Taiwan's military has some serious issues with supplies
The tragic suicide of a young Taiwanese army lieutenant in April reveals the dire state of Taiwan’s military, where many units lack ammunition and other vital supplies and tanks often aren’t in working condition, Paul Huang writes in this Foreign Policy piece.
The US needs to be concerned about a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, which would require it to defend Taiwan for several reasons, argues a Bloomberg op-ed. The writer also rightfully stresses that Taiwan needs to “invest drastically more in its own defense.”
Foreign Minister Joseph Wu makes the case in the Hindustan Times for the world and the UN to embrace Taiwan.
The Czech Republic’s senate president will lead a 90-member delegation to Taiwan this Sunday. The delegation will include several senators and almost 40 business representatives.
Taipei Times takes an interesting look at when Mexico bombed Taiwan during World War II.
Taiwan is looking to lure talent and companies from Hong Kong, joining Asian countries like Singapore and Japan.
MediaTek and its “bandit phone king” founder are set to lose big following the US ban on suppliers using US equipment from doing business with Huawei without a license.
Taiwan’s exports rose in July year-on-year and month-on-month.
TSMC has purchased a factory in a Tainan science park for NT$860 million (US$28.89 million).
Taobao Taiwan has been ordered by the Ministry of Economic Affairs to re-register or exit Taiwan within six months for being a Chinese-controlled company operating illegally in Taiwan. Taobao is an e-commerce company that is owned by China’s Alibaba, while Taobao Taiwan is owned by a UK-based company partly owned by Alibaba.
Taiwan is still doing ok in terms of the coronavirus, but a controversy has broken out after a person coming from the US tested positive during his quarantine while being asymptomatic. Apparently asymptomatic people are not supposed to be tested during quarantine so the health ministry has launched an investigation into the Changhua Country Public Health Bureau, which conducted the test.
The health minister defended his ministry’s action by saying that mass testing would overwhelm the health system due to the mass number of false positives. A lot of Taiwanese have expressed support for the Changhua County Public Health Bureau. however, and it is not hard to see why.
Former ROC (Taiwan) President Lee Teng-hui was a man of “multiple identities as a Japanese, Communist, Chinese, Christian and, latterly, Taiwanese independence activist,” as laid out in this Diplomat feature. This complexity and inconsistency mirrors that of Taiwan society, making Lee a “true Son of Taiwan.”
Taiwan’s population is set to become a super-aged society by 2025 and will likely register negative growth (more deaths than births and immigrants) for this year.
Taiwanese singer Eric Chou held a 10,000-person concert on August 8, marking Asia’s first arena concert with a live audience in the pandemic era.
Former NBA player Jeremy Lin, who now currently plays in China, has received a Taiwan (ROC) passport. The NPP urged him to learn more about Taiwan while some commentators expressed skepticism that he wants to play for Taiwan.
Indoor camping, where you sleep in a tent inside a building, is one of those quirky Taiwanese things that I never knew about, and is apparently quite popular.