■ Culture
Cyclist lauds Canadians
A Taiwanese cyclist said in Ottawa on Thursday that he had been impressed by the friendliness of Canadians during his cycling trek across the country. Lin Chun-chieh (林群杰) made the remarks while meeting officials at the Taiwan representative office in Canada and several Taiwanese expatriates residing in Ottawa. Lin, 27, started his bicycle journey across Canada from Vancouver in mid-May and arrived in Ottawa from Toronto on Wednesday for a three-day stay. Lin will head for Montreal today, continuing his journey that will take him to several other Canadian cities, including Quebec City and Halifax.
■ Business
Chunghwa Post eyes food
Chunghwa Post has expanded its business operations to speedy delivery of fresh and frozen groceries. Since January, Chunghwa Post has offered speedy delivery services nationwide, delivering fresh and costly groceries such as expensive tuna sashimi from Pingtung, tasty rice dumplings from Tainan and lychees from Kaohsiung. Each shipment -- weighing under 20kg and valued at under NT$20,000 -- is delivered within hours among cities and counties, and even faster if the shipment is destined for a location within the same city, Chunghwa officials said. In view of the growing demand for such a service, Chunghwa Post has recently increased the number of post offices offering speedy fresh delivery to 13 from the original six.
■ Crime
Fugitive arrested in China
Undercover police sources reported yesterday that Hsueh Chiu (薛球), one of the country's most wanted fugitives, was arrested by the Chinese police in Chuhai in China's Guangtung Province. As of press time yesterday, the National Police Agency's Criminal Investigation Bureau would not confirm Hsueh's arrest and said that the Chinese police have not responded to any of the bureau's requests for confirmation about the arrests of Hsueh and his partner Chen Yi-hua (陳益華). According to the police source, Hsueh was arrested and detained by the Chinese police at his home on July 14. Chen, Hsueh's long-term friend and business partner, was reported to have been arrested on July 6 in Xiamen, Fuchien Province. The fugitives have been accused of attempted to blackmail Yang Teng-kuei (楊登魁), owner of the local cable TV station GTV, two weeks ago.
■ Politics
New recruit for Ma team
Independent Legislator Su Ying-kuei (蘇盈貴) yesterday confirmed a rumor that he will work under Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九). Su said that he and Ma had talked about a position in the Taipei City Government for a while, and that he had agreed to join Ma's team recently. It was widely rumored that Su would either become the chairman of the Research, Development and Evaluation Commission or the head of the Department of Labor, but Su denied that he would be assigned to either agency. It is understood he may instead become the chairman of the Human Rights Commission. Su said that his new position would not be in conflict with his legislative work and would not affect his participation in December's legislative elections. Su said that his position would be announced by Ma before going abroad on July 25.
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