December 5: The National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) announced that 22 technologies, including integrated circuit manufacturing technology with packages below 14 nanometers and heterogeneous integrated packaging technology, will be listed as national core technologies. The NSTC stated that this first list focuses on Taiwan's leading technologies or those with an urgent need for protection and covers national defense technology, space, agriculture, semiconductors, and information security. The list will be reviewed every three months, and a second wave is expected to be released soon.
November 6: A Kuomintang (KMT) elected official exposed a confidential administrative report on foreign affairs by the Executive Yuan, revealing that in April last year when Ambassador Bi-khim Hsiao, then-representative to the United States, and Minister without Portfolio John Deng exchanged views with United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai, the two knew that lifting restrictions on American pork would expend a lot of political capital, but the United States would not respond positively as to whether Taiwan may be invited to join the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF). The party criticized Hsiao's diplomatic performance for selling out Taiwan's interests and currying favor with the United States.
November 7: The labor dispute at the Arizona plant of the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is expected to come to an end. Both sides compromised, and TSMC has obtained the right to dispatch experienced engineers to assist with equipment installation, which is conducive to accelerating the installation of the first 4-nanometer wafer plant and facilitating the construction progress of the second plant.
According to TSMC supply chain information cited by the United Daily News, the Arizona Plant plans to simultaneously launch 3-nanometer engineering test pieces in the quarter after completing 4-nanometer trial production next year. In other words, TSMC hopes to accelerate the schedule of 3-nanometer mass production ahead of the originally planned 2026.
December 7: U.S. Republican senators blocked a $106 billion bill to aid Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan, of which $7.4 billion is allocated to Taiwan and the Pacific region. Republicans are unwilling to let the bill pass because the package excludes immigration reform measures that they demand.
December 7: The character "quē" (meaning lack) was selected as the representative character of the year with the highest number of votes from the public. The second place was "dàn" (meaning egg), and together they echo the egg shortage issue that has affected the people's livelihood as well as politics. The third place was "zhà" (meaning fraud).
November 8: The case of Wang Liqiang, an alleged mainland Chinese "spy," affected the results of the 2020 presidential election. Xiang Xin, chairman of China Innovation Investment Limited, and his wife, both implicated in the case, were recently found not guilty after experiencing 1,426 days of immigration control. After returning to Hong Kong, Xiang filed three lawsuits against Taiwan's judicial authorities, including an interlocutory appeal against the travel restriction, challenging injustice across the strait.
December 8: The Taiwan Carbon Solution Exchange will officially launch on December 22, allowing domestic companies to purchase foreign carbon credits on the platform. According to relevant reports, in the initial stage, the Ministry of Environment only agreed to have carbon rights items certified by GS, an international certification agency, including those from 7 countries -- Vietnam, India, Chile, Mozambique, Uganda, Kenya, and Eritrea. Other countries will follow suit in the next batch of products open to trade.
November 8: The 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) was held in Dubai. According to the latest global climate change performance index, Taiwan fell four places from last year, ranking 61st out of 64 countries, even performing worse than mainland China, Vietnam, and Malaysia.
