■ Politics
Yu condemns violence
Premier Yu Shyi-kun yesterday expressed regret over the brutality of last Saturday's demonstration which left 96 people injured, condemning opposition leaders for failing to constrain their supporters and inciting violence. Yu also requested government agencies look into the instigators and punish them accordingly. The Government Information Office said it would assist reporters and photographers who were injured or who had equipment damaged during the incident to apply for compensation. Cabinet Spokesman Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the idea was proposed by Chang Fu-mei (張富美), head of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission, during yesterday morning's weekly Cabinet meeting. At the meeting, Minister of the Interior Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) called on the Taipei City Government to carefully review applications for mass gatherings in future, taking into account both the rights of citizens and the public interest.
■ Politics
National Assembly, RIP
Legislators serving on the Constitutional Amendment Committee have agreed to abolish the National Assembly altogether with an amendment to the First Article in the Additional Articles to the Constitution (憲法增修條文). The National Assembly originally voted on constitutional amendments and changes to national territory, but with the assembly's abolition these amendments would instead be put to a referendum after approval in the legislature. The legislators, however, could not agree on amendments to other articles, with most showing a lack of enthusiasm toward the session because of President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) agenda to introduce a new constitution in 2006. The session was brought to an end after an hour as increasing numbers of committee members left the meeting. Although agreed to, the abolition of the National Assembly must wait until other amendments are passed by the committee and sent to the Legislative Yuan.
■ Transport
Sailors missing off India
India's coast guard has rescued another three crew members of a cargo ship that sank off Calcutta and was searching for the Taiwanese captain and four Chinese crew who were still missing, an official said yesterday. Nine crew were rescued after the boat sank in heavy seas on Tuesday. "Twelve out of 17 sailors have so far been rescued ... Our search operation will continue until Thursday," said Randeep Kumar Wadhwa, a coast guard commander. Wadhwa said the 23-year-old Panama-registered ship sank without trace some 400km southeast of Calcutta in the Bay of Bengal. He identified the captain of the 96m ship as Taiwanese, while the other crew members were Chinese.
■ Cross-strait ties
Illegal migrants a burden
The large number of Chinese stowaways in detention centers has created a heavy financial burden for the government, a Criminal Investigation Bureau spokesman said yesterday. He said a total of 2,237 illegal immigrants were repatriated to China last year and 674 were sent back in the first two months of this year. He said 2,155 people remain detained -- 1,132 at the Ilan center, 1,011 at the Hsinchu center and 12 at the center on Matsu. Meanwhile, the bureau warned yesterday that more young Chinese women had illegally entered the country to work in the sex industry. Statistics show that 1,962 female stowaways were arrested last year.
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