揪出「隱藏版」近視   陽明交大醫院散瞳驗光檢出雙倍隱藏個案

記者蘇凱中/宜蘭報導

隨著數位時代來臨，兒童近視盛行率在全球快速攀升，國立陽明交通大學附設醫院深感醫療量能應主動延伸至社區預防醫學，11日與宜蘭縣政府衛生局在礁溪長榮鳳凰酒店聯合舉辦「2026 宜蘭近視防治研討會」，發表宜蘭在地深耕的研究成果：透過「散瞳後驗光」檢查，近視檢出率比傳統視力表篩檢高出逾一倍，揪出雙倍隱藏個案，能有效填補傳統篩檢的偵測漏洞，守護幼兒視力。

陽明交大醫院院長黃志賢表示，醫院的責任不僅止於診間內的治療，更在於預防醫學的落實。為確保蘭陽地區的孩子不因醫療資訊的落差而影響視力健康，醫院團隊多年來主動出擊，與縣府密切合作，讓宜蘭縣大班幼兒的視力篩檢受檢率突破 92 %。這不僅是一項數據，更代表著醫院對每一位幼童「第一道防線」的守護承諾，確保絕大多數孩子在學齡前都能獲得專業的保障。

衛生福利部國民健康署長沈靜芬表示，守護孩子的視力健康必須從學齡前就開始，國健署已推動「114學年度學齡前兒童視力篩檢試辦計畫」，主動將專業醫療資源帶進幼兒園，由眼科醫師親自執行散瞳視力篩檢，提升量測準確度，及早找出近視前期、遠視儲備不足等高風險族群，避免孩子在尚無明顯症狀時錯失黃金介入時機。隨著試辦成果逐步展現，國健署今年（115年）將進一步擴大推動規模，預計招募全國超過一半以上縣市參與，邀請各地方政府共同加入，期盼讓更多學齡前孩子及早獲得專業的視力守護。

代理縣長林茂盛表示，宜蘭縣在全國率先推動「幼兒園大班學童散瞳後屈光視力檢查」，11年來縣府團隊每年編列預算、持續支持，歷經多年的努力耕耘，已成為守護幼兒視力健康的重要防線，成效卓著，縣府將繼續推動近視防治計劃。

眼科蔡德中教授指出，在防治策略上，團隊深知傳統視力表篩檢（看 0.8 或 1.0）容易產生偵測死角，往往無法察覺早期的「無症狀近視」。研究實測顯示，若僅依賴傳統裸視篩檢，檢出率僅約 3.4 %；但導入更精準的「散瞳後驗光」檢測後，診斷檢出率大幅躍升至 7.0 %，近視檢出率超過一倍。研究更揭露一個驚人數據：在「新檢出近視」的幼童中，有高達 52.1% 的人裸視視力優於 0.8，這意味著傳統篩檢可能漏掉近一半的近視個案。為了降低誤判風險，守護那些「隱藏版」的近視個案，醫院堅持採用更嚴謹、雖然繁瑣但更精確的檢測方式，不讓孩子在無聲無息中錯失黃金治療期。

宜蘭縣政府衛生局及陽明交大醫院領先全台「近視前期介入機制」，將尚未真正近視、但屬於高風險群的幼兒納入追蹤管理。實證結果顯示，這套早期介入機制能有效讓度數惡化速度減緩達 31.8%，這份亮眼的成績單，不僅為宜蘭爭光，更為台灣兒童視力保健樹立了可供借鏡的新標竿。


BROAD CAMPAIGN:  Beijing has adopted a government-civilian partnership model to disseminate disinformation in Taiwan through bots, AI and more, an NSB report showed   By Huang Ching-hsuan and Fion Khan / Staff reporter, with staff writer

Taiwan’s national intelligence community recorded 45,590 fake online accounts last year, up from 28,216 in 2024, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said in a report released yesterday.

As part of its cognitive warfare against Taiwan, the Chinese Communist Party has integrated the resources and technologies of the party, government, military and private enterprises to infiltrate online communities to reshape opinions toward “unification,” the report said

The report, titled Analysis of China’s Cognitive Warfare Tactics Against Taiwan in 2025, outlines China’s strategic goals and five major tactics.

A map of China is pictured through a magnifying glass on a computer screen showing binary digits in an undated photograph. Photo: Reuters

To amplify narratives, manipulate fake accounts and expand external propaganda, China focuses on fostering skepticism toward the US, the Taiwanese military and President William Lai (賴清德), while hyping emotions around selected current events, the NSB said.

More than 2.314 million pieces of disinformation were recorded last year, up from 2.159 million in 2024, the report showed.

More than 3,200 pieces of disinformation were reported to government agencies, allowing them to address cognitive warfare attempts in real time, the bureau said.

China has utilized artificial intelligence (AI) technology to generate highly realistic disinformation and employed big data analysis to precisely disseminate it, attempting to mislead the perceptions of Taiwanese, it said.

China’s four strategic goals are exacerbating internal divisions in Taiwan, weakening the will of Taiwanese to resist China, influencing allies’ willingness to support Taiwan and winning support for China’s position on Taiwan, the bureau said.

To achieve the goals, China has adopted a government-civilian partnership model, integrating its collaborative organizations, including information technology companies, marketing firms and Internet groups, employing five major tactics, the report said.

First, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), the Chinese Ministry of State Security and Political Work Department of the Central Military Commission employ Chinese information technology (IT) companies to collect personal data of Taiwanese political figures, legislators and opinion leaders, including their interpersonal connections and positions on China, it said.

The Chinese IT companies also compile polling data and monitor the social media presence of candidates to launch targeted propaganda campaigns toward Taiwan and specific people, it added.

Second, China employs a wide range of channels, including fake Web sites, content farms and cover channels, to disseminate disinformation, it said.

Third, China employs an “Internet water army” — people paid to flood the Internet with pro-Chinese comments — to conduct influence operations in more than 20 languages across more than 180 social media platforms worldwide, it said.

In addition, the CAC, United Front Work Department and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Cyberspace Force have tasked Chinese IT companies with setting up a database of online commentators and developing automated programs managing bot accounts for spreading disinformation, the report added.

Fourth, Chinese IT enterprises have developed AI models and intelligent guidance systems to concurrently collect data on public, with automated video generation and precise delivery to targeted audiences, it said.

The companies have also been tasked with developing intelligent voice systems and to place advertisements on recruitment Web sites, aiming to entice unwitting Taiwanese users to submit online recordings, it added.

Fifth, the Chinese cyberarmy hijacked more than a dozen accounts on the Professional Technology Temple (PTT) bulletin board system during China’s military exercises around Taiwan in April last year, it said.

It hacked into Internet of Things devices and rented overseas servers as proxies to spread disinformation such as “China has blockaded Taiwan’s natural gas shipments” and “Chinese warships have entered Taiwan’s 24 nautical mile [44.44km] zone,” it added.

China has expanded the targets of its cognitive warfare to include countries in the global democratic camp, the bureau said.

Government agencies and prominent think tanks in the US, EU, Australia and France issued reports warning of China’s manipulation of information and similar threats, it said.

Taiwan is situated at the forefront of international efforts to counter China’s cognitive warfare, it said.

To expand a network in the democratic community to counter China’s cognitive warfare, the NSB last year engaged in more than 80 security dialogues and intelligence conferences with international friends and allies, it said.

In addition to implementing the reporting and response mechanism across government apparatuses, the NSB said it would step up efforts to cooperate with third-party fact-checking organizations and social media platform operators, urging them to duly disclose and take down false information.

The efforts aim to prevent hostile foreign forces from conducting influence operations against Taiwan, ensuring an unmanipulated public opinion arena, it said.

Chinese online manipulation soars: NSB


Marine Corps unit receives M4A1 rifles, source says

PREPAREDNESS:  Given the difficulty of importing ammunition during wartime, the Ministry of National Defense said it would prioritize ‘coproduction’ partnerships

A newly formed unit of the Marine Corps tasked with land-based security operations has recently replaced its aging, domestically produced rifles with more advanced, US-made M4A1 rifles, a source said yesterday.

The unnamed source familiar with the matter said the First Security Battalion of the Marine Corps’ Air Defense and Base Guard Group has replaced its older T65K2 rifles, which have been in service since the late 1980s, with the newly received M4A1s.

The source did not say exactly when the upgrade took place or how many M4A1s were issued to the battalion.

The confirmation came after Chinese-language media reported the upgrade of the rifles used by the Marine Corps battalion and published photos showing marines holding M4A1s.

The Air Defense and Base Guard Group’s First Security Battalion was established on Nov. 14 last year, as part of a structural reform of the Marine Corps.

The battalion is made up mainly of conscripts serving one-year compulsory service, and its main task is to provide security for land-based missile and radar crews, ensuring their mobility throughout the mission and the safety of their positions.

A second security battalion of the same type is expected to be formed later this year, the source said.

Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-funded Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he believes this batch of M4A1s was acquired under the Foreign Military Financing programs approved during former US president Joe Biden’s term.

The M4A1 has a shorter barrel than the T65K2 rifles, giving it better handling and maneuverability, Su said, adding that it also features a Picatinny rail system that allows for accessory attachments, including a combat optical gunsight.

Separately, the Ministry of National Defense in its latest written report to the Legislative Yuan said that, given the difficulty of supplying ammunition by sea and air during wartime, it would continue to deepen cooperation with allies and partners, introduce technologies, and negotiate the establishment of “coproduction” partnerships to build local ammunition production lines and reduce reliance on external supplies.

Regarding channels for acquiring ammunition, the ministry said its objectives are to “meet combat training needs, prioritize domestic production, and maintain defense self-reliance capabilities.”

Procurement would primarily be commissioned through the Armaments Bureau and the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology, supplemented by foreign military sales and commercial purchases, with multiple channels pursued in parallel, it said.

Due to the impact of the international situation, procurement of critical components for drones has become difficult, the report said.

For explosives required in the production of uncrewed aerial vehicles and surface vessels, the ministry said it has planned to establish multiple sources of supply.

To cope with high consumption during wartime, it also plans to expand production lines for various types of ammunition, propellants and explosives, thereby increasing domestic self-sufficiency in production capacity, the ministry said.

Additional reporting by Fan Wei-li


Illegal accommodations increased last year: report

A total of 1,624 illegal accommodations were reported last year, with fines totaling about NT$120.13 million (US$3.8 million), the Tourism Administration said.

The agency recently released last year’s statistics, and said that the inspections of accommodation facilities — hotels and guesthouses — showed that nationwide, there were 3,281 legal hotels, 27 fewer from the previous year.

There were 12,551 legal homestays, an increase of 407 year-on-year, the data showed.

A hostel room is pictured in an undated photograph. Photo: Chen Hsin-yu, Taipei Times

Illegal hotels last year totaled 1,058, an increase of 31 from the previous year, while 566 illegal homestays were reported, a decrease of 21, the agency said.

A total of 16,254 inspections were conducted nationwide, resulting in 1,261 fines amounting to about NT$120.13 million, agency data showed.

In Taipei, 585 legal accommodations and 268 illegal ones were reported, with illegal properties accounting for about 31.4 percent — the highest in number and proportion nationwide — while 11 illegal accommodations in the city were daily rental apartments, the data showed.

Taichung has 505 legal accommodations and 207 illegal ones, with illegal properties making up about 29 percent, ranking second in proportion and third nationwide in number, the data showed.

Yilan ranks second in the number of illegal accommodations with 229, but has 2,480 legal ones, resulting in an illegal share of only 8.45 percent.

Kaohsiung has 530 legal accommodations and 125 illegal ones, with illegal properties accounting for about 19 percent, ranking third nationwide.

Regarding the number of fines issued, Taipei ranked first with 256 cases, Tainan second with 171 and Yilan third with 169, the data showed.

As for total fines imposed, Tainan ranked highest with NT$20.454 million, followed by Taipei with NT$20.35 million and Taichung with NT$20.18 million.

The Tourism Administration said that changes in the number of hotels have been minimal and are likely the result of operators entering or exiting the market based on their own business considerations.

The year-on-year increase in homestays indicates that homestays, which are typically family side businesses operating out of spare rooms in private residences, are less affected than hotels, which are more prone to suspending operations due to cost considerations, it said.


At least 192 dead as demonstrations continue in Iran

At least 192 protesters have been killed in Iran’s biggest movement against the Islamic republic in more than three years, a rights group said yesterday, as warnings grew that authorities were committing a “massacre” to quell the demonstrations.

The protests, initially sparked by anger over the rising cost of living, have become a movement against the theocratic system in place in Iran since the 1979 revolution, and have already lasted two weeks.

The mass rallies are one of the biggest challenges to the rule of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 86, coming in the wake of Israel’s 12-day war against the Islamic republic in June last year, which was backed by the US. Protests have swelled in the past few days despite an Internet blackout that has lasted more than 60 hours, according to monitor Netblocks, with activists warning that the shutdown was limiting the flow of information and the actual toll risks being far higher.

People protest the Iranian government in Tehran on Saturday in a screen grab from footage circulating on social media. Photo: UGC via AP

“Since the start of the protests, Iran Human Rights has confirmed the killing of at least 192 protesters,” the Norway-based non-governmental organization said, warning that the deaths “may be even more extensive than we currently imagine.”

Videos of large demonstrations in Tehran and other cities over the past three nights have filtered out despite the Internet cut that has rendered impossible normal communication with the outside world via messaging apps or even phone lines.

Video verified by Agence France-Presse (AFP) showed large crowds taking to the streets in new protests on Saturday night in several Iranian cities including Tehran and Mashhad in the east, where images showed vehicles set on fire.

Several circulating videos, which have not been verified by AFP, allegedly showed relatives in a Tehran morgue identifying bodies of protesters killed in the crackdown.

The US-based Center for Human Rights in Iran said it had received “eyewitness accounts and credible reports indicating that hundreds of protesters have been killed across Iran during the current Internet shutdown.”

“A massacre is unfolding in Iran. The world must act now to prevent further loss of life,” it said.

It said hospitals were “overwhelmed,” blood supplies were running low and that many protesters had been shot in the eyes in a deliberate tactic.

The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency said it had confirmed the deaths of 116 people in connection with the protests, including 37 members of the security forces or other officials.

Iranian State TV yesterday broadcast images of funeral processions for security forces killed in the past few days, as authorities condemned “riots” and “vandalism.”

Iranian national police chief Ahmad Reza Radan said authorities made “significant” arrests of protest figures on Saturday night, without giving details on the number or identities of those arrested, state TV reported.

Iranian Supreme National Security Council Secretary Ali Larijani drew a line between protests over economic hardship, which he called “completely understandable,” and “riots,” accusing them of actions “very similar to the methods of terrorist groups,” Tasnim news agency reported.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said “rioters” must not disrupt Iranian society.

“The people [of Iran] should not allow rioters to disrupt society. The people should believe that we [the government] want to establish justice,” he told state broadcaster IRIB.

In Tehran, an AFP journalist described a city in a state of near paralysis. The price of meat has nearly doubled since the start of the protests, and while some shops are open, many others are not.

Those that do open must close at about 4pm or 5pm, when security forces deploy in force.

Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of the ousted shah, who has played a prominent role in calling for the protests, yesterday called for new actions.

“Do not abandon the streets. My heart is with you. I know that I will soon be by your side,” he said.

US President Donald Trump has spoken out in support of the protests and threatened military action against Iranian authorities “if they start killing people.”

Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Gideon Saar yesterday urged the EU to designate Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps as a “terrorist organization” over the suspected violence against protesters.

He also said Israel supports the Iranian people’s “struggle for freedom.”


North demands ‘explanation’ from Seoul over incursion

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s sister has demanded a detailed “explanation” from Seoul over a drone it accused South Korea of flying over its territory, state media reported yesterday.

The North said on Saturday that a craft crossed from the South Korean border county of Ganghwa into the North Korean city of Kaesong in early this month, and released photos of wreckage from the drone it claimed to have shot down.

Seoul rejected the claim, with its defense ministry saying the drone was not a model operated by its military.

Kim Yo-jong, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s sister, looks on before a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un in Amur, Russia, on Sept. 13, 2023. Photo: Sputnik via Reuters

“Fortunately, the ROK’s military expressed an official stand that it was not done by itself and that it has no intention to provoke or irritate us,” Kim Yo-jong said, using South Korea’s official name in a statement carried by the North Korean state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

“But a detail [sic] explanation should be made about the actual case of a drone that crossed the southern border of our republic,” KCNA quoted her as saying.

In response to the North’s accusation, Seoul’s military said its own investigation had revealed it does not “possess the unmanned aerial vehicle in question, nor did it operate any unmanned aerial vehicles at the time and date specified by North Korea.”

South Korean President Lee Jae-myung on Saturday ordered a “swift and rigorous investigation” by a joint military-police investigative team.

On the possibility that civilians operated the drone, Lee said: “If true, it is a serious crime that threatens peace on the Korean Peninsula and national security.”

However, Kim Yo-jong said she did not care whether it was a military or civilian drone, saying “that is not the one [detail] we want to know.”

“Clear is just the fact that the drone from the ROK violated the airspace of our country,” she added, according to KCNA.

Kim Yo-jong ended her statement calling South Korea “a group of hooligans and scrap.”

Analysts said Kim Yo Jong’s statement suggested Pyongyang wanted to treat the issue as a diplomatic matter.

“Pyongyang has indicated it has no intention of turning this into a military issue through Kim [Yo-jong]’s statement,” said Hong Min, an analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification.

However, her demand for an explanation “signals a shift toward a diplomatic offensive by holding the authorities accountable” for the incursion, he said.


Amendments to protect undersea cables take effect

DISCLOSURE:  The laws require vessels to keep on their identification systems in Taiwan’s territorial waters to curb illegal activities and protect national security   By Tsai Yun-jung and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writer

Seven amendments that were passed last year, raising penalties for offenses including the intentional damage of undersea cables and other critical infrastructure, with maximum fines of up to NT$100 million (US$3.17 million), took effect on Wednesday last week.

The laws aim to prevent foreign vessels from falsifying their identities, concealing sailing routes, severing undersea cables and engaging in other illegal activities, said the Executive Yuan, which proposed the amendments.

The revisions amend the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法), the Electricity Act (電業法), the Natural Gas Enterprise Act (天然氣事業法), the Water Supply Act (自來水法), the Meteorological Act (氣象法), the Commercial Port Act (商港法) and the Law of Ships (船舶法). All seven amendments passed third readings in the legislature last month.

Under the revised regulations, vessels of any nationality entering Taiwan’s territorial waters that disable their automatic identification system (AIS) or fail to properly disclose vessel identification information face fines of up to NT$10 million and the possible confiscation of the ship. Those who damage meteorological facilities, undersea cables or other infrastructure face fines ranging from NT$2 million to NT$100 million, depending on the offense.

The measures were introduced after several incidents last year involving foreign vessels severing undersea cables or lingering in Taiwan’s offshore waters, raising national security concerns.

Amendments to the Law of Ships, overseen by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, require vessels operating in Taiwan’s territorial waters to accurately disclose AIS data, hull markings — including vessel name and identification number — and navigation logs. Offenders face fines of NT$30,000 to NT$10 million, and the Coast Guard Administration may escort vessels into port and confiscate the ships. The rules also apply to yachts, small boats and vessel charterers.

Under the Commercial Port Act amendments, port operators, the Maritime and Port Bureau or designated authorities may order vessels to leave a commercial port within three months or relocate if their presence interferes with berth scheduling or port safety. Foreign commercial vessels that fail to comply without justification may be confiscated regardless of ownership.

Maritime Safety Division deputy head Chi Tien-chien (祁天健) yesterday said that the Law of Ships amendments are intended to curb illegal activities carried out using falsified identities or concealed routes, preventing threats to port security, navigational order and national security.

The remaining five amended laws, including to the Meteorological Act, target those who steal, damage or unlawfully interfere with facilities related to meteorology, undersea cables, power generation, natural gas or water supply. Offenders face prison sentences of one to seven years and fines of up to NT$10 million, rising to three to 10 years and NT$50 million if national security or social stability is endangered.

Penalties may be increased by up to half if the offense causes a disaster. Offenses resulting in death are punishable by seven years to life imprisonment and fines of up to NT$100 million, while those causing serious injury carry sentences of five to 12 years and fines of up to NT$80 million. Attempted offenses are also punishable.

Negligently damaging or unlawfully disrupting the operation of meteorological facilities, submarine cables, landing stations, communications centers, or submarine gas and water pipelines is punishable by up to six months in prison or fines of up to NT$2 million, with tools, equipment and vessels subject to confiscation.


Do more to counter disinformation: expert

RISK FALLING BEHIND:  If institutional responses lag, China would exploit the nation’s open society to create a breeding ground for cognitive warfare, the expert said

Taiwan needs not just technical, real-time countermeasures, but a more comprehensive legal framework and strong inter-ministerial cooperation to face China’s increasingly institutionalized cognitive warfare campaigns, an academic familiar with cross-strait affairs said yesterday.

The National Security Bureau (NSB) yesterday outlined China’s five main methods of cognitive warfare against Taiwan: analyzing social sentiment, disseminating disinformation, infiltrating public opinion with abnormal accounts, generating realistic content with artificial intelligence and hacking Taiwanese accounts.

Taiwan needs to bolster its legal framework, inter-ministerial cooperation and societal resistance to face China’s cognitive warfare, Tunghai University Cross-Strait Research Center deputy executive director Hung Pu-chao (洪浦釗) said.

The logo for the DeepSeek artificial intelligence service is displayed on a cellphone next to a Chinese flag and a monitor showing a Chinese flag in an illustration photograph taken in Beijing on Feb. 17 last year. Photo: Bloomberg

If Taiwan’s institutional responses lag behind China’s operational pace, the nation’s democratic and open society would be repeatedly exploited, becoming a breeding ground for cognitive warfare, Hung said.

China’s five methods as reported by the NSB show a clear operational procedure, he said.

First, China collects information about political figures, opinion leaders and social networks, then identifies social fault lines and emotional hot spots, the academic said.

Next, it disseminates controversial information through social media, exploiting Taiwan’s open democratic environment to amplify conflicts, causing social division and unrest, he said.

China uses Taiwan’s democratic system as its operational interface, causing suspicion, division and eroding trust within society to weaken its overall defense, he said.

“We cannot use laws from the analog era to fight cognitive warfare in the digital age,” Hung said.

Taiwan’s most obvious shortcomings are not in the government’s intelligence capabilities, but in the responsive bottlenecks at the institutional level, he said.

National security legislation has often been stuck within the opposition-led Legislative Yuan, which is in an institutional deadlock that China can repeatedly exploit, he said.

When national security is politicized, any risk warning can be labeled as partisan, weakening Taiwan’s collective defense, Hung said.

China does not need to convince everyone, heightening political polarization alone achieves its cognitive warfare goals, he said.

Cognitive security can no longer be the responsibility of just national security agencies, but needs to involve cooperation between multiple ministries, he said.

The Ministry of Digital Affairs could implement technical countermeasures, the Ministry of Justice could enforce legal accountability and the Ministry of Education could promote media literacy, he said.

The government should focus less on passive responses and clarifications, and more on exposing China’s methods and narrative logic, Hung added.

When the public sees through China’s cognitive warfare, it acts as a “social vaccine,” weakening disinformation and embedding cognitive security into democratic defense, he said.


The overall central government budget is too closely interconnected to only pass parts of it piecemeal, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) said yesterday, urging opposition lawmakers to swiftly review the budget.

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) — which together hold a majority in the legislature — reportedly plan to transfer several budget bills, such as the TPass program or birth subsidies, to legislative committees for review, after the proposed general budget for this fiscal year had been put on hold.

Opposition legislators have said they are dissatisfied that the Executive Yuan did not “properly” adjust military and police pay.

Commuters pass a TPass billboard at an MRT station in an undated photograph. Photo: Taipei Times

The Executive Yuan’s proposed general budget was formulated in accordance with its policy planning, taking into account all facets of the budget, Lee said.

Selectively agreeing to allow advance disbursement of parts of the budget for certain initiatives does not mean that the budget has undergone full deliberation, so it carries a high degree of uncertainty and moreover contravenes the principles of responsible politics, she said.

The Cabinet hopes the legislature considers these issues carefully and begins the budget review so that all policies that benefit the nation and Taiwanese can be implemented as scheduled, she said.

Budget too important to break up, Cabinet says


TPP chair leads delegation to US

Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) late yesterday afternoon departed for Washington, where he said he is scheduled to meet with US government officials to discuss arms procurement and tariffs.

The party hopes to obtain direct, first-hand and reliable information from the US side on arms purchases, particularly a proposed NT$1.25 trillion (US$36.56 billion) special defense budget proposed by the Executive Yuan, Huang said, adding that the Democratic Progressive Party government has not provided the details the legislature needs to consider the funding.

“Aside from receiving two A4 pages and seeing seven articles, the amount of information we have been able to obtain is so little it is hard to even describe,” he said.

Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Huang Kuo-chang, center, speaks to reporters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday. Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times

Regarding US tariffs, the Executive Yuan has repeatedly said it was its highest priority in April last year, and it in August said the US’ 20 percent tariff on Taiwanese goods stacking on top of existing levies was “only temporary,” but now it is 2026, and no further information is available, he said.

The trip came as a surprise to many, as it was not announced until the TPP briefed the press on it earlier yesterday afternoon.

Huang said, however, that the visit had been arranged for “quite some time” after discussions with the US side.

Asked whether the visit was made at the invitation of Washington or initiated by the TPP, Huang did not answer directly but said the party had conveyed its concerns to the US side on a range of issues and had expressed a desire for “direct, face-to-face communication.”

Huang is slated to return on Wednesday.


KMT chairwoman quiet on reported summit with CCP

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) has remained tight-lipped on a reported summit with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) late this month and a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), saying only that any talks would “not be conducted in secret.”

Online news site Meihua Media on Friday reported that the KMT and the CCP are set to resume their long-suspended dialogue — the Cross-Strait Economic, Trade and Culture Forum, better known as the “KMT-CCP Forum” — from Jan. 27 to 29 in Beijing.

The KMT delegation would be led by party Vice Chairman Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑), the report said, citing anonymous sources.

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun, center, speaks to reporters in Taichung on Saturday. Photo: Tsai Shu-yuan, Taipei Times

While Cheng on Friday teased that she would on the following day provide a “public explanation” regarding reports of the KMT-CCP Forum, she offered few specifics when talking to reporters at an event in Taichung on Saturday.

Cheng said that she had sensed a spirit of “sincerity and goodwill” from Beijing regarding cross-strait communication since she became KMT chair in November last year, prompting the KMT to prepare for resumed exchanges.

Cheng gave a list of potential topics to be discussed, such as the pursuit of zero carbon emissions, climate change mitigation and disaster prevention, as well as demographic challenges, such as low birthrates and aging populations, and the development of artificial intelligence.

Building on a 2005 meeting between then-KMT chairman Lien Chan (連戰) and then-Chinese president Hu Jintao (胡錦濤), the KMT-CCP Forum was launched in 2006 and held almost annually until 2016, when it was suspended following the KMT’s loss of power after eight years in office.

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) spokesman Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城) dismissed Cheng’s plan to revive the KMT-CCP Forum as a move to “test the waters” for a potential meeting with Xi.

The DPP found the KMT’s eagerness to engage with Beijing and align with its narratives on Taiwan regrettable, especially as Beijing continues to employ military threats and diplomatic pressure against the nation, Lee said.

李坤城 連戰 胡錦濤 鄭麗文 習近平


‘DIVINE MOUNTAINS’: The president said he hoped the integration of healthcare and technology could push the nation to become even more globally competitive

The “Healthy Taiwan Sprout Project” launched last year has approved funding worth NT$2.94 billion (US$93.05 million) for 197 smart healthcare projects, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that he hoped to see healthcare and technology integration become the next “divine mountains” maintaining Taiwan’s international competitiveness.

He made the remark at the opening ceremony of the 19th Nobel Health Care Forum in Taipei.

The forum, which started in 2017, has a clear mission to implement the nation’s healthcare policies and engage in frontline medical services, Lai said, adding that it has become a vital platform promoting Taiwan’s healthcare industry.

President William Lai speaks at the opening ceremony of the 19th Nobel Health Care Forum in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times

Cross-sector collaboration — especially the integration of healthcare and technology — diversified topics reflecting the medical community’s continuous efforts to push for innovative health management, and the implementation of smart healthcare solutions contributed to the forum’s success, he said.

The Healthy Taiwan Promotion Committee was established to reduce the number of years Taiwanese would live in poor health as the nation’s average life expectancy grows, Lai said.

The average life expectancy has exceeded 80 years, but the average number of years lived in poor health is about 8.4 years, which means people spend 10 percent of their lives in relatively unhealthy conditions, such as being bedridden, in a wheelchair or depending on others for daily tasks, he added.

The five-year NT$48.9 billion “Healthy Taiwan Sprout Project” was launched last year, and it focuses on better healthcare by cultivating talent, improving healthcare staff’s work environment and conditions, practicing social responsibilities and maintaining healthcare sustainability, he said.

It also includes smart healthcare, Lai said, adding that NT$2.94 billion in funding for 197 smart healthcare projects has been approved since last year, mainly for optimizing clinical workflows and improving service efficiency, he added.

Taiwan ranked first on the Numbeo Health Care Index for eight consecutive years, and has a special place in semiconductor, information and communications technology, and electronic components production, Lai said.

In line with the continuous efforts of Taiwan’s medical community, industrial and technology sectors, the government has proposed a “10 Major AI Infrastructure Projects” initiative to further cement the nation’s leading competitive advantage in the world, he said.

The government has set a goal of training 500,000 AI professionals by 2040, Lai said, adding that the new National Center for High-performance Computing has begun operations while he National AI Data Center is to open soon.

The initiative would develop three critical technologies: silicon photonics, quantum computing and robotics, he said.

The government also hopes to assist 1 million micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in Taiwan in integrating AI into their operations, which would comprehensively enhance their competitiveness, Lai said.

“The ‘divine mountains’ are not a single enterprise, but a whole industrial ecological chain,” Lai said, adding that he hoped that through government-private cooperation, the integration of healthcare and technology could become the next “divine mountains” pushing Taiwan to have even better global competitiveness.

Lai touts Taiwan’s smart healthcare


By Tsai Tsung-hsien and Sam Garcia / Staff reporter, with staff writer

Tourism in Kenting fell to a historic low for the second consecutive year last year, impacting hotels and other local businesses that rely on a steady stream of domestic tourists, the latest data showed.

A total of 2.139 million tourists visited Kenting last year, down slightly from 2.14 million in 2024, the data showed.

The number of tourists who visited the national park on the Hengchun Peninsula peaked in 2015 at 8.37 million people.

A beach in Pingtung County’s Kenting is pictured on July 1 last year. Photo: Tsai Tsung-hsien, Taipei Times

That number has been below 2.2 million for two years, although there was a spike in October last year due to multiple long weekends.

The occupancy rate for hotels on the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) has been dismal, with only one hotel maintaining an average occupancy rate above 60 percent last year.

Uni-Resort Kenting has closed, while Fullon Hotel Kenting, one of the largest hotels in the area, has temporarily closed for large-scale renovations.

Kenting’s prolonged tourism slump has sparked speculation that Fullon Hotel’s renovations are more of a damage-control measure.

Criticism online and overseas travel might have affected the industry, with some locals saying social media hurt Kenting’s image and drove young people to choose foreign destinations such as Japan and Thailand instead.

Kenting National Park Headquarters Deputy Director Tseng Tien-ting (曾添丁) said they released a plan to develop tourism this year.

Kenting must transform its brand to make people feel it is worth visiting, he said.

The strategy would focus on optimizing facilities, low-carbon tourism along the west coast, and improving parking and service counters, Tseng said.

The aim is to shift from traditional “check-in-style” tourism toward deeper, experience-based travel, he said.

Kenting is a natural wonder that should not be diminished by short-term data, Pingtung County’s Transportation and Tourism Division said.

The strategy would focus on Kenting’s overall branding, improving multilingual services and deploying smart tourism guides to attract more international visitors, and make visiting the area a better experience, the county government said.

In related news, Taipei and Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) were featured in EverdayGlow’s list of best tourist destinations for this year.

Taipei was listed alongside Seoul and Kyoto, Japan, as an Asian city rich with culture, history and modern adventures.

It is a top travel destination not only because it is friendly and democratic, but also due to its famous street foods, excellent hiking trails and thriving independent music scene, the article said.

As for islands and beaches in Asia, the article recommended Orchid Island, Maldives and the Philippines’ Palawan.

Orchid Island, home to the Tao, or Yami, indigenous people, is renowned for their exquisite wooden canoes, is an ideal place to explore Taiwan’s rich indigenous culture and breathtaking natural scenery, EverdayGlow said.

Kenting tourism sees second year of historic lows


Demonstrators call for enforcement of death penalty

Demonstrators in a march on Justice Day yesterday called for the enforcement of the death penalty to protect children’s right to life, ahead of the sentencing in a child abuse trial.

The march was held by children’s rights advocates, along with the National Association of Equality for Life, Taiwan.

Participants gathered on Qingdao E Road before heading to Liberty Square for a sit-in demonstration.

People hold up signs during a march in Taipei yesterday calling for the enforcement of the death penalty. Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times

They chanted “anti-death penalty alliance, get out of Taiwan” when they passed by the operating site of the Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty on Zhenjiang Street.

Event convener Wallis Chang (張瓦力) said the march was held on Justice Day mainly to call on the court not to give lenient sentences to the defendants charged with child abuse in the case of Kai Kai (剴剴), a one-year-old boy who passed away in 2023.

Chang also called for continued attention to the trial of the social worker involved in Kai Kai’s case on Thursday next week.

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators Wang Hung-wei (王鴻薇), Wu Tsung-hsien (吳宗憲), Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) and Yeh Yuan-chih (葉元之), Taipei City Councilor Chen Ping-fu (陳炳甫), and actress Sophie Wang (王思佳) also attended the event to express their support.

Wang Hung-wei said the death penalty has been de facto abolished since Constitutional Judgement No. 8 was issued in September 2024, which states that the death penalty is constitutional when the criminality is the most serious of its kind and criminal proceedings are conducted in conformity with the strictest legal requirements of the Constitution.

Citing data from the Ministry of Health and Welfare, Wu said the rate of child abuse among children aged three or younger in Taiwan increased last year despite declining birthrates.

There could be more child abuse cases like Kai Kai’s remaining hidden, he said, adding that information exchanges, and cooperation between the ministry and policing authorities should be enhanced to identify such cases.

Hung said the law should protect law-abiding citizens — who account for the vast majority of society — rather than criminals, the tiny minority.

“Harsh penalties must be applied in a world full of chaos to safeguard children’s rights,” he said, adding that he would seek expert advice to explore the feasibility of more active punishments, such as whipping, in deterring crimes.

Retired Taiwan Steel University of Science and Technology electrical engineering professor Chang Chieh-neng (張介能), whose wife was sexually assaulted and killed by an unemployed man in Kaohsiung in 2014, said anti-death penalty advocates “base their generosity on victims.”

The defendant in his wife’s case was sentenced to life imprisonment, with prior death sentences overruled in his fourth retrial in October 2024, shortly after Constitutional Judgement No. 8, he said.

洪孟楷 吳宗憲 王鴻薇 葉元之


Taichung drink shop suspended due to ‘roach egg’ in drink

By Huang Hsu-lei and Esme Yeh / Staff reporter, with staff writer

A drink shop in Taichung’s Yizhong Street Commercial Area (一中商圈) was suspended yesterday after a customer said they found a cockroach egg in their drink.

The customer, surnamed Lin (林), said she bought a drink from the shop on Saturday and felt a strange substance while sipping her beverage.

After spitting it out, she found a rectangular, reddish-brown object with textured surface and serrated edges, which she said appeared to be a cockroach egg.

People walk along the Yizhong Street Commercial Area in Taichung in an undated photograph. Photo: Taipei Times

However, the clerk insisted the substance was buckwheat and attempted to prove it by crushing it in their hand, which resulted in a “juicy” substance spraying out, almost hitting her, she said.

The shop refunded the order and made her another drink, but Lin said she did not dare drink it.

The Taichung Office of Food and Drug Safety yesterday said it had dispatched personnel to inspect the shop.

The store would be required to improve within a deadline if it is found to not be in compliance with the Regulations on Good Hygiene Practices for Food (食品良好衛生規範準則), it said, adding that the shop could face a fine of NT$60,000 or more if it fails subsequent inspections.

The shop apologized and initiated a disinfection of the store.

Yang Chen-chang (楊振昌), director of occupational medicine and clinical toxicology at Taipei Veterans General Hospital, said that cockroaches are an important issue in public health management, as they can carry more than 40 pathogens that might cause leprosy, dysentery, typhoid fever or food poisoning.

Freezing their eggs at minus-16°C or heating them at 50°C for six hours could effectively kill them.


Urologist warns of cold-related health risks

WATCH OUT:  Low temperatures do not just make people feel ‘cold,’ but also bring risks to the heart, blood pressure, urination, joints, immunity and emotions, a urologist said

As Taiwan is experiencing waves of cold snaps, physicians have shared health risks brought about by lower temperatures and protective measures the public could take.

One Peace of Mind Urology Clinic director Lu Chin-heng (呂謹亨) on Facebook wrote that urinary issues, such as frequent urination, nocturia (waking up during the night to urinate) or urinary retention due to benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), increase during cold days.

Low temperatures trigger “cold-induced diuresis,” increasing the frequency of urination, he said.

A graphic shows 10 cold weather health risks and corresponding protective measures. Photo courtesy of the One Peace of Mind Urology Clinic

Lu advised people not to reduce their water intake, and instead avoid consuming excessive caffeinated drinks in the evening, and keep their abdomen and lower body warm, adding that those with BPH or existing urinary issues should seek medical treatment.

When cold receptors are activated, muscles around the bladder contract, he said, suggesting that people wear thermal pants or waist warmers, avoid sitting on cold seats for long periods and urinate more frequently.

There is also an increased risk of urinary tract infection, as people tend to hold in their urine or drink less water on cold days, which could lead to an infection, Lu said.

Do not hold in urine, maintain consistent water intake and see a doctor immediately if you experience pain or a burning sensation during urination, he said.

Low temperatures also reduce the flow of synovial fluid, decreasing joint mobility, which could lead to joint stiffness and increased pain, Lu said.

He suggested that people warm up their body before moving after they wake up, keep their joints warm, and avoid sudden or strenuous exercise.

The cold air irritates the airways, so it could worsen respiratory issues or trigger asthma, chronic bronchitis or coughing, Lu said, encouraging people to wear masks when going outside to avoid inhaling cold air directly and to use their prescribed medications according to the doctor’s instructions.

He also warned of rising blood pressure and increased cardiovascular risks, such as heart attacks or strokes, as low temperatures cause blood vessels to constrict.

People should monitor their blood pressure regularly, and those with cardiovascular conditions should avoid going out in the early morning, Lu said, adding that they should look out for warning signs of cardiovascular events, such as dizziness or chest tightness.

Low temperatures could also lead to temporary immunity decline, and reduced sunlight could affect the activity of immune cells, he said, encouraging people to maintain a regular routine, get sufficient sleep and eat a balanced diet with enough protein.

Those with chronic illnesses should take extra preventive measures against infections, he added.

People could also experience seasonal depression, as less sunlight would affect serotonin and melatonin secretion, so they should get more sunlight during the day, maintain social interactions and regular activities, and seek professional help if they are the feeling persists for more than two weeks, Lu said.

Staying warm, drinking sufficient water, not holding in urine and moving slowly are important health guidelines for cold days, he added.

Tri-Service General Hospital cardiology director Tsai Tsung-neng (蔡宗能) said low temperatures increase the risks of fatal cardiovascular conditions, including heart attacks and cardiogenic shock.

Low temperatures cause blood vessels to constrict and blood viscosity to increase, so the risk of cardiovascular events rises, he said.

Every 1°C drop in temperature increases the incidence of cardiovascular disease by 1.2 percent and mortality rate by 1.6 percent, he said, citing research findings.

The in-hospital mortality rate rises with the delay of mechanical circulatory support or interventional treatment, he added.

Tri-Service General Hospital Cardiovascular Surgery Division director Ke Hung-yen (柯宏彥) said patients with end-stage heart failure or severe heart disease are inherently high-risk groups for cardiogenic shock, and advised them to seek early evaluations for implanting a left ventricular assist device, to maintain organ function and preserve future quality of life.

Medical Affairs Bureau Director-General Tsai Chien-sung (蔡建松) said cardiogenic shock is one of the most time-sensitive critical conditions, and that self-awareness and the speed of medical response are matters of life and death.

He advised people to maintain healthy lifestyles and stay alert to warning signs of potential heart failure, such as difficulty breathing, swelling of lower limbs and general weakness.


By Peng Chien-li, Weng Yu-huang and Fion Khan / Staff reporters, with staff writer

A 73-year-old man yesterday drowned at a public hot spring pool at the Taian Police Light Villa in Miaoli County, police said.

At 1:30pm yesterday, the man was discovered unconscious in the water by bathers, who immediately called for help, the Dahu Police Precinct said.

Firefighters and paramedics rushed the man to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead following emergency treatment, it said.

The entrance to a public hot spring pool at the Taian Police Light Villa in Miaoli County is pictured in an undated photograph. Photo courtesy of the police

The man had visited the resort earlier in the day with his wife and son, police said, adding that it is unclear how he drowned.

An autopsy was scheduled to be conducted today to determine the cause of death, police said, adding that they have not ruled out underlying health factors.

The villa, in Taian Hot Spring, is a popular destination for police officers. While the resort primarily serves police personnel, its public pool is open to the public.

Sudden temperature changes between hot and cold environments could place additional strain on the cardiovascular system, Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital cardiologist Li Chia-cheng (李家誠) said.

Blood vessels play a crucial role in regulating body temperature and maintaining circulation, he said.

While healthy people can usually adapt to temperature changes, those in high-risk groups often have damaged or weakened blood vessels, he said.

People with high blood pressure or a history of myocardial infarction are more vulnerable to cardiovascular problems if they soak improperly, he added

Bathers are advised to enter the pool gradually, keep water levels low, be aware of water temperatures, take regular breaks for rest and hydration, and limit the duration of each soak to prevent overexposure, Li said.

Entering a high-temperature pool too quickly could cause rapid vasodilation, while repeatedly alternating between hot and cold pools could lead to sharp fluctuations in blood pressure, he said.

Bathing on an empty stomach, immediately after eating or after drinking alcohol could also increase risks, as unstable blood sugar levels and redistributed blood flow might temporarily reduce blood supply to the brain and heart, Li said.

Symptoms of unstable blood pressure could include dizziness, palpitations, chest tightness, nausea, vomiting or shortness of breath, he said, adding that persistent discomfort could signal an impending heart attack or stroke.

People should ensure their blood pressure is stable before visiting hot springs, be alert to symptoms such as chest discomfort or palpitations, and carry their regular medications and inform companions where it is kept, Li said.

Man drowns in a public hot spring pool in Taian


Chilly temperatures to rebound from today: CWA

A continental cold air mass kept much of Taiwan chilly early yesterday, but temperatures are expected to rebound gradually starting today as the system weakens, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said.

The lowest temperature recorded in low-lying areas yesterday was 8.3°C in Chiayi County’s Jhuci Township (竹崎), followed by 8.4°C in Tainan’s Nansi District (楠西) and 8.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), CWA data showed.

While daytime highs yesterday were 15°C to 17°C in northern Taiwan and Yilan County, about 18°C to 19°C in eastern Taiwan, and 21°C to 23°C in central and southern Taiwan, the agency warned that from last night into early today, temperatures could drop below 10°C in areas north of Kaohsiung, in northeastern Taiwan and in Kinmen County.

A chart of the weather forecast for this week. The green line represents Hualien County and Taichung, the yellow line represents Taichung and Tainan, and the white line represents Taipei and Yilan. Photo provided by the Central Weather Administration

For today, the CWA forecast early-morning lows of 12°C to 14°C for most parts of Taiwan, with daytime highs expected to climb to 21°C to 24°C in western Taiwan, while eastern Taiwan and Penghu County are forecast to see highs of 18°C to 20°C.

The agency said it expects the weather to be dry and cold until Friday, with day-night temperature differences of about 12°C in the western half of the country.

On Saturday, the northeast monsoon is to bring moisture, increasing the chances of rainfall in northern and eastern Taiwan, it added.


Good wishes

Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions slugger Lin An-ko, center, gestures at a gathering with fans at the Tainan Municipal Baseball Stadium yesterday. The team sponsored the event for Lin ahead of his departure to Japan to play for the Saitama Seibu Lions in the Nippon Professional Baseball league. The Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions’ Chen Chieh-hsien, right, and Su Chih-Chieh, left, also participated in the event.


A coast guard vessel searches for missing air force F-16V pilot Hsin Po-yi yesterday off the coast of Hualien County. The coast guard dispatched boats, drones and vehicles yesterday to continue searching for the pilot in coordination with the military near where he went missing on Tuesday last week.

Search continues


Friendly neighborhood race

Half-marathon runners participate in this year’s Standard Chartered Taipei Charity Marathon yesterday. They set off from Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office Building and finished the race in Dajia Riverside Park.


SEMICONDUCTORS: The German laser and plasma generator company will expand its local services as its specialized offerings support Taiwan’s semiconductor industries

Trumpf SE + Co KG, a global leader in supplying laser technology and plasma generators used in chip production, is expanding its investments in Taiwan in an effort to deeply integrate into the global semiconductor supply chain in the pursuit of growth.

The company, headquartered in Ditzingen, Germany, has invested significantly in a newly inaugurated regional technical center for plasma generators in Taoyuan, its latest expansion in Taiwan after being engaged in various industries for more than 25 years.

The center, the first of its kind Trumpf built outside Germany, aims to serve customers from Taiwan, Japan, Southeast Asia and South Korea, the company said.

A worker operates equipment at Trumpf Taiwan Industries Co’s regional technical center for plasma generators in Taoyuan in an undated photograph. Photo courtesy of Trumpf Taiwan Industries Co

It is equipped with infrastructure dedicated to the analysis, service and calibration of Trumpf’s plasma generators, it said. Prior to the launch of the center, the service and renewal of plasma generators mostly took place in Trumpf’s Germany headquarters.

“This was a starting point for our further development in this [semiconductor] industry... Our intention is also to extend this in upcoming years, not only one year,” Trumpf Taiwan Industries Co (台灣創浦) managing director Patrick Kemnitz said in an exclusive interview with the Taipei Times on Monday last week.

“So, we will follow our local-for-local strategy again. Based on this, we can say further extension of our services which we can provide locally to our customers,” Kemnitz said, adding that Trumpf has been diversifying and localizing its supply chains to enhance resilience since the COVID-19 pandemic, and that the approach helped it counteract geopolitical risks.

As the company is ramping up its plasma generator business in Taiwan, the number of local employees is expected to rise to about 170 by the end of this year, compared with 160 currently, Kemnitz said.

Trumpf operates five sites in Taiwan, and develops its businesses in alignment with industrial megatrends and customer demand, he added.

On top of the machine tools and industrial lasers, semiconductors have become a new growth pillar for Trumpf over the past 10 years.

The company generated about 1 billion euros (US$1.16 billion) from the semiconductor sector, which made up about 23 percent of the company’s total revenue of 4.3 billion euros during the fiscal year between July 1, 2024, and June 30 last year, its annual report showed.

Trumpf has been developing different applications in the semiconductor supply chain from plasma generators, which is a core component for semiconductor production equipment, Kemnitz said.

The company, established more than 100 years ago, also supplies carbon dioxide lasers for extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography systems for ASML Holding NV, he said.

Trumpf is the sole laser source supplier to ASML. It uses Trumpf’s carbon dioxide laser to hit tin droplets to generate a plasma, which then generates EUV that is captured and brought to the scanner.

To expand its local ecosystem, Trumpf in 2023 set up an EUV training center in Tainan, one year after Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) started volume production of 3-nanometer chips at its Fab 18 in Tainan using ASML’s EUV tools.

TSMC’s 2-nanometer chips entered volume production at its Fab 22 in the fourth quarter of last year.

The chipmaker’s 3-nanometer and 2-nanometer technology are used by Nvidia Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc for their artificial intelligence (AI) chips.

Trumpf also supplies laser cutting machines, bending machines, punching machines and laser welding machines, Kemnitz said.

These machines are used to manufacture equipment for fabs, from major chipmakers and original equipment manufacturing service providers — such as TSMC — to data centers, Kemnitz added.

As most of the infrastructure is made of sheet metal, the semiconductor became a very important industry for Trumpf’s overall businesses, he said.

While analysts and investors are debating whether the AI industry is overheating and heading for a crash, Kemnitz said he believed AI would continue to be a growing field this year, given its fast paced technology development.

“I would say this [AI] trend will continue because if you can see the speed and the pace AI is developing, I think there are still many steps possible,” Kemnitz said.

AI applications would continue driving the overall semiconductor industry this year and Trumpf’s semiconductor business would grow along with the industry, he added.

The global semiconductor market is expected to expand at least 11 percent annually to US$890 billion this year, as significant AI infrastructure investments continue to drive demand for AI accelerators, power management chips and other chips for AI devices, International Data Corp forecast.

World Semiconductor Trade Statistics was more optimistic, projecting the industry to grow more than 25 percent this year to reach US$975 billion, with growth across all regions and product categories.

Trumpf expanding its Taiwan facilities


EXPERIENCES MAY VARY: Manufacturing firms had a great year, the service sector did alright, but other areas limped along, such as the traditional industries sector

Export-oriented manufacturing served as the major contributor to Taiwan’s strong GDP growth in the first three quarters of last year, government statistics showed.

Taiwan’s GDP grew a substantial 7.15 percent during the nine-month period, with the manufacturing sector contributing 4.89 percentage points, or 68 percent of the total growth, and the service sector contributing 1.76 percentage points, or 24 percent, data from the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) showed.

Department of Statistics head Tsai Yu-tai (蔡鈺泰) said the electronics component and computer/optoelectronics industries benefited from solid global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications, making manufacturing the largest contributor to Taiwan’s GDP.

A man walks past robotic arms at a machine tool trade show at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center on March 3 last year. Photo: CNA

In November last year, the DGBAS raised its GDP growth forecast to 7.37 percent for last year and predicted the economy would grow another 3.54 percent this year, citing the continued AI boom.

Tsai said the growth of the local manufacturing sector varied from industry to industry.

The capital-intensive information and communications industry, and the electronics industry were keen to raise wages in the AI era, but the number of people employed in those industries was relatively low, while the labor-intensive services sector largely saw flat growth, he said.

Echoing Tsai, National Central University economist Dachrahn Wu (吳大任) said the strength of the manufacturing sector was uneven, with the old economy sector affected by the US tariff measures.

According to Wu, the electronics industry in Taiwan employs only about 1 million people, of the roughly 11 million workers nationwide.

At the same time, traditional industries continue to report furloughs.

Many employees did not feel significant benefits from the GDP growth in Taiwan and consumer confidence remained weak, he said.

In the service sector, the retail and wholesale industry’s contribution to total GDP growth was 0.7 percentage points, and the financial/insurance industry’s share was 0.29 percentage points in the first nine months of last year, DGBAS data showed.

Wholesale firms in particular, especially machinery suppliers, benefited from AI business opportunities as their operations were largely correlated to robust exports, Tsai said.

He added that the financial/insurance industry was driven by the local stock market in terms of investment returns, as the benchmark TAIEX was boosted by the AI boom last year, soaring 25.73 percent.

Export-focused manufacturing drove GDP growth


Fuel prices drop slightly despite rise in crude oil

Gasoline and diesel prices at domestic fuel stations are to fall NT$0.2 per liter this week, down for a second consecutive week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) announced yesterday.

Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to drop to NT$26.4, NT$27.9 and NT$29.9 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, the companies said in separate statements.

The price of premium diesel is to fall to NT$24.8 per liter at CPC stations and NT$24.6 at Formosa pumps, they said.

The price adjustments came even as international crude oil prices rose last week, as traders weighed various factors, such as the prospects of oil production in Venezuela following recent political upheaval, Saudi Arabia’s announcement of price cuts for next month’s oil shipments to Asia and the US’ mulling of imposing high tariffs on countries that purchase Russian crude oil, the companies said.

Brent crude oil futures — the international oil benchmark — last week gained 4.26 percent to settle at US$63.34 per barrel on the Intercontinental Exchange.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures — the US oil benchmark — increased 3.14 percent to US$59.12 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.


The global artificial intelligence (AI) server market is expected to remain dominated by servers based on graphics processing units (GPUs) this year, but application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs)-based models are set to see faster growth in shipments, the Market Intelligence and Consulting Institute (MIC) said.

As major cloud service providers (CSPs) continue to train large language models for machine learning, outlays on AI data centers and high-density GPU server racks remain a priority, MIC said.

CSPs would continue relying on GPU ecosystems when offering computing resources to customers, since most enterprises and developers remain accustomed to working within GPU environments, MIC information and communications technology section deputy director Chris Wei (魏傳虔) said last week.

Servers at a Hon Hai Precision Industry Co subsidiary’s plant in Taoyuan are pictured in an undated photograph. Photo courtesy of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co

However, demand for servers powered by ASICs is growing as the market’s focus gradually shifts toward inference, Wei said.

While AI training is akin to preparing materials in a centralized factory — capital-intensive and large in scale — inference resembles bringing those materials back on premises, where use is more distributed and steady.

Such a pattern makes shipment growth for ASIC-based servers more likely to outpace that of GPU-based models this year, Wei said.

Shipments of servers used for AI inference are expected to be about four times higher than those used for training this year, highlighting the role ASICs could play.

ASICs are well-suited to inference demand, as they prioritize efficiency and cost control, Wei said.

Inference workloads are relatively fixed and suitable for specialized designs that can complete specific tasks with lower power consumption, he said.

MIC expects Taiwanese manufacturers who already produce GPU servers to expand into the ASIC segment smoothly, Wei said.

The key to future competition for these manufacturers lies not only in securing orders tied to specific chips, but in whether they can build system integration capabilities and flexible production lines for both GPU and ASIC-based platforms, he said.

ASIC server shipments expected to grow faster


US Treasury secretary says tariff refunds unlikely

The US Department of the Treasury has adequate funds to pay any tariff refunds ordered if the US Supreme Court rules against US President Donald Trump’s tariffs, but any repayments would be spread out over weeks or even a year, US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent said.

Bessent said in an interview that he still doubted that the court would rule against Trump’s tariffs, but he believed that any refunds would be a “corporate boondoggle” for companies that passed on added costs to their customers.

Bessent said that any negative ruling might not be a simple yes-or-no result, but something more nuanced that could complicate the refund process.

US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent speaks about monetary policy in Minnesota on Thursday. Photo: Bloomberg

“It won’t be a problem if we have to do it, but I can tell you that if it happens — which I don’t think it’s going to — it’s just a corporate boondoggle,” Bessent said. “Costco, who’s suing the US government, are they going to give the money back to their clients?”

Bessent claimed companies generally were not passing tariffs on to consumers, saying there was “very, very little, if any, pass-through,” and disputed that Trump’s tariffs contributed to inflation. He said goods inflation had been below headline inflation.

Importers and trade lawyers had anticipated a Supreme Court ruling on Friday but the court instead issued a ruling on a different matter. It remains unclear when the court would rule on the tariff case, which challenges Trump’s use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose broad tariffs on nearly every US trading partner.

Bessent said he believed that the longer the tariff decision is delayed, the more likely it is that the Supreme Court rules in Trump’s favor.

With cash on hand of nearly US$774 billion as of Thursday, the Treasury has more than enough funds to cover any refunds. The Treasury’s borrowing estimates for the January-March period project an end-March cash balance of about US$850 billion.

“We’re not talking about the money all goes out in a day. Probably over weeks, months, it may take over a year, right?” he said.

Bessent said he expects Treasury budget data for the calendar year last year to show a deficit reduction of US$300 billion to US$400 billion from calendar 2024, providing additional capacity. The US government operates on a fiscal-year basis, reporting a deficit of US$1.775 trillion for fiscal last year, which ended on Sept. 30.

Importers have said they expect difficulty in recouping any tariffs paid if the Supreme Court finds that Trump’s IEEPA-based duties are illegal. Based on the US$133.5 billion in this category of tariff assessed by the US Customs and Border Protection Agency through Dec. 14, the total is likely approaching US$150 billion, based on Reuters calculations.

Bessent disputed this figure, saying it was “not the number,” for tariffs subject to possible refunds. He said there were revenues from tariffs provided under other authorities but did not provide a specific figure for IEEPA-based tariffs.


US to push for quicker action in reducing reliance on China for rare earths

US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent will urge Group of Seven nations and others to step up their efforts to reduce reliance on critical minerals from China when he hosts a dozen top finance officials today, a senior US official said.

The meeting, which kicks off with a dinner yesterday evening, will include finance ministers or cabinet ministers from the G7 advanced economies, the European Union, Australia, India, South Korea and Mexico, said the official who was not authorized to speak publicly.

Together, the grouping accounts for 60 percent of global demand for critical minerals.

Glass jars containing rare earths are pictured in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, on Nov. 4 last year. Photo: Kirill Kudryavtsev, AFP

“Urgency is the theme of the day. It’s a very big undertaking. There’s a lot of different angles, a lot of different countries involved and we really just need to move faster,” the official said.

Bessent on Friday told Reuters that he had been pressing for a separate meeting on the issue since a G7 leaders summit in Canada in June, where he delivered a rare earths presentation to gathered heads of state from the US, Britain, Japan, Canada, Germany, France, Italy and the European Union.

Leaders agreed to an action plan at the summit to secure their supply chains and boost their economies, but Bessent has grown frustrated about the lack of urgency demonstrated by attendees, the official said.

Aside from Japan, which took action after China abruptly cut off its critical minerals supplies in 2010, G7 members remain heavily dependent on critical minerals from China, which has threatened to impose strict export controls.

China dominates the critical minerals supply chain, refining between 47 percent and 87 percent of copper, lithium, cobalt, graphite and rare earths, according to the International Energy Agency. These minerals are used in defense technologies, semiconductors, renewable energy components, batteries and refining processes.

The US is expected to issue a statement after the meeting, but no specific joint action is likely, the official added.

“The United States is in the posture of calling everyone together, showing leadership, sharing what we have in mind going forward,” the official said. “We’re ready to move with those who feel a similar level of urgency ... and others can join as they come to the realization of how serious this is.”

The official gave no details on what further steps were planned by US President Donald Trump’s administration, which is pushing forward to boost domestic production and reduce reliance on China through agreements with Australia, Ukraine and other producers.

The US signed an agreement with Australia in October aimed at countering China’s dominance in critical minerals that includes an US$8.5 billion project pipeline. The deal leverages Australia’s proposed strategic reserve, which will supply metals like rare earths and lithium that are vulnerable to disruption.

The official said there had been progress, but more work was needed. “It’s not solved,” they added.

Canberra has said it has subsequently received interest from Europe, Japan, South Korea and Singapore.

Today’s meeting comes days after reports that China had begun restricting exports to Japanese companies of rare earths and powerful magnets containing them, as well as banning exports of dual-use items to the Japanese military.

The meeting was planned well before that action, US officials said. China was still living up to its commitments to purchase US soybeans and ship critical minerals to US firms.


Copious cauliflower

A farmer surnamed Chuang holds a fresh cauliflower in a field near Pingtung City yesterday. With a great winter harvest, Chuang opened her farm to the public to pick their own.


Opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) lawmakers on Friday again blocked the general budget for this year, saying that it was because the government failed to propose a budget consistent with the law.

According to the Budget Act (預算法), before the beginning of the new fiscal year, the Executive Yuan should submit its budget proposal to the legislature for deliberation four months in advance and the legislature should approve it one month in advance, allowing the president to announce it 15 days in advance.

The Executive Yuan in August last year submitted its general budget to the Legislative Yuan in compliance with the law, but KMT and TPP lawmakers, who control slightly more than half of the legislative seats, have refused to put it on the agenda and refer the different government agencies’ budget proposals to committees for detailed discussion and review.

After four months of refusal to put the budget on their deliberation agenda, the KMT and TPP caucuses said it is the government’s fault, not theirs, as the Cabinet did not compile a budget that allocates funds for military pay raises, and pension increases for retired police officers and firefighters based on bills they passed last year.

Late last month, the KMT said they would review the budget as soon as the government includes the two raises and halts further reductions to pensions for civil servants and teachers, but the Cabinet has declined to earmark funds for the raises and has sought a still-pending constitutional interpretation.

As the new year enters its second week, this year’s general budget remains unreviewed, and the Cabinet and legislature are still at an impasse.

The opposition parties ignored the fact that Article 70 of the Constitution stipulates that “the Legislative Yuan shall not make proposals for an increase in the expenditures in the budgetary bill presented by the Executive Yuan,” ignored the Legislative Yuan’s constitutional duty to review budgets, and disregarded the Budget Act, as they failed to approve the budget one month prior to the new fiscal year.

The Cabinet warned that failure to pass the general budget would cause NT$299.2 billion (US$9.5 billion) in funds for a wide range of services and development — including new initiatives, disaster response, defense, healthcare resilience and local government subsidies — to remain inaccessible.

Local governments voiced concerns that they might not be able to sustain TPass programs, which offers discounts or rebates for frequent riders, for long without the central government subsidy.

Most local government heads are KMT members, so their concerns about possible TPass disruption due to delayed budget review, which could freeze discounts for more than 1 million regular TPass users, has put pressure back on the KMT lawmakers.

The KMT caucus, realizing that their tactic of threatening the Executive Yuan might instead hurt their local governments, and potentially lead to losing support and votes in the local elections later this year, quickly said they would discuss with the TPP about referring parts of the general budget that affect people’s livelihoods, such as the TPass and birth subsidies, to legislative committees for review this week.

KMT caucus deputy secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) called separating the controversial budgets and prioritizing passing the livelihood-related budgets “a feasible option that shows responsibility to the people and the state,” and said that the KMT supports building up national defense and reasonable military procurement, but is against paying for undelivered military equipment or unsuccessful domestic military equipment development.

However, how “responsible” they are is up to the public to decide, as KMT and TPP lawmakers neglect their duties of scrutinizing the government and reviewing budgets through “open deliberation” at committees, and at the same time sacrifice national security, development and public welfare only because they want to save face for their bruised egos — harmed by the fact that the Cabinet still doubts the constitutionality of the bills to raise pay and pension for certain groups of people that they passed, and decided not to include them in this year’s budget.

It is worth questioning how the KMT and TPP caucuses would decide which budgets are important and which group of people should receive priority — such as commuter discounts and childbirth subsidies over military modernization or artificial intelligence research. Are increased pensions for retired police officers, firefighters and civil servants more important than subsidies for long-term care services?

If the KMT and the TPP want to demonstrate their accountability, they should first properly perform their official duties — reviewing the budget on schedule, according to the law — rather than repeatedly blaming the government. If they have doubts about particular budgets, they can ask government officials to explain them, or even freeze or cut them during committee discussions, but refusing to even review them shows only laziness and irresponsibility.

EDITORIAL: Opposition dragging feet on budget


John J. Tkacik, Jr. On Taiwan: Venezuela, the Taiwan Strait and US National Security

The last foreign delegation Nicolas Maduro met before he went to bed Friday night (January 2) was led by China’s top Latin America diplomat. “I had a pleasant meeting with Qiu Xiaoqi (邱小琪), Special Envoy of President Xi Jinping (習近平),” Venezuela’s soon-to-be ex-president tweeted on Telegram, “and we reaffirmed our commitment to the strategic relationship that is progressing and strengthening in various areas for building a multipolar world of development and peace.”

Judging by how minutely the Central Intelligence Agency was monitoring Maduro’s every move on Friday, President Trump himself was certainly aware of Maduro’s felicitations to his Chinese guest. Just a few hours later, at 2:00 am Saturday morning, Ambassador Qiu and his party would themselves be rousted from bed by fireworks, power outages, and an inability to communicate on their mobile phones or laptops. By that time, Mr. Maduro et ux were in business-class seats on a US Army Delta Force MH-47 Chinook helicopter en route to the USS Iwo Jima.

US President Donald Trump’s National Security Strategy (NSS) released this past December 4 should have given anybody who read it a “heads-up” that the Maduros’ arrest and extraction was imminent. The NSS reflects the peculiar way the Trump administration ponders whether China wishes America well or ill. It revels in accounts of China’s bad economic behavior and complains that “American elites — over four successive administrations of both political parties — were either willing enablers of China’s strategy or in denial.” But when it comes to a military threat, the NSS can never quite get the words “China” and “threat” into the same sentence.

The NSS lists six “core, vital national interests.” First is “a [Western] Hemisphere that remains free of hostile foreign incursion or ownership of key assets, and that supports critical supply chains.” To China-policy experts who read, “hostile foreign incursion,” “critical supply chains,” it’s obvious — that’s “China” — not just in Venezuela, but throughout Latin America.

Similarly, the sixth “vital national interest” is “to ensure that US technology and US standards — particularly in AI, biotech, and quantum computing — drive the world forward.” Boom! This is Taiwan. Trump’s favorite Taiwanese, TSMC chief executive C.C. Wei (魏哲家), can attest to that.

The 33-page NSS’s “America First” outlook gives primacy of place to “The Western Hemisphere.” But note that it expends just three and a half pages on it, while number two, “Asia,” gets six pages; “Europe” is third with a bit over two and a half pages; and the rest of the world gets two pages. Unsurprisingly, the NSS’s “Asia” discussion centers on China. The NSS steadfastly resists calling China “hostile” despite its predatory trade and industrial overcapacity practices. “Potentially hostile”? Yes. But “hostile”? Perish the thought!

To safeguard these interests, the NSS adopts a Churchillian “balance of power” principle: “The United States cannot allow any nation to become so dominant that it could threaten our interests... We must prevent the global, and in some cases even regional, domination of others.” The NSS also posits that “the United States must never be dependent on any outside power for core components — from raw materials to parts to finished products — necessary to the nation’s defense or economy. … This will require expanding American access to critical minerals and materials while countering predatory economic practices.” All this, too, has “China” written all over it.

The NSS explicitly requires that America’s allies shoulder much heavier defense burdens in their own regions of the world while the United States redirects its fiscal resources toward modernizing its core strengths — nuclear weapons, undersea and space — and pushing ahead in new battlespaces that will decide the future of military power, “such as AI, quantum computing, autonomous systems, and the energy necessary to power these domains.” The Trump NSS regards Taiwan’s advanced technology manufacturing as central to “AI, quantum, and autonomous systems” domains. The NSS says, “we will also harden and strengthen our military presence in the Western Pacific, while in our dealings with Taiwan and Australia we maintain our determined rhetoric on increased defense spending.” Surprise! After the NSS came out, the Pentagon discovered US$11 billion in Taiwan arms requests it had forgotten to approve during the previous administration.

And what does the NSS see as the paramount threat facing the United States in Asia? “Any attempt [by whom is left unsaid] to seize Taiwan or achieve a balance of forces so unfavorable as to make defending that island impossible.” And why is Taiwan so important? Taiwan, the NSS explains, is “rightly” the focus of the NSS’s deterrence concerns partially because of its “dominance in semiconductor production,” but “mostly because Taiwan provides direct access to the Second Island Chain [in the Western Pacific] and splits Northeast and Southeast Asia into two distinct theaters.”

So, jumping ahead a month from the NSS publication, one who read the NSS would not have been surprised by President Trump’s January 3, 2026, incursion into Venezuela to seize its dictator and bring him to justice on “drug trafficking and narco-terrorism conspiracies” charges. Yet, the real reason for the move, the reason repeated by Secretary of State Marco Rubio the following day, was the NSS requirement that the Hemisphere “remain free of hostile foreign incursion or ownership of key assets.” The only global power that fits this description is the one which dispatched ambassador Qiu Xiaoqi to Caracas seeking a deeper strategic relationship in a multipolar world.

At his Mar-a-Lago press conference Saturday morning President Trump briefed the press on the joint special operations that had concluded just a few hours earlier. He was indignant that Venezuela increasingly was “acquiring menacing offensive weapons that could threaten US interests and lives — and they used those weapons last night.” Indeed, Maduro had spent years assembling impenetrable air defense networks, mostly supplied by Russia and China — from Russia’s long-range S-300 missiles supported by Chinese JY-27 over-the-horizon anti-stealth radar, to close-in “Buk” missiles, weapons whose sole mission was to deter the exact attack scenario of January 2. (Videos of smoldering Buk command posts, radars, and track-mounted missile launchers surfaced on the internet shortly after the American attack). Around the world, commentators wondered “where were Venezuela’s air defenses?” That the American incursion destroyed, suppressed or disabled all these defenses, suggests that the US can at least neutralize older Chinese arms.

When asked at his press conference how the Maduro seizure might affect US relations with China and Russia, specifically their access to Venezuelan oil, the President said, imprecisely, “China and Russia” may have to wait until whenever “we get things straightened out; but in terms of other countries that want oil, we are in the oil business.” On the Sunday morning talk shows, Secretary of State Rubio mentioned other issues with Venezuela: “you can’t turn Venezuela into the operating hub for Iran, for Russia, for Hisb’allah, for China, for the Cuban intelligence agents that control that country.” There was “China” right in there with Hisb’allah. Rubio also warned: “We’ve seen how our adversaries all over the world are exploiting and extracting resources from Africa, from every other continent. They’re not going to do it in the Western Hemisphere.” It cannot have escaped anyone’s notice that America’s only “adversary” exploiting Africa is China.

Taiwan should take heart from all this. The US air assault overwhelmed China/Russia-origin air defenses — albeit second-string, export models. The decapitation operation against Maduro was flawlessly executed by US Army Delta Force — US special operations trainers have been training with Taiwan leadership protection forces at least since the first Trump administration. Finally, the subtext of Washington’s irritation with Venezuela’s dictatorship was Maduro’s relationship with China. (Colombia and Mexico are bigger narcotics problems.)

But what if special operations regiments of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army were to launch a Maduro-like “decapitation” campaign to kidnap or assassinate Taiwan’s leadership? Does Trump’s Venezuela gambit make that more likely? Page 44 of the Pentagon’s 2025 “Report on Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China” suggests the PLA has long been practicing this anyway. “Decapitation” will in any event be a key part of a PLA assault. To counter that, Taiwan must have robust “continuity of government” measures in place long before they are needed. I hope to address this in my next “On Taiwan” column.

John J. Tkacik, Jr. is a retired US foreign service officer who has served in Taipei and Beijing and is now director of the Future Asia Project at the International Assessment and Strategy Center. He is also on the Advisory Board of the Global Taiwan Institute.


In July 2024, a Taipei public-sector recycling worker surnamed Huang (黃) turned himself in to the Ministry of Justice’s Agency Against Corruption after a complaint was received about him gifting a rice cooker slated for recycling to an elderly woman who scavenged garbage for a living. He was charged in June last year under the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例), and ultimately received a three-month jail term on a two-year suspended sentence, and was disenfranchised for one year. The ruling was lamented as excessively harsh and an example of the law leaving no room for compassion.

In the wake of this case, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Weng Hsiao-ling (翁曉玲) proposed a legislative amendment to exempt people from punishment in which the illicit gains from corruption are under NT$50,000 and the circumstances are deemed “minor.” On the surface, the proposal appears to provide protection for public servants like Huang; in reality, by putting a price tag on corruption, it opens Pandora’s box and represents a serious social crisis.

We cannot let a single case be used to weaken our defenses against systemic corruption. This is not about showing compassion to frontline workers, but rather the covert legalization of corruption by increments. If such legislation were to pass, it would allow public officials to openly engage in red-envelope payments, gift-taking, favoritism and bribery below the NT$50,000 threshold without fear of criminal liability. At that point, administrative procurements, contract awards, public convenience measures, neighborhood chief subsidies and disaster-relief resource allocations across the system could become hotbeds of dubious, yet consequence-free, transactions. The cost would ultimately be borne by social fairness and public trust as a whole.

Even more troubling is who gets to decide what constitutes “minor circumstances.” Leaving such a vague term to the discretion of prosecutors or judges would only lead to greater consumption of judicial resources and create opportunities for influence peddling and political interference. At a time when society is striving to promote transparent governance and integrity in public administration, Weng is actively attempting to undermine the Anti-Corruption Act under the guise of protecting ordinary workers. In reality, it is not workers like Huang who are being protected here; it is local politicians and power networks operating in gray areas.

Of course, disproportionate prosecutions or verdicts should be conscientiously reviewed. The legal sphere should be encouraged to return to a framework that first establishes guilt, and then considers the motive and circumstances, while still safeguarding institutional integrity. The rice cooker case calls for a good-faith reflection on whether the judge lacked flexibility in applying the law and whether prosecutors abused their power. However, it does not mean that the legislature should throw the baby out with the bathwater and undermine the entire anti-corruption legal framework. Especially in Taiwan, where local factions are deeply entrenched and money and power are tightly intertwined, a blanket rule against punishment for cases under NT$50,000 is not protection for frontline workers, but a get-out-of-jail-free card for systemic corruption.

True reform would not abandon all principles, but demand that the judiciary respond to the genuine human realities of individual cases and apply proportionality in adjudication. Issues should be corrected through institutional means, not by allowing moral standards to collapse across the board.

Faced with Weng’s proposal to exempt minor offenses, we must ask: If it is NT$50,000 today, would it be NT$100,000 tomorrow? We must be careful in drawing these lines. What Taiwan needs is a clean government, not politicians with silver tongues.

Elliot Yao is a reviewer.

Translated by Gilda Knox Streader

Maintain safeguards against corruption


We are used to hearing that whenever something happens, it means Taiwan is about to fall to China. Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) cannot change the color of his socks without China experts claiming it means an invasion is imminent. So, it is no surprise that what happened in Venezuela over the weekend triggered the knee-jerk reaction of saying that Taiwan is next.That is not an opinion on whether US President Donald Trump was right to remove Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro the way he did or if it is good for Venezuela and the world. There are other, more qualified

By JulienOeuillet 曾樂昂

EDITORIAL CARTOON


India’s 10-minute delivery model is under pressure

India’s massive labor surplus makes it hard for gig workers to regularly hit their earnings targets, and with millions of riders joining platforms every year, there are always enough drivers, no matter how unhappy individual workers might be

India’s booming quick-commerce industry is on notice. In a New Year’s Eve flash strike, more than 200,000 riders refused to ferry food, grocery and other orders nationwide. While gig workers’ demands for fair pay, safety and dignity can be addressed to some extent by the platforms that use their services, the union leading the protest also wants a more fundamental change: an end to 10-minute deliveries. That would be a showstopper.

Like everywhere else, the Indian consumer’s fascination for everything to arrive in less than 30 minutes began during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns — with daily essentials.

However, while the likes of Fridge No More, Buyk, Jokr and Getir died or faded away in the US once shopping habits normalized, the Indian industry just kept getting bigger by shortening delivery times and adding more items — from pillows to prescription drugs — to the list of things available for instant gratification.

Apps such as Blinkit, Swiggy, Instamart and Zepto have liberally poured money into so-called dark stores, strategically located warehouses dedicated to fulfilling online orders. Traditional retailers, led by tycoon Mukesh Ambani, and e-commerce heavyweights such as Amazon.com Inc and Walmart Inc’s Flipkart, were late to the party. Now they are also investing feverishly.

Real-estate broker Savills PLC expects a threefold growth in dark stores by 2030 — to 7,500 from 2,500 — as the craze for everything arriving in 10 minutes spills over into smaller Indian cities.

The strike has sparked a debate about the cost of this addiction. Apps claim that they do not put drivers on the clock.

However, delays do show up as bad ratings, angry calls by supervisors and monetary penalties, forcing riders to engage in risky behavior on narrow, congested, potholed roads that are already notorious for a death every third minute. In the capital, New Delhi, being out on the streets means constant exposure to hazardous air.

Even before the recent disruption, investors were getting rattled by calls for better social security for gig workers under India’s new labor codes. Since mid-October last year, shares of Swiggy Ltd and Eternal Ltd, which owns food-delivery service Zomato and quick-commerce app Blinkit, have fallen about 20 percent, even though the benchmark Nifty 50 Index has been broadly stable.

The flash strike has complicated matters. If regulatory diktats nudge consumers to be a little more patient — or force labor to be a little less desperate — the business model breaks down before it turns profitable. The new czars of quick commerce are trying to prevent such an outcome.

In a flurry of posts on X, Eternal CEO Deepinder Goyal blamed a “small number of miscreants” for obstructing non-striking agents. With order volumes hitting an all-time high of 7.5 million on Dec. 31 last year, the strike had failed to affect operations, he said.

Even while dismissing the strike, Goyal has gone to great lengths to address the rising social concerns. The 10-minute mandate is not leading to unsafe driving, he said.

Blinkit riders cover an average distance of 2km at a speed of 16kph. The company pays the premiums for drivers’ insurance. The average worker earns 102 rupees (US$1.13) every hour they are logged in. (Tips are extra, but meager.) For someone working 10 hours, 26 days a month, that translates into 21,000 rupees monthly, net of fuel and vehicle maintenance.

“Now tell me, is this unfair? Especially for an unskilled job, which is largely part-time, and has zero barriers to entry?” he wrote on X.

Well, the problem with the model is revealed by Goyal’s own data. Few people are actually putting in the effort needed to earn the 21,000 rupees a month in his hypothetical example. In a year, the average Zomato delivery worker puts in 38 days, seven hours per working day. Only 2.3 percent worked more than 250 days.

If gig work is a decent halfway house between abject urban poverty and a formal sector that has few jobs to offer, surely more people would try to maximize their earnings from the platform?

A possible explanation is that India’s massive reservoir of surplus labor makes it hard for gig workers to hit their earnings targets on a steady basis, a failing that quick commerce cannot rectify. Millions of riders voluntarily move out of platforms each year, millions of others join in, but the consumer gets their order picked up and delivered.

The slack in the system makes sure that there are always enough drivers available, no matter how unhappy any individual worker might be by the remuneration or the risks.

To cheerleaders of Indian e-commerce delivery partners are embarking on a great capitalist adventure. Even if they do not join the ranks of middle-income earners, their children would. Disturb the apps now by imposing new obligations, and there would only be poverty to distribute.

The trouble with that story is that only the consumer-facing side of platforms is capitalistic. The delivery part is pre-capitalistic. The rider brings their own two-wheeler to work, and buys their own fuel. Even a sharecropper in a feudalistic setup who bought their bullocks and paid for seeds could aspire to an assured tenancy. Where’s the permanence in an app that can arbitrarily suspend a worker’s login ID?

India would have 23.5 million people in its gig economy by 2030, a threefold growth over a decade. In China, where there are many more such workers despite faster job creation historically, things are cutthroat. Even bathroom breaks can get in the way of a parcel deliverer’s US$1,000-a-month target earnings in Beijing. In both countries, the key to a fairer deal lies with the government. Otherwise, an abundance of choice for customers is just the road to serfdom for workers.

Andy Mukherjee is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering industrial companies and financial services in Asia. Previously, he worked for Reuters, the Straits Times and Bloomberg News. This column reflects the personal views of the author and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.