■Trade
Talks with London scheduled
Annual trade talks between Taipei and London are slated to take place in Taipei next Tuesday, the British Trade and Cultural Office said in a press release yesterday. Richard Carden, director general, Europe and World Trade, of the UK's Department of Trade and Industry, will lead the British team, the press release said. Carden will meet Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Yiin Chii-ming (尹啟銘), according to the statement. "The talks will cover a range of issues including the current round of WTO trade negotiations, global and bilateral trade issues and areas for future cooperation," the release said.
■ Energy
Chen praises hydro power
President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) said yesterday that more hydroelectric power plants should be constructed in Taiwan to replace nuclear power plants. The president's remarks were quoted by Hsu Chin-hsi (徐金錫), chairman of the Chianan Irrigation Association, following an inspection tour to the Wushantou Reservoir in southern Tainan County. According to Hsu, the president praised the Chianan Irrigation Association for its decision to build the Wushantou Reservoir -- Taiwan's first privately run hydroelectric power plant. Hsu said that Chen called for more such plants to be built in lieu of nuclear power plants because they are cleaner, cheaper and safer.
■ Women's Day
City unveils program
The Taipei City Government unveiled a "Flying Phoenix" plan yesterday on the eve of International Woman's Day to help women start their own businesses or find jobs. "The `Flying Phoenix' plan is the city government's Women's Day present to all female citizens," Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said at a presentation of the plan held in the lobby of the city hall. In addition to offering job market information and counseling services for women aspiring to start their own businesses, Ma said the city government's Bureau of Social Affairs and Bureau of Labor Affairs will join forces with community development associations and private welfare service groups in providing job opportunities for housewives. As part of the presentation of the plan, the social and labor affairs bureaus set up booths offering counseling on applying for bank loans for new businesses and for corporate licenses as well as welfare service information for abused women.
■ Diplomacy
Guatemalan team to visit
Guatemalan Vice President Juan Francisco Reyes Lopez is slated to lead a five-member delegation that will arrive in Taipei next Monday for a four-day official visit, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. The delegation is scheduled to meet with President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) and Minister of Foreign Affairs Eugene Chien (簡又新), the ministry said in a press release. Reyes and his entourage will also visit economic, cultural and tourism establishments during their visit in Taiwan, the statement said. Reyes has visited Taiwan twice before, according to the ministry. He was in Taipei in May 2000 to attend Chen's inauguration ceremony. His first trip to Taiwan took place in December 1991, when he was chairman of the foreign affairs committee of the Guatemalan parliament, the ministry said.
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