■Fair trade
Textbook publishers fined
The Fair Trade Commission yesterday ruled that three local textbook publishers had contravened the Fair Trade Law (公平交易法) by bidding up textbook prices last year. The three publishers, Kang Shuan Company, Yu-chiao Company and the Nan-I Publishers, will be fined NT$2.9 million, NT$550,000 and NT$2.3 million respectively. The three companies, which account for 75 percent of the textbook market for elementary schools and junior high schools, were fined for raising textbook prices last year by NT$35 to NT$58 per book. The companies were also accused of unfairly restricting their retailers from selling books in certain areas.
■ Development
Economic zone inaugurated
The Economic Processing Zone Administration's (EPZA's) Pingtung branch in southern Taiwan was inaugurated yesterday. The inauguration ceremony was jointly presided over by EPZA Director-General Joseph Chou (周嚴), Pingtung County Government Secretary-General Shih Ching-feng and Pingtung Economic Export Processing Zone Director Lin Chun-teh (林存德). Chou said that the industrial zone is 124 hectares and will be developed in three stages. The zone is scheduled to be completed in 2007 with a development expenditure of NT$7.2 billion and is expected to create 43,600 jobs. Chou said the administration's solicitation of manufacturers to station in the zone has been going smoothly, and that public construction in the zone is making good progress. Lin said his office will provide faster service to manufacturers and investors. The public construction in the zone is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
■ Economics
Lu promotes R&D
Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) called on local business and industrial circles yesterday to redouble their efforts to carry out research and development projects to promote domestic innovation, or what she called "Invention in Taiwan." Lu made the appeal while addressing an annual meeting of the Taiwan Industrial Technology Association (TITA) in Taipei. President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) also extended a congratulatory message to the meeting, which was attended by over 100 TITA members. Local manufacturers should not continue to be proud of the "Made in Taiwan" slogan anymore, but should intensify their R&D efforts, Lu said. Touching on the rush to invest in China, Lu said that Taiwanese manufacturers should think twice before investing there, although their investments would generate a trade surplus for Taiwan.
■ Diplomacy
Guatemala welcomes envoy
Taiwan Ambassador to Guatemala Francisco Ou (歐鴻鍊) presented his credentials to Guatemalan President Alfonso Portillo Wednesday and vowed to enhance friendly ties between the two countries. Portillo welcomed Ou and expressed confidence that bilateral relations will be further advanced during Ou's second tenure in Guatemala. Vice President Juan Francisco Reyes Lopez and foreign ministry officials were also present at the credential presentation. Ou relayed President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) greeting to Portillo and he thanked Portillo for Guatemala's strong support for Taiwan in the international community.
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