■ Crime
Hitman's client arrested
A Taiwanese man who allegedly hired a Chinese hitman to kill his brother for insurance payments has been arrested, police said yesterday. Chung Chin-rung (鍾進榮), 56, took out travel insurance worth NT$5 million (US$155,000) for his 63-year-old brother prior to their departure for southern China in July. Police said he promised about NT$400,000 to a Chinese man to kill his brother on July 27 and brought the ashes back to Taiwan to claim the insurance money. "He had NT$2 million in credit card debts and was plotting to inherit a family house," Kaohsiung County Deputy Police Chief Chen Shu-tien told reporters. The suspected killer, Lee Chihkang (李志剛), 40, was arrested by Chinese police in August and reportedly confessed to accepting money from Chung for the murder. Chung was arrested yesterday in Kaohsiung City and is facing charges in connection to murder and insurance fraud.
■ Weather
Taiwan to get New Year chill
The Central Weather Bureau (CWB) yesterday reported that a strong cold front is moving south and is likely to hit Taiwan on Tuesday. Therefore, the temperature will gradually drop in the next few days, and will be as low as 10?C in northern and central Taiwan when the cold front arrives. The cold front is likely to stay in Taiwan until New Year's Day, and the temperature nationwide will keep dropping until the New Year holiday, the bureau said. Meanwhile, both Mt. Jade and Mt. Hohuan received their first snow of this year last night. Weather forecasters said that it may snow again in the mountainous areas of central Taiwan when the cold front arrives Tuesday.
■ Wildlife
Spoonbill festival begins
The 2004 Black-faced Spoonbill Conservation Festival opened in Tainan County yesterday. The event will run until Jan. 31. The festival is currently being held in Shihfen village of Chihku township, and will include "black-faced spoonbill dancing," a display of fishing tackle, a Christmas music concert and folk song performances, the organizers said. Meanwhile, the black-faced spoonbill museum at Chienkung Elementary School was officially opened to the public, with bird experts describing the habits and characteristics of the rare birds. The organizer also promoted the event by launching a Web site dedicated to the rare birds. More information can be accessed on the Internet at http://happy.tnhg.gov.tw/.
■ Politics
Chang will not resign
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Secretary-General Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) will not resign from his designated legislator position, said a DPP ranking official yesterday. The official, who declined to be named, said Chang can only offer to resign from his designated legislator-at-large position after the opening of the new Legislative session on Feb. 1. And if Chang does not resign, he still has a chance to bid for the next legislative speakership, the source said. Chang has offered to resign as DPP secretary-general as well as legislator-at-large to shoulder responsibility for the DPP's failure to win a legislative majority in the recent elections. Chang's resignation as a legislator-at-large, however, was reportedly declined by President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), who is also the DPP chairman. Since the DPP may nominate candidates to run for the legislative speakership and vice speakership, Chang still has a chance to take the helm of the next legislature, according to the source.
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