■ Politics
KMT sets final allocations
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday released the last of its vote allocation strategies for Saturday's elections, for Taipei County's first and third constituencies. KMT Organization and Development Committee director Liao Fung-teh (廖風德) said votes have been allocated between three New Party and KMT candidates by voters' birth months. Those pan-blue supporters born between January and April should vote for Lin Hung-chih (林鴻池), those born between May and August should vote for Lee Sheng-feng (李勝峰) and those whose birthdays fall between September and December should vote for Lee Chia-chin (李嘉進). In the third constituency, voters are also to split votes between four candidates by birth month: Lo Ming-tsai (羅明才), Hung Shiu-chu (洪秀柱), Joanna Lei (雷倩) and Chang Chin-chung (張慶忠).
■ Politics
CEC ejects TSU candidate
The Central Election Commission (CEC) yesterday revoked the candidacy of national policy advisor to the president Chen Yung-hsing (陳永興) in the legislative elections. The CEC said Chen, a PhD student at the Kaohsiung Medical University, has violated the Public Officials Election and Recall Law (公職人員選舉罷免法), which bans any registered students from running as candidates in elections. Chen is the No. 1 candidate on the Taiwan Solidarity Union's (TSU) list of legislator-at-large nominees. The CEC launched an investigation on the legitimacy of his candidacy after media reports exposed that he is currently studying at Kaohsiung Medical University.
■ Politics
Over 3,000 attend rallies
As of the end of October, police authorities across the country approved a total of 3,285 demonstrations involving more than 10 million people, according to statistics provided by the National Police Administration (NPA). A total of 245,400 policemen were mobilized to maintain order in the protests and rallies, some 83 percent of which were politically motivated, NPA statistics show. The January-October demonstration number reflects a noticeable rise of 2,395 over the previous year's level. NPA officials attributed the large growth to the March 20 presidential election and historic referendum, as well as the July 17 by-election of Kaohsiung City councilmen. NPA officials estimated that more than 10 million people took part in the more than 3,000 gatherings, mainly in Taipei City, Kaohsiung City and Taipei County, an indication that protests and rallies are conducted mainly in urban areas. A total of 456 demonstrations were held in Taipei City, so far this year.
■ Immigration
Seat belt gives away illegal
A Chinese illegal job seeker gave himself away by unknowingly tying a taxi seat belt around his neck, a Taiwan newspaper said yesterday. Jiang Guoxing (江國興), 41, was riding in a taxi in Taipei Monday evening when the taxi driver saw a policeman conducting security checks ahead, a local newspaper reported. The taxi driver, fearing he would be fined if the policeman saw his passenger not wearing a safety belt, told Jiang to "Tie the safety belt." A perplexed Jiang hastily pulled the safety belt and tied it around his neck. "When the policeman stopped the taxi and saw the safety belt around Jiang's neck, he knew right away Jiang was an illegal Chinese job seeker and arrested Jiang," the paper 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