■ Tourism
Yu launches new program
Bellowing "Naruwan, wel-come to Taiwan!" Premier Yu Shyi-kun yesterday announced that next year will be "Taiwan Tourism Year." Naruwan means "how are you" in indigenous language. "We hope every citizen would become an ambassador of the program and help bring in 3 million foreign tourists next year," he told a press conference held at the Executive Yuan to launch a series of activities to promote tourism. Five tasks have been set to meet the goal, including domestic and international promo-tional campaigns, interna-tional festivals, development of travel packages and the establishment of convenient online travel information. The tourism program is part of the Cabinet's six-year, NT$2.6 trillion national development project. The Cabinet hopes to double the annual number of foreign tourists from the current 2.6 million to 5 million by 2008.
PHOTO: AFP
■ cross-strait ties
Matsu wants fewer limits
Matsu officials asked the government yesterday to relax restrictions on links with China. Lienchiang County Commissioner Chen Shue-sheng (陳雪生) made the plea while attending a seminar on the review of the "small three links." Nine legislators attended the seminar, as well as more than 50 government officials, including Mainland Affairs Council Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Vice Minister of the Interior Chien Tai-lang (簡太郎), and Vice Minister of Transportation and Communications You Fan-lai (游芳來). Chen suggested that the central government be in charge of issues concerning policies, but leave the technical issues to the local government to deal with through consulta-tions with China. He also suggested that Matsu residents who later settle in Taiwan proper be allowed to travel to China via Matsu.
■ Agriculture
Japan to import rice
Japan has agreed to import rice from Taiwan, a move seen by Taiwanese farm officials as confirmation of the fine quality of Taiwanese rice, a Council of Agriculture official said yesterday. Hsieh Hung-jen said two Japanese officials visited the country last month to inspect rice fields and the processing and storage of rice. "They were satisfied with the quality of Taiwanese rice and agreed to start imports next spring. Rice exporters will bid for the contract through inter-national tenders," he said. Taiwan has 350,000 rice farmers and grows enough for its own consumption and exports about 90,718 tonnes a year.
■ Labor
Temps to get bonus
In a bid to help underprivi-leged workers who are temporarily employed by government agencies have a happy Lunar New Year, Premier Yu Shyi-kun yester-day approved awarding each of the 62,000 temporary workers a NT$5,000 bonus. Yu said that the workers deserve the reward because they do not get paid during the six-day Lunar New Year holiday, making their salary that month less than the NT$15,840 minimum wage. Yu approved the proposal after a briefing by Council of Labor Affairs Chairwoman Chen Chu (陳菊) during the weekly Cabinet meeting. The Lunar New Year holiday next year will run from Jan. 21 to Jan. 27.
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