■ Diplomacy
Vietnamese meet officials
Vietnamese officials called on Tainan County Commis-sioner Su Huan-chi (蘇煥智) yesterday, with the aim of enhancing bilateral exchanges. The officials, including Ho Chi Minh City's environmental resources chief Tran The Ngoc and the city's environmental pro-tection chief Nguyen Dinh Tuan, said they hoped to learn about Tainan County's experience in environmen-tal protection, garbage disposal and recycling on their first trip to Taiwan. Tran said Taiwanese busi-nesspeople represent the largest group among foreign businesspeople in Ho Chi Minh City, adding that he hopes that relations between Taiwan and Vietnam will improve. Su said that bilateral relations are becoming closer, adding that more than 1,000 Vietnamese women are married to Taiwanese men.
■ Entertainment
Host faces gambling tax
The National Tax Admin-istration has ordered a famous variety show host to pay income tax on the NT$ 2 million he won last year at mahjong. The agency has started auditing this year's income tax filings with focus on entertainers and dentists, according to local newspapers. Hu Gua (胡瓜), randomly selected for the auditing, failed to report the NT$2 million, which should have been listed as "additional income," the papers quoted tax officials as saying. Hu claimed that he had already "clarified the matter" with the agency and his case had been closed, the papers said.
■ Americans
Voter registration promoted
The group Democrats Abroad Taiwan is urging US citizens living in this country to register to vote in the 2004 US general election in November and has organized several events in Taipei to help people sign up. One registration drive will be held tomorrow at the Living Room from 6pm to before the show and the second on Sunday at Grandma Nitti's from 11am to 5pm. The Living Room is located at 3F, #8, Nanjing E. Rd, Sec. 5 (tel: 02-8787-4154). Grandma Nitti's is at No. 8, Lane 93, Shihta Rd (tel: 2369-9751). Instructions on registering to vote and requesting an absentee ballot can also be found via the Internet (www.overseas-vote.com; www.overseas-vote2004.com; www.tellan-americantovote.com or www.fvap.gov). More information on the Demo-crats Abroad organization in Taiwan and around the world can be obtained from www.demsabroad.org. You can also call Tammy at 2368-9023 ext.130 if you have any voter registration questions.
■ Diplomacy
MOFA to hold English test
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) and the Ministry of Education have launched a joint selection of potential diplomats through an English competition that will run from next month through December, MOFA said in a press release yesterday. The ministry said the aim of the competition is to promote English learning among young people and develop their interest in international affairs. The program is part of the government's efforts to carry out President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) "People's Diplomacy" and the Cabi-net's national development projects. Participants must be high school students. Each high school can dispatch a four-person team. The final round will take place in December. Teams winning the first three places will earn cash prizes and be offered opportunities to visit foreign countries during the winter vacation, MOFA said.
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