Taiwan's opposition-controlled parliament on Tuesday approved cuts to this year's budget that President Lai Ching-te's party says will hamper its ability to govern and harm the island's security.

The budget, initially proposed at NT$3.1 trillion (about USD 94 trillion), faced a reduction of NT$207.5 billion (around USD 6 billion) following a vote led by the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) and supported by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP).

A 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck a mountainous, rural area of Taiwan's south on Tuesday near the city of Chiayi, the island's weather administration said, with reports of minor damage. Chipmaker TSMC said it had evacuated staff at its factories in central and southern Taiwan,

Government officials said the two cables connecting Matsu with the main Taiwan island were completely disconnected earlier on Wednesday and were expected to be restored before the end of February. Back-up communications including microwave communications have been activated,

Two ageing subsea telecoms cables serving Taiwan's Matsu archipelago have stopped functioning, with the outages blamed on "natural deterioration", Taipei communication officials said on Wednesday.