Permutations of a Gou candidacyBy Tzou Jiing-wen 鄒景雯Everyone who cares about elections in Taiwan is wondering whether Hon Hai Group Precision Industry Co founder Terry Gou (郭台銘) would declare his candidacy in the presidential election scheduled for Jan. 13 next year. After all, Gou started out in the KMT’s “deep blue” camp and has close connections within it. Furthermore, the KMT has long-term links with local factions and has a well-organized network in local areas. The party is now propped up more by local factions than the political elite in Taipei. If Gou is not ready to start collecting signatures, his political fireworks would end next month, when calm would be restored.

England’s Lauren Hemp, left, scores past Australia goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold, right, as Australia’s Ellie Carpenter tries to block during their FIFA Women’s World Cup match at Stadium Australia in Sydney yesterday. “The one thing I’ve always wanted to do is get to a World Cup final,” Bronze told the BBC. It’s been amazing to play against Australia, in Australia, what a fantastic tournament they had but we’re in the final,” she said. Despite losing, Australia have enjoyed their best World Cup ever, with a third-placed playoff against Sweden on Saturday still to play. At the other end, goalkeeper MacKenzie Arnold rescued Australia minutes later, deflecting Georgia Stanway’s strike with her legs as the game opened up.

PLA raising fears throughout AsiaBy Ray Song 宋磊Former Japanese prime minister Taro Aso last week visited Taiwan and spoke at the Ketagalan Forum: Indo-Pacific Security Dialogue in Taipei. He was the highest-ranking former Japanese official to visit Taiwan since the countries severed diplomatic relations in 1972. Meanwhile, amid the rapid growth of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), security in the Indo-Pacific region is full of uncertainties. Although New Zealand, in the southern hemisphere, is far from Taiwan, it addressed China in its National Security Strategy released on Aug. 4. Taiwan, Japan and New Zealand are all “island states” in the Indo-Pacific region.

EDITORIAL: Energy yo-yoing with Hou and KoThe Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential candidate, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜), on Thursday last week revealed his energy policy, saying that he would not phase out nuclear power if elected. He would also reopen all decommissioned nuclear power plants, and review the decision to stop construction of the never-finished Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Gongliao District (貢寮). Taiwan Power Party Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), who is also running for president, has similarly called for restarting and extending the life of nuclear power plants. Still, he does not rule out keeping some nuclear power capability in case of emergencies such as a Chinese-led blockade or an invasion. They also have not addressed issues with storing nuclear waste, especially highly radioactive waste.

Holger Chen lost on women’s issuesBy Hung Yu-jui 洪昱睿Taiwanese Internet celebrity Holger Chen (陳之漢), who often uses chauvinistic and vulgar expressions, has changed. On July 16, Chen and former New Power Party legislator Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) collaborated to host a rally. Those in the know understood that the event was meant to elevate the status of the opportunist Ko. In a livestream, Chen defended the event, saying that DPP Legislator Lai Pin-yu’s (賴品妤) cosplaying also “objectified women.”It seems that Chen does not know what cosplay is. It is almost certain that the number of cosplay fans is larger than that of Chen’s livestream audience.

Ko Wen-je’s strategy is panning out well for himBy Niu Tse-hsun 鈕則勳The public wants to know whether Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) plans to withdraw from next year’s presidential election. On Aug. 11, Ko declared that he would remain the TPP presidential candidate until the end of the race. This strategy has confined the influence of Hon Hai Technology Group founder Terry Gou (郭台銘), overpowered Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Hou You-yi (侯友宜) and lifted TPP morale. It is common knowledge that Gou wants to collaborate with Ko, as he had once suggested that Ko should be his deputy. If Ko’s strategy works, Gou would lose his status and become marginalized.

The Liberty Times Editorial: Aso visit and security concernsFormer Japanese prime minister Taro Aso, who attaches great importance to Japan’s partnership with Taiwan, paid a visit to Taiwan last week. Japan, like Taiwan, sees the main threat to its national security as originating from the expansionism of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) authoritarian regime. Since the 2019 edition, China has risen to the top of Japan’s security concerns to become the most serious threat. Just as Aso remarked in his speech while visiting Taiwan, Japan and Taiwan are partners who must ride out this storm together. They should make it clear that they will work hand in hand with Japan in response to this great security threat.

Bureau aims for 6 million tourist arrivals this yearPOSITIVE: From January to June, the number of visitors from nations such as South Korea, Singapore and Malaysia equalled or beat pre-COVID-19 figuresStaff writer, with CNAThe Tourism Bureau has set a target of 6 million tourist arrivals this year, adding that tourism statistics from January to June suggest the nation is likely to reach the goal. Visitors from nations such as Indonesia, Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam were either on par with or exceeded pre-COVID-19 numbers over the same period, Chou said. Photo: CNAJapanese visitors are also returning, and the European and US markets are also performing relatively well, he saidThe No. 1 source of visitors from January to June were from Hong Kong and Macau, followed by Japan and South Korea in second and third place respectively, the bureau said. To boost tourism in the post-COVID-19 era, travel packages are also being designed to help operators in Taiwan’s tourism industry, the bureau said.

Lost military equipment highlights issues: reportLACKING OVERSIGHT: Major discrepancies were found between inventory and accounting records, and no one has been held accountable, the National Audit Office said Incidents of military equipment going missing this year demonstrate a lack of strict management and structure in the Ministry of National Defense, the National Audit Office said in its Central Government Budget Audit Report. A handgun and other components were reported missing from the navy’s inventory in March, followed by bullets and other weapons that were allegedly acquired by gangsters in the same month, said the report, which was released on July 27. The management unit failed to check and take inventory during the process of maintaining, packing, transferring, storing and distributing ordnance, it said. Such incidents have taken days to be reportedBy Wu Che-yu

Kane came on as a 64th-minute substitute with Bayern already trailing 2-0. Bayern Munich’s Kim Min-jae, left, and Harry Kane react after their DFL Supercup match against RB Leipzig at Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany, on Saturday. Bayern fans had lined up hours before kickoff to get their “Kane 9” shirts printed at the club store. Kane, 30, has moved to Bayern after two decades at Tottenham where he was constantly thwarted in his bid for trophies. “It’s been a long process, but now we’re all the happier that Harry Kane will be wearing the Bayern Munich shirt with immediate effect,” Bayern CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen said.

Taiwan needs nuclear energy, Ko saysStaff writer, with CNATaiwan should not phase out nuclear energy, which is essential to the nation’s bid to boosting the share of renewable energy in its energy mix and achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman and presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said yesterday. This problem can be remedied by greatly boosting the percentage of renewables among Taiwan’s energy sources and pushing back the time line to phase out nuclear energy, Ko said. The Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Gongliao District is pictured in an undated photograph. Following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, Taiwan that same year ordered a safety inspection of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant. Achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 is a global trend, and many businesses have joined the RE100 initiative to achieve 100 percent renewable energy, Ko said.

China leverages dangerous secretsBy Brahma ChellaneyChina notoriously has the world’s largest navy and coast guard — the result of a 10-fold increase in military spending since 1995 — which it uses to advance its pugnacious revisionism. Today, China is building a naval base in Cambodia, which has leased to Beijing one-fifth of its coastline and some islets. China said it has invested in the base, but only Cambodia’s navy would have access to it. Opacity has also been a defining feature of the lending binge that has made China the world’s largest sovereign creditor to developing countries. That is why, barring a major strategic blunder by Xi, China’s salami-slicing expansionism is likely to persist.

EDITORIAL: Disaster response and propagandaTyphoon Doksuri hit China’s southeastern provinces late last month and made its way north to Hebei Province. Chinese state media on Friday said at least 29 people had died, while 16 were missing and more than 1.75 million people had been relocated. While the floods in Taiwan and China occurred just a few days apart, people from both countries have posted online about the stark differences in disaster response measures. From Saturday last week, Chinese state media started publishing long propaganda reports touting Xi’s “strong and powerful” response to the severe floods in Beijing, saying that he had given important instructions regarding flood prevention and rescue measures early last month. Taiwanese people must remain aware of Chinese propaganda in its many forms, including false disaster news, which is only expected to increase before the presidential and legislative elections in January next year.

Anecdotal examples of people using ChatGPT to help with their day-to-day work include drafting e-mails, summarizing documents and doing preliminary research. High school student Richard Erkhov is in March reflected on a screen of “Alnstein,” a robot powered with ChatGPT, in Pascal school in Nicosia, Cyprus. ‘HARMLESS TASKS’A US-based employee of Tinder said workers at the dating app used ChatGPT for “harmless tasks” like writing e-mails even though the company does not officially allow it. Reuters was not able independently to confirm whether employees at P&G were unable to use ChatGPT. Paul Lewis, chief information security officer at cyber security firm Nominet, said firms were right to be wary.

During a visit to southern Taiwan, Ko met a 35-year-old man who is making a monthly salary of about NT$40,000, he said. With a house rent of NT$5,000, the young man had intended to apply for rent subsidies, but was prevented from doing so by the landlord. Ko did not follow up the question of annual salaries, which reveals his ignorance of the salary structure of the private sector. From mayor to chairman, Ko’s Achilles’ heel has always been raising issues without offering any solutions. Ko, who is all talk and no action, is the last person anyone can count on to “save” Taiwan, least of all young people.