■ Politics
Hsieh sets press conference
Premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) is to hold a press conference today to name Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER) president Wu Rong-i (吳榮義) as vice premier, according to a Central News Agency report last night. Wu, who was due to depart for Hawaii yesterday for a week-long APEC preparatory meeting, canceled his trip and is expected to show up at the press conference. Hsieh had earlier offered the job to Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Vice Chairman Chiang Pin-kun (江丙坤) and said he would give Chiang until Feb. 17 to accept. Chiang has also served as chairman of the Council for Economic Planning and Development.
■ Politics
Aides to finalize meeting
Top aides of President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) are scheduled to meet today to finalize details of the much-anticipated Chen-Soong meeting. Secretary-General of the Presidential Office Yu Shyi-kun will meet with PFP Secretary-General Chin Chin-sheng (秦金生) at the Taipei Guest House to hammer out the date, venue, format and agenda. Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) whip Lai Ching-teh (賴清德) said recently that the DPP hopes the meeting could contribute to the passage of major bills related to people's livelihoods, in addition to addressing cross-strait issues. Meanwhile, PFP whip Liu Wen-hsiung (劉文雄) said that his party will stand firm during the Chen-Soong meeting on the issue of Taiwan's status. Liu said all topics, including cross-strait affairs, should be open to discussion during that meeting.
■ National Security
Taipei's defenses boosted
In a move to guard against a possible lightening attack by China on Taipei, the government is redeploying marines from central Taiwan, a Chinese-language newspaper reported yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense will move the marines, called Brigade 66, to Linkou starting next month, the report said. The deployment would be completed before July, the paper said. Brigade 66 is currently deployed at the Ching Chuan Kang Airbase in Taichung. The ministry has increased the number of military police in Taipei, and set up an artillery and an armored battalion near the Sungshan airport, the paper said. Media reports have said that China has drawn up a Decapitation Plan to attack Taiwan and take control of the island within five days.
■ Education
Pact inked for HK center
Buddhist Master Hsing Yun (星雲), founder of the Fo Guang Shan Foundation for Buddhist Culture and Education, signed a cooperation agreement yesterday with Daniel Law, dean of the Faculty of Arts at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, at Fo Guang Shan Temple in Kaohsiung County. The foundation will help the university to set up a Buddhism research center. The cooperation begins next month and runs to February 2010, with the foundation providing HK$1.2 million (US$725,000) each year to help the university promote the study of Buddhism. Master Hsing Yun noted that the establishment of the center represents a big step forward in world cultural exchanges and a milestone in the study of Buddhism. Chuo Chun-ying (卓春英), deputy public affairs director at the Presidential Office, who is an alumna of the university, said it would be good if the foundation set up more such centers in schools around the world as a way to promote cultural exchanges.
■ Tsunami
MOFA organizes event
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) will invite foreign ambassadors and envoys stationed in Taipei to pray for world peace in a traditional Taiwan folk activity tomorrow, a spokesman said Thursday. According to the MOFA official, foreign ambassadors and representatives, including those from various countries that were hit by the Dec. 26 earthquake and ensuing tsunami, will be invited to participate in the "sky lantern lighting" activity to be held tomorrow night in Pingsi township, Taipei County, to pray for world peace. Attending foreign diplomats will sign their names with calligraphy brushes on five huge lanterns that will be lit and allowed to rise into the sky, hot air balloon-style, in a gesture to appeal for world peace, the official said. The activity should help them gain a better understanding of Taiwan's traditions and lifestyles.
■ Society
Students face charges
Six college students, who staged a nude demonstration to protest the government's ignorance of the requirements of the Kyoto Protocol, may now face a charge of "offenses against morals" (妨害風化). To highlight their demonstration, the six students took off their underwear, leaving their private parts covered only by a piece of paper outside the Executive Yuan on Tuesday. However, police authorities have digitally recorded the nude protest, and have send the case to the Taiwan District Prosecutors' Office. Taipei District Prosecutors' Office Spokesman Lin Bang-liang (林邦樑) said if prosecutors consider the nude protest made people uncomfortable and disgusted, the students might be charged.
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