Many consider Taiwan to be East Asia’s friendliest country for lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgenders. Many people know Taiwan for its rapid economic growth. As one of the Four Asian Dragons, Taiwan – along with Singapore, South Korea, and Hong Kong – quickly industrialized from the 1960s to the 1990s. Much of Taiwan’s identity has…
As this year’s “World Design Capital,” Taipei aims to forge a new, forward-looking image. Designated the “2016 World Design Capital” by the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID),Taipei has embarked on a comprehensive initiative to mark this year by instilling design elements into numerous aspects of urban life. “The WDC project aims…
In the face of persistent pressure from Beijing, foreign aid has helped Taipei bolster formal relations with countries in need. Can that strategy endure? Taiwan has long provided technical and financial assistance to other countries as a means of boosting its limited international profile. Given the relentless efforts of the People’s Republic of China (PRC)…
Cooperation with the United States will be a cornerstone of the island’s increasingly ambitious forays into space. Taiwan is stepping up cooperation with the United States in satellite technology in a bid to broaden the scope of its little known 25-year-old space program. Washington and Taipei will jointly fund the US$400 million FORMOSAT-7 mission (known…
More than a year after horrific gas pipeline blasts claimed over 30 lives, Kaohsiung City is mending its wounds, seeking answers, and assigning blame. First the ground shook. Milliseconds later came fireballs shooting as high as 50 meters into the sky. Roads split in half, swallowing cars and motorcycles. Vehicles were tossed onto four-story rooftops….
Proposed legislation would require religious foundations to establish internal financial auditing systems. Earlier this year, the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation, Taiwan’s largest and arguably most revered charity organization due to its efficient response at times of natural disasters, quite unexpectedly found itself under heavy attack by the domestic media and netizens over the…
Rebuffed in its bid to be among the bank’s founders, Taiwan is expected to apply for regular membership. Several hours before the midnight deadline on the evening of March 31, Minister of Finance Chang Sheng-ford sent a fax to the preparatory office for the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in Beijing expressing Taiwan’s desire to…
Despite controversy and heavy fines, Uber persists in seeking its niche in the Taiwan market. Since the market launch in Taiwan of ride-sharing service/mobile app company Uber in mid-2013, the company has seen impressive growth on the island. Both ridership and the driver pool have increased by an average of 30% a month, according to…
PREVAILING WINDS — The maps chart seasonal prevailing winds in East Asia. The map on the left shows the winter winds coming south off of the Korean Peninsula, which eventually hit Taiwan from the east. Located in Asia’s wet subtropical zone, Taiwan receives 2.6 times more rainfall than the global average – yet it is…
The Suhua Highway, now under construction, should reduce accidents, but will it spoil one of the more pristine parts of the island? By Jens Kastner From time immemorial, people travelling overland to and from Taiwan’s east coast have done so at the risk of life and limb. But at long last the days of landslides…
