January 30:
After taking office, President Donald Trump of the United States ordered a freeze on foreign aid spending for a comprehensive review to ensure it aligns with his "America First" policy goals. Members of Congress and scholars confirmed that over $1 billion in military aid to Taiwan has also been frozen. The Department of State stated that the review is to ensure "America First" and will not speculate on the outcome.
February 3:
One year after the inauguration of the current Legislative Yuan, a major recall movement was initiated by the ruling party. On the first working day after the Chinese New Year holiday, the Central Election Commission received 20 recall proposals, 19 of which targeted Kuomintang (KMT) legislators, while the other targeted Hsinchu Mayor Kao Hung-an from the Taiwan People's Party (TPP). KMT Chairman Eric Chu criticized that while the world is dealing with challenges from artificial intelligence (AI) and tariffs, President Lai is engaging in massive recalls. Chairman Chu stated that the KMT neither seeks conflict nor fears it; if necessary, the party will use conflict to end further conflicts.
February 3:
During the Chinese New Year market closure, the Taiwan stock market faced two major international downturns: U.S. President Trump initiating a tariff war and the delayed negative reaction from AI-related stocks due to DeepSeek. This led to an immediate significant drop at the market’s opening, resulting in an 830-point plunge, closing at 22,684 points. This marked the largest point drop for the Chinese New Year opening and the fourth-largest in history. The semiconductor and AI sectors were heavily affected, with the top five AI server original equipment manufacturers led by Hon Hai (Foxconn) losing over NT$380 billion (about US$10.5 billion) in market value in a single day.
February 3:
The Taipei City Government originally planned to invite officials from the Shanghai Taiwan Affairs Office to attend the Taipei Lantern Festival, but the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) did not grant approval, citing late application submissions. Minister Chiu Chui-cheng of the MAC later admitted that the main reason was that the Shanghai Taiwan Affairs Office obstructed Taiwanese business people from returning to Taiwan for Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) New Year events. He also mentioned that future malicious obstructions by the Taiwan Affairs Office of mainland China's State Council against Taiwanese business people returning to Taiwan for SEF events will be taken into consideration when reviewing applications for entry to Taiwan.
February 4:
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that the South African government has once again requested the Taipei Liaison Office in the Republic of South Africa to move out of the capital city of Pretoria by the end of March. South Africa is also attempting to downgrade the representative office and rename it as a trade office. Currently, both parties are still in negotiations. Scholars caution that the renaming carries greater symbolic significance than relocation and could trigger a domino effect in the future.
February 5:
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Central Standing Committee released a special report on the impact of DeepSeek. President Lai stated that Taiwan is significantly influenced by China in terms of economy and culture and must accelerate the development of AI technology and establish AI regulatory governance. Government agencies are now banned from using DeepSeek and will strengthen cybersecurity protections.
Regarding the trade war initiated by the United States, President Lai indicated that Taiwan should demonstrate a willingness to do more and help more to gain negotiation leverage. Meeting participants relayed that President Lai also mentioned the possibility of purchasing oil and natural gas from Alaska to express goodwill towards the United States.
February 6:
The Legislative Yuan convened. In response to energy issues, the KMT announced plans to amend the Electricity Act in the new session, changing the objective of "nuclear-free homeland by 2025" to a "carbon-free homeland" and extending the decommissioning period for nuclear power plants from 40 years to 60 years. The TPP expressed openness to discuss. The Executive Yuan reiterated that nuclear safety and waste management must be assured; only with societal consensus can further discussions on nuclear energy proceed.
February 6:
In the United States, President Trump signed an executive order banning transgender women from participating in women's sports events and insinuated that Taiwan's gold medalist boxer from last year's Paris Olympics, Lin Yu-ting, is transgender. The Sports Administration, Ministry of Education, and the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee stated that Lin has always been a female athlete and urged the public not to question her gender, vowing to fully protect her rights as an athlete.
