【新唐人北京時間2026年05月20日訊】大陸知名的打假博主「耿同學」，因為多次舉報中國學術界論文造假，而受到外界關注。他曝光的對象，涉及中國知名高校「生物化學領域」的權威人士，以及學術圈的頂尖青年學者。有中科院的學子透露，學術界造假相當泛濫，而根本原因在於中共腐敗的體制。
「耿同學」原名耿洪偉，曾經是北京航空航天大學的生物醫學工程學院博士研究生。近一個月以來，他五次公開舉報學術界的亂象。
其中的涉事人員包括：上海大學轉化醫學院蘇姓院長、同濟大學生命科學與技術學院院長王平、南開大學生命科學學院院長陳佺、中山大學腫瘤防治中心實驗研究部副主任康鐵邦以及中山大學生命科學學院副院長、國家傑出青年科學基金獲得者鄺棟明。
中國科學院某研究所前博士生項明（化名）表示，中科院的學術氛圍早已是烏煙瘴氣，成果被偷、欺騙造假屢見不鮮。
項明的一位博士生同事曾經去英國公費進修半年，回國後撰寫的論文被上司占有。
中科院某所前博士生項明：「就這個體制是，只要你能創造出一點東西，立馬拿走，因為你要發一篇文章，你要經過老闆（上司）同意。他看到你這個文章能發（表），他就會把文章拿走，去署名對他更重要的人。」
項明進一步透露，在她任職的科研所，實驗數據和論文被拿去瓜分，是常有的事，所以很多同事都躺平了。
項明：「只要但凡創造出一點點對他們有用的東西，就會被他們瓜分殆盡。你能不讓嗎？你就必須讓，你要以『大局』為重。因為這篇文章對那個『有用的人』來說，他就可以博士畢業。」
大多數人在這種體制下敢怒不敢言，一些真正想搞科研的同事也漸漸消沉了。
項明：「寫文章是需要付出代價的。我需要做實驗，我需要寫，需要花費我大量的時間和精力，但是我最後得到什麼呢？我什麼都沒有得到。我權衡利弊之下，躺平是我利益最大化的選擇。」
項明身邊的同事，大多數都選擇了躺平。
項明：「我不看好這個國家，普通人哪有什麼前途啊？就在這個體制下混口飯而已。」
項明還指出，有權有勢的人會集一切所能，將自己打造出學術IP，最終目的還是為了錢。
項明：「學術也是打造的學術IP、學術明星，所有的優勢資源集中在他身上，只要把錢騙到就行了。中共統治下，各行各業其實都是一模一樣，只是換湯不換藥而已。」
新唐人電視台記者洪寧、周天採訪報導

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中科院前博士爆猛料：中國學術圈早已爛透！ | 耿同學 | 中國學術界 | 論文造假 | 新唐人电视台


記者吳立言／綜合報導

Google 再替 Gemini App 加碼新功能，除了先前公布的 Gemini Omni 與 AI 代理功能外，Google I/O 現場也展示 macOS 版 Gemini 的多模態能力，能直接讀取 Finder 中選取的文件內容，自動整理成表格並撰寫 Email，進一步強化 AI 在日常工作的整合應用。

根據現場展示，使用者可在 macOS 上直接選取 Finder 內的多份文件，再透過 Gemini 指令要求整理資訊，例如生成寄宿寵物服務詢問 Email，Gemini 便會自動讀取文件內容、建立表格並完成信件草稿。Google 也同步預告更多多模態能力即將登場。

Gemini App 導入 AI 工作流

Google 也宣布，Gemini App 將加入更多 AI Agent 功能。其中首個代理功能名為「Daily Brief」，可整合 Gmail、Calendar 等 Google 服務，自動生成每日摘要與行程概覽。此外，進階訂閱用戶未來可自行建立 AI 工作流程（Agentic Workflows），讓 Gemini 自動執行多步驟任務，進一步朝 AI 助理平台發展。

Gemini Omni 已向付費用戶開放

Google 表示，付費訂閱用戶即日起已可在 Gemini App 中使用 Gemini Omni。官方將其形容為影片生成領域的「Nano Banana 時刻」，暗示新模型在影音生成能力上將有大幅提升。

Gemini App 換上「Neural Expressive」新設計

除了 AI 功能更新，Google 也替 Gemini App 導入全新設計語言「Neural Expressive」，作為對應 Android「Material Expressive」設計風格的 AI 版本介面。新版 App 也新增更多地區方言支援，提升不同市場的語音與文字互動體驗。部分功能將於今年夏季陸續推出，但新版 Gemini App 與部分更新已於今日開始上線。

Google替Gemini App大改版 macOS整合、AI代理同步登場 | ETtoday AI科技


Google 推出全新的 Gemini Omni 模型系列，結合 Gemini 的推理能力與內容生成功能，讓 AI 能夠從文字、圖片、影片與音訊等多種輸入資料建立影片內容，首波推出的版本為 Gemini Omni Flash，目前已開始在 Gemini App、Google Flow 與 YouTube Shorts 上線。

Google 表示，先前推出的 Nano Banana 已經讓不少使用者能修復老照片、依照草圖設計圖像，或將概念視覺化，這次的 Gemini Omni 則進一步將多模態能力延伸到影片生成與編輯。

Gemini Omni Flash 的一項主要功能，是能透過自然語言對影片進行編輯，使用者不需要傳統剪輯流程，只要以對話方式描述修改需求，系統就能持續調整影片內容，同時保留角色一致性、場景邏輯與物理效果，例如可以要求系統將雕像改成泡泡材質，或是在人物觸碰鏡子時，讓鏡面產生液態波紋效果。

Google 也展示了多輪修改能力，使用者可以逐步改變影片的場景、風格、鏡頭角度與細節，系統會延續原本的畫面內容，而不是每次重新生成。

在影片生成方面，Gemini Omni Flash 強調對現實世界知識與物理現象的理解，Google 指出，模型能模擬重力、流體與動能等效果，讓生成畫面更接近真實，例如系統可建立一段連續運鏡的彈珠軌道影片，並維持合理的運動邏輯。

除了物理效果，Gemini Omni Flash 也能結合語意與知識生成較複雜的內容，Google 展示了一段英文字母主題影片，系統會依照字母搭配對應物件，例如以水豚 （Capybara）代表字母 C、熔岩燈（Lava lamp）代表字母 L，並搭配字幕與背景音樂自動生成完整短片。

另一個應用方向則是解說型影片，Google 表示，Gemini Omni Flash 能依照簡短指令，自動建立具視覺化效果的知識內容，例如以黏土動畫風格解釋蛋白質摺疊過程。

在輸入方式上，Gemini Omni Flash 支援混合多種素材來源，使用者可以同時提供圖片、影片、音訊與文字描述，系統會整合成單一影片內容。初期音訊功能先支援語音參考，未來將逐步加入更多音訊輸入類型。

Google 也展示了以既有影片與圖片作為參考素材的功能，例如使用者可上傳人物照片與場景圖片，再指定影片風格，例如復古未來感或科幻電影風格，系統會自動套用一致的視覺效果與動態設計。

此外，Gemini Omni Flash 也提供數位 Avatar 功能，讓使用者建立自己的虛擬分身，生成具有個人外觀與聲音的影片內容，Google 表示，目前仍持續測試與評估 AI 修改語音與對白功能的使用方式。

為了標示 AI 生成內容，所有透過 Gemini Omni 建立的影片都會加入 SynthID 數位浮水印，Google 表示，使用者可透過 Gemini App、Chrome 版 Gemini 與 Google 搜尋確認影片是否由 AI 生成。

目前 Gemini Omni Flash 已向 Google AI Plus、Pro 與 Ultra 訂閱使用者開放，並開始在全球推出。同時，YouTube Shorts 與 YouTube Create App 使用者也可免費使用部分功能。Google 預計未來幾週內，將進一步透過 API 提供給開發者與企業客戶使用。

延伸閱讀：Google I/O 2026 懶人包：Gemini 3.5 系列模型與語音 Docs Live 新功能

Gemini Omni Flash 登場，支援文字、圖片與影片輸入的 AI 影片生成工具


Google I/O 2026 懶人包：Omni 影片生成、Gemini 3.5 系列模型、代理式 AI  Google 在現正進行中的 I/O 大會（Google I/O 2026）上更新多項技術進展與產品。

2026 年的 Google I/O 正式宣告 AI 進入「代理人時代（Agentic Era）」，Google 透過硬體基礎設施（第 8 代 TPU 8t/8i）與高性價比模型（Gemini 3.5 Flash）築起護城河，並將 AI 從「被動問答的聊天機器人」轉化為「能聽懂語音、會看影片、並在背景幫你處理複雜工作流」的實用生產力工具。

亮點一：對話式 AI 帶入日常工具Google 逐步將對話式 AI 整合至各項產品中，Maps 近期更新加入了 Ask Maps 功能，方便使用者輸入較長且複雜的詢問。接下來，Ask YouTube 功能也將展開測試，可依據使用者興趣推薦影片，並直接跳轉至最相關的片段，預計今年夏天在美國市場擴大推出。

在文件處理方面，語音模型技術的進展帶來了 Docs Live 功能，使用者不需要輸入文字提示詞，只需透過口頭講述，系統就能自動生成並編輯文件內容，Docs Live 預計今年夏天開放給訂閱用戶，相關的語音功能後續也將導入 Gmail 與 Keep。

硬體基礎設施方面，Google 持續投入建置成本，2022 年的年度資本支出為 310 億美元，今年預計將增加至 1,800 億到 1,900 億美元。新發表的第 8 代張量處理器（TPU）首次採用雙晶片架構，區分為負責訓練的 TPU 8t 與負責推理的 TPU 8i。TPU 8t 的原始算力為前代晶片的近 3 倍，並搭配 JAX 和 Pathways 架構，支援全球超過 100 萬個 TPU 跨數據中心協同訓練，將大型模型的訓練時間縮短至數週，TPU 8i 則專注於降低推理延遲。兩款晶片均提升了能源效率，每瓦效能表現達前代的 2 倍。

亮點二：Gemini Omni 登場，跨模態「虛擬現實」影片生成新發表的 Gemini Omni 模型具備強大的「世界理解（World understanding）」能力，能從任何輸入模態中直接生成各種輸出樣式，首波開放以影片輸出為主（未來將加入影像與文字），新系列的首款模型 Gemini Omni Flash 即日起於 Gemini 應用程式、Google Flow 和 YouTube Shorts 上線，未來幾週內將透過 API 開放給開發者與企業客戶。

延伸閱讀：Gemini Omni Flash 登場，支援文字、圖片與影片輸入的 AI 影片生成工具

SynthID 水印大擴展，OpenAI、Nvidia 聯手組國家隊針對生成式 AI 的透明度與真實性，Google 升級了隱形浮水印技術 SynthID，目前已應用於超過 1,000 億張圖片與影片，以及 6 萬小時的音訊內容，使用者可透過 Gemini 應用程式中的 SynthID 檢測器驗證內容。

此外，Google 正在 Search 和 Chrome 擴大導入內容憑證驗證，標示影像是由 AI 生成或由相機拍攝，在產業合作上，繼 Nvidia 之後，OpenAI、Kakao 和 Eleven Labs 也宣布加入採用 SynthID 技術。

亮點三：Gemini 3.5 Flash 發表全新推出的 Gemini 3.5 Flash 模型兼顧了運算速度與效率，在多項基準測試中，Gemini 3.5 Flash 的表現高於 3.1 Pro，特別是在程式編碼與真實經濟任務評估（GDPVal）方面。

Gemini 3.5 Flash 的每秒輸出 Token 速度為同等級模型的 4 倍，且運算成本不到同級模型的一半，在 Google 內部測試中，將 3.5 Flash 搭配代理開發平台 Antigravity 使用，內部 AI 開發工具每日處理的 Token 數量已超過 3 兆個，企業若將 80% 的工作負載轉移至 3.5 Flash，預計每年可降低顯著的營運成本，Gemini 3.5 Flash 即日起於所有產品與 API 開放，而規格更高的 Gemini 3.5 Pro 則預計於下個月推出。

亮點四：Antigravity 2.0 與 Gemini Spark，打造 AI 代理生態系同時，開發平台升級為 Antigravity 2.0 獨立桌面應用程式，讓使用者建立與管理多個自主 AI 代理（AI Agents），並提供速度提升 12 倍的優化版 Flash 模型，等於從單純的開發環境升級為獨立的桌面應用程式，成為開發與管理「自主 AI 代理群」的中央控制台。

Gemini Spark 亮相，全天候個人 AI 代理Google 發表重量級個人 AI 代理（Agent）：Gemini Spark，由 Gemini 3.5 與 Antigravity 架構驅動，運行於雲端專屬虛擬機器，因此即便是筆電關閉，也能 24 小時在背景執行長週期的複雜任務，將率先整合 Google 自家工具，隨後透過 MCP 串聯第三方工具，下週將向美國的 Google AI Ultra 訂閱用戶推出 Beta 版，夏天更將直接進駐 Chrome 瀏覽器。

延伸閱讀：Google Gemini 推出 Gemini 3.5 Flash、Gemini Spark，擴大 AI 助理功能

其他產品線更新Google 同時公布了其他 AI 代理與硬體進展：

Daily Brief：將整合至 Gemini 應用程式，整理收件匣、行事曆和任務，自動編排優先順序並提供後續行動建議。

Google Flow：今日向所有用戶推出新代理功能，協助專案腦力激盪、創作與編輯，並支援在平台內編寫程式以設計視訊特效、手繪動畫或文字圖層。延伸閱讀：Google Flow 與 Google Flow Music 更新，加入 Gemini Omni 與 AI 創作代理功能

Google Pics：新款影像創作與編輯工具，基於 Nano Banana 模型開發。系統將影像中的每個元素視為獨立物件，方便使用者調整、替換或修正畫面細節，目前已開放給測試人員，夏天將提供給 Workspace 的 Google AI Pro 和 Ultra 訂閱用戶。

智慧眼鏡：包含提供語音協助的語音眼鏡，以及可顯示即時資訊的顯示眼鏡，使用者可直接透過語音呼叫 Gemini 協助。其中語音眼鏡將率先於今年秋天推出。延伸閱讀：Google 跟三星開發的智慧眼鏡要來了！不只能聽還會看資訊

Google CEO Sundar Pichai 表示，目前在 AI 發展週期中，使用者更著重於日常應用的實質價值，根據統計，Google 模型每月處理的 Token 數量呈現顯著成長，兩年前全平台每月處理 9.7 兆個 Token，去年 I/O 大會成長至約 480 兆個，而目前每月處理量已超過 3.2 百萬大兆（quadrillion），年成長率達 7 倍。目前每月有超過 850 萬名開發者使用 Google 模型建立應用程式，模型 API 每分鐘處理約 190 億個 Token，過去 12 個月內，有超過 375 家 Google Cloud 客戶各自處理了超過 1 兆個 Token。

在用戶規模方面，Google 目前有 13 款產品各擁有超過 10 億名使用者，其中 5 款產品的使用者超過 30 億名。搭載生成式 AI 的 Search 功能中，AI Overviews 每月活躍用戶數已超過 25 億名，而 AI Mode 在推出一年後，每月活躍用戶數也超過 10 億名。當使用者在搜尋中採用 AI 功能時，搜尋形式會轉變為連續性的對話互動。另外，Gemini 應用程式的每月活躍用戶數從去年的 4 億名成長至今年的 9 億名以上，日處理請求量成長超過 7 倍。透過 Nano Banana 影像生成模型，至今已產生超過 500 億張圖片。


YouTube 推出 Ask YouTube 與 Gemini Omni，強化搜尋與 Shorts 創作工具  YouTube 在 Google I/O 2026 宣布推出多項新功能，包括對話式搜尋工具 Ask YouTube，以及整合 Gemini Omni 的 Shorts Remix 與 YouTube Create 創作功能，YouTube 表示，新功能將同時強化內容搜尋與影片創作體驗，並逐步向不同地區與使用者開放。

其中，Ask YouTube 是一項重新設計的搜尋方式，改為對話式互動介面，使用者可輸入較複雜的問題，例如育兒教學建議或遊戲評測推薦，系統會從 YouTube 全平台內容中篩選長影片與 Shorts，並整理成結構化的回覆結果。

YouTube 表示，使用者在搜尋後可持續提出追問，進一步縮小或調整需求，使搜尋過程更接近對話形式，目前 Ask YouTube 僅開放給美國地區、年滿 18 歲的 Premium 訂閱使用者，並可透過 youtube.com/new 使用，後續將逐步擴大開放範圍。

除了搜尋功能外，YouTube 也將 Gemini Omni 模型導入 Shorts Remix 與 YouTube Create 應用程式，強化影片創作能力，例如使用者可將 Shorts 轉換成 90 年代風格影片，或將自己加入原本的場景中，同時保留原始影片的敘事脈絡。YouTube 表示，Gemini Omni 能更準確理解使用者意圖，並在背景處理影片與音訊調整，使創作過程更偏向概念設計而非技術操作。

YouTube 也提到，所有透過 Omni Remix 生成的 Shorts 內容都會加入數位浮水印與識別性中繼資料，並標註原始影片來源，同時創作者可自行選擇是否允許他人進行視覺 Remix。

此外，YouTube 正擴展「Likeness detection」功能，協助創作者偵測與管理個人形象被使用的情況，目前已開放給 18 歲以上創作者使用。

Gemini Omni Remix 功能已於 YouTube Shorts Remix 與 YouTube Create 應用程式中免費推出，並預計未來加入 AI Playground，提供更多創作方式。

延伸閱讀：Google Flow 與 Google Flow Music 更新，加入 Gemini Omni 與 AI 創作代理功能延伸閱讀：Google Gemini 推出 Gemini 3.5 Flash、Gemini Spark，擴大 AI 助理功能延伸閱讀：Google 跟三星開發的智慧眼鏡要來了！不只能聽還會看資訊延伸閱讀：Google I/O 2026 懶人包：Omni 影片生成、Gemini 3.5 系列模型、代理式 AI


Google 在 Google I/O 2026 宣布更新 Google Search 與 AI Mode 功能，加入 Gemini 3.5 Flash 模型、AI 搜尋代理，以及新的智慧搜尋介面，Google 表示，AI Mode 推出一年後，目前每月已有超過 10 億名使用者，搜尋量也持續成長。

此次更新中，Gemini 3.5 Flash 成為 AI Mode 的預設模型，Google 表示，這款模型具備較快回應速度，並強化代理執行與程式碼生成能力，將全面應用於全球 Search AI Mode 使用者。

Google 同步重新設計搜尋框介面，稱其為超過 25 年來最大幅度的 Search Box 更新，新版搜尋框支援更長篇幅輸入，並透過 AI 協助使用者整理問題內容，除了文字外，系統也可接受圖片、檔案、影片與 Chrome 分頁作為搜尋輸入來源。

Google 表示，AI 會根據輸入內容提供更完整的問題建議，而不只是傳統自動完成文字，搜尋結果仍會保留原本網頁連結與搜尋頁面，同時加入 AI 回應內容，新版智慧搜尋框已開始於支援 AI Mode 的地區與語言陸續推出。

此外，Google 也加強 AI Overview 與 AI Mode 的互動方式，使用者可直接在 AI Overview 中繼續追問問題，並延續上下文內容進行對話，Google 表示，系統會根據對話脈絡動態調整推薦文章與相關連結，這項功能已於桌面與行動裝置版本上線。

除了搜尋介面更新，Google 也公布「Search Agents」功能，正式將 AI 代理概念導入 Search。Google 表示，這類代理工具可長時間在背景運作，自動追蹤資訊變化並整理更新內容。例如，使用者可設定租屋條件，讓 AI 持續搜尋符合需求的新物件；也能追蹤運動員球鞋聯名消息，當新品推出時即時收到通知。這類資訊代理功能預計今年夏季率先提供給 Google AI Pro 與 Ultra 訂閱使用者。

Google 也擴大 Search 的代理預訂功能。使用者可直接輸入需求，例如搜尋週五晚間可容納 6 人、提供宵夜的卡拉 OK 包廂，系統會整理價格、空位資訊與預訂連結，在部分服務類型中，例如居家維修、美容與寵物照護，Google 甚至可代替使用者撥打電話詢問商家。

另一項更新則是將 Antigravity 架構與 Gemini 3.5 Flash 的代理程式能力導入 Search，Google 表示，Search 將可即時生成互動式介面，例如圖表、模擬工具、表格與視覺化內容，例如使用者查詢天文物理或鐘錶結構時，Search 可直接生成互動模擬畫面協助理解。這類生成式 UI 功能預計今年夏季免費開放給所有使用者。

Google 也展示 AI 協助建立自訂小型應用程式的能力，使用者可要求 Search 建立專屬追蹤工具，例如健身計畫、搬家管理或婚禮規劃面板，系統會整合即時地圖、評論與天氣資料，自動建立對應功能介面。Google 表示，這類功能將於未來幾個月先向美國 Google AI Pro 與 Ultra 訂閱使用者推出。

最後，Google 宣布擴大「Personal Intelligence」功能支援範圍，使用者可選擇連接 Gmail、Google Photos，未來也將加入 Google Calendar，讓 AI Search 根據個人資料提供更貼近需求的搜尋結果。Google 表示，Personal Intelligence 將於近 200 個國家與地區、支援 98 種語言，且不需額外訂閱即可使用。

延伸閱讀：Google Flow 與 Google Flow Music 更新，加入 Gemini Omni 與 AI 創作代理功能延伸閱讀：Google Gemini 推出 Gemini 3.5 Flash、Gemini Spark，擴大 AI 助理功能延伸閱讀：Google 跟三星開發的智慧眼鏡要來了！不只能聽還會看資訊延伸閱讀：Google I/O 2026 懶人包：Omni 影片生成、Gemini 3.5 系列模型、代理式 AI

Google 搜尋 AI 再升級，查詢天文物理直接生成模擬畫面


Google Flow 與 Google Flow Music 更新，加入 Gemini Omni 與 AI 創作代理功能  Google 在 Google I/O 2026 宣布更新 Google Flow 與 Google Flow Music，擴大 AI 創作工具功能，更新重點包括導入 Gemini Omni 模型、加入可協助創作流程的 AI 代理功能，以及推出支援行動裝置的應用程式。

Google 去年於 I/O 大會首次推出 Google Flow，原本定位為協助電影創作者的 AI 工具，之後逐步擴展為整合影片、圖片與音樂生成的創作平台，目前已於超過 140 個國家推出，今年初，Google 也新增 Google Flow Music，整合音樂模型 Lyria 3 Pro，提供歌曲與音樂製作功能。

在此次更新中，Google 為 Google Flow 加入 Gemini Omni Flash 模型，Google 表示，這款模型可同時處理不同類型輸入內容，並支援更細緻的影片編輯能力，使用者可將真實影片素材與 AI 生成內容混合使用，並透過對話方式逐步修改內容，Google 也提到，Gemini Omni Flash 改善角色一致性問題，能在不同場景中維持角色外觀與聲音設定。

另一項更新是 Google Flow Agent，這是一項建立於 Gemini 模型上的 AI 創作代理工具，可協助處理構思、腳本與編輯工作，例如系統可針對角色對話提供建議，或在劇情發展上提出不同方向。進入後期製作階段後，AI 代理也可同時產生多個版本內容，並將同樣修改套用至多個素材中，完成後，系統還能自動整理檔案與重新命名素材。

Google 同時新增「Google Flow Tools」功能，使用者可透過自然語言建立專屬工作流程與工具，例如圖片編輯器、影片尺寸調整工具或特殊濾鏡效果，而不需要撰寫程式碼，建立完成後，也能分享給其他使用者使用與修改，Google 舉例指出，部分測試合作夥伴已利用此功能建立復古風格與故障效果等後製工具。

音樂創作平台 Google Flow Music 也同步更新，Google 表示，使用者現在可針對歌曲特定段落進行調整，例如修改歌詞、變更曲風或重新設計節奏，而不影響整首作品其他部分，此外，系統也支援將歌曲局部內容延伸成不同版本。

Google 也新增「Covers」功能，可保留原本旋律與歌曲架構，同時轉換整體風格，例如使用者可將原本歌曲改為 lo-fi 版本。

在影片功能方面，Google 將 Gemini Omni Flash 整合至 Google Flow Music，使用者可透過對話方式生成音樂影片，並指定影片風格、場景與畫面節奏，使內容與歌曲同步。

除了 Web 版本外，Google 也宣布推出 Flow 與 Flow Music 行動版應用程式，Flow App 已於 Android 平台以 Beta 形式推出，iOS 版本後續登場；Flow Music 則率先於 iOS 上線，Android 版本預計之後推出。

Google 表示，過去一年已有數百萬名創作者使用 Google Flow 與 Google Flow Music 製作影片與音樂內容，未來也將持續擴充 AI 創作相關功能。

延伸閱讀：Google Gemini 推出 Gemini 3.5 Flash、Gemini Spark，擴大 AI 助理功能延伸閱讀：Google 跟三星開發的智慧眼鏡要來了！不只能聽還會看資訊延伸閱讀：Google I/O 2026 懶人包：Omni 影片生成、Gemini 3.5 系列模型、代理式 AI延伸閱讀：Gemini Omni Flash 登場，支援文字、圖片與影片輸入的 AI 影片生成工具


Google Gemini 推出 Gemini 3.5 Flash、Gemini Spark，擴大 AI 助理功能  Google 在 Google I/O 2026 發表多項 Gemini 應用程式更新，包括新一代模型 Gemini 3.5 Flash、影片生成模型 Gemini Omni，以及可協助管理日常工作的 Gemini Spark。

Google 表示，目前 Gemini 每月已有超過 9 億名使用者，服務範圍涵蓋 230 個國家與地區，支援超過 70 種語言。

除口語外，會加入圖片、影片的 Gemini Live 對話這次更新也同步帶來全新的介面設計語言「Neural Expressive」，新版介面加入流動動畫、色彩變化、新字體與觸覺回饋，並將 Gemini Live 對話功能整合進 Gemini 應用程式中，使用者可在輸入文字與語音對話間切換，系統也重新設計麥克風操作方式，讓較長的語音輸入過程不容易中斷。Google 也預計後續提供更多地區口音選項。

Google 表示，Gemini 的回應方式也有所調整，系統不再只提供大段文字，而是會依照內容即時加入圖片、時間軸、旁白影片與動態圖像等元素，協助使用者理解資訊，Neural Expressive 已開始於 Web、Android 與 iOS 平台推出。

每日早晨資訊摘要工具Google 同時發表 Daily Brief 功能，定位為每日早晨資訊摘要工具，Daily Brief 可整合 Gmail、Google Calendar 等應用程式內容，自動整理重要郵件、行程與後續待辦事項，並依照使用者習慣調整優先順序，系統也會提出建議行動，使用者則可透過簡單回饋逐步調整內容呈現方式，這項功能目前率先於美國向 Google AI Plus、Pro 與 Ultra 使用者推出。

Gemini Spark： 24 小時運作的個人 AI 代理工具Google 將 Gemini Spark 定位為 24 小時運作的個人 AI 代理工具，可協助處理重複性任務與跨服務工作流程，Gemini Spark 建立於 Gemini 3.5 模型與 Antigravity 架構上，並與 Gmail、Docs、Slides 等 Workspace 工具整合。

例如使用者可設定定期檢查信用卡帳單中的新訂閱費用，也能要求系統整理學校通知郵件並彙整每日摘要，Gemini Spark 還可將電子郵件與聊天紀錄中的會議筆記整理成 Google Docs 文件，並產生專案啟動郵件草稿。

Google 表示，Gemini Spark 為雲端架構，即使電腦關閉或手機鎖定後仍能持續執行任務，未來幾週內，Google 也將新增更多 MCP 連接功能，支援 Canva、OpenTable 與 Instacart 等服務，讓 Gemini Spark 可直接協助完成更多操作，Google 強調，涉及付款或寄送郵件等高風險操作時，系統仍會先詢問使用者確認。

▲ Google Spark 的合作夥伴。

Gemini Spark 本週將先開放部分測試者使用，之後預計以 Beta 形式提供給美國 Google AI Ultra 訂閱使用者。

此外，Google 也宣布 macOS 版 Gemini 應用程式正式推出，後續將整合 Gemini Spark 與新的語音功能。Google 表示，系統可利用螢幕上下文理解使用者語音內容，即時將口語想法整理成較完整的文字草稿，並直接套用至游標所在位置，相關功能預計今年夏季陸續推出。

延伸閱讀：Google I/O 2026 懶人包：Gemini 3.5 系列模型與語音 Docs Live 新功能延伸閱讀：Google 跟三星開發的智慧眼鏡要來了！不只能聽還會看資訊延伸閱讀：Gemini Omni Flash 登場，支援文字、圖片與影片輸入的 AI 影片生成工具


Google 跟三星開發的智慧眼鏡要來了！不只能聽還會看資訊

Google 在 Google I/O 2026 期間公布 Android XR 平台最新進展，並介紹與 Samsung、Qualcomm 合作開發的智慧眼鏡產品，Google 表示，Android XR 將涵蓋頭戴裝置與智慧眼鏡等產品類型，並透過 Gemini 提供語音互動與 AI 協助功能。

Google 將智慧眼鏡分為兩種類型，其中一種為「音訊眼鏡」，主要透過語音提供協助；另一種則是具備顯示功能的「顯示眼鏡」，可直接在鏡片中呈現資訊，兩種裝置皆主打免持操作與即時互動，使用者只需透過語音即可呼叫 Gemini。

Google 表示，音訊眼鏡將率先於今年秋季推出，外觀設計方面，Google 與 Samsung 及眼鏡品牌 Gentle Monster、Warby Parker 合作，希望降低智慧裝置的科技感，讓產品更接近日常配戴眼鏡，Google 也展示兩款預計於今年稍晚上市的設計版本。

功能方面，使用者可透過「Hey Google」語音指令或點擊鏡框側邊啟動 Gemini，系統可利用鏡頭與感測器辨識周遭環境，協助回答與視野相關的問題，例如使用者可查詢路過餐廳評價、辨識天空中的雲層類型，或解讀停車標誌內容，眼鏡也可根據使用者位置與視線方向提供逐步導航，Gemini 也能協助規劃途中停靠地點，或依照偏好搜尋附近餐廳。

Google 也加入通訊與媒體功能，使用者可透過眼鏡接聽電話、傳送訊息，或請 Gemini 整理未讀內容，而不需取出手機，此外，眼鏡內建開放式揚聲器，可播放音樂與語音內容。拍攝功能部分，眼鏡支援拍照與錄影，並整合 Google 的 Nano Banana 影像處理工具，使用者可透過語音指令直接修改照片，例如移除背景干擾物，或替人物加入特殊效果。

即時翻譯也是 Android XR 智慧眼鏡的主要功能之一，Google 表示，系統可針對對話內容進行即時翻譯，並模擬原本說話者的語氣與聲調，此外，使用者觀看菜單、路標等文字時，也能直接聽取翻譯結果。

Google 也展示 Gemini 處理多步驟工作的能力，例如使用者可要求 Gemini 透過 DoorDash 預先準備咖啡訂單，最後再由使用者自行確認付款，系統同時支援與 Uber、Mondly 等第三方應用程式整合，並可搭配 Android 與 iOS 手機使用。

Google 尚未公布 Android XR 智慧眼鏡的售價與完整上市時間，但表示未來幾個月內將持續釋出更多資訊。

延伸閱讀：Google I/O 2026 懶人包：Gemini 3.5 系列模型與語音 Docs Live 新功能


歐亞開發銀行 (EDB) 與烏茲別克 Uzum 簽署 7,000 萬美元貸款協議，拓展數位經濟業務

烏茲別克塔什干2026年5月20日 /美通社/ — 歐亞開發銀行 (Eurasian Development Bank, EDB) 與烏茲別克數位生態系統巨頭 Uzum 簽署價值 22 億新臺幣（7,000 萬美元）的投資貸款協議，以加速 Uzum 金融科技業務擴張。Uzum 是烏茲別克新興數位金融市場的佼佼者，也是成長最快速的頂尖公司之一。

為進軍數位基礎設施和平台經濟，EDB 的發展重點從傳統產業延伸至可推動長期經濟成長的數位平台，而 EDB 簽署該協議之際正值塔什干代表處正式啟用時，象徵自其策略行動納入烏茲別克以來，EDB 首次在該國進行投資。

EDB 融資將支持 Uzum 持續擴張金融科技垂直業務版圖，進一步提升數位支付、消費金融，以及小型企業與家庭金融服務的可及性，此類業務正迅速成為烏茲別克數位經濟的核心基礎之一。

EDB 管理委員會主席 Nikolai Podguzov 表示：「數位平台逐漸成為現代經濟基礎設施的關鍵部分。 透過與 Uzum 合作，EDB 擴大金融服務的覆蓋範圍，促進企業家精神，並投入一個能夠加強歐亞大陸——包括與中國和中東——經濟連結的區域技術平台。」

Uzum 創始人暨執行長 Djasur Djumaev 則表示：「我們正在全國建立金融科技基礎設施——深度融入日常的經濟活動中。 這項投資是對 Uzum 的重要認可，彰顯其在塑造烏茲別克未來發展基礎建設中的角色。 這也反映了更廣泛的轉變，即數位平台逐漸成為發展性融資與國際資本的關鍵焦點。」

烏茲別克崛起成為歐亞大陸成長最快的數位經濟體之一，這得益於非現金支付的快速普及、數位金融服務的不斷擴展，以及活躍於數位領域的年輕人口成長，帶來了強勁動力。 目前全國流通的銀行卡超過 7,000 萬張。

其他資訊：

歐亞開發銀行 (EDB) 是一家投資歐亞大陸的多邊開發銀行。 過去 20 年來，該銀行致力於加強和擴大成員國之間的經濟連結，促進其全面發展。 截至 2025 年 12 月底，EDB 的累計投資組合包括 326 個專案，總投資額達到 6,198 億新臺幣（196 億美元）。 其投資組合主要包括具有整合效應的系列專案，涵蓋交通基礎設施、數位系統、綠能、農業、製造業及機械工程等。 該銀行的經營實務遵循聯合國的永續發展目標和 ESG 原則（環境保護、社會責任與公司治理）。 EDB 正在實行三個大型專案，是其 2022-2026 年的策略之一：歐亞運輸網 (Eurasian Transport Network)、歐亞農產品分銷系統 (Eurasian Agricultural Goods Distribution System) 和中亞水能綜合設施 (Central Asian Water and Energy Complex)。

2025 年 4 月，烏茲別克共和國總統沙夫卡特・米爾濟約耶夫 (Shavkat Mirziyoyev) 簽署了一項法律，核准該國加入《歐亞開發銀行建設協定》(Agreement Establishing the Eurasian Development Bank)，使烏茲別克成為該銀行的第七個成員國。

Uzum 是烏茲別克的數位生態系統，整合了面向個人以及中小企業的金融科技、電商和銀行服務。 其服務內容包括市場、快遞、傳統和數位銀行、先買後付 (BNPL) 服務以及汽車交易平台。 烏茲別克每月有超過 2,000 萬人使用 Uzum 的服務。


烏茲別克塔什干2026年5月20日 /美通社/ — Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) 與烏茲別克規模最大的領先數碼生態系統 Uzum 訂立了 7,000 萬美元投資貸款協議，以加速擴展 Uzum 的金融科技業務；該業務在烏茲別克急劇增長的數碼金融市場中堪稱龍頭，增長速度數一數二。

協議於 EDB 塔什干代表處正式啟用之際簽訂，象徵銀行自烏茲別克加入成為成員國後，首次在當地進行的投資。此乃 EDB 佈局數碼基礎建設及平台經濟的策略之舉，將目光由傳統產業延伸至推動長遠經濟增長的數碼平台。

EDB 提供的融資，將有助 Uzum 的金融科技業務持續擴大規模。有關業務正迅速成為烏茲別克數碼經濟的核心支柱，從而讓小型企業及家庭更易接觸數碼支付、消費金融及相關金融服務。

EDB 管理委員會主席 Nikolai Podguzov 表示：「數碼平台正逐漸成為現代經濟基建的關鍵一環。 EDB 與 Uzum 合作，藉此擴大金融服務的普及程度、推動創業，並投資於區域科技平台，藉此鞏固整個歐亞地區（包括與中國及中東）的經濟聯繫。」

Uzum 創辦人兼行政總裁 Djasur Djumaev 說道：「我們正以全國規模建構金融科技基建，且將其深深融入日常經濟活動。 此項投資意義深遠，充分肯定 Uzum 在塑造烏茲別克未來發展基建過程中的重要作用。 此外亦體現更廣泛的變革浪潮：數碼平台正成為發展金融與國際資本的關鍵焦點。」

隨著無現金支付飛快普及、數碼金融服務不斷擴展，加上熱衷於數碼的年輕人口構成強勁的結構動力，烏茲別克正崛起為增長極快的數碼經濟體系。 目前全國流通的銀行卡超過 7,000 萬張。

其他資訊：

Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) 是投資於歐亞地區的多邊開發銀行。 20 年來，銀行致力加強和擴大經濟聯繫，並推動成員國實現全面發展。 截至 2025 年 12 月底，EDB 的累計投資組合涵蓋 326 個項目，總投資金額達 196 億美元。 其組合以具備整合效應的項目為主，遍及交通基建、數碼系統、綠色能源、農業、製造業及機械工程領域。 銀行在其營運中遵循聯合國可持續發展目標及環境、社會、管治 (ESG) 原則。 EDB 正按其 2022–2026 年策略，推進三個超大型項目：歐亞運輸網絡、歐亞農產品分銷系統，以及中亞水資源與能源綜合體。

2025 年 4 月，烏茲別克共和國總統 Shavkat Mirziyoyev 簽署法律，批准該國加入《成立歐亞開發銀行協定》(Agreement Establishing the Eurasian Development Bank)，令烏茲別克成為銀行的第七個成員國。

Uzum 是烏茲別克的數碼生態系統，專為個人及中小企整合金融科技、電子商務與銀行服務。 旗下服務包括網上市集、快遞、傳統與數碼銀行、先買後付 (BNPL) 服務，以及汽車買賣平台。 烏茲別克全國每月逾 2,000 萬人使用 Uzum 所提供的服務。

EDB 與烏茲別克 Uzum 達成 7,000 萬美元貸款協議，拓展至數碼經濟


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賴清德 林沛祥 陳清龍 蔡其昌

‘WASTE OF TIME’:  The result was a foregone conclusion, as the opposition parties and their allies did not have the required two-thirds of the vote for the motion to pass

A motion initiated by opposition parties to impeach President William Lai (賴清德) failed to meet the constitutional threshold in the legislature yesterday.

The opposition-controlled legislature voted 56-50 in favor of impeachment, but the 56 votes fell short of the 76 required for the motion to succeed.

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the smaller Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) sponsored the impeachment motion in December last year after Lai did not promulgate a bill passed by lawmakers that would have increased the share of tax revenue given to local governments.

Lawmakers cast their vote on a motion to impeach President William Lai at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Ritchie B. Tongo, EPA

Yesterday’s outcome was considered a foregone conclusion, as the motion needed to gain the backing of at least two-thirds of the 113-member legislature before it could proceed to another vote by the Constitutional Court.

The KMT, the TPP and two independents ideologically aligned with the KMT combined for only 62, or about 55 percent, of the total legislative seats.

The impeachment vote targeting the president was the first of its kind in Taiwan’s history.

Before the vote began, KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said Lai was “incompetent” in handling diplomatic affairs and “overbearing” in dealing with internal ones.

“The president has disrupted the constitutional system and order. We must let his name go down in history,” Lin said.

TPP caucus whip Chen Ching-lung (陳清龍) said his party would unanimously support the impeachment motion, as Lai failed to uphold any of the “four pillars of peace” he proposed in his inauguration speech in 2024.

The four pillars are strengthened national defense, improved economic security, stable and principled cross-strait leadership and values-based diplomacy.

Democratic Progressive Party caucus whip Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) called the motion as a waste of time.

“What the people care about now is whether the ruling and opposition parties can work together to boost the economy,” he said.

“People do not want to see the opposition parties engage in political wrangling,” he added.

Lai is to hold a news conference this morning on the anniversary of his second year in office.

In addition to delivering remarks for the anniversary, Lai would outline the administration’s “future national vision and policy direction,” his office said in a statement.

Additional reporting by Reuters

Opposition lawmakers’ vote to impeach Lai fails


First mpox clade  Ib case confirmed

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday confirmed the nation’s first case of mpox clade Ib and another case of hantavirus in northern Taiwan.

Two new cases of mpox were confirmed this month: a local case involving a man in his 40s in northern Taiwan and an imported case involving a man in his 20s, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) said.

Through genotyping to identify the virus strains, the imported case was confirmed to be mpox clade Ib.

Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General and spokesperson Tseng Shu-hui, center, speaks to reporters at a press conference in Taipei yesterday.  Photo: CNA

This is the first case of this variant in Taiwan since mpox was listed as a notifiable communicable disease in 2022, he said.

Both men had not been vaccinated against mpox, he said.

A total of 530 cases — 493 local and 37 imported — have been reported since mpox was listed as a notifiable communicable disease, including 14 cases — 12 local and two imported — this year, he said.

CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said the latest imported case reported that he had unprotected sex with anonymous partners in Thailand last month, and developed blisters in his genital area, followed by rashes over his limbs after returning to Taiwan. He was later confirmed to have contracted mpox clade Ib.

The man has completed the first phase of self-health management and is undergoing the second phase, Lin said.

HANTAVIRUS

CDC Deputy Director-General and spokesperson Tseng Shu-hui (曾淑慧) said a new local case of hantavirus syndrome was confirmed last week, the third this year, which is similar to the number of accumulated cases during the same period over the past four years, he said.

A total of 46 cases have been reported since 2017, of which 31 cases were men and 31 were aged 40 years or older, she said.

The new case is a man in his 40s living in northern Taiwan, who does not have underlying health conditions and had not traveled overseas, Guo said.

The man was bitten by a rat at work on April 7 and sought emergency care, including treatment for his wound and a tetanus vaccine, Lin said.

However, he developed a fever, chills, weakness in the limbs, loss of appetite and diarrhea from May 2, so he sought treatment at a clinic twice, Lin said.

As his symptoms persisted, he sought emergency treatment at a hospital. He was hospitalized and tested, and reported as a suspected case of hantavirus syndrome or other communicable diseases, Lin said.

CDC lab test results confirmed that the man has hantavirus hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome, and genome sequencing showed he was infected with the Seoul virus strain, Lin said.

The CDC had imposed stricter quarantine measures for mpox clade Ib cases due to its higher rates of serious illness and mortality, but the measures were later loosened after referencing studies that suggested clade I and clade II infections pose similar health risks, as well as guidelines from the WHO and some countries or regions, including the EU, the UK and the US, he said.

After receiving proper treatment, the man has recovered and was scheduled to be discharged from hospital yesterday.

DIFFERENT STRAIN

The man’s condition should not be confused with that on a cruise ship in South America, in which the passengers contracted “hantavirus pulmonary syndrome,” Lin said.

Common symptoms of hantavirus hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome include sudden fever, lower back pain, skin and mucous membrane bleeding, and renal dysfunction, and the mortality rate is lower at about 5 to 10 percent, Lin said.

Tseng said the best way to prevent hantavirus syndrome is limiting rodent access to living spaces and safely cleaning droppings with diluted bleach, while wearing protective clothing and a mask to avoid breathing in virus particles.


Indonesia using online disinformation to target critics: Amnesty report

Indonesian authorities, including the military, used online disinformation campaigns to brand activists and journalists as “foreign agents” and silence dissent, sometimes leading to physical threats, Amnesty International said in a report released yesterday.

Amnesty’s findings reflect growing concerns that Indonesia, the world’s third-largest democracy, is backsliding toward military rule under Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, a former special forces commander, who has expanded the military’s role in civilian affairs since taking office in 2024.

“In the 18 months since Prabowo took power, online disinformation has emerged as a key tactic to systematically discredit government critics, shut down public debate and justify repression,” Amnesty International secretary-general Agnes Callamard said in a statement accompanying the release of the report, entitled Building Up Imaginary Enemies.

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto splashes blessed water onto a Rafale jet fighter during a ceremony to hand over six new Rafale fighter jets, four Dassault Falcon 8X aircraft and one Airbus A400M Atlas aircraft to the Indonesian Air Force at Halim Perdanakusuma Air Force Base in Jakarta on Monday. Photo: AFP

The rights group found that the disinformation campaigns were being driven by social media accounts that appeared to be affiliated to military units and to Prabowo’s Gerindra Party.

Neither Prabowo’s office nor the military immediately responded to Reuters’ request for comment.

In March last year, human rights activists, including Andrie Yunus from the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence, protested against the expansion of the military’s presence in Indonesia.

The following day, a video falsely labeling them as foreign agents went viral. Amnesty’s metadata analysis found it was first uploaded by three accounts owned by Gerindra Party offices before being amplified by 31 accounts affiliated with 27 military units on Instagram, Facebook, X and YouTube. A year later, Andrie Yunus was the victim of an acid attack, allegedly by four military officers now being tried in a military court.

Accounts linked to military units also amplified false claims that Tempo — a magazine known for investigative reporting — was acting as a foreign agent, Amnesty said.

That same month, Tempo’s office was sent decapitated animal carcasses in a bid to intimidate them.

“Sustained disinformation cam-paigns have been deployed to delegitimize civil society actors, journalists and rights defenders, and use foreign agent labels to justify or even in some cases encourage physical violence,” said Chanatip Tatiyakaroonwong, the report’s author.

Since taking office, Prabowo has cited the role played by “foreign agents” at least 25 times in key speeches, Amnesty said, including during last year’s deadly student-led protests.

Evidence for the claims has not been made public.

Indonesian Minister for Energy and Mineral Resources Bahlil Lahadalia also accused environmental group Greenpeace of acting on behalf of foreign interests following its protests against mining in Papua’s biodiversity-rich Raja Ampat islands, Amnesty said.

Bahlil’s statement triggered disinformation campaigns against Greenpeace, including attempts to link it to Papuan armed separatist groups, it said.

Social media platforms such as Meta, TikTok, X and YouTube’s content moderation and engagement-driven algorithms allowed disinformation to spread rapidly, with most documented posts remaining online for months, Amnesty said.

“Big Tech’s failures have contributed to the human rights harms documented in this report,” Callamard said.

Of the four platforms contacted by Amnesty, only TikTok responded, pledging additional monitoring.


MND ‘cautiously optimistic’ over arms

US DEAL: Separately, Premier Cho Jung-tai said that China is stoking unease after the Chinese navy announced training of a carrier task force in the western Pacific

Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) yesterday said that he was “cautiously optimistic” about arms sales from the US after US President Donald Trump said he was still considering whether to go ahead with new sales to Taiwan.

Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) last week, at which Taiwan was a point of focus, has caused concern in Taipei about the US’ commitment to helping it defend itself, especially as China ramps up its military activities.

Taiwan’s role as the world’s main producer of advanced semiconductors means any conflict would cause major disruptions to the global economy.

Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo, right, speaks as Premier Cho Jung-tai, left, looks on at the legislature in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Lo Pei-de, Taipei Times

The US is bound by law to provide Taiwan with weapons and in December last year the Trump administration approved a US$11 billion arms package, the largest ever. A second package worth US$14 billion has yet to be formally approved.

Speaking to reporters at the Legislative Yuan, Koo said the US has repeatedly said its policy toward Taiwan has not changed.

“For a long time, the United States has maintained peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait region through arms sales channels. This was established under the Taiwan Relations Act,” he said, referring to the 1979 law that mandates arms sales.

Weapons sales are an important “counterbalancing force” for maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, Koo said.

“It is clear that the side repeatedly provoking, creating incidents, and undermining the peaceful and stable status quo in the Taiwan Strait is China, not our country,” he added. “Therefore, under these circumstances, we believe that maintaining this arms-sales channel is in line with US interests.”

Taiwan is continuing to talk to the US about arms sales and “at present, we remain cautiously optimistic,” he said.

Separately yesterday, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that China is the greatest source of regional unease and instability due to its ongoing military activities as the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy announced it had sent a carrier task force into the western Pacific for training.

Cho expressed concern about what China was up to.

“The People’s Republic of China continues to conduct military exercises of various scales and types in the Taiwan Strait region, the Indo-Pacific region, the South China Sea and even around Japan, affecting navigational safety,” he said.

“This is the greatest source of regional unease and instability,” he added.

China’s Taiwan Affairs Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Cho’s comments.

China’s armed forces operate almost daily around Taiwan, and yesterday its navy said that a carrier task group, led by the Liaoning, had been sent to the “relevant waters” of the western Pacific, although it did not give an exact location.

The ships will carry out live firing and other drills to “test and enhance the realistic combat training capabilities of the forces,” it said in a statement. “This is a routine training organized in accordance with the annual plan, which aims to enhance the military’s capability to fulfil its missions, and is fully in compliance with international law and practice.”

Cho reiterated that the Republic of China, Taiwan is a “sovereign and independent country,” and again called for talks.

“We still hope for healthy and orderly exchanges between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, and for dialogue based on equality and dignity. This has been our consistent principle,” he said.


Premier Cho says weapons LOA received

FOUR PACKAGES:  Deputy Legislative Speaker Johnny Chiang said the legislature had authorized the Cabinet to start finding finances for the first batch of LOAs

A draft Letter of Offer and Acceptance (LOA) for US weapons systems, including an anti-drone missile system, has been received, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) told lawmakers at the legislature in Taipei yesterday.

The Special Act for Procurement Projects to Safeguard National Security and Enhance Asymmetric Warfare Capabilities (保衛國家安全及強化不對稱戰力計畫採購特別條例), passed on May 8, mandates that the Executive Yuan must report to the legislature within a month of the law’s passage on military spending over the previous five years, detailing costs, effectiveness, deliveries and how the purchases boost joint operations.

The budget can only move forward with the legislature’s approval and the first batch of special budget proposals must be submitted for review within two months.

The LOAs for four separate arms purchases, including High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), have been received, Cho said, adding that a draft LOA for the ALTIUS 700M and ISR600 drone program was received on Saturday.

The drone deal is in final discussions and would be signed soon, he added.

The first installment of funds for HIMARS is due on May 31, making the provision of funds imperative, Cho said.

Previous purchases of TOW 2B missiles, Javelin anti-armor missiles and HIMARS were deemed insufficient by the military to sustain operations in the event of combat, necessitating further orders, he said.

The purchases are geared toward realizing the military’s three-tiered defense plans, built on the foundation of a highly aware, integrated and layered anti-air defense system with effective interception rates, Cho said.

The HIMARS would provide the military with long-range strike capabilities to suppress enemy artillery, and would work with M109A7 Paladin self-propelled howitzers and other anti-surface missiles to rapidly strike key enemy targets in coastal areas, he said.

The HIMARS, Paladin howitzers, Javelin and TOW 2B missiles, alongside anti-armor drones, including Switchblade 300s and the Altius 600Ms, would enable Taiwan to strike enemy tanks and armor, he said.

While the purchases would greatly augment Taiwan’s joint combat capabilities, additional equipment to boost command-and-control, general reconnaissance, drones and counterdrone technology, mid-range ballistic missiles, and munitions manufacturing equipment is needed to ensure implementation of the “T-Dome” strategy and maintain Taiwan’s maritime asymmetric combat capability, he said.

Legislators should look past party-line differences and quickly ratify the special budget for the first batch of LOAs, Cho said.

After cross-caucus negotiations following Cho’s report yesterday, Deputy Legislative Speaker Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) announced that the legislature had given the green light to the Executive Yuan to begin measures to source funding for the first batch of LOAs.

Lawmakers would meet again today to inquire into the process, Chiang added.


Taiwan’s absence from WHA confirmed

Taiwan’s absence from the World Health Assembly (WHA) for the 10th consecutive year was confirmed on Monday when a proposal initiated by the nation’s allies to invite it to participate was rejected.

As in previous years when Taiwan was not invited to the annual gathering, the WHA opened its session in Geneva, Switzerland, with a “two-on-two debate” on a proposal by Taiwan’s allies to invite the country to participate as an observer.

A “two-on-two debate” means that two of Taiwan’s allies made statements in favor of the proposal, while two other participants — usually China and one of its allies — expressed opposition.

Delegates attend the 79th World Health Assembly of the WHO in Geneva, Switzerland, on Monday. Photo: Reuters

Speaking against the proposal, Jia Guide (賈桂德), China’s permanent representative to the UN office in Geneva, reiterated Beijing’s stance that the People’s Republic of China (PRC) fully represents Taiwan.

“The issue of Taiwan’s participation in the WHA must be handled in accordance with the one China principle, as confirmed by UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 and WHA Resolution 25.1,” Jia said.

The 1971 UN resolution recognized the PRC as the only legitimate representative of China to the UN and expelled “the representatives of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石).”

The resolution did not mention the Republic of China (ROC), Taiwan’s official name, or Taiwan.

Meanwhile, WHA Resolution 25.1, passed in 1972, recognized representatives of the PRC rather than those of the ROC as the only legitimate representatives of China to the WHO.

Backing China’s stance, a Pakistani representative to the UN office in Geneva reaffirmed Pakistan’s support for Beijing’s “one China principle.”

Speaking on behalf of Taiwan, Palauan Vice President and Minister of Health Raynold Oilouch said that the WHO Constitution clearly states that the health of all people is fundamental to peace and security.

“Taiwan’s exclusion from WHO is unjustified and harmful. It weakens global disease surveillance, delays information sharing, and undermines collective preparedness,” Oilouch said.

The two resolutions “do not mention Taiwan, do not determine Taiwan’s health and do not authorize another government to represent Taiwan in the UN system or the WHO,” he said.

Paraguayan Vice Minister of Public Health and Social Welfare Jose Ortellado said that Taiwan has proved itself to be a “responsible and effective partner in public health” and deserved to participate in the assembly as an observer.

“No global health system can be considered truly inclusive or resilient as long as there are barriers to technical and scientific cooperation,” Ortellado said.

That is especially true when it means that “23.5 million people are left out of the global health security system, and that the international community cannot fully benefit from the experience and capacities that Taiwan can contribute to global public health,” he said.

Dominican Republic Minister of Health Victor Elias Atallah Lajam, the president of the 79th WHA, ultimately decided not to include the proposed supplementary agenda item, leaving Taiwan excluded from the WHA for the 10th consecutive year.

The 79th WHA, which began on Monday, runs through Saturday. Taiwan has not attended the annual decisionmaking body of the WHO since 2016, when it participated as an observer during a period of warmer cross-strait relations with Beijing.


Beijing cannot stop Taiwan: MOFA

Beijing might be able to stop the WHO from inviting Taiwan to the World Health Assembly (WHA), but it cannot stop Taiwan from contributing to global healthcare, and China is leaving global public health cooperation exposed to high political risks, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday.

With Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) in Geneva, Switzerland, to attend Taiwan-related events that coincide with the WHA, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Guo Jiakun (郭嘉昆) on Monday said “the Taiwan authorities’ practice of sending representatives to various meetings to seek attention is nothing but political theatrics and doomed to fail.”

“There is but one China in the world. Taiwan is an inalienable part of China’s territory,” Guo said, adding that when handling issues related to the “Taiwan region,” the WHO and other international organizations must follow the “one China principle,” which is also a “fundamental principle as demonstrated by UN Resolution 2758 and WHA Resolution 25.1.”

Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Hsiao Kuang-wei speaks at a news conference at the ministry in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Screen grab from a Ministry of Foreign Affairs livestream

In Taipei yesterday, MOFA spokesman Hsiao Kuang-wei (蕭光偉) said “the Chinese government only needs to take good care of its own people.”

“The Republic of China (ROC), Taiwan is a sovereign independent nation, which is not subordinate to the People’s Republic of China [PRC],” Hsiao added.

Taiwan’s push to participate in the WHO and other international organizations is based on Taiwan’s legitimate and lawful sovereign right, he said, adding that China has no say and should not stand in the way.

“Only the directly elected government of Taiwan can represent Taiwanese in international society and at multilateral settings,” Hsiao said, adding that neither UN Resolution 2758 nor the WHA Resolution 25.1 mention Taiwan, and they do not authorize the PRC to represent Taiwan in the UN system, nor do they claim that Taiwan is part of the PRC, so they cannot be used to exclude Taiwan.

“The MOFA strongly condemns and protests China’s use of untruthful statements to mislead the international community while continuing to politicize Taiwan’s participation, exposing global public health cooperation to high political risks,” he said.

China’s long-term deliberate distortion of UN Resolution 2758 and WHA Resolution 25.1 — using them as a legal basis for its “one China principle,” linking it to Taiwan’s sovereign status, and suppressing Taiwan’s international participation and space — has completely departed from the original text of the two resolutions and principles of international law, Hsiao said.

It is regrettable that the WHO, as a professional global public health organization whose core mission is to promote the health and well-being of all humanity, has succumbed to political preconditions set by China, refusing to invite Taiwan to the WHA, he said.

China has long and improperly interfered in WHO affairs regarding Taiwan’s equal participation in technical meetings and mechanisms, and it spreads false claims that Taiwan has been granted “adequate arrangements for technical participation,” showing a flagrant disregard for the importance of global health information sharing and pandemic prevention cooperation, he said.

“Taiwan’s bid for WHA participation is fundamentally about the health rights of all humanity and the integrity of the global public health system,” Hsiao said, adding that Taiwan has extensive expertise and rich experience in infectious disease control, universal health coverage, digital healthcare and medical aid.

Through international medical cooperation and public health capacity building, Taiwan has achieved remarkable results in helping allies and friendly nations enhance their healthcare resilience, he said.

“China might be able to stop the WHO from sending Taiwan an invitation, but it cannot block Taiwan’s contributions to global healthcare, nor can it suppress the international community’s high regard for Taiwan’s healthcare capabilities and democratic values,” he added.


Marcos says Philippines would be Involved in any Taiwan conflict

The Philippines would likely be involved in any conflict over Taiwan due to its proximity to the island democracy claimed by China, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said, reiterating a stance that risks angering Beijing.

“In the Philippines, we do not have a choice because Taiwan is so close to the Philippines and we have almost 200,000 Filipino nationals living and working in Taiwan,” Marcos said in an interview with Japanese media in Manila on Monday.

The Philippine leader’s comments come ahead of a state visit to Japan next week, where he will meet with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to discuss security cooperation. Takaichi late last year also made comments about being pulled into a conflict over Taiwan, causing a deep diplomatic rupture with China.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr says Manila does not want to be involved in any war over Taiwan but would be forced to because of its geography. File photo: Reuters

Taiwan is central to geopolitical and economic priorities in Asia, as the world’s top producer of high-end semiconductors that Beijing has said it’s determined to eventually control. While the US doesn’t support independence, it opposes “unilateral changes to the status quo” and has long sold weapons to Taipei to deter any aggression.

Chinese President Xi Jinping warned President Donald Trump last week in unusually stark terms during his visit to Beijing that mishandling the issue risks leading to clashes. And Trump’s comments following the meetings raised concerns over US commitments to Taiwan.

Trump referred to a pending $14 billion arms sale as “a very good negotiating chip for us” with Beijing, an apparent shift in long-standing US policy, without saying what he was seeking. He also said aboard Air Force One on his way back to Washington that a move by Taiwan for independence “would be a very strong confrontation,” and “the last thing we need right now is a war that’s 9,500 miles away.”

Marcos in the interview Monday added the Philippines will continue to uphold the “One China” policy and doesn’t want to be involved in any war over Taiwan, but would be forced to given its geography.

“Except that if there is actual confrontation, if there is conflict, just looking at the map, you can tell that the northern Philippines, at the very least, is going to be part of that or will feel the effects,” he said.

He didn’t elaborate on how the Philippines, a US treaty ally, would be involved or how it would be affected. Earlier this month, the US, Japan and the Philippines, along with other allies, participated in joint military drills that included Tokyo’s first combat troops in the Philippines since World War II.?

“We hope Philippines could honor its commitments, match its words with action and abide by the One China principle with concrete action,” China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Guo Jiakun said at a regular briefing in Beijing on Tuesday. “It should be stressed that large numbers of Filipinos and geographic proximity should not be an excuse for one country to interfere in another country’s internal and sovereign affairs.”

The Philippine leader has made similar comments on Taiwan before, angering Beijing last year when he said a war over Taiwan “will drag the Philippines kicking and screaming into the conflict.”

The Philippines has emerged on the frontlines of US-led efforts to deter what Washington calls Beijing’s aggression in the region.

The Southeast Asian nation under Marcos has hosted US missile systems and has granted US military access to additional bases, including those near Taiwan. But Marcos has said the Philippines will not allow those bases “to be used for any offensive action,” saying they are meant to bolster his country’s territorial defense.

Marcos on Monday also said the Philippines, which has a territorial dispute with Beijing over the South China Sea, is increasing its engagement with China to help maintain peace.

“We have raised now the level of engagement with China,” Marcos said. The Philippines and China’s top diplomats, as well as other public officials, are scheduled to meet “in less than a month’s time,” he said.

During his meeting with Takaichi, Marcos said he would seek clarity on Japan’s security posture after Tokyo eased rules on defense exports.?

He said Japan — which has its own maritime dispute with Beijing in the East China Sea — and the Philippines have experienced “the same difficulties in terms of coercive acts” in contested waters.?

“We would like to hear more about how – what exactly does Japan intend to do and what they are willing to do,” Marcos said.


When Jiang Qisheng (江棋生) looks back on the Cultural Revolution, he sees more than a decade of political chaos that upended China and derailed his own generation.

For the former Red Guard turned dissident, the deeper lesson of that era is that any meaningful rejection of the Cultural Revolution must also be a rejection of the trampling of human rights.

“There will only be hope if rejecting the Cultural Revolution leads to rejecting privilege and putting human rights first,” Jiang told the Central News Agency in a telephone interview on the 60th anniversary of the start of the decade-long political campaign.

Chinese dissident Jiang Qisheng is pictured in an undated photograph. Photo courtesy of a friend of Jiang Qisheng via CNA

Born in 1948, Jiang was among a generation of students whose education was disrupted by the Cultural Revolution, launched by Mao Zedong (毛澤東) on May 16, 1966.

At the time, Jiang was a high-school student in China’s Jiangsu Province and chairman of his school’s student association.

Mao framed the Cultural Revolution as a revolutionary campaign to attack the “Four Olds” — old ideas, old culture, old customs and old habits — and purge bourgeois influences and perceived counterrevolutionaries through struggle sessions and house searches.

Historians have offered different explanations for why Mao launched the Cultural Revolution, including his stated goal of preventing China from taking a “revisionist” path, as well as what some academics describe as an effort to mobilize the masses against political rivals and reassert his authority within the party.

Like many who believed in Mao’s mission, Jiang joined struggle sessions against teachers, traveled to other cities to read “big-character posters” denouncing perceived enemies, and took part in the nationwide “link-up” movement that brought students from across China to Beijing.

Such activities were typical of the Red Guards, the student-led groups that became one of the most visible forces of the early Cultural Revolution.

As the Cultural Revolution spread from schools into broader society in 1967, political struggle escalated into armed clashes between different factions.

By 1968, with universities still closed, many urban high-school graduates were sent to the countryside as “educated youth.”

Jiang spent 1968 to 1972 farming in rural Jiangsu, later worked as a film projectionist from 1973 to 1976, and later took a propaganda job at a meat processing plant.

By then, his view of Mao and the Cultural Revolution had already begun to shift.

A key turning point, Jiang said, was the 1971 Lin Biao (林彪) incident, when Lin, Mao’s designated successor, died in a plane crash in Mongolia while allegedly fleeing after plotting against Mao.

Jiang’s years in the countryside also forced him to confront the hardship and absurdity experienced by a generation of young people whose lives had been derailed by politics.

He also recalled being deeply affected by the April 5 Tiananmen incident in 1976, when mass mourning for former Chinese premier Zhou Enlai (周恩來) at Tiananmen Square turned into a protest against the Gang of Four, a radical political faction led by Mao’s wife Jiang Qing (江青).

Jiang Qisheng said he firmly sided with the demonstrators at the time, as the country was economically poor, cultural life was barren, and “there was no freedom of any kind.”

“How were people supposed to live like that?” he added.

After China restored the national university entrance examination in 1977, he took the exam and in March 1978 was admitted to Beihang University, where he studied an engineering-related field.

At university, he said he gained access to information that had previously been unavailable to him, including accounts of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) role in the war against Japan, and Western political thought.

That process of intellectual liberation would lead him to become involved in another movement centered on Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Then a doctoral student at Renmin University of China, Jiang Qisheng served as one of the student representatives during the 1989 Tiananmen Square movement.

Following the crackdown in Beijing on June 4, 1989, he was arrested and detained. He was released in 1991 after prosecutors did not indict him, but was expelled from the university later that year.

Over the following years, he was detained or imprisoned two more times for his activism.

He also became one of the signatories of Charter 08 (零八憲章), a 2008 manifesto calling for constitutional government, human rights and political reform in China.

Having experienced the Cultural Revolution and the Tiananmen crackdown, Jiang Qisheng said that as a Chinese, he hopes his country and its people can live with more dignity and freedom.

“To move China from its current system toward a constitutional democracy is my wish and my aspiration, but it is extremely difficult,” he said, adding that Taiwan nevertheless offers an example.

“Chinese people in Taiwan have already successfully moved toward a constitutional democratic system,” he said. “This is a remarkable achievement in the 5,000-year history of the Chinese nation.”

He said he believes that “one day, we will also build such a good system on the Chinese mainland.”

Taiwan’s way of life and the freedoms its people enjoy are not hard for Chinese to understand, he said.

“Any Chinese person who is willing to understand it can understand it,” he said. “People are not stupid.”

FEATURE: Dissident reflects on the Cultural Revolution


MND releases surveillance images of Chinese aircraft, warships

In a rare move, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) yesterday released surveillance images of a Chinese fighter jet and two naval vessels participating in a joint air-sea exercise near the island.

China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has been conducting a “joint combat readiness patrol” in Taiwan’s vicinity since 8:36 am yesterday, dispatching 22 aircraft, including J-10 and J-16 fighter jets and KJ-500 airborne early warning and control aircraft, to Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ), the MND said in a press release issued at 5:50 pm.

Of those aircraft, 11 crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait or its extension and entered the northern, central, southwestern and eastern sectors of the ADIZ while operating in coordination with Chinese naval vessels, the ministry said.

China’s Yinchuan, a Type 052D destroyer, is pictured in waters off Taiwan’s southwestern coast in a photograph released by the Ministry of National Defense yesterday. Photo courtesy of the ministry via CNA

An ADIZ is an area declared by a country to enable it to identify, locate and control approaching foreign aircraft, but it is not part of territorial airspace as defined under international law.

The MND released three surveillance images along with the press release.

One of the images, taken from a Taiwanese F-16V fighter jet using the Sniper Advanced Targeting Pod (ATP), showed the exhaust nozzles of a Chinese J-16 fighter jet.

A second photo, taken from Taiwan’s Su Au, a Kee Lung-class destroyer in waters off the island’s southwestern coast, showed China’s Yinchuan, a Type 052D destroyer, in the distance.

A third image, taken on board Taiwan’s Wu Chang, a Kang Ding-class frigate, showed a Navy crew member monitoring China’s Xuzhou, a Type 054A frigate, though the location was not specified.

The release came a day before Taiwan’s opposition- controlled Legislature is set to review funding for five weapons systems approved for sale by the United States in December 2025.

Public releases of surveillance images captured using an F-16V’s Sniper ATP are extremely rare and typically occur only during large-scale PLA exercises around Taiwan.

Similarly, the ministry has previously released images only of Chinese aircraft carriers making rare transits through the Taiwan Strait or naval vessels sailing unusually close to Taiwan’s outlying islands.

The MND emphasized that the threats and provocative actions posed by Chinese military aircraft and vessels are “the only source of disruption to regional peace and stability.”

Committed to preserving the status quo in the Taiwan Strait, Taiwan’s armed forces maintain close surveillance of Chinese military activities through joint intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets while tasking aircraft, naval vessels and shore-based missile systems to respond as appropriate, the ministry said.


Taiwanese indicted in Philippines scam ring

Seventeen Taiwanese suspects accused of operating a telecom fraud ring in the Philippines were indicted after allegedly defrauding more than 100 victims in Taiwan of over NT$60 million (US$1.9 million), prosecutors said yesterday.

The New Taipei City District Prosecutors Office said the indictments were finalized on Monday, with prosecutors recommending a prison sentence of more than 25 years for the alleged ringleader, a man surnamed Chen (陳).

The remaining 16 defendants face recommended prison terms ranging from 10 years to more than 20 years, prosecutors said.

The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office is pictured in an undated photograph. Photo: Taipei Times

According to investigators, the suspects were arrested last year in a joint operation by Taiwanese and Philippine law enforcement authorities targeting a scam operation in Cebu.

The suspects were deported from the Philippines to Taiwan in January and later detained and held incommunicado following questioning by prosecutors.

Prosecutors said the group allegedly established the scam operation in Cebu in April 2024 and used fake charity campaigns and online romance schemes to target victims in Taiwan.

Victims were allegedly instructed to transfer Tether cryptocurrency or cash into designated digital wallets and bank accounts, after which the funds were quickly moved to conceal the money trail.

Investigators said the case involved 112 victims and losses exceeding NT$60 million. The authorities also seized assets worth nearly NT$20 million that were linked to the suspects.

The defendants were charged with fraud, money laundering, organized crime offenses, and operating overseas fraud-related equipment, prosecutors said.

The prosecution also said some suspects continued to deny wrongdoing and were suspected of colluding with one another during the investigation, showing no remorse.

Given the scale of the fraud and the large financial losses involved, prosecutors said Chen should face a heavier sentence, especially as he had allegedly played a long-term leadership role in the operation.


NXP eyes deeper collaborations

SWIFT DELIVERY: Inventec is one of the first Taiwanese companies joining NXP’s zonal CoreRide architecture or SDV ecosystems, as it is deeply involved in the design

NXP Semiconductors NV is deepening its collaborations with local ecosystem partners including Inventec Inc (英業達) to swiftly deliver its new zonal processors for new-generation vehicles, the company said yesterday.

The company’s S32K series automotive microcontroller processing unit (MCU), core of NXP’s newly-released Coreride Z248 zonal reference design, is built on 16-nanometer FinFet technology with embedded magnetic RAM (MRAM) in Taiwan, NXP senior vice president and general manager for automotive systems and platforms Sebastien Clamagirand said at a news conference in Taipei.

In addition, a more sophisticated MCU series, called S32M, is to be built on more advanced 5-nanometer process technology later this year in Taiwan, he said.

An NXP semiconductors logo at a computer chip fabrication plant in Nijmegen, Netherlands, is pictured on March 14. Photo: Reuters

The S32K serves as a general-purpose processor, and the S32M is a specialized package for integrated motor control, the company said, adding that both MCU series have artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities.

Clamagirand did not disclose the name of the company’s foundry service partner.

NXP had collaborated with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to develop 16-nanometer FinFet and 5-nanometer MRAM technologies. Last week, TSMC said it would tape out the first 16-nanometer FinFet processor for vehicles later this year.

Inventec becomes one of the first Taiwanese companies joining NXP’s zonal CoreRide architecture or SDV ecosystems, as it is deeply involved in the design and hardware production linked to CoreRide Z248 reference design, NXP said.

The Taiwanese firm has built a strong foothold in supplying domain controllers, leveraging its AI server and automotive electronics manufacturing capabilities, Inventec vice president for automotive electronics Lino Li (李瑞進) said.

A domain controller is a critical network server that authenticates and authorizes users and computers within a computer network domain.

As the design cycle has shortened to about two years from three to five years previously, only companies capable of developing new cars faster and reducing total ownership costs can stand out, Lee said.

Inventec took only several months to design its first CoreRide platform in collaboration with NXP, he said.

NXP also collaborates with Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co’s (鴻海精密) MIH Consortium, an electric vehicle alliance, in different areas.

It has teamed up with Quanta to develop new automotive applications, while supplying components to MIH, the company said.

NXP is targeting accelerating the transition to software-defined vehicles, as automakers are moving toward zonal architectures that reduce system complexity, improve scalability and support faster software deployment, rather than adding more electronic control units, the company said.

NXP would continues to work closely with customers to fulfill their demands, Clamagirand said.

The company would also maintain close relationships with ecosystem partners in response to chip supply constraints, he said.


Gigabyte sets price of offshore bonds

Gigabyte Technology Co (技嘉科技) yesterday set a conversion price of NT$371.81 (US$11.75) for its five-year overseas convertible bond issue, a 12.5 percent premium from Monday’s closing share price of NT$330.5.

As Gigabyte shares fell 7.72 percent to NT$305 yesterday on profit-taking, the conversion premium rose to 21.9 percent.

Gigabyte is a producer of servers, graphics cards, motherboards, notebook computers and other computer peripherals. Its revenue rose 59.8 percent year-on-year to NT$105.06 billion in the first quarter, a record high.

Attendees visit the Gigabyte booth at CES 2024 at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Jan. 10, 2024. Photo: AFP

The company is to start issuing the US$500 million zero-interest overseas convertible bonds on Tuesday next week, it said in a regulatory filing.

The convertible bonds are the company’s fifth overseas fundraising this year, as it aims to finance its material purchases for business expansion, Gigabyte said.

The company said the potential share dilution would be about 5.97 percent if investors were to exchange all their five-year bonds for stock, which Gigabyte said would have a limited impact on shareholders’ interests.

Gigabyte on Friday last week upgraded its estimated capital expenditure for this year to between NT$2.5 billion and NT$2.7 billion on strong artificial intelligence (AI) server demand and its global expansion needs. It spent NT$1.48 billion in the first quarter.

The company also reported record net profit in the first quarter, up 69.1 percent year-on-year to NT$5.27 billion, and earnings per share rose to NT$7.86 from NT$4.65 a year earlier.

Gigabyte’s convertible bond issue came a day after NAND controller and storage solutions leader Phison Electronics Corp (群聯電子) announced that it was raising US$800 million through its first overseas convertible bond issue.

Proceeds from the issue would be used to purchase materials to meet the capital requirements driven by the expansion of its global AI ecosystem solution business, Phison said in a regulatory filing.

The five-year, zero-coupon convertible bond issue is split into two tranches — Tranche A and Tranche B — each sized at US$400 million, the company said.

Phison set Tranche A’s conversion price at NT$3,418.75, representing a 25 percent premium over the closing share price of NT$2,735 on Monday, while Tranche B’s conversion price was set at NT$3,555.5, reflecting a 30 percent premium. Phison shares plunged 9.87 percent to NT$2,465 at the close yesterday.

Both tranches are scheduled to be issued on Tuesday next week, Phision said.

The potential share dilution would be 3.33 percent if investors exchange all their five-year bonds for stock, and it would have a limited impact on shareholders’ interests, it said.

The company said the issue was oversubscribed, and both tranches were priced at the most issuer-friendly end of the range, underscoring strong global investors’ confidence in Phison’s market leadership, product portfolio, customer base and long-term growth prospects.

Phision reported that revenue for the first four months of this year surged 208.32 percent year-on-year to NT$61.17 billion. Net profit in the first quarter rose 1,230 percent to NT$15.18 billion, with earnings per share of NT$68.8.


Venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya has probably uttered the most naive remark of the year by asserting that Taiwan will stop being critically and strategically important within 18 months, given the rapid expansion of semiconductor manufacturing in the US.

Speaking on an All-In Podcast episode that aired on Friday, Palihapitiya said: “I kind of know we’re 18 months from Taiwan not being an important moment of conversation the way it is today. Why 18 months? Because we are at a point where we’re probably one to two nanometers away from being able to do what we need Taiwan to strategically do for us.”

He also implied that the US would be able to scale up chip production swiftly by adopting the “microscale” technology developed by Neuralink, a brain-computer interface developer cofounded by Elon Musk. Neuralink has been showcasing “a machine that is literally operating at the almost nanometer scale to do the brain operations for the implantation all automatically,” Palihapitiya said.

He did not elaborate further about what he meant by Taiwan “not being an important moment of conversation.” If he is suggesting that the US would be able to produce all sorts of chips it requires domestically within one-and-a-half years, that is unrealistic and illusory.

Within that time frame, the US might be able to generate a sufficient domestic supply of chips for defense systems, such as jet fighters and missiles, but it would be impossible for the US to secure a domestic supply of chips for everything from artificial intelligence (AI) data centers and autonomous vehicles to robotics.

AI development is facing a hardware bottleneck mostly because of chip scarcity as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) has been struggling to satisfy booming chip demand from Nvidia Corp for major US cloud service providers over the past three years. The Taiwanese chipmaker has been making every effort to expand production and advanced chip packaging capacity with record-high capital investment to narrow the supply-demand gap. Nevertheless, chip supply remains constrained.

Palihapitiya was largely referring to the semiconductor fabrication facilities operated by TSMC in Arizona, rather than by any US chipmaker. TSMC is scheduled to ramp up production of 3-nanometer chips at its second fab in Arizona by the second half of next year, which might provide a baseline for Palihapitiya to calculate how soon the US would play catch-up on building domestic semiconductor production. TSMC’s first Arizona fab mainly produces 4-nanometer chips.

The major flaw in Palihapitiya’s assertion is that he grossly underestimates the complexity of making semiconductors. Chip manufacturing is not about building on a massive scale using standard modules. The biggest challenge is not having the technology to make a chip, but how to produce chips at scale and at excellent yield quality. Huge capital investment and the acquisition of cutting-edge equipment cannot guarantee that a chipmaker can produce equally high-quality semiconductors at scale as TSMC does.

For latecomers, it takes two to three years to build a new fab, TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors in response to questions about competition. No shortcuts, he said. It takes another one to two years to ramp up production, Wei added. “The fundamental rules of the foundry game never change,” he said.

What Wei did not say is that it requires a comprehensive semiconductor supply chain to achieve large-scale production of high-quality chips. That includes manufacturing equipment, special chemicals, components, electronic design automation and intellectual property, not to mention a stable electricity supply, highly disciplined, skilled engineers and staff working around the clock. Such a complicated and extensive supply chain is formed through decades of collaborations and cannot be replicated overnight. Even US chip giant Intel Corp realizes that its top priority is not to compete with TSMC in the foundry business.

“The deepest misunderstanding about TSMC is that their technology is all they have,” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said in a podcast interview released in March. “Their technology makes the company special, but their ability to orchestrate the demands, the dynamic demands of hundreds of companies in the world” makes their partnerships valuable, along with their “culture,” he said.

Washington’s push for domestic semiconductor production is understandable to enhance supply chain resilience rather than isolating itself from the world amid growing geopolitical risks. As the development of the semiconductor industry is built on collaboration within diverse ecosystems, it is unlikely to exclude a single country like Taiwan with solid semiconductor strength from the whole system.

EDITORIAL: A reality check for a naive take


Former Polish president Lech Walesa in March landed in Taipei for his seventh visit. He met with President William Lai (賴清德), and told his Taiwanese hosts that their solutions to national problems should serve as a model for the world. A leader of the Solidarity movement and a Nobel laureate who once broke an authoritarian regime in Europe was endorsing a democracy that has survived another in Asia, in a city no sitting European head of state would visit.

Walesa traveled as a former president, a private citizen and a partner of municipalities. That last role is the one Europe and Taiwan should be paying attention to.

Taiwan retains formal diplomatic relations with 12 states. Honduras switched to Beijing in 2023 and Nauru in 2024, although the new Honduran government elected last year has signaled it intends to restore ties with Taipei — a process that would take time. The official map keeps shrinking.

Under that map — and the parliamentary one I described earlier this month (“Taiwan leans on diplomatic plan B,” May 3, page 8) — another keeps growing, built not from embassies, but from sister cities and regional friendship agreements. Ivo Duchacek called this “paradiplomacy” in 1988: direct international contacts run by entities that are not central states.

The European chapter of that map is thin. The gap with the US is brutal. Taipei alone has 12 US sister cities, from Houston to San Francisco. Kaohsiung, Tainan and Taichung add 15 to 20 each. Across all of Europe, Taiwan has about 15 formal city-to-city partnerships combined.

Forty years of European outreach to Taiwan have produced fewer agreements than the four largest Taiwanese cities have signed with US counterparts alone.

Inside that thin European map, one country accounts for more than half: Poland, with eight partnerships. Warsaw-Taipei dates back to 1995. Last year alone, Gdynia, Poznan, Lublin and Bialystok signed with Tainan, Kaohsiung or Pingtung. Poles and Taiwanese share a recent transition out of authoritarianism, a parallel disillusion with unkept Belt and Road promises, a COVID-19-pandemic-era exchange of masks and vaccines and a steady flow of Taiwanese students through Polish medical and dental faculties. Eight signatures in five years are not improvised.

At least 71 cities worldwide maintain sister-city ties with both Chinese and Taiwanese cities at once. Coexistence used to be the norm, and can be again.

When Prague broke with Beijing and signed with Taipei in January 2020, then-mayor Zdenek Hrib built the partnership around science, smart-city cooperation, public health and culture. No political clause. Cooperation framed in technical language is harder to politicize: Beijing struggles to denounce a medical-exchange program as ideological subversion.

Pressure does sometimes fall on the cities that try — Prague faced canceled tours and trade slowdowns, and other municipalities engaging Taipei have met diplomatic protests, visa frictions or quiet commercial retaliation — but the cost remains manageable at the city level.

Lithuania showed what happens when the same opening is attempted at state level. When Vilnius authorized a Taiwan representative office in 2021, Beijing answered with a national commercial blockade. Lithuanian exports to China collapsed by 91 percent in a single month. Brussels did not retaliate. Lithuania, with fewer than 3 million inhabitants, was forced to scale back.

Engagement with Taiwan is not the problem; engagement carried by a single capital alone is fragile. Beijing can punish one government. It would struggle to coordinate sanctions against 50 European cities spread across 15 member states without paying a cost it cannot afford.

Lyon, France’s second metropolitan area, has no Taiwanese sister city. Neither do Marseille, Paris or Toulouse — a city whose aerospace and renewable-energy clusters are an obvious match for Hsinchu and Tainan.

France’s official footprint with Taiwan, in city terms, comes down to three agreements: Versailles-Taipei (1986), Grenoble Alpes Metropole-Taoyuan (2018) and Beziers-Tainan (2023).

The Grenoble partnership is the most operational of the three, anchored on smart cities, clean energy and a structured university link with National Taiwan University through the IRP Green Material Institute. It is the template that should have been replicated. For the EU’s second-largest economy, the absence of others is a strategic gap, not a diplomatic position.

A modest, multiyear Europe-Taiwan City Partnership facility — coordinated in Brussels, cofunded with Taipei, anchored on smart cities, public health and the energy transition — would close the gap with Polish practice and give cities legal cover when Beijing pushes back. Fifty partnerships by 2030 is a conservative target if the Polish rate were matched by 10 European countries.

Taipei could also reverse the asymmetry it has accepted with Europe. Resources currently spent waiting for European national capitals to move could be redirected to midsized cities and regions where political appetite already exists: Munich, Eindhoven, Dresden and Grenoble on the technology side; Rotterdam, Antwerp and Hamburg on the port side; Lyon, Stockholm and Milan on the universities side.

Beijing’s pressure is calibrated against national capitals. Taiwan’s outreach should be calibrated below them.

Central and northern Europe is where this instrument has worked best. The Czech, Polish and Baltic experiences show what happens when post-authoritarian memory and Belt-and-Road disillusion converge. A formal subnational track — annual conferences, signed templates, a small joint secretariat — would consolidate it.

Natural Taiwanese partners include the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy, the Taiwan Digital Diplomacy Association and the Prospect Foundation. Civil-society structures like France-Formosa can act as pivots into those networks.

The cancelation of Lai’s state trip to the Kingdom of Eswatini, like the loss of Honduras and Nauru, will be repeated. The map of formal recognition will keep contracting. The city-to-city map does not have to follow it: It is much harder for Beijing to dismantle. The question is whether Taipei and European capitals are willing to invest in the diplomacy they can actually keep.

Romain Blachier is a French energy and geopolitics specialist, France-Formosa Association president, contributor to several think tanks, former deputy mayor of Lyon, and a lecturer on energy markets and Indo-Pacific geopolitics at HEIP, ECAM, Universite Lyon 1, INSEEC and ILERI.

Taiwan’s diplomatic ‘plan C’: cities


Alex Newhook on Mondy scored his second Game 7-winning goal of the post-season, this time 11 minutes, 22 seconds into overtime in the Montreal Canadiens 3-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres.

Newhook drove up the left wing and as he approached the circle snapped a shot through a screen that beat goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen inside the far post.

Newhook also scored the decisive goal, breaking a 1-1 tie 11:07 of the third period, in Game 7 of Montreal’s first-round series win over Tampa Bay.

Montreal Canadiens goaltender Jakub Dobes, right, makes a save against Tage Thompson of the Buffalo Sabres, center, in overtime of Game 7 of their Stanley Cup playoff series in Buffalo, New York, on Monday. Photo: AP

“It’s a crazy feeling,” Newhook said of scoring back-to-back Game 7 winners. “It’s fun. It’s why you play the game. I think we played well enough to win, so we’re looking forward now.”

Phillip Danault and Zachary Bolduc also scored for the Canadiens and Jakub Dobes finished with 37 saves.

Rasmus Dahlin forced overtime by tying the game 6:27 into the third period. Jordan Greenway also scored. Luukkonen finished with 22 saves.

The Canadiens advance to the Eastern Conference Finals, where they are to face the well-rested Hurricanes in a series set to open in Carolina tomorrow. The Hurricanes have swept each of their first two series, and been off since a 3-2 overtime win against Philadelphia on May 9.

Carolina’s 11-day break between playoff games is the longest in NHL history.

The Canadiens advance to the NHL’s semi-final round for the first time since facing Vegas in the COVID-19-affected 2021 playoffs, in which Montreal eventually lost the Stanley Cup Final in five games to Tampa Bay.

“It’s got to be electric. I’m sure everywhere in Montreal is going nuts right now,” Newhook said. “We owe them a lot of credit. They showed up for us all series long, and can’t wait to get back to the Bell Centre for Game 3.”

This is the first playoff meeting between the two teams since Carolina beat Montreal in six games of a 2006 first-round series. The Hurricanes also beat Montreal in 2002, after going 0-5 against the Canadiens when the franchise was based in Hartford, Connecticut.

The Canadiens continue their upward trajectory a year after being eliminated in the first round by Washington.

“We’re a confident group,” Newhook said. “We’ve added some pieces, and I think everyone’s kind of come together to play together and play their role to the best of their ability this far in playoffs. We’ve got to keep it rolling.”

Buffalo dropped to 1-7 in Game 7, including 1-3 in overtime.

The Sabres enter the off-season following a breakout year in which they won their first Atlantic Division title and ended an NHL-record 14-season playoff drought. Buffalo’s turnaround began in early December last year, when the team went from last in the East standings to finish second by going 39-9-5 over their final 53 games.

The Sabres’ first-round win over Boston was their first since 2007, and the team returns a young and talented group that reflects a promising future in Buffalo.

Trailing 2-0, the Sabres cut Montreal’s lead 13:19 into the second period when Mattias Samuelsson’s shot grazed off Greenway and into the open left side past a screened Dobes.

Dahlin then tied it after being set up by Owen Power to the left of the Montreal net, and fired a shot in before Dobes could get across.

Game 7 followed the series script in which each of the opening goals have been scored within the first seven minutes.

For only the second time, though, it was the Canadiens scoring first 4:30 in. Danault was parked in front and had Kaiden Guhle’s shot from the left circle deflect in off his skate.

Bolduc followed 10 minutes later with a one-timer from the right circle which beat Luukkonen high on the short side. Captain Nick Suzuki set up the goal with a cross-ice feed from the far corner.

Newhook scores late as Canadiens oust the Sabres


Arsenal on Monday were on the brink of ending a 22-year wait to win the English Premier League after beating Burnley 1-0 to open up a five-point lead at the top.

Kai Havertz headed in the only goal, but was also lucky to avoid a second-half red card that could have swung the title race back in Manchester City’s favor.

The Gunners could be crowned champions as early as yesterday should City fail to win at AFC Bournemouth.

Arsenal’s Kai Havertz, left, scores against Burnley in their English Premier League match at the Emirates Stadium in London on Monday. Photo: AFP

Even if City do end the Cherries’ 16-game unbeaten run and beat Aston Villa, Arsenal would secure the title with a victory at Crystal Palace on Sunday.

“One more to go,” Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta said. “We have done our job, what is in our hands. We have to wait and see what is going to happen tomorrow and then it’s time to prepare for the Palace game.”

However, the narrow margin of victory against a Burnley side that have long since been relegated does offer City hope.

An Arsenal draw at Selhurst Park would allow City to snatch the title on goal-difference if Pep Guardiola’s team win their final two matches.

Roared on by an expectant capacity crowd in their final home game of the season, Arsenal were tipped to put the Clarets to the sword with ease.

Burnley have taken just two points from their past 10 matches, but made Arteta’s men work for the three points on another nervy night at the Emirates.

Leandro Trossard struck the post from the edge of the penalty area before Bukayo Saka saw a penalty appeal waived away as he attempted to turn in Havertz’s low cross.

Arsenal were forced to rely on their set-piece threat once more to prize Burnley open.

Havertz rose highest to power in Saka’s delivery on 37 minutes as they scored from a corner for the 18th time in the league this season.

Yet the floodgates did not open and Arsenal were very fortunate not to have to defend their lead with 10 men for the final quarter.

Havertz raked his studs down the calf of Lesley Ugochukwu in a mistimed challenge and, despite a video assistant referee review, the original decision of a yellow card was not upgraded to red.

Havertz was quickly replaced by Viktor Gyokeres. The Swede’s arrival failed to kick-start Arsenal as an attacking force, but their rock-solid defensive record again edged them closer to the title.

Since losing to Manchester City last month, Arsenal have not conceded in their past four league games.

“The margin should have been bigger, but we haven’t achieved that,” Arteta said. “We have shown what we have shown all season, that when we need to defend and get through the game, we can do it in an efficient way.”

Arsenal on brink of claiming title


Sweden to procure four frigates from France

The Swedish government yesterday said that it would buy four new frigates from France’s Naval Group as part of a rearmament effort launched after the war in Ukraine and its accession to NATO in 2024.

“This is one of the largest Swedish defense investments since the Gripen fighter jet was introduced in the 1980s,” Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said at press conference aboard a navy corvette in Stockholm.

“With this decision, I am convinced that Sweden is now helping to make the Baltic Sea significantly safer in the future,” he said.

The French FDI frigate Amiral Ronarc’h is docked in Gothenburg, Sweden, on Feb. 2. Photo: Reuters

“It is a tripling of Sweden’s air defense capability compared with today,” he added.

The Nordic country had also evaluated offers from the UK’s Babcock together with Sweden’s own Saab and Spain’s Navantia.

Sweden opted for the French Fregate de Defense et d’Intervention (FDI) based on criteria including rapid delivery, a model already produced and proven, and the possibility of sharing costs, particularly with Greece, Kristersson said.

France said in August last year that it could deliver a “fully equipped” frigate as early as 2030.

The deal represents a success for the French group, which suffered a setback last year when Norway opted for British-built frigates.

The first frigate is to be delivered in 2030, followed by one per year over the next three years.

The “final price” will depend on what armaments and equipment are included.

When pressed for a ballpark figure, Swedish Minister of Defense Pal Jonson said the average price was expected at “just over 10 billion kronor [US$1.1 billion] each.”

France has already ordered five FDI frigates, with the first, the Amiral Ronarc’h, undergoing sea trials and expected to go into full service this year.

Greece has also ordered four of the multipurpose warship, designed to counter surface, submarine and aerial threats.

After the Cold War, Sweden slashed its defense spending as it focused military efforts on international peacekeeping missions.

It reversed course following Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea, and accelerated its increase in military spending following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. That prompted Sweden to reverse decades of neutrality and join NATO in 2024, and embark on a massive rearmament effort.

Defense spending is expected to reach 3.5 percent of GDP by 2030, up from 2.8 percent this year.

In the coming negotiations with Naval Group, Sweden would demand that Swedish systems can be integrated, citing in particular the anti-ship missiles of Swedish arms giant Saab and guns from BAE Systems Bofors, Jonson said.

Sweden and France have moved closer on defense in recent years, illustrated by several French orders from Saab.

French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed Sweden’s decision and “the trust placed in France” in a post on X.

In December, France said it would order two GlobalEye surveillance aircraft made by Saab for 12.3 billion kronor.

Saab also announced on Monday that it had received an order from France for 17 Giraffe 1X radars.


Tiananmen activist defends advocacy at HK trial

A Tiananmen activist yesterday told a Hong Kong court that she “totally embraced” actions the prosecution deemed crimes, as closing arguments in her national security trial entered their second day.

Chow Hang-tung (鄒幸彤), 41, is standing trial for “incitement to subversion” along with her former colleague Lee Cheuk-yan (李卓人), 69. They face years behind bars if convicted.

The pair were leaders of the now-defunct Hong Kong Alliance, a group that used to organize candlelight vigils to mark China’s deadly 1989 crackdown on demonstrators in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. China imposed a National Security Law on the territory in 2020, and the alliance’s leaders were charged the following year and have been behind bars since.

Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Lee Cheuk-yan poses during a photo session in Hong Kong on March 21, 2021. Photo: AFP

Chow, a Cambridge-educated barrister who is representing herself, smiled widely at supporters in the gallery as she entered the courtroom.

Standing in front of a three-judge panel, she said it was a “weird” criminal case, because the defendants did not dispute the facts.

“The defendants fully embraced the actions that the prosecution alleged to be crimes,” Chow told the court, adding that their efforts were an expression of their beliefs.

Chow Hang-tung, barrister and a leader of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, poses during a photo session in Hong Kong on March 21, 2021. Photo: AFP

“What is really at dispute is what the law suppresses and what it protects,” she said.

In their closing arguments on Monday, prosecutors accused Chow and Lee of “endangering national security in the name of human rights,” adding that freedom of speech and association are “not absolute rights.”

They said the alliance had repeatedly called to “end one-party rule” in China, which they said amounted to overthrowing or undermining the political system established by the Chinese constitution.

Chow said the group’s stance of “end one-party rule” means “to put an end to a state of unrestrained power.” The Chinese constitution “exists to restrain those in power, not to restrain ordinary people,” she told the court.

“The constitution itself is a tool ... to put an end to various forms of autocracy,” she said, adding that the prosecution’s allegations that the group incited people to contravene the constitution were “completely absurd.”

Lee’s lawyer on Monday said the court must not pay “lip service” to human rights, adding that the right to criticize state organs is protected by China’s constitution.

Lee, who sat quietly in the dock in yesterday’s hearing, had previously denied that “end one-party rule” means overthrowing the Chinese Communist Party’s leadership.

He hoped the party would reform to grant Chinese citizens “the civic rights and happiness they deserved,” Lee told the court in March.

Lee and Chow face a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment.

A third defendant, 74-year-old former lawmaker Albert Ho (何俊仁), pleaded guilty in January.

Rights groups have slammed the trial. Amnesty International deputy regional director Sarah Brooks said in a statement on Monday that “the prosecution’s case relies on vague, overly broad and arbitrary definitions of ‘subversion’” and called for the charges to be dropped.

Urania Chiu, a law lecturer researching Hong Kong at Oxford Brookes University, said the verdict could have wider consequences.

“If the prosecution’s broad and circular understanding of the offense is accepted [by the court], legitimate critiques of Chinese government policies ... however minor, will easily be criminalized,” she said.


Professional mourners mix tribal tradition with Christianity

Those in the profession say they draw on their own experiences of grief to channel emotion at others’ funeral ceremonies

The body of Tom Ochieng Mima is dressed in formal funeral finery, casket shaded from the hot western Kenyan sun as family and friends of the late 64-year-old settle into plastic chairs beneath white tents just off the roadside.

Wails pierce the air in a mix of lyrical song and unrestrained cries; a group of mourners wave leafy branches and beat them against the ground in a rhythm. A performance like this would not seem out of place at many funerals around the world — at first glance.

But this group of men and women never knew Mima, nor are they friends of his bereaved loved ones. They are professional mourners who are hired to openly and loudly express grief in line with local Luo cultural norms.

Professional mourners in March grieve alongside family members and friends of the deceased during a funeral on the outskirts of Kisumu, Kenya. Photo: AP

The role is an unlikely but relatively steady and well-paid job in Kenya’s poorer western regions, where traditional beliefs blend with widespread Christianity to create a unique patchwork of religious rites.

“It is a job anyone can do,” said Francis Oyoo, who has worked as a professional mourner for the last two years. “As long as you are in touch with your emotions and can show empathy.”

Oyoo typically receives one or two jobs as a professional mourner each month, with the pay — close to US$80 — modest but enough to keep him afloat.

INSPIRED BY GRIEF

Professional mourners say they draw on their own experiences of grief to channel emotion at others’ funeral ceremonies.

“You think of someone you loved,” said Oyoo, who began the work after his uncle died in an accident and he felt compelled to help others with loss.

James Ajowi, another paid mourner at Mima’s funeral, is a veteran of more than 20 years in the profession. His daughter died a few years ago of a lung disease, and he said his own experience with grief deepened his commitment to the work.

“It’s as if she was preparing me,” Ajowi said.

Those left behind take great comfort in the professional mourners who bolster attendance at funerals, which are already loud and busy community social affairs in western Kenya.

“They support us. They show us love,” said Lawrence Ouma Angira, who was raised by the deceased Mima, his uncle. “They help fill the emptiness and they comfort us,” he added — even if they never knew the subject of their grief. “They understand loss.”

MIXING CULTURE AND RELIGION

Among the Luo people who live near Lake Victoria, mourning is not only about grief but also protection, according to Charles Owour Olunga, an anthropologist. Death is seen as a transition, with crying, singing and movement by mourners helping drive away evil spirits.

Additional, unrelated mourners — typically women — appear at funerals in traditional cultures across Africa and Asia, Olunga said, though it is relatively unusual for men to also play a role. In addition to grieving, they may also help maintain order in large gatherings.

The professionalization of mourning is relatively recent, however, the anthropologist noted.

“It is linked to urbanization and commercialization,” said Olunga. “We are moving away from the authentic, but still holding on to tradition. They add color to an existing process.”

Among scholars of religion, the particular blend of Christian beliefs with even older spiritual traditions in western Kenya is also notable.

The region has a significant number of so-called African-initiated churches, according to University of Nairobi research. They are a phenomenon linked to local pushback against strict Christianity’s prohibition of Indigenous rituals.

For the mourners, both those who knew Mima and the paid strangers, the nuances of combined Christian and traditional beliefs are less important than the emotional understanding and comfort that grief builds community.

“Death is painful,” said Oyoo. “But I also find strength in knowing that one day, I too will die — and people will gather for me.”


三峽 新北市 三峽區 內湖 苗栗

▲新北市三峽區去年5月發生重大車禍，造成4死11傷悲劇。（圖／記者黃彥傑翻攝）

記者趙蔡州／綜合報導

新北市79歲余姓老翁去年5月19日開車時突然失控，在三峽區國光街、國成街口連撞多名路人，造成4死11傷悲劇。車禍發生至今已1週年，一名在事故中失去孩子的母親表示，這一年她每次看到孩子的骨灰都哭到不行，而且至今都沒有等到肇事者家屬道歉，大罵「你們有良知嗎？」

這位女網友在threads表示，「妳離開媽咪一年了，這一年發生了好多事情，媽咪因為太想妳了把自己的身體搞壞了，因為壓力太大，得了甲狀腺癌和憂鬱症恐慌焦慮症創傷症候群」、「媽咪好想妳，好想妳能回來讓我好好的抱抱妳……妳走後媽咪感受不到快樂是什麼，雖然有好多人陪伴，但失去妳的痛，我還是好痛好痛。」

她說，「每個月去看妳，是我們家的例行公事，爸比知道我沒有去看妳，我會很崩潰，每個月帶一些妳愛吃的東西去給妳吃，這樣我才能活得下去，覺得妳還在」、「每次看到妳的骨灰罈，我都覺得為什麼這麼可愛的孩子怎麼變成一團灰燼，我就哭到不行」。

▲事故發生後，許多民眾到場獻花。（圖／記者呂佳賢攝）

苦等不到道歉 怒轟家屬沒良知

她也指出，事件至今已經1年了，她遲遲等不到余姓老翁家屬的道歉，甚至連人都沒有看到過（肇事者2名兒子皆長年居住英國），氣得她大罵「你們有良知嗎」，「你們就是知道台灣的法律追討不到那裡，明明你們2個兒子都住英國，為什麼內湖的房子過給你們呢？你爸的遺產根本不夠賠，你們有良知的話就該負點責任，而不是用限定繼承」。

事件發生在2025年5月19號，余姓老翁駕車從苗栗老家返回三峽住處，不料在行經三峽區國光街、國成街口（北大國小旁）時失控暴衝，由於正值放學時間，車輛高速猛撞停等紅燈的機車、以及過馬路的學童，造成一名40歲女騎士、兩名年僅12歲、13歲的女學死亡，余姓老翁送醫搶救多日後也傷重不治。

三峽4死車禍一週年！受害女童母悲喊：失去你好痛　曝仍等不到道歉


YouTube 推出 Ask YouTube 與 Gemini Omni，強化搜尋與 Shorts 創作工具  YouTube 在 Google I/O 2026 宣布推出多項新功能，包括對話式搜尋工具 Ask YouTube，以及整合 Gemini Omni 的 Shorts Remix 與 YouTube Create 創作功能，YouTube 表示，新功能將同時強化內容搜尋與影片創作體驗，並逐步向不同地區與使用者開放。

其中，Ask YouTube 是一項重新設計的搜尋方式，改為對話式互動介面，使用者可輸入較複雜的問題，例如育兒教學建議或遊戲評測推薦，系統會從 YouTube 全平台內容中篩選長影片與 Shorts，並整理成結構化的回覆結果。

YouTube 表示，使用者在搜尋後可持續提出追問，進一步縮小或調整需求，使搜尋過程更接近對話形式，目前 Ask YouTube 僅開放給美國地區、年滿 18 歲的 Premium 訂閱使用者，並可透過 youtube.com/new 使用，後續將逐步擴大開放範圍。

除了搜尋功能外，YouTube 也將 Gemini Omni 模型導入 Shorts Remix 與 YouTube Create 應用程式，強化影片創作能力，例如使用者可將 Shorts 轉換成 90 年代風格影片，或將自己加入原本的場景中，同時保留原始影片的敘事脈絡。YouTube 表示，Gemini Omni 能更準確理解使用者意圖，並在背景處理影片與音訊調整，使創作過程更偏向概念設計而非技術操作。

YouTube 也提到，所有透過 Omni Remix 生成的 Shorts 內容都會加入數位浮水印與識別性中繼資料，並標註原始影片來源，同時創作者可自行選擇是否允許他人進行視覺 Remix。

此外，YouTube 正擴展「Likeness detection」功能，協助創作者偵測與管理個人形象被使用的情況，目前已開放給 18 歲以上創作者使用。

Gemini Omni Remix 功能已於 YouTube Shorts Remix 與 YouTube Create 應用程式中免費推出，並預計未來加入 AI Playground，提供更多創作方式。

延伸閱讀：Google Flow 與 Google Flow Music 更新，加入 Gemini Omni 與 AI 創作代理功能延伸閱讀：Google Gemini 推出 Gemini 3.5 Flash、Gemini Spark，擴大 AI 助理功能延伸閱讀：Google 跟三星開發的智慧眼鏡要來了！不只能聽還會看資訊延伸閱讀：Google I/O 2026 懶人包：Omni 影片生成、Gemini 3.5 系列模型、代理式 AI