Israel’s Tower Semiconductor Ltd is proposing a US$9 billion plant, while India’s Tata Group has put forward an US$8 billion chip fabrication unit, people familiar with the matter said. Although Tower’s sales are a fraction of giants Intel and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), it makes components for large customers such as Broadcom Inc and serves fast-growing sectors like electric vehicles. The US$150 billion Tata group has previously said it plans to begin construction of a chip fabrication plant in Dholera this year. Tata operates India’s biggest smartphone component plant, constructed at a cost of more than US$700 million, in southern India. To qualify for state subsidies, any chip project would have to make detailed disclosures including whether it has binding agreements with a technology partner for production.

The PLA Air Force is now dramatically more powerful than Taiwan’s, but still does not surpass the overall power of US forces in the region. Its air defense systems, while effective, could be improved, recent assessments showed. China’s military advancements, coupled with Taiwan’s steadfast desire to remain separate, mean that time is no longer the primary factor in China’s decision-making process. Nonetheless, the military deterrents remain intact, including the US nuclear arsenal, which consists of 5,550 warheads, significantly outnumbering China’s 350. Therefore, the question of whether China will invade now is less about objective deterrence and more about the rational analysis versus Xi’s personal ambitions.

Brahma Chellaney on Taiwan: China’s self-serving historical talesWhen Beijing says “Taiwan has always been an inalienable part of China” and calls this “an indisputable legal and historical fact,” it promotes a claim that has absolutely no basis in international law or history. But Taiwan has never been an integral part of China in history. China’s weak legal case was highlighted by the 2016 Hague ruling, when an international arbitral tribunal invalidated Chinese claims in the South China Sea. China’s “nine-dash line” encompassing much of the South China Sea exemplifies how it uses alleged history to pursue aggressive expansionism. This helps to rationalize its muscular foreign policy, which seeks to make real the legend that drives the CCP’s revisionist history — China’s centrality in the world.

AI trying to predict your death is not as scary as it soundsBy F.D. The paper that spawned the fracas, in the journal Nature Computational Science, did involve using AI to predict death, but it was not very precise. Will doctors and hospital administrators put too much faith in the decisions or forecasts of AI because it is fast and sounds confident? Can the medical system use AI responsibly if people have unrealistic or magical ideas about what it can do? He is looking for a more coherent scientific understanding of the way algorithms can predict complex phenomena, he said.

EDITORIAL: New legislators show inexperienceNewly elected legislators reported to the Legislative Yuan on Feb. 1 and held their first official meeting on Tuesday, but its disoriented state has highlighted new legislators’ inexperience. The KMT caucus on Feb. 15 urged Han to hold consultations the next day regarding Chen. The food safety report on Friday was also disrupted by Han a few times, asking for “mutual respect among legislators and government officials” to share the 15-minute Q&A time, as a few new KMT legislators refused to let Chen speak. It is understandable that new legislators would want to prove their worth and raise their profile, but as lawmakers, legislators should first familiarize themselves with the Constitution, laws and legislative procedures. The new legislative caucuses and legislators must also put their political stunts aside and step up their game.

His rosewater shop in the Khankah-e-Moula neighborhood in the old city of Kashmir’s main town Srinagar is a piece of history. A Kashmiri chef prepares wazwan (a multi-course Kashmiri cuisine) during a mass marriage ceremony. The traditional business of making rosewater, however, is not lucrative and the competition is immense. Zareef Ahmad Zareef, an octogenarian Kashmiri poet and cultural activist, remembers visiting the Kozgar shop when he was a child to purchase herbal medicines. “I do remember going there and purchasing different herbal syrups that were effective against cold and cough.

Chinese regime’s intelligence networkBy Yu Kung 愚工US magazine Newsweek reported on Tuesday last week that the Norwegian government’s latest annual report on security challenges has also said that Chinese intelligence networks operate all over Europe and pose a security threat to the continent. This was following warnings from Germany, the UK and several other countries about Chinese espionage activities. International media have classified the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party as “pro-China,” which is indeed a fair assessment. The PRC uses its counterespionage and national security laws to suppress its citizens’ freedom of speech. It also finds ways to coerce or persuade other countries’ citizens to betray their homelands.

But the anniversary has also put the question of who will succeed the ageing Dalai Lama into sharp focus, with the choice likely to spark a controversial geopolitical contest. Buddhist monks walk past portraits of Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama in Mcleodganj. “Nothing is permanent,” he said, sitting in front of a Tibetan flag in the hills above the northern Indian town of Dharamsala, where the Dalai Lama also lives. “So I chide my Chinese friends, saying: ‘You are waiting for this Dalai Lama to die. “Let us see whether His Holiness the Dalai Lama outlives the Communist Party, or the Communist Party outlives His Holiness,” he added.

Siblings seriously injured in Changhua car incidentStaff Writer, with CNAThree siblings of elementary-school age were injured, two of them seriously, when they were hit by a car as they crossed a street in Changhua County on Thursday evening, county police said. The heartbeats of the two sisters, who are in the third and fourth grades, stopped following the incident, but were later restarted by rescue personnel. An intersection in Changhua County where three children were hit by a car on Thursday is pictured yesterday. The other sister, being cared for at Changhua Christian Hospital, had low blood pressure and remained intubated in the facility’s pediatric intensive care unit because her condition was unstable. The Changhua County Government said Changhua County Commissioner Wang Huei-mei (王惠美) went to the hospitals after hearing about the children and gave the parents NT$20,000 to help them get through their ordeal.

Lawyer Chen Chun-han’s legacyBy Tshua Siu-ui 蔡守崴The recent passing of human rights lawyer and former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator-at-large candidate Chen Chun-han (陳俊翰) has sparked widespread grief across political parties and throughout Taiwan. After the official announcement of Chen’s death, the DPP, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) all vowed to carry on his legacy of protecting the rights of people with disabilities. Living with spinal muscular atrophy, Chen was paralyzed from the neck down for the majority of his life. Lawyer Chen’s dedication to advocating for better medical treatments was indeed impressive, which made some wonder why he decided to return to Taiwan when he could have been a well-paid lawyer in the US. Chen’s mother and her tenacity undoubtedly deserves more recognition for her son’s accomplishments.

EDITORIAL: Indian workers should be welcomedThe Taipei Economic and Cultural Center in India, Taiwan’s de facto embassy in that country, signed a memorandum of understanding with its Indian counterpart, the India Taipei Association, on Friday last week to pave the way for Indian migrant workers to seek employment in Taiwan. That is, the government is not flinging open the nation’s doors to a flood of migrant workers. Taiwan already allows workers from Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand to seek employment in certain industries, but it has become apparent that these sources of migrant workers alone are not sufficient. Allowing Indian workers into Taiwan, to help bolster the nation’s requirements in industries such as construction, manufacturing, domestic labor and agriculture, could go some way to remedy this situation. Immigration and increasing the pool of migrant workers does have the potential to create social tensions if the public is not given access to the objective facts.

Young Indians’ views on ChinaBy Gurjit SinghIndia uses multilateral and bilateral vehicles as it sails through the choppy waters of today’s geopolitical waves. In terms of countries, China is the biggest challenge for India’s foreign policy, the ORF Foreign Policy Survey 2023, which polled young Indians, showed. Young people felt that Indian foreign policy was performing well, last year’s survey showed. This shows that young Indians are more satisfied with the manner in which India’s foreign policy is conducted. Despite the distrust in China, 44 percent of respondents felt that India should stay neutral in the US-China rivalry.

Operations canceled as doctors’ strike in South Korea growsAFP and AP, SEOULThe South Korean government yesterday warned thousands of striking doctors to return to work immediately or face legal action after their collective walkouts caused cancelations of surgeries and disrupted other hospital operations. Doctors and medical workers participate in a protest against a plan to admit more students to medical schools in front of the Presidential Office in Seoul yesterday. “A collective action holding the lives and safety of the people cannot be justified for whatever reason,” South Korean Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min told a news conference with other top officials. South Korea’s medical law allows the government to issue such back-to-work orders to doctors and other medical personnel when there are grave concerns about public health. South Korea’s general hospitals rely heavily on trainees for emergency operations and surgeries, and local reports said cancer patients and expectant mothers needing caesarean sections had seen procedures canceled or delayed, with scores of cases causing “damage,” he said.

Fubon Bank secures approval for branch in IndiaStaff writer, with CNATaipei Fubon Bank Co (台北富邦銀行) has secured approval from the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) to open a branch in Mumbai, India. The signage of Taipei Fubon Commercial Bank, a subsidiary of Fubon Financial Holdings Co, is pictured in Taipei in an undated photograph. Photo: Kelson Wang, Taipei TimesThe commission therefore issued the green light to Taipei Fubon Bank to seek approval from financial authorities in India to open a branch in the Indian financial hub. As of the end of last month, Taipei Fubon Bank had overseas branches in Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and Binh Duong, as well as in Hong Kong and Singapore, the FSC said, adding that the bank owns a subsidiary — Fubon Bank — in China. Taipei Fubon Bank also posted a new monthly high of almost NT$3.5 billion in net profit that month.

The Ministry of National Defense established the boundaries of “prohibited” and “restricted” waters around Kinmen in 1992 to better protect fishers, with relevant law enforcement well understood by both sides, Chen said. On Monday, the China Coast Guard boarded a Kinmen sightseeing boat to conduct a surprise inspection. 8209 ship was intercepted by a coast guard vessel after radar detected it entering restricted waters near Kinmen. The coast guard told the Chinese ship that it was barred from entering restricted waters without authorization and shadowed it for nearly an hour before it left Kinmen waters. Although Chinese authorities refused to sign the formal repatriation form, the coast guard said it was a formality and the two men would be sent back regardless.