Taiwan Weekly is a newsletter released every week by Fair Winds Foundation, Association of Foreign Relations and Taipei Forum that provides coverage and perspectives into the latest developments in Taiwan.

Defense Budget Sustains Tsai Administration's Cross-Strait Policy

Defense Budget Sustains Tsai Administration's Cross-Strait Policy

An initial draft of the Cabinet's Fiscal Year 2024 Central Government Budget has earmarked NT$440 billion (US$13 billion) for national defense, an increase of NT$30 billion (US$ 944 million) from this year's budget.

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This Week in Taiwan 0730-0805

This Week in Taiwan 0730-0805

July 30: Speaker Hsieh Tien-lin of the Changhua County Council, the most prominent local speaker supporting Terry Gou, announced his departure from the Kuomintang (KMT), becoming the second speaker to quit the party after Speaker He Sheng-feng of the Nantou County Council. Gou left a message on Hsieh's Facebook to pay his respects. According to Gou, while Hsieh's party membership may no longer exist, his party spirit will last forever. Only when the opposition unites and integrates successfully will it win the presidential and legislative elections and bring the Republic of China from the brink of war to the right track of peace.

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Mystery Behind "Grand Coalition" Proposal

Mystery Behind "Grand Coalition" Proposal

After the Kuomintang's (KMT) National Congress successfully eliminated internal dissents that demanded replacing the party candidate for the next presidential elections, Chairman Eric Chu for the first time shouted out the campaign slogan of forming a "grand coalition for governing."

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Realistic Battlefield:Concretization of Computerized Wargame

Realistic Battlefield:Concretization of Computerized Wargame

The Han Kuang military exercises' live-fire drills have always provided a glimpse into Taiwan's military preparedness and strategic considerations for both domestic and international observers.

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New Semiconductor Ban Poses Risks for China, U.S. and TSMC

New Semiconductor Ban Poses Risks for China, U.S. and TSMC

As a new U.S. semiconductor ban against China looms, American semiconductor companies have issued statements opposing such a ban.

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This Week in Taiwan 0723-0729

This Week in Taiwan 0723-0729

July 25: The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) announced that it will spend NT$90 billion (about US$2.86 billion) to build an advanced packaging plant in the Tongluo Science Park, a branch of the Hsinchu Science Park. Sources indicate that this move is to cooperate with heavyweight customers including Advanced Micro Devices, NVIDIA, Apple, and Xilinx, to provide back-end advanced packaging for advanced logic chip manufacturing processes so that production capacity can be sustained to ensure advanced process chip production plans for the Kaohsiung 2nm plant and Longtan 1.4nm plant can be executed and the Tainan Science Park 3nm plant expanded.

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Lai's White House Dream:Hitting the Wall Even Before Meeting Trump

Lai's White House Dream:Hitting the Wall Even Before Meeting Trump

Vice President William Lai is scheduled to lead a delegation to visit Paraguay next month.

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TSMC Arizona Plant Delays: U.S. Should Invest in Taiwan's Security Rather Than Focus on Made in America

TSMC Arizona Plant Delays: U.S. Should Invest in Taiwan's Security Rather Than Focus on Made in America

The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company's (TSMC) construction delay of its Arizona wafer fab has presented a serious challenge to the United States since it sees the fab as a metric for its return to the local production of semiconductors.

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University Faculty-Student Relationships Should Not Be Regulated Haphazardly

University Faculty-Student Relationships Should Not Be Regulated Haphazardly

Amidst the ongoing #MeToo movement, the Executive Yuan has unexpectedly introduced a draft amendment to the "Gender Equity Education Act."

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This Week in Taiwan 0716-0722

This Week in Taiwan 0716-0722

July 17: Vice President William Lai will serve as a special envoy to attend the presidential inauguration of Santiago Peña in Paraguay. Mr. Lai's expected transit stop in the United States has attracted scrutiny. Xie Feng, mainland China's ambassador to the United States, stated that Taiwan is the most important and sensitive issue in U.S.-China relations and that the presumptuous behavior of Taiwan independence activists should be stopped. The top priority is to resolutely block Mr. Lai's visit to the United States, Feng added.

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