■ Identification
IDs will have fingerprints
New national identification cards will contain anti-forgery features and a space reserved for the owner's fingerprint, despite activists' claims that such a requirement violates the cardholder's human rights. The Ministry of the Interior announced yesterday that the new ID cards will be designed using horizontal left-to-right Chinese writing, in accordance with legislation passed early last month mandating that all official documents and related paperwork should be changed to the horizontal left-to-right format from the current vertical right-to-left format, ministry officials said. The new ID cards will carry the cardholder's name, gender and address, as well as his or her parents' names and the name of his or her spouse. The card will not carry the cardholder's original domicile, as in the past, but only their place of birth. The cards will have 20 markers to discourage counterfeiting, including hidden lines, fluorescent paint and embossing, the officials said. The new IDs are expected to be circulated nationwide next year at the latest.
■ Earthquake
Tremor jolts southeast
An earthquake measuring 5.0 on the Richter scale jolted Taiwan yesterday, but there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties, officials said. The tremor struck at 8:09am, with an epicenter around 21km northeast of Taitung, the Seismology Center said. Its epicenter was 3.3km below the ground.
■ Broadcasting
TV companies to be donated
Two government-owned terrestrial television companies, Taiwan Television Enterprise Ltd (TTV), and Chinese Television System (CTS), will be donated to the Public Television Cultural Development Foundation, under a plan to be discussed by the Executive Yuan this week. The plan will be examined by a panel headed by Minister-without-Portfolio Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁). Under the plan worked out by the Government Information Office (GIO), TTV and CTS, of which most stocks were owned by the government, will be run by the foundation after some stock owned privately was bought by the GIO. In addition to the two terrestrial television companies, the All-Hakka Channel ran by the Council for Hakka Affairs and Taiwan Macroview TV, run by the Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission, will also be donated and controlled by the foundation, according to the proposal. This idea has alarmed some opposition lawmakers. Legislator Pang Chien-kuo of the People First Party (PFP) criticized the proposal as a scheme by the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to control all television outlets. However, journalists supported the proposal.
■ Charity
Eden group helping Thais
In a bid to raise funds and materials for poor children in northern Thailand, the Eden Social Welfare Foundation has launched a campaign to collect second-hand clothes for the impoverished people in that region. The foundation also held a brassiere bazaar at Taipei's Hsinyi shopping district on Saturday to raise funds. The brassieres auctioned off at the bazaar were donated by several underwear manufacturers. A spokesman for the foundation said many residents in northern Thailand lead primitive lives. "We hope to raise funds to help improve their living conditions and health care," he said. People interested in donating used clothes or money can contact the foundation by phone (02-25784514, ext. 207) or donate cash to its postal account (19793932).
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