Taipower posts profit in 2025, accumulated loss hits NT$350 billionStaff writer, with CNATaiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) posted a record profit last year, with a net profit of NT$72.9 billion (US$2.32 billion), the state-owned utility said on Tuesday. Last year’s profit surpassed the previous record of NT$61.7 billion set in 2015 and marked a reversal from a net loss of NT$41.1 billion in 2024, ending a three-year losing streak. Despite the turnaround, Taipower said its accumulated losses still stood at around NT$350 billion. Household electricity rates increased by an average of 3.12 percent per kilowatt-hour from October last year, while industrial rates remained unchanged, in a move aimed at easing the company’s financial pressure, Taipower said. Taipower said it would continue streamlining fuel procurement and optimizing asset use while maintaining stable domestic power supplies.

She shared her experiences adjusting to Taiwan’s food and culture, and overcoming language barriers, encouraging immigrants to open their hearts and put down roots in Taiwan. Beka Chidapha speaks at an event at the National Immigration Agency’s Taipei City Service Center yesterday. Photo courtesy of the National Immigration AgencyThe hardest part about moving to Taiwan was getting used to the food, as Thai food is spicy and heavily seasoned, while Taiwanese food is lighter, Chidapha said. However, she adjusted to Taiwanese tastes in time and now feels that Thai food is too strong when she goes back, she said. Her sense of gratitude motivated her to work with immigrant service centers, women’s associations and family centers, giving back to society through Thai cooking classes and cultural exchange activities, she said.

The comments came the same day a man sprayed US Representative Ilhan Omar with a syringe of unknown liquid at a Minneapolis town hall meeting, where she called for curbing the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. Photo: AFP“We are evaluating why the CBP team may not have been following that protocol,” Miller said in a statement, although the White House later said Miller was referring to “general guidance” to immigration agents in Minnesota. Omar continued the town hall for about 25 more minutes after the man was ushered out by security, saying she would not be intimidated. Photos of the device, which fell to the ground when he was tackled, showed what appeared to be a light-brown liquid inside. Omar later wrote on X: “I’m ok. I’m a survivor so this small agitator isn’t going to intimidate me from doing my work.

German investment in Taiwan surges 264 percent year-on-yearStaff writer, with CNAApproved German direct investment in Taiwan last year marked a 264 percent year-on-year increase to US$209 million, indicating German businesses see Taiwan as the most important strategic hub for technology development in the Asia Pacific, German Trade Office Taipei said yesterday. The total amount of German investment in Taiwan approved by the Department of Investment Review last year partly reflected the ever-expanding economic ties between the two countries, the office said in a statement. German industry leaders that have set foot in Taiwan in recent years include Infineon Technologies AG, a global semiconductor solutions provider, and Merck Group, a science and technology company, it said. Photo courtesy of German Trade Office Taipei via CNAThe growth in German investment in Taiwan shows that German businesses see the country as the most important strategic hub for technology and research and development in the Asia Pacific region, despite disruptions in international supply chains and challenges facing German companies at home, the office said. Beyond investment, bilateral trade between the two countries continued to grow last year, rising 6 percent from a year earlier to US$21.7 billion, it said.

The WHO needs a systemic overhaulBy Hsiao Hsi-huei 蕭錫惠An international organization that refuses to examine its own mistakes while demanding that the world continue to trust it is itself a global security risk. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Taiwan alerted the international community to potential epidemic risks. Yet, the WHO continued to exclude Taiwan from its system, even denying it the most basic observer status. Many public health advocates worry that the US’ withdrawal would weaken global pandemic coordination. Such concerns are not unfounded, but the real question is not whether the world needs the WHO — it is whether the WHO is worth preserving in its current form.

If so, history would view this era as a brief setback for democracy, and Trump as merely the symptom of a larger problem. By exposing the weaknesses of American democracy, MAGA might well serve as a catalyst for the system’s rejuvenation. In the months and years ahead, it would be crucial for democratic forces to explore the reforms needed to revitalize American democracy and strengthen its legitimacy. The era of free-market economic policy has been associated with the greed-is-good ethos that emerged in the 1980s. A firm’s market power originates in its private ownership of innovative technology, which it gains either through invention or acquisition.

China purge could disrupt chain of command: sourceMORE FALL: An investigation into one of Xi’s key cronies, part of a broader ‘anti-corruption’ drive, indicates that he might have a deep distrust in the military, an expert said China’s latest military purge underscores systemic risks in its shift from collective leadership to sole rule under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), and could disrupt its chain of command and military capabilities, a national security official said yesterday. If decisionmaking within the Chinese Communist Party has become “irrational” under one-man rule, the Taiwan Strait and the regional situation must be approached with extreme caution, given unforeseen risks, they added. The anonymous official made the remarks as China’s Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Zhang Youxia (張又俠) and Joint Staff Department Chief of Staff Liu Zhenli (劉振立) were reportedly being investigated for suspected “seriousBy Su Yong-yao, Lo Tien-pin and Esme Yeh

SK Hynix posts record operating profit for 2025AFP, SEOULSouth Korean chip giant SK Hynix Inc yesterday said its operating profit doubled last year to a record high after a surge in global demand for technology powering artificial intelligence (AI). A visitor walks past the logo of SK Hynix Inc during the Korea Electronics Show at the COEX convention and exhibition center in Seoul on Oct. 22 last year. Photo: Jung Yeon-je, AFPThe firm said its operating profit soared 101 percent to 47.2 trillion won (US$33 billion) last year. The company "plans to further strengthen its proven quality, technological leadership and mass-production capabilities," by "stably supplying both HBM3E and HBM4" chips, SK Hynix said. "For Samsung and SK Hynix, while AI has driven a meaningful increase in memory demand, the technical barriers for HBM have also risen," she told AFP.

Incentives attract NT$2.62 trillion in investmentBy Meryl Kao / Staff reporterThree government incentive programs launched in 2019 to encourage Taiwanese and foreign firms to invest in Taiwan have attracted NT$2.62 trillion (US$83.65 billion) in combined pledged investment from 1,712 companies and created more than 164,500 jobs as of Friday last week, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. The extension is expected to attract an additional NT$1.2 trillion in investment and create about 80,000 more jobs, bringing the total accumulated investment under the programs to at least NT$3.6 trillion, Department of Investment Promotion Deputy Director Rio Lu (呂貞慧) told a news conference in Taipei. Regarding international investment promotion, the ministry secured 25 foreign investment cases in Taiwan last year, with the companies involved expected to invest about NT$160 billion over the next three to five years, she said. The ministry aims to raise the number of investment cases and the total investment value further this year, Lu said. The ministry will continue to help shape industry advantages this year through the three programs to build a more competitive investment environment, Lu said.

KMT-CCP forum harms national dignity: DPPBy Jonathan Chin / Staff writerThe Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) cross-strait exchange forum would severely harm national dignity and security, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday. Chinese Nationalist Party Vice Chairman Hsiao Hsu-tsen, left, and National Policy Foundation chairman Lee Hong-yuan speak at a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times“The uncanny coordination calls into question whether the KMT answers to Taiwan or China,” she said. The KMT’s meek acceptance of Beijing’s arrangements for the meeting surrenders the nation’s agency to Chinese whims, which harms national dignity and creates a national security risk, she said. The forum is an opening to broadening exchanges between Taiwan and China that would contribute to peace, stability and prosperity, he said.

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists set the clock to 85 seconds before midnight, the theoretical point of annihilation. That is four seconds closer than it was set last year. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists‘ Doomsday Clock, set at 85 seconds to midnight, is displayed at a news conference on Friday. “No matter the government, a shift towards neo-imperialism and an Orwellian approach to governance will only serve to push the clock toward midnight.”It was the third time in the past four years that the scientists moved the clock closer to midnight. “In terms of nuclear risks, nothing in 2025 trended in the right direction,” Bell said.

US Undersecretary of State for Economic Affairs Jacob Helberg, left, Representative to the US Alexander Yui, second right, and Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin, right, pose for a photograph after signing statements on the Pax Silica Declaration in Washington on Tuesday. The agreements demonstrate Taiwan’s critical role in the global AI supply chain, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a separate statement. “Taiwan is a vital partner on these and other important economic initiatives and its advanced manufacturing sector plays a key role in fueling the AI revolution,” the state department added. Its initial eight signatories did not include Taiwan, the world’s leading producer of advanced semiconductors. Taiwan and the US earlier this month reached a deal to reduce tariffs on Taiwan’s exports to the US, and boost Taiwanese investment in semiconductors and other sectors in the country.

Reversing Hakka’s ‘invisibilization’By Liao Ching-ting 廖經庭Pingtung County’s National Neipu Senior Agricultural and Industrial Vocational High School last weekend hosted a meeting involving six schools and their programs for Hakka-language integration into the 12-year national curriculum. This phenomenon was cited as one of the main reasons that Hakka students are less willing to speak the language. Hakka’s “invisibilization” has been exacerbated by the enforced proliferation of Mandarin in modern society, to the point that students with Hakka background have indistinguishable accents from the rest of their class. Hakka culture should be framed and regarded as an integral part of Taiwanese society. This way, Hakka can continue to thrive, belonging not only to the Hakka people, but to Taiwan as a whole.

Starmer arrives in Beijing to restore fraught relationshipAFP, BEIJINGBritish Prime Minister Keir Starmer yesterday arrived in Beijing to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), hoping to restore long fraught relations. Starmer, who is also expected to visit Shanghai tomorrow, would later make a brief stop in Japan to meet with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, right, receives a bouquet of flowers at an airport in Beijing yesterday, as Chinese Minister of Finance Lan Foan, second left, looks on. Starmer is today to meet with Xi for lunch, followed by a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang (李強). Starmer is the latest Western leader to be hosted by Beijing in the past few months, following visits by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and French President Emmanuel Macron.

Coast guard flags about 1,900 Chinese vesselsMAKING WAVES: China’s maritime militia could become a nontraditional threat in war, clogging up shipping lanes to prevent US or Japanese intervention, a report saidBy Hung Ting-hung and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writerAbout 1,900 Chinese ships flying flags of convenience and fishing vessels that participated in China’s military exercises around Taiwan last month and in January last year have been listed for monitoring, Coast Guard Administration (CGA) Deputy Director-General Hsieh Ching-chin (謝慶欽) said yesterday. The list of suspected ships, originally 300, had risen to about 1,900 as the ministry tracked vessels that participated in the exercises, based on reports by the New York Times and Defense News, Hsieh said. Such a force could be used to directly blockade commercial ports, and starve Taiwan of energy and food, it said. It is relatively easy to monitor Chinese fishing ships that could be commandeered for militia use, but roll-on and roll-off freighters, which the Chinese could commandeer to ferry armored military vehicles, are harder to keep an eye on, Hsieh said. If the ships are suspected of having severed or destroyed undersea cables, they would be boarded and inspected, and prosecutors would be alerted, Hsieh said.