Taiwan’s newspapers highlight Tsai Ing-wen backing Shen Po-yang’s Taipei mayoral bid

Former President Tsai Ing-wen accompanied Democratic Progressive Party Taipei mayoral candidate Shen Po-yang to register his candidacy, giving him a ship’s wheel and urging him to keep Taipei on the right course. The gift symbolized city governance as the act of steering a vessel while maintaining a firm direction.

Shen said he wanted to be more than a problem solver. He also wanted to serve as a pioneer who could point the way forward. Together with the candidates running for city council as part of the “Taipei team,” he said, he hoped to help Taipei shine alongside the world’s leading cities.

Public health officials in New Taipei reported an outbreak of acute viral hepatitis C at the Antai Songhe Clinic in Banqiao. Eleven confirmed patients had received injections at the clinic, and nine had highly similar virus sequences, suggesting a likely common source of infection. Authorities identified nine shortcomings involving safe injections and infection control, ordered the clinic to suspend operations, fined it NT$300,000 and referred the physician in charge for disciplinary action. Officials will trace patients who visited during the past year and have asked 1,118 people to undergo blood tests.

In another major case, prosecutors charged 57 people over an alleged romance-fraud network formed in 2022 by Bamboo Union member Huang Chien-hao and his wife, Hsu Hsiang-chi. Investigators said the group used AI to turn the voices of male employees and older women into sweet female voices, targeting wealthy users on dating platforms. More than 20,000 people across Taiwan allegedly lost over NT$900 million. Prosecutors are seeking a 25-year sentence for Huang.

The papers also reported that U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Taiwan would announce an additional $20 billion to $30 billion in investment in the United States. Taiwan officials said a further $20 billion could be added over three months. Separately, Taiwan’s Nuclear Safety Commission said the review of Taipower’s plan to restart Nuclear Plant No. 3 had entered its final administrative stage, with operation potentially resuming by June 2028.

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Take Taipei in the right direction.