MIL Asia Pacific Publishing Engine

Source: Republic of China Taiwan

On October 21, 2025, Director General William Liu of Taiwan’s International Trade Administration (TITA) under the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA), met with Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd and Florida Commerce Secretary J. Alex Kelly to advance cooperation under the Taiwan-Florida Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that was signed in January 2025.

During the meeting, both sides reviewed progress made since the signing of the MOU and exchanged views on further deepening partnership and supporting the development of the high-tech industry.

The discussions noted that Florida’s unique industrial environment positions it as an ideal partner for Taiwan in such sectors as aerospace and aviation, defense, advanced air mobility (including unmanned aircraft systems), life sciences, and energy R&D.

The meeting reaffirmed continued cooperation through trade shows, delegation exchanges, and seminars to leverage the complementary strengths and advance a stronger long-term partnership.

In 2024, the total bilateral merchandise trade between Florida and Taiwan was US$1.2 billion, making Taiwan Florida’s 9th largest bilateral merchandise trading partner in the Asia–Pacific region. Taiwan is one of Florida’s most significant markets. In 2024, Taiwan imported US$266 million in goods from Florida.

Source: Republic of China Taiwan

On October 20, 2025, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-Hsin and Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Economic and Trade Cooperation, marking a new milestone in strengthening bilateral cooperation.

This MOU sets the stage for collaboration across various sectors, such as artificial intelligence, computing servers, and advanced manufacturing, thereby laying the foundation for deeper trade, investment, and industrial partnerships between the two sides.

Minister Kung emphasized that Tennessee, renowned for its robust automotive sector and its emergence as an important AI hub in the United States, is a key partner for Taiwan in advancing its industrial capabilities and strengthening supply chain resilience.

He further welcomed Tennessee’s plan to establish a representative office in Taiwan, which Governor Lee highlighted would be Tennessee’s 13th global presence, providing a direct channel for Taiwanese companies and facilitating closer ties between both sides.

Bilateral trade has grown substantially, rising from US$4.59 billion in 2022 to US$7.76 billion in 2024. With this MOU, both sides reaffirm their commitments to intensifying their industrial cooperation and advancing mutually beneficial win-win partnerships.

Source: Hong Kong Information Services

Following the order to remove scaffold nets issued by the Buildings Department (BD), as of 6pm today, 224 private buildings have had their scaffold nets removed from external walls.

Four cases undergoing removal work have requested an extension of time which the BD has accepted. It is expected that the work will be finished within this week.

The removal work of scaffold nets from the remaining two private buildings has been affected by ongoing contractual disputes between the contractors and the incorporated owners. The BD has arranged for government contractors to carry out the work and will recover the costs later.

Additionally, the Architectural Services Department has completed the removal of scaffold nets at the government buildings under its purview before the deadline.

Financial support
As of 1pm today, donations received for the Support Fund for Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po have reached about $3 billion, on top of the $300 million startup capital from the Government, taking the fund’s total to around $3.3 billion.

The Government earlier announced that the fund will provide a living allowance to each affected household. As of today, 1,273 cases have been processed. The living allowance is increased from $50,000 to $100,000 and will be disbursed in phases.

The fund will also provide families of each deceased victim with a token of solidarity of $200,000, as well as $50,000 to cover funeral costs. As of today, a total of 90 cases have been processed.

The Government has so far disbursed an emergency subsidy of $10,000 to 1,931 households.

Social workers from the Social Welfare Department have been in contact with more than 1,970 affected households, and more than 4,900 residents have been registered for the “one social worker per household” follow-up service. 

Accommodation arrangements
As of this morning, a total of 1,408 residents have been accommodated through the co-ordination of the Home & Youth Affairs Bureau, in youth hostels, camps or hotel rooms. Another 2,702 residents have moved into transitional housing units provided by the Housing Bureau or units from the Hong Kong Housing Society.

Relief supplies
On the supplies donation online platform, the Government has so far received about 1,600 registrations, of which approximately 30% were submitted by organisations. Over 4,800 pieces of donation items covering various categories have been distributed to different places.

Regulation work   
As of 4pm today, the Labour Department has inspected 332 construction sites, issued a total of 170 written warnings and 95 improvement notices, and taken out 25 prosecutions.

Source: Hong Kong Information Services

Electoral Affairs Commission (EAC) Chairman David Lok said the commission observed that the operation of 2025 Legislative Council General Election polling stations is smooth.

Mr Lok, along with EAC members Prof Daniel Shek and Bernard Man, visited the election’s Central Command Centre and Statistical Information Centre today. They also inspected the Near Boundary Polling Station at Hong Kong International Airport Terminal 2, and the Ordinary Polling Stations located in different districts.

Noting that the EAC, like all Hong Kong citizens, was deeply saddened by the fire in Tai Po, Mr Lok said: “Yet, we believe that in this difficult time, it is even more important that electors should cast their votes in the Legislative Council General Election to fulfil their civic responsibility in a serious manner and elect a new term of Legislative Council members for them to carry out their crucial functions and meet the overall interests of Hong Kong.

“I appeal to all electors across Hong Kong to make use of their sacred votes to elect the new Legislative Council and build a better Hong Kong that we call home together.”

As at 12.30pm, 536,527 electors for geographical constituencies have voted, bringing the accumulative turnout rate to 12.99%.

The Registration & Electoral Office’s hotline at 2891 1001 will be in service until midnight to answer enquiries relating to the election.

Meanwhile, the complaints hotline at 2827 7251 will also operate until midnight to handle cases about breaches of electoral rules and guidelines.

Source: Hong Kong Information Services

Police’s National Security Department today arrested a 71-year-old local man in Sheung Shui for “prejudicing of investigation of offences endangering national security” and “doing an act that has a seditious intention with a seditious intention” in contravention of sections 88 and 24 of the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance respectively.

Investigations revealed that the arrested man was suspected of disclosing details of a case endangering national security, after assisting with the probe conducted earlier by department officers.

He was also suspected of publishing multiple videos with seditious intention online, with content provoking hatred towards the central authorities, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government and the Judiciary.

The man is being detained for further enquiries.

Police took law enforcement actions based on evidence and in accordance with the actual circumstances, and applied section 88 of the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance for the first time.