Pet dogs and cats are being stolen in Taiwan and smuggled into China as pet ownership becomes the latest trend among China's newly rich, a Chinese-language newspaper reported yesterday.
Everything from pocket-sized Chihuahuas to German shepherds are being smuggled across to China where pet ownership used to be discouraged as a sign of bourgeois living, the newspaper reported.
A dog or cat can sell for between 5,000 yuan (US$625) and 50,000 yuan (US$6,250) in a Beijing pet shop, it said.
Neither China or Taiwan can breed the pets fast enough to meet the demand so many smugglers steal the most popular species from pet owners, the newspaper quoted unidentified breeders as saying.
Indeed, animal hospitals and community billboards are full of ads looking for missing dogs and cats.
The animals are smuggled across the Taiwan Strait mainly by fishing boats, sometimes in sealed compartments which can result in many of them dying before they reach their destination.
Pet ownership in China has been tolerated in the past decade but tight restrictions are imposed by city authorities to keep the environment clean.
In Beijing, registering a dog costs US$600 initially, plus another US$240 a year.
Thousands of Chinese owners are believed to be hiding their pets to avoid paying the registration fee, the Taiwanese newspaper said.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-Wong tomorrow, which it said would possibly make landfall near central Taiwan. As of 2am yesterday, Fung-Wong was about 1,760km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving west-northwest at 26kph. It is forecast to reach Luzon in the northern Philippines by tomorrow, the CWA said. After entering the South China Sea, Typhoon Fung-Wong is likely to turn northward toward Taiwan, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張峻堯) said, adding that it would likely make landfall near central Taiwan. The CWA expects to issue a land
Taiwan’s exports soared to an all-time high of US$61.8 billion last month, surging 49.7 percent from a year earlier, as the global frenzy for artificial intelligence (AI) applications and new consumer electronics powered shipments of high-tech goods, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. It was the first time exports had exceeded the US$60 billion mark, fueled by the global boom in AI development that has significantly boosted Taiwanese companies across the international supply chain, Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) told a media briefing. “There is a consensus among major AI players that the upcycle is still in its early stage,”
‘SECRETS’: While saying China would not attack during his presidency, Donald Trump declined to say how Washington would respond if Beijing were to take military action US President Donald Trump said that China would not take military action against Taiwan while he is president, as the Chinese leaders “know the consequences.” Trump made the statement during an interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes program that aired on Sunday, a few days after his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in South Korea. “He [Xi] has openly said, and his people have openly said at meetings, ‘we would never do anything while President Trump is president,’ because they know the consequences,” Trump said in the interview. However, he repeatedly declined to say exactly how Washington would respond in
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said yesterday that China using armed force against Taiwan could constitute a "survival-threatening situation" for Japan, allowing the country to mobilize the Japanese armed forces under its security laws. Takaichi made the remarks during a parliamentary session yesterday while responding to a question about whether a "Taiwan contingency" involving a Chinese naval blockade would qualify as a "survival-threatening situation" for Japan, according to a report by Japan’s Asahi Shimbun. "If warships are used and other armed actions are involved, I believe this could constitute a survival- threatening
RSS