Taiwan

Kratos has confirmed it is working together with Taiwan’s National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST) on a derivative of its jet-powered MQM-178 Firejet target drone called the Chien Feng IV. The Chien Feng IV is said to be eyed primarily as a lower-cost, longer-range kamikaze drone, and NCSIST is reportedly looking toward potential export opportunities along with sales to the Taiwanese military.

United Daily News in Taiwan was the first to report on the Chien Feng IV this past weekend, citing comments from NCSIST. A government-owned organization, NCSIST conducts advanced military research and development and test and evaluation work. The drone is set to make its official public debut at the biennial Taipei Aerospace & Defense Technology Exhibition next month.

“We can confirm the exciting partnership” with NCSIST and that the Chien Feng IV “is a derivative of the MQM-178 system,” Steve Fendley, president of Kratos’ Unmanned Systems Division, told TWZ. “Development started early this year and is progressing rapidly.”

“We expect that by the end of this year, we will receive a sole-source contract for the Kratos Airwolf tactical jet drone, which could lead to a production contract in late 2026,” Kratos’ CEO Eric DeMarco had also said during a quarterly earnings call earlier this month.

Airwolf, also referred to as Tactical Firejet, is based on the MQM-178 design, as well.

DeMarco’s “comment was tied to two opportunities, this partnership [with NCSIST] being one of them,” Fendley also told TWZ.

Fendley declined to provide more details about Chien Feng IV, saying that more information would come at the exhibition in Taipei in September. United Daily News‘ report also offered few specifics, but said that NCSIST had described the drone as being able to serve as a “low-cost cruise missile.”

The Firejet/Airwolf family offers a logical starting place for a Chien Feng IV drone that skirts the increasingly blurry line between longer-range kamikaze drones and cruise missiles, as well as decoys.

Kratos says the 10.8-foot-long MQM-178 with its wingspan of 6.5 feet can carry around 70 and a half pounds of payload internally, as well as nearly 35 pounds more under each wing and an additional 20 pounds in pods on each wingtip. It can get up to speeds of 0.69 Mach, as well as fly at altitudes anywhere between 20 and 35,000 feet. Designed as a target to fire air-to-air and surface-to-air missiles at during training and testing events, Firejet can pull turns down to -2 and up to +9 Gs. The drone is launched via catapult, but no mention is made of it being designed to be recoverable.

Airwolf has the same physical dimensions and general mode of operation as Firejet, but has a reworked internal arrangement to better allow it to be configured for tactical mission sets, including acting as a ‘loyal wingman’ for crewed aircraft. Kratos says it is recoverable via parachute and has a maximum range of 400 nautical miles and a maximum endurance of 1.3 hours.

Kratos’ website also describes Airwolf as being “low signature,” but does not offer specifics. On top of its relatively small size to begin with, the drone’s carbon fiber composite construction would help its radar cross-section. Route planning involving a low-level flight profile masked by terrain features could also help it evade detection.

With all of this in mind, the MQM-178-derived Chien Feng IV could possibly be configured for other roles beyond one-way attack, including electronic warfare and communications signal relay.

Even from what little is known about the Chien Feng IV now, it reflects broader trends globally. Just in the past few years, the ongoing war in Ukraine, attacks by Houthi militants in Yemen on ships in and around the Red Sea and targets in Israel, and fighting between Iran and Israel have underscored the value of and threats posed by long-range kamikaze drones. Jet-powered types have already begun to emerge, offering further boosts in capability and presenting new challenges for defenders, as TWZ has highlighted in the past. Armed forces around the world, including the U.S. military, are taking notice. Something of an industrial arms race to create new modular, relatively cheap, and small uncrewed aerial systems has now emerged, particularly in the United States.

United Daily News‘ report this past weekend said that NCSIST had stressed that there was no commitment yet from any branch of Taiwan’s armed forces to buy Chien Feng IVs. At the same time, the organization said that it could be a valuable companion to traditional cruise missiles in Taiwanese service, like the Hsiung Feng IIE (HF-2E).

With help from the U.S. government, Taiwan has been working to significantly expand its arsenal of one-way-attack drones, as well as other uncrewed aerial and maritime systems, in the past few years. There has been a certain degree of additional openness with regard to this cooperation from U.S. defense contractors recently. Earlier this month, Anduril very publicly announced the opening of an office in Taiwan and expanded cooperation with NCSIST, all with a heavy focus on its ALTIUS line of drones, which can be configured as loitering munitions and for other roles. The U.S. government approved the sale of nearly 300 ALTIUS 600M-V loitering munitions to Taiwan last year.

For Taiwan, this is part of a broader effort, which has been referred to in the past as “Hellscape,” that envisions the Taiwanese military flooding the air and waters around the island with relatively uncrewed platforms in the event of a military invasion from the Chinese mainland.

Especially if it is a relatively low-cost design, Chien Feng IV, as well as other longer-range kamikaze drones, could also offer a way to extend the Hellscape plan to attacks on targets on the other side of the Taiwan Strait. As noted, Airwolf’s stated maximum range is 400 nautical miles. The Taiwan Strait, at its widest, is some 97 nautical miles across. Massed Chien Feng IV attacks would also force Chinese forces on the mainland to expend commensurate amounts of interceptors. Higher-flying jet-powered drones would, in turn, require higher-end interceptors to be employed, as well.

In addition, United Daily News‘ report said that NCSIST had explicitly highlighted potential export opportunities for Chien Feng IV, which speaks to the growing global interest in the kinds of capabilities this drone could offer. Hurdles would exist for any direct exports from Taiwan, which occupies a complicated space when it comes to foreign relations, but a partnership with a U.S. company like Kratos could help in that regard. In 2023, reports emerged that the United States could buy retired HAWK surface-to-air missile systems from Taiwan and then transfer them to Ukraine, as another example of an indirect workaround.

More details about the Chien Feng IV are set to emerge next month at the Taipei Aerospace & Defense Technology Exhibition. However, it is already an important reflection of new and expanding ties between Taiwan and the U.S. defense industry, as well as global trends when it comes to the new, longer-range kamikaze drones.

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SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — Lin Chin-Tse retired the first 13 batters he faced and gave up just one hit in five innings as Taiwan beat Nevada 7-0 in the Little League World Series championship Sunday, ending a 29-year title drought for the Taiwanese.

Taiwan won its first LLWS since 1996, although its 18 titles are the most of any country beside the United States, including five straight from 1977 to 1981.

Lin, a 5-foot-8 right hander, also smashed a three-run triple in Taiwan’s five-run fifth. The 12-year-old from Taipei hit more than 80 mph with his fastball multiple times during the tournament, which to batters looks much faster because the plate in this level of baseball is only 46 feet away. His velocity looked much the same Sunday.

Taiwan’s Jian Zih-De celebrates in front of Nevada’s Luke D’Ambrosio during the second inning of Taiwan’s 7-0 victory in the Little League World Series championship game.

(Patrick Smith / Getty Images)

Lin’s longest start before Sunday was three innings in Taiwan’s opening game against Mexico. He gave up only one hit in a subsequent victory over Venezuela.

Garrett Gallegos broke up the perfect game with a single into left field in the fifth inning but was caught in a double play when Grayson Miranda lined out to second. Nevada was appearing in its first championship game.

Offensively, Taiwan capitalized on four wild pitches and a passed ball. Jian Zih-De worked a walk leading off the bottom of the second and later scored when he beat the throw home after the wild pitches.

Chen Shi-Rong scored Taiwan’s second run in the bottom of the third when he ran home on a Nevada throwing error to first base.

The last international team to win the tournament title was Japan in 2017.

Schools and workplaces close, hundreds of flights cancelled and thousands evacuate as Typhoon Podul nears island.

Thousands of people have evacuated, schools have closed, and hundreds of flights have been cancelled as Typhoon Podul approaches southern Taiwan with wind gusts as strong as 191kph (118 mph).

The mid-strength Typhoon Podul is expected to make landfall later on Wednesday, and was reported to be intensifying as it approached Taiwan’s southeastern city of Taitung, weather officials said.

Podul “is strengthening”, Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecaster Lin Ting-yi said, with the typhoon on track to hit the sparsely populated Taitung County at about noon local time (04:00 GMT).

After making landfall, the storm is expected to hit Taiwan’s more densely populated western coast before moving into the Taiwan Strait and towards China’s southern province of Fujian later this week.

As much as 600mm (almost 24 inches) of rain has been forecast in southern mountainous areas over the next few days, the CWA said, while nine cities and counties announced the suspension of work and school, including the southern metropolises of Kaohsiung and Tainan.

Taiwan’s government said that more than 5,500 people had been evacuated in advance of the typhoon’s arrival, and all domestic flights – a total of 252 – as well as 129 international routes have been cancelled, the transport ministry said.

Typhoon Podul lashed Orchid Island with gusts of up to 155 kph at around 8 a.m. Wednesday, contributing to a power outage that hit 258 households in the island’s Tungching Village. Winds and rain were also intensifying in Taitung. pic.twitter.com/qaeCwFg9Vu

— Focus Taiwan (CNA English News) (@Focus_Taiwan) August 13, 2025

Taiwan’s two main international carriers, China Airlines and EVA Air, said their cancellations were for routes out of Kaohsiung, with some flights from the island’s main international airport at Taoyuan stopped as well.

In the capital, Taipei, which is home to Taiwan’s financial markets and is being spared the typhoon so far, residents reported clear skies and some sunshine.

Typhoon Danas, which hit Taiwan in early July, killed two people and injured hundreds as the storm dumped more than 500mm (19.6 inches) of rain across the south over a weekend, causing widespread landslides and flooding.

That was followed by torrential rain from July 28 to August 4, with some areas recording more than a year’s worth of rainfall in a single week. The week of bad weather left five people dead, three missing, and 78 injured, a disaster official said previously.

Taiwan is accustomed to frequent tropical storms from July to October, while scientists say human-driven climate change is causing more intense weather patterns.

Beijing warns Manila to stop ‘playing with fire’ after Marcos signals potential Taiwan conflict involvement.

China has sharply criticised Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr after he suggested his country would be drawn into a potential conflict between China and the United States over Taiwan.

During a state visit to India this week, Marcos said the Philippines’ geographic proximity and the large Filipino community in Taiwan meant the country would be forced to get involved in the event of war.

“If there is an all-out war, then we will be drawn into it,” Marcos told Indian broadcaster Firstpost. “There are many, many Filipino nationals in Taiwan and that would be immediately a humanitarian problem.”

In response, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a strongly worded statement on Friday, warning Manila not to “play with fire” and urging it to uphold the one China principle.

“Geographical proximity and large overseas populations are not excuses for interfering in others’ internal affairs,” the statement read.

Tensions between China and the Philippines have intensified in recent years over territorial disputes in the South China Sea. Both sides have accused each other of provocations, with altercations at sea involving ramming incidents, water cannon blasts, and clashes involving weapons such as spears and knives.

Beijing continues to assert that Taiwan is part of its territory and a breakaway province, a position Taipei rejects.

China also dismissed Marcos’s justification as undermining both international law and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations charter, saying his comments risk destabilising regional peace and harming the interests of the Philippine people.

Marcos’s trip to India also saw the signing of new security agreements aimed at strengthening defence ties between New Delhi and Manila, including cooperation between both countries’ armies, air forces and navies. Indian warships recently began joint patrols with the Philippine Navy in the contested South China Sea in a move likely to anger China.

In another sign of rising tensions, Philippine officials earlier this week condemned the launch of a Chinese rocket, which they said dropped suspected debris near a western province, alarming residents and threatening local ships and aircraft. No damage or injuries were reported.

The escalating maritime standoff has also increasingly drawn in the United States, which has a mutual defence pact with the Philippines. Washington has reaffirmed its commitment to defend Filipino forces, including coastguard personnel, aircraft and public vessels, should they come under attack anywhere in the South China Sea.

The mosquito-borne virus has crossed the Taiwan Strait from southern China, where confirmed cases of chikungunya top 8,000.

Taiwan has reported its first confirmed case of chikungunya fever, imported from China, where a historic outbreak of the mosquito-borne virus is under way.

Chikungunya has swept through southern China in recent weeks, primarily in the manufacturing hub of Foshan on the Pearl River Delta, with cases rising to more than 8,000. The outbreak is the largest on record, according to Roger Hewson, virus surveillance lead at the United Kingdom’s Wellcome Sanger Institute.

Taiwan’s Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said on Friday that the chikungunya virus was detected in a Taiwanese woman who had travelled to Foshan and returned to Taiwan on July 30.

It was the first case of its kind detected so far in 2025, though more than a dozen cases have been previously detected and originated in Indonesia, the Philippines and Sri Lanka.

The CDC has raised its travel advisory for China’s Guangdong province, the epicentre of the outbreak, to level 2 out of 3, urging travellers to use “enhanced precautions”.

The virus can lead to high fever, rash, headache, nausea and fatigue lasting up to seven days, and muscle and joint pain that can last for several weeks.

“The outbreak in Foshan and surrounding areas of Guangdong province has unfolded rapidly and at a scale unprecedented for China,” Hewson said in a statement.

The surge is due to limited immunity in China and “environmental suitability” for the virus-carrying Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes, which breed in stagnant water, he said.

Chinese health authorities have responded with containment strategies ranging from household-level inspections and enforced bed nets, to drone-based fogging and even quarantines, reminiscent of the COVID-19 pandemic, Hewson said.

The Associated Press news agency reported that residents of Foshan can be fined as much as up to 10,000 RMB ($1,400) for keeping water in outdoor containers – a popular breeding ground for mosquitoes.

The outbreak follows more than a month of typhoons and heavier-than-usual monsoon rains in China.

Last week, Hong Kong – located some 180km (110 miles) from Foshan – was hit by its worst August rainstorm since records began in 1884.

Chinese state media said despite the historic number of chikungunya cases, the outbreak appears to have finally peaked.

Foshan reported 2,892 local infections from July 27 to August 2, but no severe or fatal cases, according to China’s state-run Xinhua news agency.

“The recent surge has been initially contained, with a downward trend in newly reported cases across the province,” Kang Min, director of the infectious disease control institute at the Guangdong Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, told Xinhua.

US President Donald Trump said the tariff will not impact companies if they have already invested in US facilities.

United States President Donald Trump says he will impose a 100 percent tariff on foreign-made semiconductors, although exemptions will be made for companies that have invested in the US.

“We’ll be putting a tariff on of approximately 100 percent on chips and semiconductors, but if you’re building in the United States of America, there’s no charge, even though you’re building and you’re not producing yet,” Trump told reporters at the Oval Office on Wednesday evening.

The news came after a separate announcement that Apple would invest $600bn in the US, but it was not unexpected by US observers.

Trump told CNBC on Tuesday that he planned to unveil a new tariff on semiconductors “within the next week or so” without offering further details.

Details were also scant at the Oval Office about how and when the tariffs will go into effect, but Asia’s semiconductor powerhouses were quick to respond about the potential impact.

Taiwan, home of the world’s largest chipmaker TSMC, said that the company would be exempt from the tariff due to its existing investments in the US.

“Because Taiwan’s main exporter is TSMC, which has factories in the United States, TSMC is exempt,” National Development Council chief Liu Chin-ching told the Taiwanese legislature.

In March, TSMC – which counts Apple and Nvidia as clients – said it would increase its US investment to $165bn to expand chip making and research centres in Arizona.

South Korea was also quick to extinguish any concerns about its top chipmakers, Samsung and SK Hynix, which have also invested in facilities in Texas and Indiana.

Trade envoy Yeo Han-koo said South Korean companies would be exempt from the tariff and that Seoul already faced “favourable” tariffs after signing a trade deal with Washington earlier this year.

TSMC, Samsung and SK Hynix are just some of the foreign tech companies that have invested in the US since 2022, when then-President Joe Biden signed the bipartisan CHIPS Act offering billions of dollars in subsidies and tax credits to re-shore investment and manufacturing.

Less lucky is the Philippines, said Dan Lachica, president of Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Foundation.

He said the tariffs will be “devastating” because semiconductors make up 70 percent of the Philippines’ exports.

Trump’s latest round of blanket tariffs on US trade partners is due to go into effect on Thursday, but the White House has also targeted specific industries like steel, aluminium, automobiles and pharmaceuticals with separate tariffs.

Media reports say US Senator Roger Wicker may visit Taiwan after President William Lai Ching-te cancelled a trip to Latin America.

Taipei, Taiwan – A senior United States Republican legislator is reportedly planning a trip to Taiwan, according to media reports, where fears have been growing that US President Donald Trump is losing interest in relations with the democratic, self-ruled island in favour of building ties with China.

The Financial Times reported on Thursday that US Senator Roger Wicker from Mississippi is planning to visit Taiwan in August, citing three people familiar with the matter.

Wicker is the Republican chair of the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee and “one of Taiwan’s biggest allies in Congress”, according to the report.

Wicker’s office and the American Institute in Taiwan – Washington’s de facto embassy in Taipei – did not immediately reply to Al Jazeera’s request for comment on the reported trip.

US legislators regularly visit Taiwan, an unofficial ally of Washington, but Wicker’s trip comes at a time of uncertainty for US-Taiwan relations.

Taiwanese President William Lai Ching-te was reportedly planning to stop in the US next month en route to visiting allies in Latin America, but he cancelled his travel plans after Trump nixed a layover in New York, the Financial Times also reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Lai’s office never officially announced the trip, but on Monday, his office said the president had no plans to travel overseas as he focused on typhoon cleanup in southern Taiwan and tariff negotiations with the US.

The timing of President Lai’s cancelled visit was noted in Taiwan, as it was followed by a separate announcement from Trump that he hoped to visit China at the invitation of President Xi Jinping as Beijing and Washington hammer out a tariff deal.

Xi, who also heads the Chinese Communist Party, has pledged to annex Taiwan by peace or by force and considers Lai and his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to be “separatists”.

Beijing objects to visits by Taiwanese leaders to the US, even if they are carried out on an unofficial basis.

Experts say it is possible that Wicker’s trip was planned months ago, but the visit could still be used by US legislators to assuage fears that the White House is losing interest in Taiwan.

“I’m sure many will hope for words of affirmation and commitment to the US-Taiwan relationship, which before would be par for the course, but today will feel extra needed to assure both the DPP and Taiwanese citizens who have a declining view of the United States,” said Lev Nachman, a political scientist at National Taiwan University in Taipei.

Although the US is Taiwan’s security guarantor and has pledged to provide Taipei with the means to defend itself, there are deep currents of scepticism towards the US – known as yimeilun – running through Taiwanese society.

That has grown more prominent since Trump took office last year and said that Taiwan should pay for its own defence, later threatening to slap a 32 percent tariff on Taiwanese exports.

A survey in April of 1,500 Taiwanese voters by Nachman and others found that just 23.1 percent viewed the US as either a “trustworthy or very trustworthy” partner, down from 33.6 percent in June 2024 when US President Joe Biden was still in office.

Liza Tobin, managing director at the geopolitical advisory group Garnaut Global, said the pendulum could swing the other way if Beijing tries to block the trip.

Trump has granted Beijing a number of concessions already, from access to Nvidia’s H20 chip to the terms of sale for the Panama Canal, she said, and a trip by a senior legislator could join the list.

“Unilateral concessions are like catnip for Beijing to push for more concessions, and with the president angling for a trade deal with China and a visit with Xi, China may try to pressure the admin to in turn put pressure on Wicker to cancel the trip,” she said. “Let’s hope he doesn’t give in.”

US President Donald Trump reportedly opposed a stopover in New York by Taiwan’s president, says China visit under consideration.

Taiwanese President William Lai Ching-te has cancelled a trip to three allies in Central and South America after a planned stopover in the United States was reportedly nixed by his US counterpart, Donald Trump.

Lai was preparing to visit Paraguay, Guatemala and Belize in early August, with stopovers planned in New York and Dallas on the first and last leg of the trip, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.

The Taiwanese leader’s trip was called off when US officials said they opposed his stop in New York, the newspaper said, citing three people close to the matter.

Lai’s office had never formally announced his trip to Latin America, but on Monday, it said the president had cancelled all overseas travel to focus on tariff negotiations with the US and a cleanup operation following a typhoon in southern Taiwan.

The president of Taiwan cannot officially visit the US, which does not recognise its government. But Taiwanese leaders have made use of “transit stops” in the US over the years to liaise with top administration officials outside Washington, DC.

In 2023, then-Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen used a transit stop to visit New York and Los Angeles while Joe Biden was still the US president.

Beijing, which claims democratic Taiwan as part of its territory, held military exercises in the Taiwan Strait after Tsai’s US stop-off to demonstrate its anger.

Trump’s reported decision to block Lai’s stopover follows news that the US president is angling for a trip to China himself, although he said he does not want a “summit” with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping.

“The Fake News is reporting that I am SEEKING a ‘Summit’ with President Xi of China. This is not correct, I am not SEEKING anything! I may go to China, but it would only be at the invitation of President Xi, which has been extended,” Trump wrote on Truth Social late Monday night.

Reuters reported that Trump may be aiming to visit China around the time of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South Korea, which runs from October 31 to November 1.

Whether the meeting will take place will depend on the outcome of ongoing trade talks between the US and China to resolve Trump’s tariff war launched earlier this year.

US and Chinese officials are in Stockholm this week to try to hammer out a tariff agreement before a “truce” expires on August 12, but they have many issues to discuss, including export controls, which could drag out talks.

A message in a bottle found off the west coast of Ireland has revived hopes for answers about the fate of a Taiwanese fishing crew that disappeared four years ago.

Internet sleuths have linked the note, a purported SOS message written in a mixture of Chinese, Indonesian and English, to the Yong Yu Sing No 18, a Taiwanese fishing vessel that was found adrift with its crew missing in 2021.

Matthew Long said that he and a friend were walking on a beach on Inisheer, a small island located about 8km (5 miles) off County Clare, last week when they came across a wax-sealed bottle containing the handwritten note.

“We used Google Translate and the first half of the message translated to an SOS message in Indonesian,” Long told Al Jazeera.

Long said he handed the note over to the local police before posting about his discovery on the social media site Reddit, where internet sleuths quickly got to work trying to track down its origin.

“We posted it in a few places online, but when we posted it in r/beachcombing, it blew up and clever Redditors were able to trace it back to a real missing ship crew,” Long said.

According to the Reddit posting, the text reads: “Please send help! We are lost since 12/20. There are 3 of us here. We don’t know the name of this island. We are injured. HELP. HELLO. SOS.”

The note ends with the Chinese character for “Li” and the name “Yong Yu Sing No 18.”

An Garda Síochána, the Irish police service, said it does not comment on third-party content online but confirmed it had received a “report of an item found” on Inisheer last Saturday.

It declined to provide further information.

The Yong Yu Sing No 18 was reported missing on January 1, 2021, after its owner lost contact with the ship’s captain, a man surnamed Li, two days earlier, according to Taiwan’s Central News Agency.

The fishing vessel was later found approximately 600km (373 miles) from Midway Atoll, an unincorporated United States territory in the North Pacific Ocean, with its crew and lifeboat missing.

The incident was later ruled an accident by Taiwanese prosecutors, but the fate of Li and his nine Indonesian crew members remains unknown to this day.

The Taiwan Yilan District Prosecutors Office, which investigated the case in 2021, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Long’s Reddit post has received nearly 10,000 upvotes, or “likes”, and 1,200 comments from users, many of them offering theories about the crew’s fate and debating whether it is more likely that the note is genuine or a hoax.

In Taiwan, the note has been taken seriously by advocates for the families of the missing crew, including the Su’Ao Fisherman’s Association.

“This association relays the hope that the government will verify the situation through appropriate channels, and if confirmed to be true, is willing for the government to cooperate with international organisations to coordinate rescue efforts,” the association said in a statement to local media.

The Su’Ao Fisherman’s Association did not immediately respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment.

Internet users on Taiwan’s PTT message board have also debated the authenticity of the note.

Some have compared it with an incident in 1992 in which a container of 28,000 plastic ducks and bath toys fell off a cargo ship during a storm.

In the decades since the incident, the ducks have washed up around the world, including as far away as Scotland.

Long said he is uncertain about whether the note is genuine, but believes it is possible.

“I don’t know about the note’s authenticity or if it was really sent by the crew of that ship,” he said.

“I was very sceptical at first and believed it to be a hoax when I first opened and read the message, but since then, it is starting to look more plausible to me.”

Taiwan’s opposition Kuomintang (KMT) party is in a moment of crisis as nearly two-thirds of its legislators risk losing their posts through a mass referendum.

Starting this weekend, voters across 31 districts in Taiwan will weigh in on whether they want to keep or remove their members of parliament.

The “Great Recall”, as it has been dubbed locally, is the largest vote of its kind in Taiwan’s history and, depending on the results, could cost the KMT its majority coalition in the country’s legislature.

The outcome will set the tone for Taiwan’s domestic politics for the next three years and also shape the ability of President William Lai Ching-te’s government to act on key issues, such as defence spending.

When will the recall election take place?

On Saturday, eligible voters can participate in recall votes for 24 KMT legislators, followed by a second round of voting for seven KMT legislators in late August.

The recall has been called following a wave of successful petition campaigns earlier this year. Under Taiwan’s election laws, organisers must secure signatures from 10 percent of a district’s registered voters to hold a recall vote.

For a recall vote to succeed, 25 percent of registered voters in each district must participate, and the recall must receive more votes in favour than against.

If voters choose to recall a legislator, a by-election must be held within three months.

The KMT’s traditional stronghold is in the north of the country and notably around the capital city of Taipei, but recall votes will be held across Taiwan this weekend.

The KMT won 52 out of 113 seats in the legislature in 2024, and with the Taiwan People’s Party and two independent legislators, holds a 62-seat majority coalition.

That coalition has been strong enough to block the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which holds 51 seats, and stall the agenda of the country’s DPP President Lai during his first year in office.

Can the recall succeed?

Taiwan typically has high voter turnout during major elections, but recall votes are much more of a wildcard, said Lev Nachman, an expert in Taiwanese politics at National Taiwan University.

“Our prior experience should tell us that these should not pass. However, we’ve never seen mobilisation work like this at recalls before,” he told Al Jazeera, citing the widespread involvement of common people. “We are in a bit of unprecedented times.”

Ho Chih-yung, KMT member and former party spokesperson, told Al Jazeera the recall campaign had created a “national election-like atmosphere” that would test the mobilisation and engagement of Taiwan’s major political parties.

The weather could also tip the scales, he said, as a tropical storm is passing north of Taiwan, and the bad weather may discourage the KMT’s older voter base from going out to vote.

Why is the recall vote international news?

The vote will determine if Lai will be a lame-duck president for the next three years, and whether he has the ability to carry out key defence and foreign policy initiatives, Nachman said.

“Unfortunately, it’s a really big deal because every question that foreign policy people have is contingent upon whether these recalls are successful or not successful,” he said.

The issue carries global significance due to Taiwan’s contested political status and the threat of a future conflict involving China in the Taiwan Strait.

“The classic Taiwan problem is that it’s not just that society is split, it’s that society is split, and the clock is ticking about whether or not there’s going to be a war over this place,” he added.

“Everything here is infinitely more existential.”

Why are voters targeting the KMT?

Despite its success in the last election, picking up 14 seats, the KMT has angered voters and even alienated traditional supporters by trying to expand legislative powers and targeting President Lai’s budget.

The KMT majority in the legislature was able to freeze or cut 207.5 billion New Taiwan dollars (then worth $6.3bn) from Lai’s 2025 budget – impacting everything from Taiwan’s submarine and drone programmes to its Council of Indigenous Peoples.

The budget fight was headline news across Taiwan, but it piqued international interest when the KMT targeted $3.1bn in defence spending.

Brian Hoie, a non-resident fellow at the University of Nottingham’s Taiwan Research Hub and a frequent commentator on Taiwanese politics, said some of the cuts angered a cross-section of voters and groups traditionally aligned with the KMT, such as farmers and Indigenous voters.

“The KMT has done very badly and angered all these random demographics by cutting the budget,” he said.

“That was just very unstrategic,” he added.

What about the China factor?

The KMT is one of the oldest political parties in Asia, but a generational divide over Taiwan’s relationship with China is challenging its longstanding position in Taiwanese politics. Some voters believe that the party has been co-opted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in Beijing.

The CCP has threatened to one day annex Taiwan by peace or by force, and Taiwan’s two main political parties offer different approaches for how to respond to Beijing’s threat.

President Lai’s DPP has taken a more outspoken approach by advocating for Taiwan on the international stage and ramping up defence spending, while the KMT follows a more conciliatory approach that favours ongoing dialogue with China.

Fears surrounding China have in the past unseated some of the KMT’s most prominent members, such as party whip Fu Kun-chi, who controversially led a delegation of lawmakers to Beijing last year at a time of significant political tension in the Taiwan Strait.

What does the KMT say?

Party member and former KMT spokesperson Ho said the recall supporters were abusing a system designed to remove individuals deemed unfit for holding their posts for serious reasons, such as corruption.

“This ‘mass recall’ campaign is not driven by the individual performance of KMT legislators, but is instead a blanket attempt to unseat opposition lawmakers across the board,” Ho said.

“To advance this effort, the DPP has deliberately framed the KMT as ‘pro-China’ and accused it of ‘selling out Taiwan’, a tactic designed to inflame ideological divisions and mobilise its base through fear and hostility, thereby increasing the likelihood that the recall votes will pass,” he said.

A senior KMT party member also told Al Jazeera that voters may be looking for an outlet for their frustrations amid a rising cost of living and the economic stress resulting from United States President Donald Trump’s trade war and threat of tariffs on Taiwan.

Trump has threatened to impose tariffs of up to 32 percent on the island-nation’s export-driven economy. Over the past six months, the New Taiwan dollar has appreciated 11 percent, impacting the bottom line of thousands of small and medium domestic manufacturers who must compete with foreign goods becoming cheaper for Taiwan’s consumers as their dollars go further in terms of spending power.

HIMARS are being used in military drills aimed at boosting the island’s ability to combat threats from China.

Taiwan has begun deploying its newest and most precise strike weapons, high calibre rockets from the United States, as part of its annual live-fire drills to increase the island’s ability to counter potential attacks from China.

On Saturday, two armoured trucks with High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) were seen manoeuvring around the city of Taichung near Taiwan’s central coast, on the fourth of 10 days of the Han Kuang exercise, its most comprehensive annual exercise, according to the Reuters news agency.

Military spokesperson Colonel Chen Lian-jia said it would be crucial to conceal the HIMARS from enemy aerial reconnaissance, satellites, “or even enemy operatives behind our lines” until the order to fire was given.

China considers Taiwan its own province and has long threatened to use force to bring it under Beijing’s control.

Over the past five years, China has increased pressure around the island, staging a string of intense war games and daily naval and air force patrols around the territory.

Earlier this week, China’s Ministry of National Defense said the Han Kuang drills were “nothing but a bluffing and self-deceiving trick”. China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs added that its opposition to US-Taiwan military ties was “consistent and very firm”.

On Thursday, Taiwanese President William Lai Ching-te said the exercises were being conducted based on “large-scale, realistic combat drills”.

Last year, Taiwan received the first 11 of the 29 HIMARS units, testing them for the first time in May.

The weapons, which have a range of about 300km (190 miles), have the potential to strike coastal targets in China’s southern province of Fujian on the other side of the Taiwan Strait.

While the United States, Taiwan’s biggest supplier of imported defensive weaponry, is bound by law to consider threats to the country as a “major concern”, it remains unclear if Washington, DC, under President Donald Trump’s administration, would deploy forces to counter a possible Chinese attack.

Reuters reported, quoting unnamed senior Taiwanese military officials, that the drills were unscripted and designed to replicate full combat conditions, starting with simulated enemy attacks and invasion scenarios.

The drills aim to show China and the international community, including the US, that Taiwan is determined to defend itself against any Chinese attack, the officials said.

This story was produced in partnership with the Pulitzer Center.

Taichung City, Taiwan – Bernard keeps a low profile.

Heading to work on the streets of Taiwan, the 45-year-old Filipino migrant worker dodges glances and often checks his face mask to make sure his appearance is concealed.

To hide his accent, he often speaks in a near-whisper.

Often, he declines invitations to social occasions from his fellow countrymen, worried that a “Judas” among them might report him to the authorities.

Hired at one of Taiwan’s many electronics factories, Bernard came to the island legally in 2016.

But since June 2024, he has been among Taiwan’s growing population of undocumented workers. He blames his broker, a private employment agent to which migrants are usually assigned, for his current predicament.

Bernard’s broker tried to confiscate his passport, he said, then tried to convince him to resign and forgo severance payments from his employer.

He refused both times, he said, causing a rift between them.

“They [brokers] only speak to you when they come to collect payments or when they want to trick you,” Bernard, who asked to use a pseudonym out of fear of repercussions, told Al Jazeera.

Brokers in Taiwan take a cut of their clients’ wages and have significant influence over their conditions and job prospects, making their relationships prone to abuse.

When Bernard’s contract expired in 2022, he said, his broker blacklisted him among other employers.

Desperate to support his daughter’s education in the Philippines, Bernard ditched his broker and decided to overstay his visa to work odd construction jobs, he said.

These days, he said, he feels “like a bird in a cage”.

In public, Bernard would not even utter the word “undocumented” in any language, only gesturing with his hands that he ran away.

Taiwan’s undocumented workforce is rising fast.

The number of unaccounted-for migrants on the island has doubled in the last four years, reaching 90,000 this January, according to the Ministry of Labor.

Despite Taiwan’s image as one of the region’s rare liberal democracies, a growing number of Southeast Asian migrant workers are living under the constant threat of deportation and without access to social services.

Taiwan institutionalised its broker system in 1992 in a bid to streamline labour recruitment.

Brokers influence almost every aspect of a migrant worker’s life, from where they live, to their meals, to the terms of their employment contracts, and even how they access public services.

Migrant rights advocates say it is precisely this level of control that is prompting large numbers of workers to flee their workplaces.

Over a third of all complaints made by migrants to the Ministry of Labor are broker-related, according to official data.

As of January 2025, Vietnamese made up the biggest share of the undocumented at 57,611, followed by Indonesians at 28,363, and Filipinos at 2,750.

Joy Tajonera, a Catholic priest who runs the Ugnayan Center, a migrant shelter in Taichung City, said the Taiwanese government has taken a lax approach to the issue.

“The system allows the brokers a power to be used to the disadvantage of migrants,” Tajonera told Al Jazeera.

“Meanwhile, employers play innocent.”

Brokers typically charge migrants a monthly service fee of $50 to $60, and also collect fees for job transfers, hospital insurance, leave, and most of the necessary documentation to work in Taiwan.

In some cases, they impose age limits for certain jobs.

Tajonera said many undocumented workers can actually earn more without a broker, “but then you lose all social protections and health insurance. It’s not that they want to run away. It’s their situation, they can’t take it any more.”

‘Shameless and stupid’

Taiwan’s Labor Ministry said in a statement that the increase in undocumented migrants was driven by pandemic-related disruption to deportations.

It said it has taken various steps to improve conditions for migrant works, including raising the minimum wage, conducting regular inspections of recruitment agencies, introducing a new suspension mechanism for agencies with high rates of absconding workers, and encouraging labour-sending countries to reduce agency fees.

“Through pre-employment orientation for industrial migrant workers and one-stop orientation sessions for household caregivers, the ministry aims to enhance workers’ awareness of legal requirements, inform them of the risks and consequences of going missing, and ensure employers fulfill their management responsibilities,” the ministry said.

However, since last year, the Taiwanese government has also increased the maximum fines for migrants caught overstaying their visas from $330 to $1,657.

Lennon Ying-Da Wang, director of the public migrant shelter Serve the People Association, called the government’s move to increase penalties “shameless and stupid”.

“Instead of addressing the reasons for running away, this will just prevent people from surrendering,” he told Al Jazeera.

Wang said a lack of protections, particularly for those working in childcare and fisheries, is the key reason why many migrants abscond from their workplaces.

Neither industry is subject to Taiwan’s monthly minimum wage of $944, according to Taiwan’s Labor Standards Act.

Wang said migrants in practice often receive half that amount minus deductions by brokers.

“Migrants just want a decent salary,” Wang said. “But there’s an unspoken rule among some brokers not to hire migrant workers who ask for help from shelters. That forces them to run away.”

Despite his sympathies, Wang, as the director of a state-funded facility, is not allowed to take in migrants who have absconded from their employers as they are subject to deportation.

On a quiet, nondescript road at the edge of Taipei lies Harmony Home, an NGO catering to undocumented young mothers and children.

While the women and children who stay at Harmony Home cannot be deported for humanitarian reasons, the state is not obligated to shoulder the costs of their care or medical needs.

Harmony Home, which has taken in more than 1,600 children over the past two decades, has recently seen a sharp uptick in minors coming through its doors, founder Nicole Yang said.

“Last year, we had about 110 new kids. By April this year, we’ve already got 140,” Yang told Al Jazeera.

“We also care for 300 others who live at home while their mother works.”

Li-Chuan Liuhuang, a labour expert at National Chung Cheng University, said that while the broker system will be difficult to “uproot immediately”, the government could improve oversight by “making the recruitment procedure and cost structure more transparent”.

In Lishan, a mountainous area of Taichung, hundreds of undocumented Southeast Asians pick peaches, pears and cabbages for local landowners. The presence of runaway migrants, many of whom fled fishing trawlers, is not only tolerated but relied upon for the harvest.

Liuhuang said she would like to see such migrants being allowed to work on farms with proper labour protections, but she believes this would not be easy for the public to accept.

“The government will have to commit more efforts for this kind of dialogue,” she told Al Jazeera.

Mary, who asked to use a pseudonym, said she absconded from her job as a childcare worker to work illegally at various mountain farms after becoming frustrated at earning less than half the minimum wage and having her grievances ignored by her broker.

Sitting beside a cabbage patch, Mary, 46, said she always felt anxious around the police in the city.

But in Lishan the rules are different, she said, as landowners have an unwritten agreement with the authorities about the runaways.

“There’s no way the boss doesn’t have connections with the police. He always knows when they come and tells us not to go out,” she told Al Jazeera.

Even so, there is no guarantee of avoiding mistreatment in the mountains.

After the harvest, employers sometimes withhold payments, threatening anyone who complains with deportation, Mary said.

“If I complain that the boss doesn’t give me the salary, I will get reported. Who will help me?” she said.

Taipei says an estimated 15 Chinese aircraft crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait on Friday.

Taiwan‘s defence ministry says that it has detected more than 70 Chinese military aircraft around the island in the last 24 hours, just days after a British naval vessel sailed through the sensitive Taiwan Strait.

The latest sightings reported on Friday come as Beijing continues to ramp up the deployment of fighter jets and naval vessels around Taiwan in recent months to press its claim of sovereignty of the island, which Taipei rejects.

Along with 50 aircraft, six Chinese naval vessels were detected in the 24 hours to 6am on Friday (22:00 GMT on Thursday), the defence ministry said.

An additional 24 Chinese aircraft, including fighters and drones, were spotted since 08:50am (00:50 GMT) on Friday, the ministry said in a separate statement.

Among the second batch of aircraft, 15 crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait in conducting air-sea joint training with Chinese naval vessels, the ministry said, adding it “monitored the situation and responded accordingly”.

China insists that democratic, self-ruled Taiwan is part of its territory and has threatened to use force to bring the island under its control. Taiwan has allied itself with the United States, angering Beijing.

The latest incursions came after the British Royal Navy patrol vessel HMS Spey sailed through the Taiwan Strait on June 18, Taiwan’s foreign ministry said on Thursday.

China strongly condemned Britain’s latest move as a deliberate attempt to “cause trouble”.

Britain’s Royal Navy said the patrol vessel conducted a routine navigation through the narrow waterway that was part of a long-planned deployment and took place in full compliance with international law.

The Eastern Theatre Command of China’s People’s Liberation Army said the Wednesday sailing of the ship was “public hyping” and that its forces followed and monitored the Spey.

The UK, United States and other countries view the 180km (112-mile) Taiwan Strait as international waters that should be open to all vessels.

In February, a Canadian warship also passed through the Strait, days after a US destroyer and a US ocean survey ship made the passage.

The last time a British Navy ship transited the Taiwan Strait was in 2021, when the HMS Richmond, a frigate deployed with Britain’s aircraft carrier strike group, sailed through from Japan to Vietnam.

In April, Taiwan detected 76 Chinese aircraft and 15 naval vessels around the island, when Beijing conducted live-fire exercises that included simulated strikes aimed at the island’s key ports and energy sites.

The highest number of Chinese aircraft recorded was 153 on October 15, 2024, after China staged large-scale military drills in response to a speech by Taiwan’s President William Lai Ching-te on National Day, days earlier.

Beijing says the US is touting Cold War mentality after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth calls China a threat to the region.

China has warned the United States against “playing with fire” over Taiwan in response to US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth calling the Asian power a “threat to the region” at a high-profile summit in Singapore.

Speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue on Saturday, Hegseth said China was “credibly preparing” for military action to shift Asia’s power balance, accusing Beijing of rehearsing a potential invasion of Taiwan.

China considers Taiwan, a separately governed island, to be a part of its territory and has vowed reunification by force if necessary. Taiwan’s government rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims, saying only the island’s people can decide their future.

Hegseth’s remarks provoked a swift rebuke from China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which stressed that Taiwan remains a domestic matter, warning foreign powers against using the issue as leverage. It described US actions in Asia Pacific as turning the region into a “powder keg”.

“The US should not entertain illusions about using the Taiwan question as a bargaining chip to contain China, nor should it play with fire,” it said.

Hegseth had called on allies in the Asia Pacific region, including key security ally Australia, to spend more on defence after warning of the “real and potentially imminent” threat from China.

Calling the US a “true destabilising” force in the Asia Pacific, Beijing accused Washington of deploying offensive weapons in the South China Sea and aggravating regional tensions.

Beijing accused Hegseth of “vilifying China with defamatory allegations” and promoting a “Cold War mentality”.

“Hegseth deliberately ignored the call for peace and development by countries in the region, and instead touted the Cold War mentality for bloc confrontation, vilified China with defamatory allegations, and falsely called China a threat,” the ministry said, adding that it had lodged a formal protest with the US over what it described as “inflammatory rhetoric”.

China and the Philippines contest sovereignty over some islands and atolls in the South China Sea, with growing maritime run-ins between their coastguards as both vie to patrol the waters.

Beijing also rejected US claims about threats to maritime navigation, insisting it has consistently promoted dialogue to resolve regional disputes and safeguarded its territorial rights within the bounds of international law.

“The US is the biggest factor undermining peace and stability in the South China Sea,” the statement read.

China’s Defence Minister Dong Jun skipped the annual Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia’s premier security forum, with Beijing sending a delegation of lower-ranking representatives instead.

It was the first time since 2019 that China has not dispatched its defence minister to the high-level dialogue on regional defence, except when the event was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tensions are already high between China and the US – the world’s two biggest economic powers – over Trump’s ongoing trade war and tariff threats.

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has warned that China is preparing to invade Taiwan. Hegseth made the comments at a global defence meeting in Singapore. Chinese officials rejected the allegations as ‘defamatory’.

Getty Images

Getty Images

‘Deterrence doesn’t come cheap’

‘Common sense’ vision

TAIPEI, Taiwan  — Liu Jia-yen had been living in Taiwan for more than two decades when she received notice that she was suddenly at risk of being deported.

In April, the National Immigration Agency told Liu, a 51-year-old Chinese immigrant, she had three months to provide evidence that she gave up her household registration — an official record of residence that grants benefits such as healthcare and education — in Guangxi, China. If she couldn’t find the right documents, she’d have to leave.

Liu thought she’d submitted the files long ago and called her 26-year-old daughter, Ariel Ko, in tears.

Ko, who was born and raised in Taiwan, called the immigration agency dozens of times over the next few days, unable to reach an operator. Meanwhile in China, Liu’s 80-year-old grandfather began visiting his local police station in search of old records, and her brother scoured his government contacts for anyone who could help.

Taiwanese military cadets holding Taiwan flags pose for selfies after attending the New Year’s Day flag-raising ceremony outside the Presidential Palace in Taipei, Taiwan, on Jan. 1. Chinese leader Xi Jinping has warned that no one can prevent China’s reunification with Taiwan.

(Daniel Ceng / Anadolu via Getty Images)

There are tens of thousands of Chinese-born people in Taiwan, which has been increasing scrutiny of them over the past year, citing concerns about infiltration and espionage. The immigration agency says the vast majority of Chinese living in Taiwan have filed the appropriate paperwork showing that they have canceled household registration in China, but about 12,000 people are facing a scramble — similar to Liu’s — for documents.

“I understand that the government has its policies, and we can respect that,” Ko said. “But what makes us upset is that we’re just ordinary citizens. If you’re going to ask us to do something this difficult, have you considered things from our perspective?”

China considers Taiwan to be part of its territory and has threatened to take it by force, stepping up simulated attacks in recent years. Beijing has taken a particularly harsh stance against President Lai Ching-te, whom Chinese officials have called a “dangerous separatist” because he has promoted Taiwanese independence.

Concerns about spying in Taiwan and China date back to the Chinese civil war, after which the defeated Chinese Nationalist Party, or the Kuomintang, fled to Taiwan in 1949. Eventually, tensions began to ease as the two governments slowly resumed dialogue and cooperation over the next several decades. But in recent years, both China and Taiwan have been taking unprecedented actions in the name of national security.

Last year, China said it would ratchet up the punishment for advocates of Taiwanese independence, including imposing the death penalty. Lai, who took office a year ago and has called China a “foreign hostile force,” has proposed reinstating military trials for some espionage cases, criminalizing expressions of loyalty to China within the armed forces and tightening oversight of people traveling between China and Taiwan.

In March, three members of the Taiwanese presidential security team were convicted of spying for China. Taiwan also deported three Chinese immigrants for voicing their support online for unification through military action. Taiwan’s National Immigration Agency said this is the first time that spouses of Taiwanese citizens have had their residency revoked for such reasons. More than 140,000 Chinese immigrants hold residency in Taiwan because they are married to Taiwanese citizens.

Chinese influencer YAYA (Liu Zhenya) with a white hat and members of a NGO assisting her case hold a news conference, as she complies with Taiwan’s order to leave Taiwan after her residency was revoked for posting videos advocating “One China” and “Unification with China by Force” at Songshan Airport in Taipei, Taiwan, on March 25, 2025.

(Daniel Ceng / Anadolu via Getty Images)

Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council said the records requirement has existed since 2004, and the recent notices were sent to ensure that those who want to stay in Taiwan can do so. But critics say that the sudden enforcement is unfair.

“It’s like our government has been asleep, like Sleeping Beauty, for 21 years. And now, all of a sudden, it wakes up and demands that Chinese spouses who’ve been living in Taiwan for so many years provide an important document from two decades ago,” said Chang Chi-kai, an opposition party legislator who is urging the administration to give Chinese spouses and their children more time.

After the public backlash, Taiwan announced additional exemptions for individuals with extenuating circumstances such as financial hardship, medical needs or safety concerns about traveling to China to search for records.

In Taiwan, people born in China are subject to different immigration laws than other nationalities. Milo Hsieh, founder of the consulting firm Safe Spaces in Taipei, says that distinction makes them more susceptible to discriminatory legal treatment, particularly in times of extreme political polarization.

“It resembles what I’m observing in the U.S. right now in Trump’s immigration crackdown, particularly on international students,” said Hsieh, referring to the hundreds of student protesters who have had their visas revoked. “They are deliberately targeting this class of individuals that are associated with a national security threat.”

Some frustrated residents say the bureaucratic bind is emblematic of long-standing discrimination.

Ko, who was born and raised in Taiwan, still remembers how her classmates used to tease her for having a mother from China, and would tell her to go back to the mainland. On social media, some were sympathetic to her mother’s struggle, while others told her to “save your fake tears,” or “if you want to be Taiwanese then follow our rules.”

Taiwan’s government has said that, according to its own polls conducted in March, more than 70% of respondents in Taiwan want officials to more thoroughly investigate whether Chinese immigrants here still hold residency or household registration in China, especially those who work in the military or public sector.

In this photo released by the Taiwan Presidential Office in July 2022, Tsai Ing-wen, president at the time, is seen through glass on board a ship during military exercises.

(Shioro Lee / Associated Press)

“If China decides to start a war, then Taiwan needs to determine what to do in that situation,” said Fan Hsin-yu, an associate professor at National Taiwan University who specializes in immigration law. “First, it has to clarify who belongs to which side, who is the enemy, and who is one of us. That’s why this process is something they feel must be finalized soon.”

Fan said legal experts are divided on whether the government is justified in its recent documentation demands. She added that the measures may even be counterproductive, since China could simply issue certification to its spies or collaborators, while those who support Taiwanese sovereignty could put themselves at risk by going to China, or otherwise be forced to leave.

“The issue is not about legality, it’s about whether this is a smart move,” she said.

Chang and his family in China

(Courtesy of Chang Chih-yuan)

Chang Chih-yuan moved to Taichung, a city in central Taiwan, at age 4 and served in Taiwan’s military. He needs to secure documents to remain here but said he feels uneasy about providing all of his personal information — including his household registration history, physical ID card and travel permit — to the police station in Guangdong, China, where his family once lived.

Ultimately, he decided that he didn’t have much choice. His Chinese mother had received the immigration notice in April, and after many sleepless nights, she decided to take a month off from her cleaning job to obtain the certificate. When Chang, 34, inquired about his own paperwork, the immigration agency told him he would probably get a similar notice later this year.

“It just made me feel like I’m still not considered a real Taiwanese person,” he said.

A man walks past a hoisted Taiwanese flag at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei on Oct. 15, 2024. The day before, China insisted it would never renounce the “use of force” to take control of Taiwan, after ending a day of military drills around the island.

(I-Hwa Cheng / AFP via Getty Images)

Another resident who immigrated from China as a child said he has been considering emigrating to Singapore since he received his notice. His father traveled to China’s Fujian province to seek household documentation on his behalf, but he still worries that his mainland roots could put his status at risk again in the future.

“The situation now feels like they assume if you were born in China, you’re an ally of the Chinese Communist Party and you have to prove your innocence,” the 33-year-old said, requesting anonymity for fear that speaking publicly could affect his case. “I feel like I’ve been completely betrayed by my country.”

Times staff writer Yang and special correspondent Wu reported from Taipei, Taiwan.

Taipei, Taiwan – As Taiwan prepares to shut down its last nuclear reactor, soaring energy demand driven by the island’s semiconductor industry is rekindling a heated debate about nuclear power.

Taiwan’s electricity needs are expected to rise by 12-13 percent by 2030, largely driven by the boom in artificial intelligence (AI), according to the Ministry of Economic Affairs.

Environmental group Greenpeace has estimated that the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, will by itself consume as much electricity as roughly one-quarter of the island’s some 23 million people by the same date.

The self-ruled island’s soaring appetite for power complicates Taipei’s pledge to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, which is heavily dependent on raising renewable energy production to about 60-70 percent of the total from about 12 percent at present.

Nuclear power advocates argue that the energy source is the most feasible way for Taiwan to reach its competing industrial and environmental goals.

On Tuesday, Taiwan’s legislature passed an amendment to allow nuclear power plants to apply for licences to extend operations beyond the existing 40-year limit.

The opposition Kuomintang and Taiwan People’s Party passed the bill over the objections of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, which came to power in 2016 on a pledge to achieve a “nuclear-free homeland”.

The legal change will not halt Sunday’s planned closure of the last operating reactor – the No 2 reactor at the Maanshan Nuclear Power Plant – though it casts doubt over the island’s longstanding opposition to nuclear power.

The government said after the vote that it had no immediate plans for any future nuclear power projects, though Premier Cho Jung-tai indicated earlier that the government would not oppose the restoration of decommissioned reactors if the amendment passed.

Cho said Taipei was “open” to nuclear power provided safety was ensured and the public reached a consensus on the issue.

Any move to restart the local nuclear industry would, at a minimum, take years.

Taiwan began its civilian nuclear programme in the 1950s with the assistance of technology from the United States.

By 1990, state-owned power firm Taipower operated three plants with the capacity to generate more than one-third of the island’s electricity needs.

‘Renewable energy isn’t stable’

Angelica Oung, a member of the Clean Energy Transition Alliance who supports nuclear power, said Taiwan could generate about 10 percent of its energy requirements from nuclear plants when the DDP came to power nearly a decade ago.

“Energy emissions at the time were lower than now – isn’t that ridiculous?” Oung told Al Jazeera.

“At the time, it was reasonable to launch the anti-nuclear policy as the public was still recovering from the devastating Fukushima nuclear disaster … but now even Japan has now decided to return to nuclear,” Oung said, referring to Tokyo’s plans to generate 20 percent of its power from the energy source by 2040.

“That’s because renewables simply don’t work.”

“The supply of renewable energy isn’t stable … solar energy, for example, needs the use of batteries,” Oung added.

While the 2011 Fukushima disaster helped solidify opposition to nuclear power, Taiwan’s history of anti-nuclear activism stretches back decades earlier.

The DPP was founded just months after the 1986 Chornobyl disaster and included an anti-nuclear clause in its charter.

The following year, the Indigenous Tao people launched protests against Taipower’s policy of dumping nuclear waste on Orchid Island, helping cement the civil anti-nuclear movement.

Nuclear energy attracted further negative scrutiny in the 1990s, when it emerged that about 10,000 people had been exposed to low levels of radiation due to the use of radioactive scrap metals in building materials.

In 2000, Taipei halted construction of a planned fourth nuclear plant amid protests by environmental groups.

A 2021 referendum proposal to restart work on the mothballed project was defeated 52.84 percent to 47.16 percent.

Chia-wei Chao, research director of the Taiwan Climate Action Network, said nuclear power is not the answer to Taiwan’s energy needs.

“Developing nuclear energy in Taiwan often means cutting the budget for boosting renewables, as opposed to other countries,” Chao told Al Jazeera.

Chao said Taiwan’s nuclear plants were built without taking into account the risk of earthquakes and tsunamis, and that establishing a local industry that meets modern standards would be costly and difficult.

“Extension of the current plants and reactors means having to upgrade the infrastructure to meet more updated safety standards and factoring in quake risks. This costs a lot, so nuclear energy doesn’t translate into cheaper electricity,” he said.

Lena Chang, a climate and energy campaigner at Greenpeace East Asia, said that reviving nuclear energy would not only be costly, but potentially dangerous, too.

“We, Greenpeace, firmly [oppose] restarting nuclear plants or expanding the use of nuclear because nuclear poses an unresolved safety, waste and environmental risk, particularly in Taiwan – a small island that can’t afford a nuclear and environmental disaster,” Chang told Al Jazeera.

Chang said the chip industry should have to contribute to the cost of switching to renewable energy sources.

“They should be responsible for meeting their own green energy demand, instead of leaving all the work to Taipower, as any of the money to build more energy plants and storage facilities ultimately comes from people’s tax money,” she said.

Chao agreed, saying chip giants such as TSMC should lead the push to go green.

“The chipmaking industry is here to stay … Sure, energy supply will be tight in the next three years, but it’s still enough,” he said.