The statement, released the same day that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) met with Jordan’s King Abdullah II in Beijing, covered bilateral ties and regional issues, including Gaza, Iran, and the Strait of Hormuz, as well as China’s one-China principle asserting Taiwan is part of China.

The comments prompted a swift rebuke from Luke de Pulford co-founder of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC). Posting on X on August 19, de Pulford wrote, “Someone needs to give @anwaribrahim a basic history lesson. Shocking to see a leader repeat demonstrable falsehoods. Embarrassing for the Malaysian people.”

Tropical depression TD13 has developed into a tropical storm, classified in Taiwan as a mild typhoon, and was given the name Noul. According to the latest information, Noul is expected to bring prolonged torrential rain to southern Hualien, Taitung, the Hengchun Peninsula, and the mountain areas of Pingtung.

Huang visited Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi last Friday, expressing Taiwanese goodwill and concern. He said he hopes to learn from Lviv’s wartime resilience and hopes Taiwan could play a key role in Ukraine’s reconstruction.

Lin called for a closer strategic partnership between Taiwan and Europe in the face of a global geopolitical realignment, authoritarian expansion, and a new industrial revolution driven by artificial intelligence. He said the two sides already have a decades-long, solid foundation of economic cooperation and shared democratic values. Europe has been a major source of foreign investment in Taiwan for many years, and European capital, technology, and expertise have played a crucial role in Taiwan’s economic transformation and its current position as a high-tech powerhouse.

Lin said that China’s unfair practices and excess production create imbalances in global competition and dangerous dependencies on a single supply source. He said China has weaponized critical mineral exports, which underscores the importance of derisking global supply chains. Lin said that economics and security are no longer separate, but trade, technology, supply chains, and industrial capabilities have all become key elements of national security.

This Thursday, Gallego said TSMC purchased new land in Phoenix last week, doubling its investment in Arizona. She praised the development as “exciting” and significant growth, adding that TSMC’s Arizona plant has already made Phoenix a leading manufacturing hub in the United States.

At the Legislature this Thursday, Defense Minister Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said the documents cited are classified, leaving the ministry unable to confirm their full contents, but stressed that peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific is a core U.S. interest.

Governor Lee is the seventh U.S. state governor to visit Taiwan since President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) took office just over a year ago. Currently, 24 U.S. states and territories have established such offices in Taiwan, reflecting increasing subnational engagement. This bilateral interaction at the state level complements the traditional focus on U.S. federal relations with Taiwan.

The Taiwan Foreign Ministry notes that in recent years, the U.S. federal government has encouraged states and major American companies to deepen ties with Taiwan. Tennessee's announcement to open a trade office aligns with this trend, showcasing recognition of Taiwan as an important and trustworthy partner.

Besides the governor-level visits, the presence of U.S. states' representative offices in Taiwan serves as a significant channel for economic, educational, technological, and cultural cooperation. Taiwan actively promotes the establishment of new offices, urging visiting state officials from various U.S. regions to consider setting up formal offices in the country to further strengthen these multi-faceted collaborations.

Since Governor Lee’s assumption of office in 2019, six other governors have visited Taiwan, including those from Texas, Idaho, Oklahoma, Arizona, Alaska, and Wyoming. These visits highlight the vibrant and growing state-level exchanges between Taiwan and the United States.

A November delivery would be “extremely challenging,” explained Koo, adding that the navy and contractor will continue required sea trials while prioritizing safety and quality.

Regarding media reports that a senior official in the Naval Meteorological and Oceanographic Office illegally collected and shared sensitive exercise and operational information in unencrypted messaging groups, Koo commented that the military has launched an administrative probe and said he hopes the investigation will be handled quickly and with impartiality.

Rti is a government-funded national broadcaster, Taiwan’s only dedicated international broadcaster, and part of the nation’s key infrastructure vital to national security. According to station representatives, this makes it a potential target for information warfare and cyberattacks from both domestic and international actors.

The governors and their partners arrived in Taiwan early Thursday morning, according to a Foreign Ministry press release. Shortly after, they were welcomed at a lunch hosted by Foreign Minister Lin and his wife.

At the event, Lin said that Governor Dame Tzalam’s and Governor Charles' participation in Taiwan’s National Day celebrations on their first visits to the country symbolized a deep friendship. He thanked the governments of Saint Lucia and Belize, on behalf of Taiwan, for their steadfast support of Taiwan’s inclusion in international organizations.

The ministry added that Lin and his wife shared meaningful exchanges with the two governors on the topics of disaster prevention and relief, Indigenous culture preservation, and talent development, among others.

Both visiting officials attended Taiwan’s National Day celebrations on Friday morning. The foreign ministry said their visits gave the representatives a better understanding of Taiwan’s current development in political, economic, and social fields, laying the foundation for future cooperative exchanges.

Liu Pei-chen (劉佩真), a researcher at Taiwan’s Institute of Economic Research (TIER), says that Taiwan's semiconductor trade surplus stands at NT$1.84 trillion (US$5.57 billion), but exports to the U.S. account for only NT$86.9 billion (US$2.63 billion). She says the reason for this is that these products undergo further processing before reaching their final destinations. She adds that should the U.S. impose tariffs on Taiwanese chips, how it calculates the tariffs will be a key factor.

Deputy Foreign Minister Remus Chen (陳立國) who chaired the Prospect Asia Roundtable discussion elaborated on Taiwan’s foreign policy as he outlined the challenges in the international landscape. He says Taiwan is committed to strengthening supply chain resilience and regional partnerships as the New Southbound Policy enters a new phase. 

As represented on a schematic diagram released by the Defense Ministry, from 6:05 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Thursday, five Chinese fighter jets and drones were detected in Taiwan’s ADIZ, three of which crossed the median line into Taiwan’s northwestern airspace. Three more Chinese aircraft were detected from 9:10 a.m. to 7:40 p.m. in Taiwan’s southwestern airspace, all of which crossed the median line.

The 17 craft, including aircraft, warships, and a single government ship, were closely monitored via air and naval patrols, alongside shore-based missile systems, according to the ministry.

In the audit, DeepSeek’s chatbot ranked tenth out of eleven AI chatbots in terms of accuracy in delivering news and information, placing it behind OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google Gemini.