shows local news on December 30, 2025 reporting on viral footage of the Taipei 101 skyscraper, claimed to have been filmed by a Chinese drone flying close to the landmark. Photo: CNA

The Legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee has invited the NSB, the Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Coast Guard Administration to brief lawmakers on Thursday.

Its written report on the drills and related security threats had already been delivered to legislators ahead of the committee session.

In its report, the NSB said the CCP launched the drills to counter support for Taiwan from international democratic allies, divert attention from domestic problems and portray military strength as unaffected by anti-corruption efforts.

China is facing weak economic momentum, citing declining investment, reduced foreign investment, high youth unemployment and rising labor protests over unpaid wages, it said.

The CCP used targeted drills against Taiwan to redirect public dissatisfaction toward nationalist sentiment framed as resistance to external interference, the agency said.

The NSB said Chinese leader Xi Jinping (習近平) expanded an anti-corruption crackdown after the National People’s Congress sessions, targeting the Fujian clique within the military and leading to investigations and punishments of senior officers that affected major annual exercises.

The NSB said the CCP sought to project military strength by highlighting nuclear deterrence at the Sept. 3 military parade, promoting new vessels such as the Fujian aircraft carrier and Sichuan amphibious assault vessel, and deploying carrier groups including the Liaoning aircraft carrier and landing helicopter dock Hainan on long-range missions.

The NSB said newly appointed Eastern Theater Command commander Yang Zhibin (楊志斌) later oversaw targeted drills against Taiwan to show that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) was not affected by the anti- corruption campaign.

The NSB said the drills featured compound threats including military and gray-zone coercion, cognitive warfare and cyberattacks, with "controversial" content concentrated on platforms such as TikTok, Facebook, Threads and X.

The NSB said cybersecurity agencies in the Indo-Pacific, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the European Union have repeatedly identified the CCP as a major source of global cyber threats, with PLA cyberwarfare groups APT24 and BlackTech the most active during the drills.


content_text:
Frank Hsieh selected as Taiwan-Japan Relations Association chairman

Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), Taiwan’s former representative to Japan, assumed the chairmanship of the Taiwan-Japan Relations Association (TJRA) on Tuesday, succeeding Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) in leading the body responsible for representing Taipei’s interests in Tokyo in the absence of diplomatic ties.

Hsieh, 79, said he was honored to be taking over the role after serving as Taiwan’s representative to Japan for eight years (2016-2024), stating that his goal is to bring the cordial relationship between the two nations to a new pinnacle.

In a Facebook post, Hsieh expressed his gratitude to Su and the other association members for their contributions to the bilateral relations over the past three years.

Former representative to Japan Frank Hsieh speaks to reporters in Tokyo on July 8, 2024. Photo: Lin Tsuei-yi, Taipei Times

"I am dedicated to moving forward and elevating the Taiwan-Japan friendship into a partnership defined by a shared sense of community, fostering peace and prosperity."

According to Kuo Jyh-huei (郭智輝), an association member and former minister of economic affairs, Hsieh was selected as the next chairman on Tuesday, which was followed by an official handover ceremony.

The TJRA was established in 1972 shortly after Japan severed diplomatic ties with the Republic of China (Taiwan). It serves as a semi-official body overseen by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to manage relations with Japan, operating alongside its Japanese counterpart, the Japan- Taiwan Exchange Association.

people: 蘇嘉全 謝長廷


title: Tourism agency, 7-Elevens team up

content_text:
PRIZE DRAW:  A ‘Lucky Land 2.0’ program would incentivize international tourists to revisit Taiwan and bring someone else who has never been previously

More than 7,000 7-Eleven convenience stores nationwide would soon also function as tourism service stations following an agreement signed in Taipei yesterday between the Tourism Administration and the nation’s largest convenience store chain.

A progressive Web application introduced by the Tourism Administration has integrated tourism-related information provided by the agency, the National Park Service, the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency, the Water Resources Agency, the Industrial Development Administration and local tourism agencies into a single Web site.

People can access the information by scanning a QR Code on the side of 7-Eleven’s ibon multimedia kiosks, which would give information on themed tours, large events, festivals, hiking trails, amusement parks, scenic spots and other attractions, the agency said.

From left, Tourism Administration mascot Oh Bear, Deputy Director-General Huang He-ting, Director-General Chen Yu-hsiu, Uni-President operations and services group executive vice president Lo Wen-chi and 7-Eleven mascot Open-Chan pose at a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Tsai Yun-jung, Taipei Times

An artificial intelligence-driven assistant named “Oh, Bear” would answer questions about tourism in Taiwan, it said.

The service would initially be available at 7-Eleven stores in northern and eastern Taiwan, as well as Kinmen County on Feb. 6, before expanding to the rest of the country by the end of July, the agency said.

The information would initially be available in Chinese, English and Japanese, it said, adding that Korean, Thai and Vietnamese translations would be added.

In other news, the agency would launch its “Taiwan the Lucky Land 2.0” program this year, offering returning visitors a chance to enter a free draw for travel funds.

The program is to incentivize international tourists to revisit Taiwan and bring someone who is new to the nation, the agency said, adding that it has budgeted NT$600 million (US$19.04 million) to fund it.

In previous programs of the type, those who won had to collect the funds at airports, but with the new program, they would be able to collect them at 7-Eleven stores, Tourism Administration Director-General Chen Yu-hsiu (陳文秀) said.

Taiwan is widely praised by international visitors for being safe, convenient and hospitable, Chen said, adding that brightly lit, always-staffed convenience stores leave a strong impression on travelers.

“We hope to leverage 7-Eleven’s international networks to promote Taiwan and attract more overseas visitors,” she said.

Lo Wen-chi (羅文璣), executive vice president of Uni-President’s operations and services group, said the introduction of travel services at stores aims to make it easier for international visitors to explore local culture and attractions.

All stores are committed to delivering high-quality service to help raise Taiwan’s international profile and leave visitors with lasting, positive impressions that encourage repeated visits, Lo said.

Asked whether other convenience store brands would also participate, Chen said that business models vary among operators, with some initiatives driven by headquarters, while others require franchise approval.

At present, only 7-Eleven has agreed to take part, she said.


content_text:
CASES TOTAL 477:  The CDC said only about 10% of people aged 21 to 40 have immunity against hepatitis A, while the rate is 40% among people aged 41 to 50

There were 477 acute hepatitis A cases reported last year, the most in nine years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday.

The hepatitis A case total last year was the highest since 2017, comprising 447 locally acquired cases and 30 imported cases, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said.

Among the local cases, 82.8 percent were men, while the 30-to-39 age group accounted for 36.2 percent, followed by the 20-to-29 age group at 28.5 percent, Lee said.

Centers for Disease Control Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin presents data on acute hepatitis A at a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Photo: CNA

The monthly count of local cases last year significantly increased after March, with 50 to 65 new cases reported every month from July to November, she said.

“Unlike hepatitis B or C, acute hepatitis A primarily transmits through the fecal-oral route, meaning that people can become infected by ingesting contaminated food or having close personal contact with an infected person,” CDC Acute Infectious Diseases Division Director Yang Ching-hui (楊靖慧) said.

Among local cases, nearly 40 percent were infected through intimate contact with an infected person, the CDC said.

The incubation period for acute hepatitis A is typically 15 to 50 days, and the virus can spread during that period, even before the onset of symptoms, which commonly include fever, fatigue and poor appetite, Yang said, adding that adults often have more serious symptoms.

People with pre-existing liver disease or chronic hepatitis who contract the disease have significantly increased risk of developing severe illness, including acute liver failure, but people who fully recover from an acute hepatitis A infection generally obtain lifelong immunity and do not become chronic carriers, she said.

The government began offering hepatitis A vaccines to children aged 15 months or older in mountainous areas in June 1995, Yang said.

With donations from civic groups, the vaccine has been available nationwide to children aged 12 months or older since 2018, so children under 10 years old generally have good protection against the virus, she said.

However, a CDC survey in 2020 found that only about 10 percent of people aged 21 to 40 have immunity against hepatitis A, while the rate is 40 percent among people aged 41 to 50, she said.

Hepatitis A can be avoided through good hygiene, including frequent handwashing and cooking food thoroughly, she said, adding that a single-dose vaccination can provide protection of up to 90 percent for three to five years, while two doses can provide protection for more than 20 years.

CDC Deputy Director-General and spokesman Lin Min-cheng (林明誠) said that hepatitis A prevention has three main aspects: food, environment and personal hygiene.

People should cook food thoroughly, as the hepatitis A virus can be destroyed in food by heating it to 85°C for at least one minute, while environments can be effectively disinfected using a diluted bleach solution of 1,000 parts per million, Lin said.

People should get vaccinated, wash their hands frequently and thoroughly with soap, use separate utensils to transfer food from serving dishes to individual plates and avoid unsafe sex, he said.

title: Acute hepatitis A hit 9-year high in 2025


title: No backup plan when TPass funds end, bureau says

content_text:
The Highway Bureau yesterday said it does not have a backup plan for when local governments run out of funding for the TPass program at the end of this month.

Funding for Phase 1 of the TPass program expired last month and the government has been barred from accessing the remaining funds.

For Phase 2, the bureau has budgeted NT$36.38 billion (US$1.15 billion) to cover expenditures from this year to 2029.

A TPass scanner is pictured in Tainan yesterday. Photo: Hung Jui-chin, Taipei Times

However, the budget cannot be appropriated, as the legislature has yet to review the budget plan for this year.

The budget allocated for the TPass program this year is NT$7.52 billion.

“People continue to use TPass, which is being funded by revenue from sales of the monthly passes and contributions by local governments,” Highway Bureau Director-General Lin Fu-shan (林福山) said.

The central government should be covering 90 percent of funding for the program in the six special municipalities, as those regions have large concentrations of commuters, as it should for reimbursement for freeway bus operators and Taiwan Railway Corp, Lin said.

More than half of the funding is to subsidize TPass use in Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung and Taoyuan, he said.

“We basically have no backup plan at this point. So far, we can only count on budget plans approved by city and county councils to sustain the program,” he said.

“Many local governments have told us they would have problems funding the program after this month,” he added.

On top of the inconvenience to commuters, bus service operators participating in the program would face a decline in revenue, Lin said.

The central government rolled out the TPass 2.0 program last month, with bus operators expected to get a boost in revenue from it, he said.

Starting this month, people aged 70 or older would receive a rebate of up to NT$1,500 if they voluntarily give up their drivers license and use TPass-valid services, he said, adding that the government also planned to allow mobile payment methods to purchase TPasses.

None of the new policies would be implemented if the budget is not approved by the legislature, he said.

There are about 698,000 monthly TPass users and about 379,000 use the TPass’ frequent rider program, bureau data showed.


title: Ministry vows to continue faculty gender push

content_text:
The proportion of higher-education faculty who are women in Taiwan has steadily increased in the past few years, but is still slightly lower than the global average, the Ministry of Education said yesterday, adding that it would continue its promotion of gender initiatives in higher education.

Female faculty rates were 37.1 percent in the 2024-2025 academic year, ministry data showed, while rates in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries, as well as the rest of the EU, are generally between 40 and 45 percent.

Women made up 25.7 percent of professors, 38.6 percent of associate professors and 40.8 percent of assistant professors, the data showed.

Students attend a class at Yuanpei University of Medical Technology in Hsinchu City in an undated photograph. Photo courtesy of the New Taipei City Education Department

While the proportion has increased in some higher-ranking positions, the overall personnel distribution shows that most female faculty are still assistant professors and lecturers, indicating a structural discrepancy between gender ratios and academic ranks, the ministry said.

On the other hand, the gender composition among college students has become aligned with the international trend — a near-equal male-to-female ratio, with female students even in the majority in some fields.

From 2021 to last year, the ministry helped higher-education institutions integrate gender mainstreaming into administration, curriculum design and resource management through institutional development, professional training and cross-institutional support networks, Department of Student Affairs and Special Education Division head Lin Pei-yu (林沛雨) said.

The efforts have fostered an evidence-based, institution-oriented governance model for gender equality, Lin said.

In the institutional aspect, the ministry commissioned National Taiwan University’s Center for Population and Gender Studies to establish the National Gender Mainstreaming Center for Higher Education, she said.

By introducing a “partner school” model, the center helped universities set up implementation mechanisms, as well as to develop curricula and institutional review tools customized to higher education, she said.

Through using the tools — which include gender-related data, analyses, impact assessments and budgeting — gender sensitivity in campus policymaking was boosted, she said.

As the number of participating institutions grew annually, gender mainstreaming has moved from a pilot program to a standardized and routine governance process within universities, Lin said.

For example, Chung Shan Medical University leveraged its medical and healthcare expertise to systematically integrate gender perspectives into curriculum reviews and institutional decisionmaking processes, she said.

Through cross-departmental collaboration, Chung Shan Medical improved the practical application of gender sensitivity in teaching and administration, she added.

Meanwhile, National Changhua University of Education focused on administrative governance, Lin said, adding that its efforts included systematically reviewing the gender composition of university committees and management posts, and addressing internal gender gap issues by incorporating budgeting tools.


content_text:
Cars, industry blamed for southern Taiwan pollutionBy Huang Yi-ching and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writer

Vehicle emissions and industrial pollution play a significant role in triggering poor air quality alerts in the nation’s south, the Ministry of Environment said yesterday, citing research by academics in Taiwan and the US.

NASA airplanes equipped with sophisticated sensors conducted three flyovers in 2024 in collaboration with Taiwanese academics to measure air pollution using LIDAR, drones, balloons and observation teams, the researchers told a news conference.

The US contributed significantly to the study, as the complex interaction of pollutants, meteorological events and terrain conditions could not be adequately studied from the ground, they said.

The data showed that seasonal winds and topography factors often trap pollution from domestic and foreign sources, including biomass burning in Indochina, in Kaohsiung and Pingtung County, they said.

Emissions from industrial activity and transportation accounted for the majority of air pollution in the region, said Wang Sheng-hsiang (王聖翔), a professor of atmospheric sciences at National Central University.

Volatile organic compounds from vehicles were detected at 200m to 800m above sea level, Wang said.

Pollutants from vehicles were notable in measurements on days of dangerously poor air quality, showing the effect that private vehicles have on air pollution, said You Chih-yuan (游智淵), a scientist in the Department of Atmospheric Environment.

The findings might prompt the ministry to devote more resources to regulating air pollution generated by daily life, You said.

Surges in pollution from industrial sources might have tipped the balance during periods of poor or dangerously poor air quality, said Wang Chia-lin (王家麟), a professor of chemistry at the university.

Lai Hsin-chih (賴信志), a professor of chemistry at Chang Jung Christian University, said that improved understanding of vertical atmospheric structures has important implications for governance.

Sensors run by local authorities should take local topography into account, as pollutants are far more likely to form high-concentration pockets in areas with limited geographical horizon, he said.


content_text:
Sales of bus tickets to Wuling Farm (武陵農場) begin today, the Highway Bureau said yesterday, as people plan trips for the Lunar New Year and 228 Memorial Day holidays.

Traffic controls would be in place from Feb. 1 to March 1 on roads leading to the tourist site in Taichung’s Heping District (和平) for the cherry blossom season, the bureau said.

Visitors to the venue would be capped at 6,000 per day for the season, comprising 1,800 who could spend the night at the farm and 4,200 single-day visitors, it said, adding that single-day visitors include those who arrive on group tours and shuttle buses.

People look at cherry blossoms at Wuling Farm in Taichung last year. Photo: Chang Hsuan-tse, Taipei Times

Public buses — provided by Kuo Kuang Transport, Fengyuan Bus Transportation and Taile Motor Transport Group — for the farm serving Taipei and Yilan County would be increased, the bureau said.

Shuttle buses to Wuling Farm would depart from Taipei Bus Station; Yilan Bus Station, Luodong Bus Station and Sansing Township Sports Stadium in Yilan; and Lishan (梨山) in Taichung, it said.

Bus tickets can be purchased at the stations of Kuo Kuang and Taile; at 7-Eleven, FamilyMart, Hi-Life and OK Mart convenience stores; and via the Taipei Bus Station app and ERA ticketing systems, it said.

Kuo Kuang allows ticket purchases though ATMs and Line, it said, adding that sales are to begin at midday today.

To control crowds, group travelers on one-day visits would be capped 1,600 on weekdays and 1,000 on weekends, while those arriving on shuttle buses would be capped at 2,600 on weekdays and 3,200 on weekends, it said.

Those who have accommodation reservations at Wuling Farm can only enter with a motor vehicle pass issued by the farm, while group travelers must register and download a pass to be allowed in, the bureau said, adding that those who arrive on shuttle buses can enter by presenting their bus tickets.

title: Travel options for Wuling outlined as blossoms loom


title: Taiwan News Quick Take

content_text:
POLITICS

Funds, bill blocked again

Opposition lawmakers yesterday voted to exclude a proposed NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.66 billion) special defense budget and the Cabinet’s version of amendments to the Government Revenues and Expenditures Allocation Act (財政收支劃分法) from the agenda, prolonging a standoff with the Executive Yuan. Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party lawmakers on the Procedure Committee blocked the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)-backed bills in a 10-to-nine vote. “Nothing good goes smoothly,” said DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘), who attended the meeting to oversee the ruling party’s bid to pass the proposals. The vote marked the seventh and eighth time respectively that the opposition parties have blocked the defense budget and the draft act from deliberation.

WEATHER

Cold warnings issued

The Central Weather Administration yesterday issued cold surge advisories for 18 regions, warning of lows below 10°C through tonight. An “orange” alert was issued for Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung and Taoyuan, signaling sustained temperatures of 10°C or below, possibly dropping below 6°C in some places. The cold weather is due to the arrival of a strong continental cold air combined with radiative cooling, the agency said. While the cold air is expected to weaken slightly on Friday and Saturday, radiative cooling would keep temperatures low, it added.

LABOR

New fishers to get raise

Fishing vessels would be required to increase the minimum monthly wage for newly hired foreign crew members to US$570 from US$550 starting this year, the Fisheries Agency said yesterday. The agency would not issue employment permits to employers who do not comply, agency Deputy Director Lin Ting-jung (林頂榮) said. The pay raise is part of the second phase of the Action Plan for Fisheries and Human Rights, Lin said. The plan, which runs through 2029, continues the strategies of the first phase, including improving labor and living conditions, and social security protections, tightening oversight of labor brokers and flag-of-convenience vessels, enhancing monitoring capabilities and deepening international cooperation, the agency said. The work would include establishing wage reporting and arrears payment measures to ensure fishers receive their pay, improving communications and medical conditions onboard, and digitizing contracts, the agency said. The agency also piloted remote telemedicine measures last year, which would be fully implemented in stages this year, Lin said.


title: Equine installation

content_text: A New Taipei City Government official sets up an inflatable horse as one of several themed installations marking the Year of the Horse at Fort Santo Domingo in Tamsui District yesterday.


content_text:
OPPORTUNITY:  Supply of conventional DRAM chips tightened after the world’s major memory makers focused on manufacturing chips utilized in AI servers

DRAM chipmaker Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技) yesterday reported a spike in revenue for last month, as severe supply constraints prompted chip price hikes, almost doubling the company’s annual revenue last year from the previous year.

Revenue soared 444.87 percent last month to NT$12.02 billion (US$381.4 million), from NT$2.21 billion a year earlier. That brought fourth-quarter revenue to NT$30.17 billion, from NT$6.58 billion for the same period in 2024. On a quarterly basis, revenue jumped 60.65 percent from NT$18.78 billion.

Last year, revenue soared 95.09 percent to NT$66.59 billion from NT$32.13 billion in 2024, the company said.

SK Hynix Inc 12-layer HBM3E memory chips, front, and an LPDDR5X CAMM2 memory module are pictured at the company’s office in Seongnam, South Korea, on April 22 last year. Photo: Bloomberg

Supply of conventional DRAM chips tightened after the world’s major memory makers, including Samsung Electronics Co, SK Hynix Inc and Micron Technology Inc, shifted production capacity to support booming demand for higher-margin, high-bandwidth memory and DDR5 DRAM chips used in artificial intelligence (AI) servers, it said.

Nanya Technology in October last year said supply would remain insufficient, sending memory prices even higher.

Market researcher TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) on Monday forecast that conventional DRAM chips’ prices would increase 55 to 60 percent sequentially this quarter on a contract basis, while prices of server DRAM chips are to soar 60 percent this quarter.

Prices of NAND flash memory are expected to grow 33 to 38 percent, TrendForce said.

Nanya Technology posted a combined net profit of NT$6.28 billion in October and November last year, or NT$2.03 per share. That had greatly exceeded its third-quarter net profit of NT$1.65 billion, or NT$0.5 a share, company data showed.

Separately, memory module supplier Adata Technology Co (威剛科技) yesterday reported that revenue last month rose to a record high of NT$5.81 billion.

That helped lift fourth-quarter revenue to an all-time high of NT$15.87 billion, up 9.37 percent from NT$14.51 billion in the third quarter, the company said in a statement.

Full-year revenue expanded 32.48 percent to NT$53.04 billion from NT$40.04 billion in 2024, it said.

The company said DRAM made up 60.79 percent of its total revenue last year.

Solid-state drive products accounted for 26.73 percent, while memory cards, flash drives and other items contributed 12.48 percent, it added.

Since the middle of the third quarter last year, demand for memory chips used in AI applications has risen rapidly, leading to a structural supply shortage, Adata chairman Simon Chen (陳立白) said in the statement.

The company has significantly increased stockpiles to support strategic customers’ demand, he said.

title: Nanya revenue almost doubled last year


title: Central bank unveils Year of the Horse-themed coins

content_text:
The central bank yesterday unveiled a set of Chinese zodiac commemorative coins for the Year of the Horse, available for online preorder until Monday next week or for purchase at Bank of Taiwan (臺灣銀行) branches from Jan. 29.

The central bank said in a statement it aims to sell 90,000 sets of the coins, with 50,000 units for online preorders and 40,000 units for in-person sales.

Each set, priced at NT$2,450, consists of one silver coin weighing 1 ounce (28.3g) with a face value of NT$100 and one copper-alloy coin with a face value of NT$10, the bank said.

A Central bank staff member holds Year of the Horse coin sets at a news conference at the bank in Taipei yesterday. Photo: CNA

The silver coin’s obverse side shows a partially gold-plated image of a pair of galloping horses, and the reverse side features an image of Taipei 101’s New Year fireworks, it said.

The copper-alloy coin bears an image of geometric shapes that form the silhouette of a horse on its obverse side, while the reverse side has an image of hydrangea flowers printed in color, it added.

The central bank said the price of the coin sets this year is the highest ever and 28.95 percent more than last year’s NT$1,900 due to the rising price of silver.

Over the past 10 years, the price has mostly been between NT$1,600 and NT$1,900 per set, the bank’s data showed.

Silver gained more than 140 percent last year, while gold surged about 64 percent, and copper also had its best year since 2009, rising 42 percent, according to the central bank.

“This price hike was unavoidable, because silver prices have surged dramatically, and gold prices have repeatedly hit new highs,” cable TV station USTV quoted Department of Issuance Director-General Teng Yen-ta (鄧延達) as saying at a central bank news conference in Taipei.

“If the coin sets were priced too low, it would create arbitrage opportunities — something the central bank would not want to see. Therefore, it had no choice but to respond appropriately to market prices,” Teng said.

“However, if silver prices fall in the future, the central bank would adjust the coin sets’ price accordingly,” he added.

Based on the central bank’s data, sales of the coin sets were typically good during the Year of the Horse, the Year of the Dragon and the Year of the Tiger.

The number of total sets of coins for sale this year is 10,000 more than last year’s 80,000.


title: New phase ahead for office space market: JLL Taiwan

content_text:
TREND?  After six years of a landlord-driven market, the market could be shifting toward tenants, giving them greater choice and bargaining power, an analyst said

Taiwan’s commercial property market is entering a transitional and increasingly competitive phase this year, as rising office availability, regulatory changes, and demand from artificial intelligence (AI) and semiconductor industries reshape leasing dynamics, consultancy Jones Lang LaSalle Taiwan Ltd (JLL Taiwan, 仲量聯行) said yesterday.

The market this year would be characterized by technology-driven upgrades, a gradual shift toward a more balanced office market and regulatory reforms that could unlock new sources of capital, JLL Taiwan managing director Kevin Hou (侯文信) told a news conference in Taipei.

“Good new offices are still being sought by many companies,” Hou said, highlighting continued corporate demand for high-quality, newly completed buildings despite broader market consolidation.

Jones Lang LaSalle Taiwan Ltd managing director Kevin Hou speaks at a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Hsu Yi-ping, Taipei Times

Demand from AI-related sectors, the semiconductor supply chain and growing environmental protection requirements are expected to drive upgrades in office space, he said.

On the supply side, Taipei’s city center is projected to add about 48,000 ping (158,678m2) of new Grade-A office space this year, Hou said, adding that, after excluding owner-occupied portions, about 24,000 ping would enter the leasing market.

By contrast, the city’s Nangang District (南港) would face a larger wave of new office availability and intensifying competition among landlords, giving tenants greater negotiating leverage, he said.

The company also pointed to a broader transformation in which urban renewal and transit-oriented development are emerging as key growth areas.

Rail infrastructure projects and metro-linked redevelopment initiatives have become a new battleground for developers, with government tenders and contract values reaching record highs last year, it said.

Revisions to Taiwan’s real-estate investment trust regulations are expected to pass the legislature in the second quarter, a development that could introduce fresh liquidity into the commercial property market, Hou said.

Grade-A office transactions in Taipei last year exceeded 50,000 ping for the second consecutive year, with deals in core business districts hitting their highest level in nearly seven years, JLL Taiwan office leasing advisory director Christina Yu (游淑芬) said.

However, rents showed clear signs of slowing as the market entered a consolidation phase, Yu said.

In the core districts, rents rose about 1.7 percent year-on-year, with average monthly rents reaching NT$3,258 per ping, the company said.

After six years of a landlord-driven market, rents have risen a cumulative 18 percent, and the market could now be shifting toward tenants, giving them greater choice and bargaining power, Yu said.

Taiwan’s office market is becoming more competitive, but demand for prime and high-specification space remains resilient, even as landlords face mounting pressure from new supply and evolving tenant expectations, JLL Taiwan said.


content_text:
Nvidia introduces new AI platform featuring six chips made by TSMC

Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Monday introduced the company’s latest supercomputer platform, featuring six new chips made by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), saying that it is now “in full production.”

“If Vera Rubin is going to be in time for this year, it must be in production by now, and so, today I can tell you that Vera Rubin is in full production,” Huang said during his keynote speech at CES in Las Vegas.

The rollout of six concurrent chips for Vera Rubin — the company’s next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) computing platform — marks a strategic departure from Nvidia’s previous “one or two chip” cadence, Huang said.

Nvidia chief executive officer Jensen Huang presents the company’s Rubin GPU and Vera CPU at CES in Las Vegas on Monday. Photo: Bloomberg

More than one or two new chips need to be developed in a world where AI models are growing 10-fold annually and the tokens generated are increasing five-fold each year, he said.

“It is impossible to keep up with those kinds of rates ... unless we deploy aggressive extreme codesign, innovating across all the chips, across the entire stack, all at the same time,” he said.

The six-chip road map was first teased by Huang during his visit to Taiwan in August last year, when he confirmed the Silicon Valley giant had taped out the new designs at TSMC.

At the time, he described Vera Rubin as “revolutionary,” because all six chips were new.

The suite — comprising the Vera central processing unit, Rubin graphics processing unit (GPU), NVLink 6 switch, ConnectX-9 SuperNIC, BlueField-4 data processing unit and Spectrum-X ethernet switch — succeeds the Blackwell architecture, with the chips primarily manufactured using TSMC’s advanced 3-nanometer process.

Vera Rubin is 3.5 times better at training and five times better at running AI software than its predecessor, Blackwell, Nvidia said.

The new supercomputer slashes inference costs to one-seventh of the Blackwell platform and reduces the GPU count required for training mixture-of-experts models by 75 percent, the company said.

Leading AI labs, cloud service providers and system builders, including Amazon Web Services, Meta Platforms Inc, Google and Microsoft Corp, are expected to be among the first to adopt the new platform, it added.

Separately, Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD), aiming to make a dent in Nvidia’s stranglehold on the AI hardware market, on Monday also announced a new chip for corporate data center use and talked up the attributes of a future generation of products for that market.

The company is adding a new model to its lineup — called the MI440X — for use in smaller corporate data centers, at which clients can deploy local hardware, while keeping their data in their own facilities.

The announcement came as part of a keynote at CES, where AMD chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) also touted the firm’s top-of-the-line MI455X, saying systems based on that chip are a leap forward in the capabilities on offer.

The AI surge would continue because of the benefits it is bringing and the heavy computing requirements of that new technology, Su said.

“We don’t have nearly enough compute for what we could possibly do,” she said. “The rate and pace of AI innovation has been incredible over the last few years. We are just getting started.”

OpenAI cofounder and president Greg Brockman joined Su on the CES stage to talk about the two company’s partnership and plans for deployment of OpenAI’s systems.

The two also talked about their shared belief that economic growth would be tied to the availability of AI resources.

Additional reporting by Bloomberg

companies: Google 台積電


content_text:
Electric scooter brand and battery swapping services provider Gogoro Inc (睿能創意) has decided to expand its cooperation with British lubricant maker Castrol Holdings International Ltd in the Vietnamese market.

Gogoro told the Central News Agency in a phone interview yesterday that it is planning to launch e-scooter models catering to potential Vietnamese riders this year.

The company said it would authorize Castrol to market and sell these models in Vietnam, while Gogoro would assist with design and technologies used in new models, it said.

A motorist swaps the battery of an electric scooter at a Gogoro Inc charging station in Taipei in an undated photograph. Photo courtesy of Gogoro Inc

The partnership followed an agreement signed by the two companies in February last year to set up a joint venture, leveraging the British company’s knowledge of the Vietnamese market.

Castrol has been in the Vietnamese market for decades, Gogoro said.

Since the February agreement was signed, Gogoro and Castrol have launched a pilot e-scooter logistics team in small areas in Vietnam and collected first-hand information from clients.

With 3 million two-wheel vehicle sales every year, Vietnam has great growth potential for Gogoro.

Furthermore, starting from July 1, Vietnam would ban gasoline-powered motorcycles from entering downtown Hanoi as part of its efforts to cut carbon emissions and improve air quality. Ho Chi Minh City is expected to follow, making the Vietnamese market more attractive to Gogoro.

Gogoro said Taiwan’s motorcycle market was affected by a slower global economy, with many consumers turning more cautious about their consumption of big-ticket items such as motorcycles.

In Taiwan, e-scooter sales fell 37.64 percent from a year earlier to 49,228 units last year, including 28,176 Gogoro units. Gogoro took a 3.98 percent share of the local motorcycle market, where 708,392 units were sold last year.

Gogoro chief executive officer Henry Chiang (姜家煒) said the brand is planning to unveil three new e-scooter models this year, and develop more advanced and competitive batteries to help the company’s energy business break even this year.

Chiang said Gogoro would continue to work hard to allow its energy service operations to create free cash flows next year and also aims for its vehicle business to break even in 2028.

In the first nine months of last year, Gogoro incurred US$60.03 million in net loss, compared with US$51.43 million in net loss a year earlier.

title: Gogoro, Castrol expand cooperation in Vietnam


title: Taiwan’s forex reserves hit 2nd highest at end-2025

content_text:
Taiwan’s foreign exchange reserves rose US$2.76 billion from a month earlier to hit US$602.55 billion at the end of last month, second only to US$602.94 billion recorded at the end of September, the central bank said yesterday.

Department of Foreign Exchange Director-General Eugene Tsai (蔡炯民) said as the US dollar index fell 1.14 percent last month, other major non-greenback currencies rose, boosting the central bank’s portfolio when the amount was converted into the US currency.

Although the central bank stepped into the market to ease the volatility of the New Taiwan dollar last month, the intervention was limited, failing to impact the month’s forex reserves, Tsai said.

People are reflected in the window of a foreign currency exchange store in Seoul on Dec. 24 last year. Photo: Cho Seong-joon, Bloomberg

In May and June, the central bank bought the greenback to cap the appreciation of the NT dollar, giving a boost to the country’s forex reserves.

In the following months, despite a stable local currency, forex reserves continued to grow due to an increase of returns from the central bank’s portfolio managements with the September figure hitting a fresh high.

However, forex reserves moved lower in October and November as many foreign institutional investors rushed to move their funds out of Taiwan, placing the NT dollar under pressure.

In recent trading sessions, foreign institutional investors did not remit large funds out of or into the local market, Tsai said.

However, he cautioned that contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) is slated to pay large cash dividends tomorrow, if foreign investors move their cash dividend payouts out of Taiwan, instead of investing the money in the local stock market, the local forex market will be affected, he added.

The central bank’s data showed foreign institutional investors held US$1.15 trillion in Taiwan-listed stocks, bonds and NT dollar-denominated deposits at the end of last month, up from US$1.09 billion in November.

These holdings were the equivalent of 191 percent of Taiwan’s total forex reserves last month, up from 182 percent in November after the benchmark TAIEX rose 4.84 percent.

The central bank yesterday disclosed that it bought US$1.287 billion more US dollars than it sold in the third quarter of last year.

In the past, the central bank made the figure public every six months, but as the bank has reached an agreement with the US Department of the Treasury to detail the amount of market intervention every quarter, it

from this year would disclose the figure in January, April, July and October, to boost market transparency.


content_text: A TV camera operator sets up his equipment in front of an electronic stock board at the Taiwan Stock Exchange in Taipei yesterday. The TAIEX climbed 1.57 percent to close at a new high of 30,576.30 points yesterday as the artificial intelligence boom continued to boost the tech-heavy benchmark.

title: TAIEX Rising


people: 習近平 賴清德 鄭麗文

title: EDITORAIL: Taiwan’s view on Venezuela

content_text:
The immediate response in Taiwan to the extraction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by the US over the weekend was to say that it was an example of violence by a major power against a smaller nation and that, as such, it gave Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) carte blanche to invade Taiwan. That assessment is vastly oversimplistic and, on more sober reflection, likely incorrect.

Generally speaking, there are three basic interpretations from commentators in Taiwan.

The first is that the US is no longer interested in what is happening beyond its own backyard, and no longer preoccupied with regions in other supposed “spheres of influence.” This view, espoused by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) in an interview on Sunday, assumes Taiwan has been left to fend for itself and requires a new national security strategy.

Cheng said that US President Donald Trump has upturned the rules of engagement of the international order by attacking a smaller nation, and that he is no longer interested in what is happening in East Asia. The Trump White House “kept its distance” from the diplomatic spat between China and Japan that emerged late last year, as well as China’s military drills around Taiwan last week, she said.

Her conclusion is that it is unwise to rely on Washington for support in the region, and that Taiwan’s attention must turn toward how to reduce tensions in the Taiwan Strait: It should not push the situation to a military crisis, and then expect the US to come and clean up the mess. She urged President William Lai (賴清德) to reassess his national security strategy, stop “playing with fire,” acknowledge the so-called “1992 consensus” and remove the “independence clause” from the Democratic Progressive Party charter.

Notably, her argument does not actually identify a need for re-evaluation; it simply uses the US’ action in Venezuela to reinforce the KMT’s longstanding position. Worryingly, it mirrors — in phrasing and in specifics — Beijing’s position.

In an article on today’s page (“‘Necessary evils’ and strategic traps”), Simon Tang (湯先鈍), an adjunct professor at California State University, Fullerton, agrees with Cheng’s concerns about the long-term implications for the international order, although he disagrees on the remedy, writing that Taiwan must pursue deterrence through strength.

A second view is that the move was a warning to what Washington perceives as regional troublemakers and disrupters in the western hemisphere such as Colombia, Cuba and Mexico, but also wider afield, including the states that have enabled Venezuela, with China being the main culprit. That view suggests that it was a show of strength not just to China, but for the countries that choose to rely on China. That implies China is a target by inference.

It would also suggest that Taiwan should be concerned about the signals the US action is sending: Washington is warning Beijing to keep out of its sphere of influence, the implication being that Xi could equally demand that Trump keep out of what he considers to be his.

That viewpoint is bolstered by an interpretation of the “Trump corollary” to the Monroe Doctrine, detailed in the US’ national security strategy released last month, which outlined the US’ resolve to deny “non-hemispheric competitors” — for which, read China — a military presence or strategic assets in the western hemisphere.

A third perspective places the strategic position on dealing with “non-hemispheric competitors” front and center of the Venezuela action. That view is explained by Tzou Jiing-wen (鄒景雯), editor-in-chief of the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper), on this page (“Maduro’s capture is a dilemma for Beijing”). Tzou reads the action as targeting the bigger fish, China, more directly, and not just tangentially as an enabler of a regional troublemaker. It was a show of US military strength, with precision and resolve that Beijing should not ignore.

For her, the debate within Taiwan is whom to side with, a question revolving around whether one is overestimating China’s strength or underestimating Trump’s resolve.

The evaluations are mutually exclusive: They cannot all be correct. What is certain is that Taipei and Beijing will have plenty to think about. There are many reasons, explained on this page, why it is absolutely not the case that Xi will find any of this cause for confidence.


title: ‘Necessary evils’ and strategic traps

content_text:
Statements by US President Donald Trump regarding Venezuela stressing decisive action and strategic control over regional outcomes have revived a familiar, but dangerous, argument: When a regime is deemed sufficiently “evil,” extraordinary measures that bypass legal and institutional constraints can be excused, or even applauded.

For Taiwan, this line of thinking should raise immediate alarm.

The real issue is not whether a particular operation achieves short-term tactical success. The deeper and far more consequential question is institutional: What follows? Who shapes the political future? What precedents are being normalized in the process?

An uncomfortable historical record deserves honesty. I have never doubted the overwhelming superiority of US military power. Since 1980, the US has repeatedly demonstrated its ability to prevail decisively on the battlefield. What history has not shown with equal consistency is the ability to convert military victory into stable political order.

Time and again, decisive force has been followed by prolonged instability, governance vacuums and unresolved political fragmentation. Winning wars has proven far easier than securing peace.

That failure matters — especially for smaller states — because precedents do not end with battlefield outcomes. Actions justified as “exceptions” rarely remain exceptional. Once powerful states begin treating international law as optional, the rules-based order begins to erode. It advances one precedent at a time, until restraint itself becomes the exception.

Before World War II, repeated violations of international law were justified as necessary responses to ideological or security threats. By the time the world recognized that the “cure” was as destructive as the disease, the international system had already collapsed. Small and vulnerable states bore the heaviest costs.

International law exists precisely to restrain power, not to serve it. When outcomes are allowed to justify means, legal boundaries lose meaning. What replaces them is not justice, but discretion — exercised overwhelmingly by the strong.

Some argue that such concerns are naive, insisting that power politics has always defined international relations. That argument misses the point. Power politics is exactly why legal norms matter most to countries like Taiwan.

For great powers, international law might appear inconvenient. For smaller democracies, it is a survival mechanism.

Taiwan does not lack internal sovereignty. It has a democratically elected government, an independent judiciary, a professional military and a population that exercises political choice freely. What Taiwan lacks is not legitimacy, but universal recognition — a condition imposed through sustained coercion, not democratic consent.

The Venezuela issue also points toward a broader structural shift. Trump’s rhetoric and instincts suggest a revival of the Monroe Doctrine, in which the US prioritizes uncontested dominance in the western hemisphere, while tacitly accepting a world divided into spheres of influence among major powers. In such a system, Washington would focus on maintaining hegemony in the Americas, while tolerating regional dominance elsewhere by other great powers.

For Taiwan, this is a sobering prospect. A world organized around spheres of influence is not governed by law, but by proximity to power. In that world, legal norms, democratic values and moral arguments matter less than geography and strategic bargaining.

The lesson for Taiwan is clear and uncomfortable. It should worry first and foremost about protecting itself — politically, economically and militarily — not about becoming so helpless that it lures others into protecting it. Dependence is not deterrence. Credibility comes from capability, not sympathy.

Supporting the erosion of international norms today — even when politically tempting — weakens the very system Taiwan depends on tomorrow. When rules collapse, power does not become more just; it simply becomes less constrained. In such a world, the first to lose protection will never be the strong — it will be states like Taiwan.

Simon Tang is an adjunct professor at California State University, Fullerton, who lectures on international relations.


title: Shifting alliances, create openings

content_text:
The results of Honduras’ presidential election were officially certified on Dec. 24 last year, nearly a month after polls closed, with the conservative National Party’s Nasry Asfura, who received US President Donald Trump’s endorsement, winning by a narrow margin. He is set to take office on Jan. 27.

More than just a change of government, Asfura’s election sent political shockwaves through the wider region. During his campaign, Asfura agreed with his opponent, Salvador Nasralla of the Liberal Party, that Honduras would be “100 times better off” if it had maintained diplomatic ties with Taiwan, rather than switching recognition to China, and pledged to re-examine agreements signed with Beijing.

Clearly, cracks are showing in China’s investment-heavy diplomacy in Latin America. Amid shifting global conditions, Taiwan might soon have a new opportunity to stage a diplomatic reversal in the Americas.

Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic relations with Taiwan in 2023 under then-Honduran president Xiomara Castro’s administration, which chased attractive pledges from Beijing, including the construction of a hydroelectric dam, purchases of whiteleg shrimp, infrastructure funding and debt assistance. More than two years on, the reality has fallen short of the promises.

Key infrastructure projects have yet to begin, shrimp exports have not recovered, and an influx of Chinese goods has undercut local industries and employment. Mounting disappointment among voters was ultimately expressed at the ballot box.

Asfura has spoken bluntly about assistance and trade when Taipei and Tegucigalpa had diplomatic ties, with Taiwan delivering far more tangible results for the nation. It was more than campaign rhetoric; it is a reflection of widely held public views on the issue.

The election is illustrative of a broader phenomenon: China’s model of trading financial incentives and promises for diplomatic realignment is increasingly being questioned due to economic slowdowns and implementation shortcomings.

Honduras’ shift is not an isolated case, but a concrete example of the diplomatic pendulum in swing. When promises go unfulfilled, foreign policy adjusts to meet the political reality in which livelihoods and public trust are key. Chinese promises have lost their veneer. Voters are no longer accepting empty checks, and instead want reliable and complementary partnerships.

Similar conditions are emerging elsewhere. In the Pacific, the Solomon Islands and Kiribati have seen rising domestic concern and controversy following their shift toward Beijing, particularly over China’s involvement in policing and security affairs.

In the Solomon Islands, opposition — especially in its Malaita Province — has continued to simmer. As it stands, growing regional security pressures are increasing the likelihood that changes in government or public opinion could lead the countries back toward the democratic camp and Taiwan.

In Latin America, Nicaragua and El Salvador have experienced widening trade deficits and blows to local industries after signing economic and trade agreements with China. By contrast, Taiwan’s provisions of agricultural technology, medical assistance and infrastructure support are remembered fondly by local farmers and technocrats.

Should political conditions ease sufficiently, diplomatic recalibration might be back on the agenda for economic recovery.

In central and eastern Europe, Lithuania’s experience is particularly instructive. Despite facing sustained pushback in the form of economic pressure from China, Lithuania chose to deepen substantive cooperation with Taiwan, resulting in a stronger industrial and values-based alliance. Countries such as the Czech Republic, Estonia and Slovakia are seeking closer partnerships with Taiwan in semiconductors, artificial intelligence (AI) and green energy.

Such forms of cooperation, rooted in shared values and industrial complementarity, are far more durable than one-off financial inducements.

While Asfura’s election boosts diplomatic confidence in Taiwan, it also underscores the need for strategic evolution. Diplomatic objectives should not be confined to restoring the number of formal allies, but should aim for deeper structural connections.

Taiwan’s leverage today differs fundamentally from the past. It plays a pivotal role in advanced semiconductors and AI supply chains, has experience in effective public health governance, and technological expertise in environmental, social and governance-driven carbon reduction projects for a green energy transition. They constitute global public goods that many countries urgently need. Choosing Taiwan as an ally is not merely a statement of values, but an investment in security, reliability and long-term development.

Honduras’ shift might only be the beginning. As global supply chains are restructured and awareness of the risks posed by authoritarian expansion grows, more countries are reassessing the costs behind China’s promises. Increasingly, there is space for Taiwan to move from a defensive to a proactive form of diplomacy. This is a turning point defined by trust, values and choices for the future.

Edwin Yang is an associate professor at National Taiwan Normal University and chairman of the Central Taiwan Association of University Professors.

Translated by Gilda Knox Streader


content_text:
The US on Saturday last week moved swiftly and decisively to capture Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, bringing them to New York for trial. The shocking move by US President Donald Trump’s administration carries profound international strategic significance, most notably as it highlights the failure of the China model.

The legal and strategic rationales of Trump’s actions are clear: The operation was aimed at a security threat to the US, posed by what the White House characterized as state-sanctioned drug trafficking. Prior to the strike, the US spent months maneuvering and laying groundwork, with each stage of the process gradually unfolding before the world’s eyes.

This is not the bullying of a small country by a great power; the US is cracking down on drugs and dictators. The objective was clearly defined and the operation conducted with surgical precision. Afterward, the streets were full of Venezuelans celebrating Maduro’s downfall — the direct result of a carefully calculated strategy.

Beyond the two parties directly involved — the US and Venezuela — China’s presence is inescapable. A longtime supporter of Caracas, Beijing is the primary target of Washington’s warning. That Maduro was captured despite being under China’s protective umbrella underscores Beijing’s vulnerability and demonstrates its fundamental unreliability.

Venezuela is one of China’s largest military partners in South America, equipped with Chinese-made radar systems such as the JYL-1, air-defense systems, K-8 jets and armored vehicles. There have even been reports of Chinese military advisers operating in Venezuela, with the country’s military being touted as the strongest in South America.

Venezuela is also a recipient of training in Chinese military doctrine. However, reality has proven that in the face of the US military’s overwhelming electronic warfare, stealth aircraft and precision strike capabilities, the Chinese-made defense system was effectively useless — unable to detect or intercept US forces.

Trump’s action demonstrated that the US-based defense chain was successful under actual combat conditions.

Taiwan is a major user of advanced US weapons systems, including F-16V Block 20 jets, the Patriot air-defense missile system and the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System. By contrast, the catastrophic failure of Venezuela’s “China shield” and its disastrous defeat in actual combat illustrate the systemic vulnerabilities of Chinese equipment.

Furthermore, China has treated Venezuela as a key South American node in its Belt and Road Initiative, providing the Maduro regime with around-the-clock support across political, economic and diplomatic domains for years. Yet, when the US military launched its operation, Beijing did nothing beyond verbal protests — incapable and unwilling to intervene or militarily obstruct it.

Instead, it could only watch in shock and regret, exposing China as a paper tiger when it comes to being a “security ally.” The incident should serve as a stark warning for other pro-China countries in the region.

The most intriguing side of all of this is that, apart from Venezuela, the other country that has been repeatedly named, sanctioned and treated as a national security threat by the US for exporting state-backed opioids such as fentanyl is China. Now that the “junior” has fallen, how can the “senior” continue indulging in a drug lord’s regime without risking becoming the US’ next target? This is the dilemma Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) faces after the failure of the China model.

Tzou Jiing-wen is editor-in-chief of the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper).

Translated by Kyra Gustavsen

title: Maduro’s capture is a dilemma for Beijing


content_text: This should be the year in which the democracies, especially those in East Asia, lose their fear of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “one China principle” plus its nuclear “Cognitive Warfare” coercion strategies, all designed to achieve hegemony without fighting.For 2025, stoking regional and global fear was a major goal for the CCP and its People’s Liberation Army (PLA), following on Mao Zedong’s (毛澤東) Little Red Book admonition, “We must be ruthless to our enemies; we must overpower and annihilate them.”But on Dec. 17, 2025, the Trump Administration demonstrated direct defiance of CCP terror with its record US$11.1 billion arms

title: EDITORIAL CARTOON