■ Society
Marriage record confirmed
A Taoyuan couple married for 85 years were certified yesterday by the Guinness Book of World Records to be the world's longest married couple, surpassing the former record holders -- an American couple married for 83 years. Liu Yung-yang (劉永養), 103, and his wife Yang Wan (楊完), 102, held hands as they received the certificate at their home. They were married in April 1917, two years earlier than Americans William and Claudia Lillian Ritchie of Lexington, Kentucky. At the request of relatives, Liu, wearing a new brown suit, sang several folk songs as his wife, in a blue satin gown, listened. While her husband appeared in good health, Yang Wan has to use a wheelchair and has lost her eyesight. About 40 of the couple's 110 children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren gathered at their three-story house to celebrate the new record-holders.
■ Diplomacy
Lee urges ties with Japan
Former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) has urged Taiwan and Japanese youths to increase exchanges to help boost relations between the two countries. Lee made the remarks in an interview broadcast yesterday by Nihon Short-Wave Broadcasting Co. The 40-minute interview was part of a three-hour program on Japan and Taiwan in the 21st century. It was the first time that Lee has ever given a long interview to a Japanese radio station. The interview was conducted by noted Japanese Kabuki actor Manchiro Ichimura and his wife Kiyoko, and focused on Taiwan's historical and cultural development, Japanese colonial rule and Taiwan-Japanese relations after World War II. The Ichimuras visited Taipei last month to conduct the interview.
Agencies
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods