September 15:
After President Lai Ching-te took the initiative to provoke a territorial dispute between China and Russia, Taiwan has been frequently attacked by pro-Russian hacker groups. The Ministry of Digital Affairs confirmed 45 incidents in a single week, covering government units overseeing as tax, military, and financial securities, as well as private institutions like banks and telecommunication operators. Two-thirds of these attacks successfully caused service disruptions. The main method was distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack, which uses large amounts of Internet traffic to overwhelm target servers, causing them to crash without invading the system to steal or alter data.
September 16:
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration is vigorously promoting green energy, but local protests continue, and corruption scandals have been frequent in recent years. Yunlin, one of the top three counties for solar photovoltaic power, was the first to confront the central government. The Yunlin County Government sent a letter to the Ministry of Economic Affairs demanding central total volume control and unified review standards. It will suspend issuing consent letters for the establishment of renewable energy power plants until the central government makes improvements.
September 17:
The United States Defense Security Cooperation Agency stated that the Department of State has approved the sale of spare parts and technical support needed for Taiwan's fighter jets, amounting to approximately $228 million. The executive branch has notified Congress. The Lai administration expressed gratitude, emphasizing that this will help respond to gray zone intrusions by Communist China. Military experts interpret the timing of this arms sale announcement, coming right after the conclusion of the Xiangshan Forum in mainland China, as intriguing.
September 17:
According to the China Times, the delivery of F-16V fighter jets purchased from the United States has been delayed again. Taiwan purchased 66 F-16Vs, with the first batch expected to be delivered starting in 2023 and the delivery mission completed by 2026. However, due to changes in the pandemic and supply chain, the first aircraft could not be delivered in the third quarter of this year, and the Air Force is striving for delivery in the fourth quarter. Taiwan has already paid NT$120 billion (about US$3.7 billion) for this fighter jet arms sale, nearing half of the total amount.
September 18:
A mass pager explosion in Lebanon resulted in at least 12 deaths and nearly 3,000 injuries. The Lebanese government and Hezbollah accused Israel of being responsible and vowed retaliation. American media reported that the explosive pagers were manufactured by the Taiwanese brand Gold Apollo. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that Taiwan did not directly export these pagers to Lebanon, and the judiciary is investigating. Gold Apollo also claimed innocence, stating that it had authorized European distributor BAC to manufacture and sell the pagers, and that the company was also a victim.
September 18:
Mainland China's Ministry of Finance announced the third wave termination of tariff concessions for cross-strait trade. Starting from September 25, the policy of exempting import tariffs on 34 Taiwanese agricultural products, including fresh fruits, vegetables, and seafood, will stop. Including the previous two waves, a total of 180 Taiwanese products have had their tariffs reinstated.
September 20:
The most complex financial merger case in Taiwan's history has concluded. On September 16, the Financial Supervisory Commission announced its disapproval of CTBC Financial Holding's application to publicly acquire Shin Kong Financial Holding, effectively eliminating CTBC from the competition. Instead, Taishin Financial Holding and Shin Kong Financial Holding will merge by mutual agreement. On September 20, CTBC held a board meeting and officially decided to terminate the acquisition of Shin Kong Financial Holding.
September 20:
Thirty-seven death row inmates claimed that the death penalty violates human dignity and the right to life and petitioned for a constitutional interpretation. The Constitutional Court ruled that the death penalty is "conditionally constitutional," meaning it can only be applied to cases with the most severe criminal circumstances and where the criminal procedure meets the strictest constitutional due process requirements. The ruling is interpreted as a de facto abolition of the death penalty.
