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.
This week, unit 2 of the Kuosheng Nuclear Power Plant (Second Nuclear Power Plant) was officially shut down and decommissioned.
DetailsMarch 13: After operating for 40 years, the second (Kuosheng) nuclear power plant has been officially shut down and disconnected. Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua stated that small-scale units for the Tongxiao power plant in Miaoli and the No. 8 unit at the Datan Power Plant in Guanyin District, Taoyuan, will be added. This, paired with solar photovoltaics, night-time pumped-storage hydroelectricity, and conventional hydraulic power, power supply will be sufficient. However, scholars have questioned that the No. 8 unit at Datan has yet to be tested, and the incorporation of pumped-storage hydroelectricity shows there may be a power supply crisis at any time in the future.
DetailsIt is shocking that a soldier originally stationed on the Erdan Islet in Kinmen was found to have deserted, and soldiers in Matsu wrote messages on the beach sand demanding meat for a lack of fresh meat in their meals.
DetailsRecently, soldiers on Xiju Isle of the Matsu Islands wrote on the beach for help, indicating that the kitchens of the Matsu Defense Command lacked meats; this news stirred up huge controversies.
DetailsThe administration of President Tsai Ing-wen is bragging that Taiwan and the United States will sign a bilateral trade agreement (BTA).
DetailsMarch 6: Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng confirmed for the first time in the Legislative Yuan that Taiwan is negotiating with the United States, which intends to transfer its arms inventory in East Asia to Taiwan. As for which type of ammunition is of the greatest quantity? Minister Chiu stated that it is inconvenient to explain this publicly. American media commentator Garland Nixon, who used Twitter to expose that the Biden administration has a plan to "destroy Taiwan," responded on Twitter that Taiwan is fast becoming the Ukraine of the Pacific.
DetailsRecently, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) released a revised draft of the All-out Defense Mobilization Readiness Act.
DetailsSidney Lin, former deputy secretary-general of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) quitted politics temporarily to serve in a subsidiary of Sanlih E-Television.
DetailsRecently, the Japanese financial newspaper Nihon Keizai Shimbun published a series of special reports titled "The Unknown Side of Taiwan," with the first article focusing on the blind spots lurking in Taiwan's military.
DetailsFebruary 28: The United States House Financial Services Committee passed three Taiwan-friendly bills aimed at curbing the economic strength of the Chinese mainland, encouraging Taiwan to join the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and putting forth economic plans to deter Beijing's attempts to invade Taiwan, including plans to exclude China from international organizations such as the Group of 20 (G20) should the mainland threaten Taiwan's security.
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