Mobile internet to be disrupted for military drills in August

Mobile internet to be disrupted for military drills in August

2026-07-21

If you are the kind who can’t go a minute without checking your phone, you definitely want to jot this down. For the first time ever, Taiwan’s military will conduct a drill simulating a disruption to mobile internet services this August. The drill will be held as part of the Han Kuang military exercises, which run from Aug. 5 to 14, and will cover 14 cities and counties across Northern and Central Taiwan. But officials are stressing that this is not actually a complete internet shutdown. Let’s hear more.

I would also like to take the opportunity to explain the drills to everyone. Mobile internet services won’t be cut off fully. The connection speed will be slowed down, to simulate a disruption as caused by a natural disaster or a large-scale cyber attack. If you require a connection you can use fixed lines, or Wi-Fi. Taiwan isn’t the first in the world to conduct a drill of this kind. Democracies such as Japan, South Korea, Singapore and some European countries have conducted drills where they simulate power outages or cyberattacks on internet communications systems. It’s common practice, as these simulations enhance the resilience of democratic countries.

During the drill, mobile phones will still be able to make voice calls and send SMS messages. Emergency services, including 110 and 119, will also remain fully operational, while disaster warning text messages will not be affected. The Central Taiwan drill will take place from 2:30 to 3:00 p.m. on August 10. In Northern Taiwan, the disruption will take place at the same time on Aug. 13.

For more Taiwan news, tune in:
Mon to Fri at 9:30 pm on Channel 152
Tue to Sat at 1 am on Channel 53

#drill #phone #internet #connection #network #data

14縣市城鎮韌性演習網路將受阻? 府:非斷網是"降速"演習

2026-07-21

國軍漢光42號演習，將於8月5日至14日展開，其中城鎮韌性（防空）演習首度加入「行動網路受阻」演練科目，鎖定全國行動通訊流量最密集的中部、北部共14縣市。

[[總統府發言人郭雅慧]]
“我也趁機向大家說明喔，並不是要斷網，它是一個降速的演習，那主要是針對說，如果有一些突發天然災害，或者是大規模的網路攻擊，像這樣的情況之下，國人都可以知道說，備援系統可以轉到固網啊，Wi-Fi啊。這不是台灣首創的，在國際上，包括像是日本、南韓，還有新加坡跟歐盟民主國家，都有特別針對了像是斷電，或者是網路攻擊通訊受阻，這些情況來做演練模擬，那就是民主國家大家提升韌性，一個很普遍性的共同做法”

漢光演習斷網演練期間，手機僅能維持語音通話與簡訊功能，但110、119等緊急報案專線與災防告警簡訊完全不受影響。分別為8月10日下午2時30分至3時實施的中部演習；8月13日下午2時30分至3時實施的北部演習。

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We usually just print it like normal. Using a craft special to Tainan for the menu will make this place unique.

Items on the menu include tofu pudding and grass jelly, all for only NT$30, yet the custom board alone will easily run into the hundreds of thousands. Only someone from Tainan could be crazy enough to wrap something so ordinary in pure luxury.

Liu Chin-wen
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I was surprised. You’re selling tofu pudding for NT$30, but this board will be over NT$100,000. Do you really want to do it? But he figured that reflecting the history was more important.

The order came by introduction from a friend of Liu Chin-wen who works in the food industry. The entrepreneur opened a well-known restaurant in Tainan that has received Bib Gourmand recognition for many years. Now, he’s preparing to open a tofu pudding shop. As the location happens to be next to the birthplace of this carving style, he decided to integrate it into the design.

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The innovative part is carving my photograph directly into the menu board in the special Tainan style. We hope to be able to hand it down through the generations.

It’s not cheap to make a menu board this exquisite, which has left people wondering: If prices go up, will they have to remake the sign? Chou said the specially crafted board isn’t just to drive business—more importantly, he hopes it will hang proudly over the old street as a part of Tainan’s rich history.

For more Taiwan news, tune in:
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Wei Jung-tai, celebrated in the horticultural industry as an expert on foxtail orchids, served as a band director for numerous variety shows in his earlier days. In recent years, he’s assembled a team of musicians who used to headline all kinds of concert halls and cabaret shows into their own band. They go around the country performing charity concerts for audiences to enjoy and reminisce about the bygone heyday of Taiwan’s cabaret culture.

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Every musician on the stage was once a highly sought-after performer for cabarets and nightclubs in the 1970s. Many years later, Wei brought them all together to form this ensemble.

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Wei currently serves as the chair of a successful orchid enterprise specializing in rare foxtail orchids, alongside operating a highly successful restaurant venture. He began studying the piano at four years old and later switched to the keyboard, eventually working as a musical director at various performance venues. His biggest wish was to form a group that would allow his former colleagues to take the stage together once more.

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I’m bringing these older musicians back to give charity shows together. After deducting our basic expenditures, all remaining proceeds are donated to help orphans, foster homes, and elderly people who live alone.

Giving back through their musical expertise, the group opens their concerts free of charge to elderly people living alone and vulnerable children. These musicians are proving that passion knows no age, as they reignite the creative spark of their golden years.

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As the AI wave is here to stay, science education is taking root at a younger age. National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University is hosting a semiconductor summer camp, which this year welcomed students from Ukraine who communicated with the participants entirely in English. The curriculum also incorporates interactive devices designed in Taiwan, transforming difficult chipmaking principles into interactive activities that students can actually touch and play around with.

Holding an interactive device as she looks at the electrical current on the screen, a high schooler from Hsinchu uses English to explain the principles of voltage, current, and short circuits to the class. Her voice never wavers, showing remarkable stage presence.

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Professor Wen, who designed the program, and Lora Ho, a former senior VP at TSMC, are both former students of Hsinchu Girls’ Senior High. They also hope to expose more students to AI early in their education.

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I wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to finish the program with the assistance of these teachers.

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First of all, Professor Wen is an alumna of our school—and a distinguished one at that. At the moment, high-school textbooks don’t have anything on semiconductors. Coming here to teach our students about semiconductors, and having Ukrainian students guide them, makes the topic into an opportunity for international exchange.

Taiwan is incorporating semiconductors into the curriculum ahead of schedule, giving students the chance to enter the industry on more solid footing.

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Introducing three of Beitou’s most famous tea shops

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Many people come to Beitou to enjoy the black tea there, but locals still debate which shop has the best kind. There’s a popular tea shop in the market called Cai Yuan Yi, one that sells 3-kilogram bags of tea called Gao Ji, and another popular one on Guangming Road called Ming Quan.

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There might be more people selling it these days. Locals had it first, then visitors tried it and found the quality was pretty good. With the internet so big now, word spreads quickly, and everyone thinks that coming to Beitou means you should have black tea.

Beitou’s black tea culture dates back to the Japanese colonial era, when tea plantations covered Datun Mountain. As demand grew, local farmers began growing black tea, and by the mid-1970s, production shifted from export markets to domestic consumption. But as for which shop is the best—that’s still up for debate.

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What is happening? Police officers holding batons stand on the road, and a crowd of onlookers forms a semicircle. Even passing motorists stop to watch. The tension is palpable. Look up a bit and… it’s a macaque! Perched on the building’s façade looking over downtown Kaohsiung.

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Right on target! But instead of succumbing to sleep on the spot, the monkey started running amok and fell to the ground, baring its sharp teeth to anyone that got in the way. The final struggle is worthy of an epic.

Some people grab traffic cones to catch the monkey, while others rush forward with a net. Finally, sweet victory for the humans, as the group subdues the monkey. This macaque had been terrorizing Kaohsiung for three days.

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It ripped off a piece of watermelon from a customer. While it was eating it over in the alley, I called the police over.

Voice of Chen Hsiu-fen
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We determined that the macaque strayed away from the pack in Chaishan.

The areas surrounding Chaishan and Shoushan Zoo are packed with macaques. It is unknown why one of them decided to venture into the city, where it was spotted making the trip to the Neiwei Arts Center, the popular Liuhe Night Market, and finally Linsen 1st Road, which is at least 6km away. The Kaohsiung Agricultural Bureau says the sightings are indeed the same monkey, a macaque that has been taken for a checkup at the zoo and will be released at a future date. With monkeys traveling deeper into the city, the question now is how to strike a balance of coexistence.

For more Taiwan news, tune in:
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