The Central News Agency (CNA) has selected Taiwan's 10 biggest news stories of 2022, with the visit by U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi and subsequent military drills launched by China topping the list.
The 2022 list was compiled by CNA news editors between Jan. 1 and Nov. 27.
1. Pelosi's visit and China's military drills
On Aug. 2, Nancy Pelosi became the first speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives to visit Taiwan while in office since Newt Gingrich in 1997.
During the 19-hour stop, Pelosi met with President Tsai Ing-wen (???), local lawmakers and human rights activists, amid strong opposition from Beijing.
In the days after her visit, China launched a series of live-fire military drills in six maritime areas encircling Taiwan, during which it fired multiple missiles into waters to the country's northeast and southwest.
2. Taiwan's local elections
The Kuomintang scored a big victory in Taiwan's Nov. 26 local elections, taking 13 of the 21 cities and countries up for grabs, including four of the country's six biggest metropolitan areas.
The ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), meanwhile, saw its number of local government seats fall from seven to five, leading President Tsai Ing-wen (???) to announce her resignation as party chair later that evening.
In addition to the elections, Taiwan's first-ever referendum on a constitutional amendment, which would have lowered the voting age from 20 to 18, fell well short of the threshold needed to pass.
Focus Taiwan's election coverage
3. Taitung earthquakes
Chishang Township in Taitung County was struck by a series of earthquakes on Sept. 17-18, the largest of which were magnitude 6.8 and 6.4.
At least 164 people were injured and one person died as a result of the quakes, which also damaged buildings and infrastructure across the Hualien-Taitung region.
4. Taiwan ends quarantine for arriving travelers
On Oct. 13, Taiwan ended its mandatory quarantine for arriving travelers after 936 days, marking a major step in its gradual reopening to the world after the COVID-19 pandemic.
? Taiwan to remove weekly arrival cap on Dec. 10
? Taiwan's eased mask mandate takes effect on Dec. 1
? Taiwan's new COVID-19 regulations taking effect Nov. 7
? Taiwan's updated COVID-19 protocols for arriving travelers from Oct. 13
5. Lin Chih-chien plagiarism scandal
Former Hsinchu Mayor Lin Chih-chien (???) announced on Aug. 12 that he would withdraw as the DPP candidate for Taoyuan mayor, just days after he was found to have plagiarized another person's work in his master's degree thesis.
In addition to the possible political fallout from the incident -- the DPP went on to lose the mayorships of both Hsinchu and Taoyuan -- Lin's case was also emblematic of an election season which saw accusations of plagiarism leveled at candidates from across the political spectrum.
6. Insurers record massive losses on COVID-19 policies
As of Oct. 17, local insurers had paid out NT$100.792 billion (US$3.29 billion) on COVID-19 related insurance claims, wiping out years of profits in the country's non-life insurance industry.
As a result of the losses, six of the affected insurers were granted permission to raise NT$70 billion in capital.
7. TSMC's global expansion
Amid a continuing global chip shortage brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic and geopolitical factors, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) expanded its global footprint in 2022 by continuing construction on new plants in Japan and the United States.
On Dec. 7, the company held a tool-in ceremony for a plant it is building in the U.S. state of Arizona, while also announcing the construction of a second fab in the state, bringing its total investment there to US$40 billion.
8. Stabbing deaths of Tainan police officers
On Aug. 22, two Tainan City police officers died of stab wounds after being attacked while pursuing a man suspected of stealing a motorcycle in the city's Annan District earlier that day.
While the suspect -- later identified as a fugitive who had failed to return to the minimum-security prison where he was serving time -- was caught, the incident sparked debate over the rules governing when police officers can fire their weapons.
9. Taiwan's interest rate hikes
On March 17, Taiwan's central bank raised its key interest rates by 0.25 percentage points, marking its first rate hike in over 10 years and its largest interest rate adjustment since the 2008 financial crisis.
The central bank also raised rates by 0.125 percentage points at each of its next three quarterly meetings, bringing the benchmark discount rate to 1.75 percent.
10. Hawkish Fed hits Taiwan currency, stocks
As the U.S. Federal Reserve aggressively raised interest rates to curb inflation this year, the Taiwan Dollar fell to a low of over NT$32 against the greenback and the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) lost 5,990 points from an all-time high of 18,619.
Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors registered net fund outflows of NT$1.4 trillion -- more than that of 2020 and 2021 combined -- while TSMC's stock price on the TWSE plunged by more than 46 percent from a high of NT$688 to a low of NT$370.
In October, the Financial Supervisory Commission introduced three progressively tighter restrictions on short selling in an effort to stabilize the market.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel