KMT, TPP vote to bar PTS board from longer termsStaff writer, with CNAThe legislature has passed amendments that abolish provisions allowing Public Television Service (PTS) board members to remain in office after their terms expire. The amendments cleared the Legislative Yuan yesterday in a 59-49 vote, with lawmakers from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) using their numerical advantage to delete the so-called “indefinite extension” clause from the Public Television Act (公共電視法). Under the previous law, board members whose terms had ended could continue serving until new appointees formally took office, a mechanism critics said enabled prolonged extensions and weakened governance. The Public Television Service headquarters in Taipei are pictured in an undated photograph. During the floor debate, TPP Legislator Liu Shu-bin (劉書彬) said abolishing the rule would prevent “perpetual board members” and help safeguard the broadcaster’s independence.

Tariff agreement good for industry: Lai‘LEVELING THE FIELD’: The tariff would be dropped to 15 percent, down from the previous 20 percent, matching rates imposed on Japan, South Korea and the EUStaff writer, with CNAAn agreement reached on Thursday between Taiwan and the US to lower tariffs on Taiwanese goods would benefit local non-tech industries by “leveling the playing field” with major trade competitors, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday. “Japan and South Korea had free trade agreements or quasi-free trade agreements with the US, giving Japanese and South Korean goods an advantage over Taiwanese goods,” Lai told reporters in Taichung. Photo: Tsai Shu-yuan, Taipei TimesNo formal trade deal has yet been signed, with Taiwanese officials hoping it will be concluded in the coming weeks. “Not only will there be a ‘Taiwanese national team’ for US investment, there will also be a ‘US national team’ investing in Taiwan,” Lai said, referring to the MOU. The legislature can then retain or revise the clauses, in which case the treaty must be renegotiated with the other signatory.

Open Indo-Pacific group launched in Legislative YuanBy Fang Wei-li / Staff reporterThe first meeting of the Legislative Yuan Free and Open Indo-Pacific Promotion Association was held yesterday in a bid to boost exchanges between Taiwan and like-minded countries in the Indo-Pacific region. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉), who initiated the association, said that the meeting marked the first time the legislature has launched an initiative in response to the “free and open Indo-Pacific” vision advocated by late Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei, center, second row, gestures along with fellow lawmakers and guests at the founding of the Legislative Yuan Free and Open Indo-Pacific Promotion Association in Taipei yesterday. Second, to promote Taiwan’s substantive participation in the Indo-Pacific region on issues such as security, economic resilience, supply chain cooperation and democratic governance. Third, to hold public hearings and seminars to boost interactions with parliaments and administrative agencies of Indo-Pacific countries.

China protests over the Philippine coast guard’s Xi cartoonsAFP, MANILAThe Chinese Embassy in Manila yesterday said it has filed a diplomatic protest against a Philippine Coast Guard spokesman over a social media post that included cartoonish images of Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Jay Tarriela and an embassy official had been trading barbs since last week over issues concerning the disputed South China Sea. The crucial waterway, which Beijing claims historic rights to despite an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis, has been the site of repeated clashes between Chinese and Philippine vessels. A China Coast Guard ship, right, shoots a water cannon at a Philippine Bureau of Fisheries vessel in disputed waters of the South China Sea on Oct. 12 last year. “If the Chinese Embassy objects to images or expressions that highlight these violations — often through legitimate public discourse or even satire — it only underscores discomfort with the truth being exposed,” Tarriela said, calling the response an “effort to intimidate.”

Stars of K-pop must be allowed to fall in loveBy Juliana Liu / Bloomberg OpinionK-pop’s biggest-ever comeback tour, the return of the super boyband BTS, has been hijacked by a dating scandal. Just to be clear: Nobody is accused of any actual wrongdoing, but to some fervent devotees, dating is a crime. Superfans’ reactions to “betrayal” by their favorite artists is rooted in the business model of K-pop, which emerged in the 1990s in South Korea. The return of BTS on the back of a US$1 billion tour could push K-pop toward an inflection point in the original business model. Dogged by whispers of dating a rapper, singer Manon was allowed to cleverly end the speculation in her own voice.

Which way, Taiwan’s view of civilization? By Joshua Tin 田台仁The turbulence reshaping global politics today can no longer be explained by traditional notions of power balancing or geopolitical rivalry. The US represents an institutional civilization. This approach helped stabilize the postwar order and made institutional civilization a defining feature of modernity. Taiwan’s real challenge is not a matter of political labels but of civilizational alignment: whether to uphold institutional civilization or retreat into a system defined by ethnicity and power.

Japan is right to rethink its immigration approachBy Gearoid Reidy / Bloomberg OpinionThe world cannot get enough of Japan. Japan has an image as a place that is nigh on impossible to move to, but in reality, its approach is often incredibly lax. The slowly-does-it approach has allowed Japan to observe the mistakes of other nations that flew headlong into mass migration and are now having to reverse course. A decade ago, Japan was frequently criticized for “pulling up the drawbridge” by declining to accept large numbers of asylum seekers. The prime minister has a chance to reshape policies to avoid a whiplash of an overly loose approach followed by a stringent crackdown.

‘Hobbit houses’ might just save a village in MoldovaAFP, ROGOJENI, MoldovaThey call Moldova’s Rogojeni the “hobbit village,” and its little half-buried houses, built to resist Moldova’s cold winters and hot summers, do look like something from The Lord of the Rings. The traditional dugout houses have put the shrinking settlement on the tourist map and locals hope they might also help to save it. “We do fear that the village could disappear, considering that there are so few people left,” Rogojeni Mayor Ruslan Groza said, adding that only 30 people were left in a hamlet that once had a population of 200. Resident Maria Ardeleanu, 86, sits inside a “basca” museum-house in Rogojeni village, Moldova, on Jan. 4. Photo: AFP“My goal is to develop this locality, build roads, repair where possible the houses that can be preserved and develop tourism,” he said.

Quanta’s order visibility extends into next year on the back of strong AI demand, said Yang, who is also the president of the firm’s server manufacturing arm Quanta Cloud Technology Inc (雲達). Photo: Fang Wei-chieh, Taipei Times“It is clear that there is no such thing as an AI bubble,” Yang said. Over the next one to three years, AI would not only continue to grow rapidly, but enter a “blooming era,” Quanta chairman Barry Lam (林百里) said, adding that Quanta has secured a competitive edge by successfully transitioning from air-cooled AI servers to liquid-cooled supercomputers. AI server revenue is on track to post triple-digit growth this year, while general-purpose servers should post a solid performance, he said. Overall this year, AI servers are expected to account for about 80 percent of the company’s total server revenue, Yang said.

Ex-South Korean president gets five-year prison termAP, SEOULA South Korean court yesterday sentenced former South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol to five years in prison in the first verdict from eight criminal trials over the martial law debacle that forced him out of office and other allegations. Yoon was impeached, arrested and dismissed as president after his short-lived imposition of martial law in December 2024 triggered huge public protests calling for his ouster. The most significant criminal charge against him alleges that his martial law enforcement amounted to a rebellion. Former South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol arrives at a court to attend a hearing to review his arrest warrant requested by special prosecutors in Seoul on July 9 last year. The court sentenced Yoon for defying attempts to detain him and fabricating the martial law proclamation.

Interview: Trumpf expanding its Taiwan facilitiesSEMICONDUCTORS: The German laser and plasma generator company will expand its local services as its specialized offerings support Taiwan’s semiconductor industries Trumpf SE + Co KG, a global leader in supplying laser technology and plasma generators used in chip production, is expanding its investments in Taiwan in an effort to deeply integrate into the global semiconductor supply chain in the pursuit of growth. The company, headquartered in Ditzingen, Germany, has invested significantly in a newly inaugurated regional technical center for plasma generators in Taoyuan, its latest expansion in Taiwan after being engaged in various industries for more than 25 years. The center, the first of its kind Trumpf built outside Germany, aims to serve customers from Taiwan, Japan, Southeast Asia and South Korea,By Lisa Wang

Yen rises as Japan mulls joint intervention with USReuters, TOKYOThe yen yesterday rose against the US dollar after Japanese Minister of Finance Satsuki Katayama said Tokyo would not rule out any options to counter weakness in the local currency, including coordinated intervention with the US. The yen slid to a year-and-a-half low earlier in the week. A photograph taken on March 19 last year shows an illustration of yen and US dollar banknotes. Some Bank of Japan policymakers see scope to raise interest rates sooner than markets expect to contend with the weak yen, sources said. “Lower house dissolution reports are fuelling JPY [Japanese yen] depreciation pressure and we have further extended our long USD/JPY target, but potential intervention risk could cap the upside,” said Shinichiro Kadota, head of Japan forex and rates strategy at Barclays Tokyo.

TSMC record profit drives TAIEX’s 1.9 percent riseStaff writer, with CNAThe TAIEX yesterday surged almost 2 percent and smashed closing records, as investors were pleasantly surprised by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) fourth-quarter results and strong growth prospects this year, analysts said. The weighted index closed up 598.12 points, or 1.94 percent, at 31,408.70 on turnover of NT$823.36 billion (US$26.08 billion). A man walks pass stock electronic boards at Taiwan Stock Exchange Corp in Taipei yesterday. Photo: CNAFor this year, it forecast that revenue would surge almost 30 percent, while capital expenditure would rise to a record US$52 billion to US$56 billion. Foreign institutional investors yesterday net bought NT$39.92 billion in shares, Taiwan Stock Exchange data showed.

As Taiwan does not have a free-trade agreement with the US, its tariff structure has long been at a disadvantage, while Japan and South Korea have largely enjoyed zero-tariff treatment, Kung said. Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin answers questions from members of the media regarding the Taiwan-US trade deal in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Ann Wang, ReutersThe deal places Taiwan on par with Japan and South Korea, as all three are now subject to a 15 percent tariff, he said. The outcome also helped stabilize industry expectations regarding the results of the US’ Section 232 investigation, Kung said. Meanwhile, US companies are also expected to expand investment in Taiwan, targeting defense, drones, smart robots, quantum technology and biotechnology, in addition to chips and AI, Kung said.

The trade negotiations, which concluded on Thursday, included commitments to expand supply chain investment cooperation and deepen Taiwan-US collaboration on artificial intelligence (AI), the Cabinet said. The new tariff rate matches US rates on goods from major trade partners such as Japan, South Korea and the EU. Taiwan is the first country to secure the most-favorable treatment for its semiconductor and related product suppliers, which should significantly ease uncertainties in the local semiconductor industry, the Cabinet said. The consensus was reached on Thursday, and a memorandum of understanding was signed with the US Department of Commerce, it added. A more formal trade pact would be signed in the coming weeks, said Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君), who led Taiwan’s trade negotiation team.