Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

US House passes ‘Honest Maps’ bill

Taipei Times

The US House of Representatives on Friday passed an amendment banning the US Department of Defense from creating, buying or displaying any map that shows Taiwan as part of the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

The “Honest Maps” amendment was approved in a voice vote on Friday as part of the Department of Defense Appropriations Act for the 2026 fiscal year.

The amendment prohibits using any funds from the act to create, buy or display maps that show Taiwan, Kinmen, Matsu, Penghu, Wuciou (烏坵), Green Island (綠島) or Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) as part of the PRC.

Seeking consensus to foster unity

Taipei Times Editorial

President William Lai (賴清德) on Tuesday gave the second of a series of 10 talks that he plans to deliver across Taiwan. The talk came with few surprises, and not just because of the use of the usual platitudes of national unity.

Lai’s approach to both the opposition in Taiwan — the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) — and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in China has been to hold out olive branches tinged with an implicit critique: a call for consensus, but also a caution that he will compromise only so far.

Supporting the first line of defense

Taipei Times Editorial

President William Lai (賴清德) on Sunday called for cross-party support for a special budget to bolster Coast Guard Administration (CGA) facilities to counter China’s “gray zone” tactics.

The coast guard, which would be mobilized for military duties in the event of war with China, is also routinely sent out to shadow Chinese ships during Beijing’s war games around Taiwan.

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus on Sunday said it supports the plan to bolster territorial defense, but added that funding for the CGA should be included in the special defense budget plan that is to be reviewed in the next legislative session.

Hegseth outlines Chinese threat

Taipei Times

China poses an increasingly aggressive threat to the US and deterring Beijing is the Pentagon’s top regional priority amid its rapid military buildup and invasion drills near Taiwan, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday.

“Our pacing threat is communist China,” Hegseth told the US House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense during an oversight hearing with US General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

“Beijing is preparing for war in the Indo-Pacific as part of its broader strategy to dominate that region and then the world,” Hegseth said, adding that if it succeeds, it could derail reindustrialization in the US and strangle its economy.

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