It took a long time — 17 years in fact — to half-solve the issue of fishing rights in waters that Taiwanese fishermen used to call “No Man's Land,” and that they were free to fish in before 1972. The area is dominated by the Diaoyutai Islands, which the Japanese claimed in 1895 as terra nullius, which in Latin means “land belonging to no one.”

The announcement by China's State Administration of Foreign Exchange on Tuesday that commercial banks in China are allowed to begin the exchange of New Taiwan dollars — trading under the code “TWD” — is a move that will allow greater participation by Taiwan's financial sector in the mainland market. Banks — including Taiwan's banks — in the mainland will now be able to buy and sell New Taiwan dollars, among other denominations.

Former Premier Frank Hsieh said Monday that his party's cross-strait policies have failed, and that if it does not reconsider its position, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) will have a hard time returning to power.

Last Sunday, Taiwan's professional baseball league set a record, selling more than 215,000 tickets for the first 21 games of the season. This is the most in the league's 23-year-history.

Last week we urged the government to make good preparations for a possible H7N9 avian flu outbreak in Taiwan. But the latest glitch — seemingly insignificant — has led us to question the coordination within the government in the face of a looming epidemic, or perhaps, any major crisis.

When Chiang Kai-shek came to Taiwan at the end of 1949 after he lost the Chinese Civil War, almost all his trusted political lieutenants did not come with him. H. H. Kung, his brother-in-law who married Madame Chiang's eldest sister, and her brother T. V. Soong, did not follow him, but went to the United States in exile instead.

Waste happens. Everybody knows about it. Still, it is shocking to admit that we waste an estimated NT$240 billion worth of food each year in Taiwan. Based on the Council of Agriculture's latest figures, the local CommonWealth Magazine estimates that 17 percent of the 567 kg of food we have access to on average per person is lost or wasted every year.

After weeks of willfully disregarding as bluffs the exceptionally belligerent rhetoric from Pyongyang, world media are finally letting the fact of a real Korea crisis sink in.

As the world has watched with fascination over the past few weeks the persistent high-pitched provocations from North Korea, it is time to think about how the major parties can prevent a meltdown.

Millions of Taiwanese brave heavy traffic over the extended April 4-7 Tomb Sweeping Day weekend to visit family graves. In an age when people can do pretty much anything on their smartphones, the ancient and literally down-to-earth practice of tomb-sweeping is far from outdated. It actually gains a new layer of profound meaning in a world that is becoming more and more virtual and responsive.