Tired of the usual summer pastimes like water sports or whiling away the hours on a Playstation? The Executive Yuan is gearing up efforts to launch a cycle tour around Taiwan island and encouraging the public, especially youngsters, to engage in healthy activities during the summer.
"To encourage the public to participate in healthy summer activities, we would like to encourage people to participate in this event, especially youngsters," said Huang Hui-chen (黃輝珍), director-general of the Cabinet's Government Information Office (GIO).
Huang yesterday invited Huang Chin-pao (
Huang, a 43-year-old welder, along with his wife and two teenage sons, just finished a 23,600km global trek that began in July last year. They put their lives on hold to spend time as a family and complete the ambitious bicycle trip around the world.
They used four specially designed, heavy-duty bikes carrying supplies. One bicycle with its equipment, supplies and rider weighs more than 200kg.
Their global trek began in Hong Kong and continued all the way through China.
The family even braved the Gobi Desert. They then passed through Pakistan, where they witnessed military skirmishes.
From there they cycled through Iran, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Austria, Germany and the Netherlands, going through over 100 bicycle tires along the way.
The ride in the US took them from New York state, through Cleveland, Chicago, Minneapolis, Minot, Shelby and Spokane, Washington, to Seattle. They flew from Seattle to San Francisco for a stay of several days before returning to Taiwan on Aug. 3.
In retrospect, Huang said it was a meaningful journey for both himself and his family, although the past year on the road was tough.
"We wouldn't have made it through if not for the generosity and friendship of some people," Huang said.
If he could do it, Huang said, then he believes other people can do it too, if they have dreams of their own.
"I've always believed in doing something to make your dreams come true, instead of just talking about it," Huang said.
The 19-year-old Huang Chien-chia (
"I realize how lucky I am to live in a country where there are so many resources and so many opportunities," he said.
His 16-year-old brother, Huang Tsong-fu (
"Since a lot of people kindly offered their help to us, I'll do the same to those people in need," he said.
The junior Huang will go back to Chongloon High School this fall semester.
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