Furloughed workers rose slightly by end of monthStaff writer, with CNAThe number of workers on formal unpaid leave in Taiwan in the second half of last month rose slightly from the first half, with the manufacturing sector feeling the most pinch, according to the Ministry of Labor. The number of employers with unpaid leave programs in place rose by seven from Dec. 15 to 385 at the end of last month, the data indicated. During the 15-day period, a total of 6,409 workers were furloughed due to US tariffs on Taiwanese goods, compared with 6,339 recorded in middle of last month, according to the ministry data. Analysts said the rebound from a three-month low in furloughed workers showed the manufacturing sector remained haunted by the US tariff policies. However, the domestic demand-oriented service sector stayed relatively resilient, ministry data showed, with the number of furloughed workers in the wholesale and retail industry falling to 301 from 329 on Dec. 15.

With the US’ traditional allies now part of the buffet, this seismic development begs a question: Is the West worth saving and can it be? So, no, the West does not stretch back to ancient Greece, because the ancient Greeks never mentioned it, or conceived of it. “Don’t leave it to them,” Varouxakis told me, as we discussed the Trump administration’s assaults on Europe. The first recorded articulations of the West as a political identity came around the time of the 1821 to 1829 Greek War of Independence, Varouxakis told me. Marc Champion is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering Europe, Russia and the Middle East.

Taiwan, Japan should join NATOBy James J. Y. Hsu 許正餘China’s recent aggressive military posture around Taiwan simply reflects the truth that China is a millennium behind, as Kobe City Councilor Norihiro Uehata has commented. For this reason alone, Taiwan and Japan should join NATO as members to stop an injustice aggression by the justice defense. Taiwan and Japan would be able to provide comprehensive support to NATO countries, spanning political, military and cooperative efforts, not to mention artificial intelligence and world’s most advanced chips. Taiwan and Japan joining NATO is the right step forward at a time when Russia is devastating Ukraine, and China is threatening Asian stability. If Taiwan and Japan could join the rank and file of Europe along with the Nordic countries, this could be the happiest country club in the world.

PLA drills are becoming routineBy Gahon Chiang 江佳紘Whenever the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) stages major military drills around Taiwan, public discussion tends to fixate on “this time”: How close did they come? The core threat comes from a system that treats military spectacles as a routine instrument of governance. Put differently, coercive operations around Taiwan and nearby waters increasingly resemble a standing budget line, not sporadic surges. Within this governance logic, drills serve purposes beyond training. The root of long-term uncertainty in the western Pacific stems from an authoritarian system that treats military intimidation as a routine method of governance.

Taipei parathlete receives award for outstanding effortBy Jonathan Chin / Staff writer, with CNAThe New Taipei City Social Welfare Department on Thursday celebrated Paralympic competitor Chen Tzu-wei (張孜維), who received last year’s national Golden Eagle award for exemplary achievement by Taiwanese with disabilities. Chen, who suffers fromchildhood-onset muscular dystrophy, did not attend the first award ceremony held by the Ministry of Health and Welfare in November due to illness. Paralympic competitor Chen Tzu-wei, center, poses with New Taipei City Social Welfare Department Commissioner Lee Mei-chen, left, and Bali Ai-hsin Home for Persons with Disabilities director Liu Wen-hsiang in New Taipei City on Thursday. Photo: Wong Yu-huang, Taipei TimesChen was formally presented with the award at the department, where he gave thanks to government workers for supporting his education and livelihood, the department said in a statement. Hsieh Hsin-min (謝鑫敏), former head of the Ai-hsin Home for Persons with Disabilities, said Chen is an inspiration and example to the children under the home’s care.

Wages, contracts and social protections all assumed that time was a reliable proxy for output, but artificial intelligence (AI) has severed this link. Trying to tax firms directly for their “degree of automation” has never worked, because such processes are organizationally opaque. The answer might be to tax “AI-hours”: the computational time consumed by AI systems performing economically productive tasks. Of course, there is a risk that firms will game the system to qualify for lower tax rates. An AI-hours levy can convert machine productivity into public revenue without suppressing innovation.

President William Lai (賴清德) in a high-level national security meeting in March introduced 17 response strategies to counter China’s infiltration, “united front” operations and sovereignty challenges toward Taiwan. A member of a pro-unification group holds a Chinese flag at a protest in Taipei in an undated photograph. Draft amendments to the National Security Act include expanding the definition of what constitutes unlawful involvement in organizations and adding administrative penalties for speech advocating war, the official said. The draft amendments would increase criminal penalties by 50 percent for active-duty personnel or civil servants who deliberately contravene the National Security Act, the officials said. China’s hostility toward Taiwan is intensifying and it is relentlessly trying to infiltrate Taiwan with its “united front” tactics, the official said.

Kaohsiung health official indictedMISUSE OF POWER: The man allegedly used his position to gain access to privileged health information in order to target and sexually assault a previously victimized minorBy Huang Chia-lin and Jason Pan / Staff reportersProsecutors indicted a public health official in Kaohsiung on Friday after he allegedly used a confidential health database to identify victims to solicit sex from and assaulted a minor. The suspect, 42-year old Ho Chien-chung (何建忠), served as executive secretary at Lingya District Mental Health Center, part of the Kaohsiung Department of Health. A plaque bearing the name and logo of the Kaohsiung Department of Health is pictured in an undated photograph. The victim believed Ho had the videos and was blackmailing her, prosecutors said, meeting with him to attempt to prevent him from circulating the videos further. Ho met the victim on June 30, driving her to a motel, where he sexually assaulted her, according to court documents.

New system to recycle coffee grounds comingBy Esme Yeh / Staff reporterA reverse-circulation logistics system has been established to recycle and repurpose coffee grounds produced at convenience stores, Minister of Environment Peng Chi-ming (彭?明) said on Tuesday. People in Taiwan consume more than 3.7 billion cups of coffee, producing about 111,000 tonnes of coffee grounds, every year, but only 10 percent of the grounds enter the recycling system, Peng said. Photo: Hunag Yi-ching, Taipei TimesHowever, coffee grounds are difficult to recycle, as sources are scattered and each has relatively small amounts of coffee grounds, increasing the recycling costs, he said. Given that coffee recycling has a relatively small economic scale and unstable supply of materials, it is difficult to connect industries to build a coffee grounds recycling system, he said. The coffee grounds circulation system is expected to be extended to more convenience stores, coffee brands, restaurants and beverage manufacturers, as well as public participation, he said.

Imported or domestically produced cigarettes are subject to a tobacco health surcharge of NT$20 per pack. Lin Ching-li (林清麗), director of the Tobacco Control Division at the John Tung Foundation, yesterday said that most countries primarily rely on tobacco taxes, while Taiwan uses both a tobacco tax and a tobacco health surcharge. Lin said Taiwan’s tobacco tax and surcharge should be increased immediately when adjusted, without giving tobacco companies time to stockpile and profit. Shen said the core purpose of levying tobacco taxes and surcharges is to reduce tobacco consumption and protect public health. She said increasing tobacco taxes or surcharges is only one part of tobacco control policy.

Taiwan honors man killed fighting Taipei attackerBy Gan Meng-lin and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writerTaiwan yesterday honored Yu Chia-chang (余家昶), who was killed fighting a knife-wielding attacker near Taipei Main Station during last month’s mass stabbing, as officials paid respects at a memorial. Three people were killed and 11 injured in the attack, and the alleged attacker, Chang Wen (張文), fell to his death while being pursued by police. Messages in memory of Yu Chia-chang are pictured at a memorial service in Taipei yesterday. Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) and Taoyuan Mayor Simon Chang (張善政) presented mayoral commendations to the family. The wall, which had been moved to the funeral home, could be viewed during the service, as were numerous wreaths from people across Taiwan.

Japanese councilor says trip will prove Taiwan’s statehoodBy Jason Pan / Staff reporter, with CNAJapanese Councilor Hei Seki (石平) on Wednesday said that he plans to visit Taiwan, saying that would “prove that Taiwan is an independent country and does not belong to China.”Seki, a member of the Japan Innovation Party, was born in Chengdu in China’s Sichuan Province and became a naturalized Japanese in 2007. Seki wrote on X that he intends to visit Taiwan early this year. Japanese Councilor Hei Seki is pictured in Tokyo on Nov. 20. Other books that Seki wrote focused on the history of massacres in China and his reasons for denouncing the CCP. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in September announced sanctions targeting Seki, banning him from entering China, including Hong Kong and Macau.

EDITORIAL: The KMT ‘doth protest too much’The latest poll released by the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation (台灣民意基金會) is not great reading for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) or its chairwoman, Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文). The poll shows an increase of 7.3 percentage points to 38.4 percent in support for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) compared with 20.6 percent for the KMT, down by 5.2 percentage points from the previous poll. According to a My Formosa online poll, from September to November last year, the DPP’s approval climbed 4.4 percentage points to 39.9 percent from 35.5 percent, while its disapproval rating dropped 2.2 percentage points to 49.9 percent from 52.1 percent, representing an overall improvement of 6.6 percentage points. In the same period, the KMT’s overall rating fell 6.5 percentage points. That the KMT under Cheng’s leadership has been doing exactly these three things would make some voters doubt those denials and suspect that “the KMT doth protest too much, methinks.”

Yemen separatists launch independence transitionAFP, MUKALLA, YemenYemen separatists on Friday announced a two-year transition to independence despite reporting 20 deaths in airstrikes from a Saudi Arabian-led coalition trying to roll back their weeks-long offensive across the country’s south. The bombardment and surprise independence bid follow weeks of tensions between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) over the separatist Southern Transitional Council’s (STC) land grab. Supporters of the Southern Transitional Council hold South Yemen flags during a rally in Aden, Yemen, on Friday. He warned the group would declare independence “immediately” if there was no dialogue or if southern Yemen was attacked again. Further strikes targeted other sites in the region and the airport and military base in Seiyun, STC military sources and eyewitnesses said.

A Lienchiang-class vessel of the Coast Guard Administration, right, responds to a China Coast Guard ship in waters northwest of Huayu Island on Monday. Photo: Taiwan Coast Guard, AFPTaiwan would be highly vulnerable under such a blockade, because it relies “overwhelmingly” on energy imports, the institute said. The drills also featured China Coast Guard vessels operating alongside PLA Navy ships, reflecting Beijing’s strategy of combining civilian law enforcement forces with military assets during a blockade, the institute said. China has used similar tactics in the South China Sea, with coast guard ships confronting foreign vessels directly while naval forces maintain an outer security perimeter, it added. In the event of a Taiwan blockade, the China Coast Guard would likely intercept Taiwanese commercial and government vessels, while the PLA Navy would seek to deter foreign military intervention, the report said.