■ China
Bill slated for review
Beijing's draft anti-secession bill is slated to be reviewed by Beijing's highest legislative organ on March 6, according to the Hong Kong daily Wenweipo. The report cited an anonymous source indicating that the bill will be proposed and explained by Wang Zhaoguo (王兆國), vice chairman of the National People's Congress Standing Committee, on the second day of the week-long meeting. Consequently, an oral report on China's economic development usually slated for the second day of the meeting will be reviewed in writing instead. The third session of the Tenth National People's Congress is to open on March 5 and close on the 14th.
■ Diplomacy
Allies don't worry public
A poll conducted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs showed 53.8 percent of respondents believe it is likely that all of Taiwan's diplomatic allies may switch allegiance to China, Maysing Yang (楊黃美幸), chairperson of the ministry's Research and Planning Committee, said yesterday. Nevertheless, 52.9 percent of the respondents said the diplomatic allies' likely change of recognition from Taipei to Beijing does not worry them. "This poll showed that the number of the country's diplomatic allies is not of great concern to the public," Yang said. Main-taining a stable and interactive relationship with China is very important, 87.5 percent of the respondents said, while 23.6 percent said that they do not consider Taiwan a sovereign nation. Closer ties with the US were rated to be the most helpful for the expansion of Taiwan's trade and diplomatic relations with other nations, followed by the EU and Japan, the poll showed.
■ Weather
Cold snap on its way
The public had better keep umbrellas and raincoats ready when going out, because a new cold front arriving today might bring more rain, the Central Weather Bureau said yesterday. Forecasters said wet and cold weather might prevail for another week. Tomorrow, temperatures might drop to about 12?C in central and northern Taiwan. Showers might be seen in the north. "The effects of rain and the cold air mass might continue until next Tuesday," bureau forecaster Chang Po-hsiung (張博雄) said. Forecasters said that heavy fog might be seen today in western Taiwan because of dramatic changes in temperatures, reminding drivers and air travelers of possible inconvenience. Yesterday morning, the range of visibility at CKS Inter-national Airport was only 200m. It is expected that temperatures might increase next Wednesday.
■ Crime
Man sells dolphin meat
A man has been arrested after being caught selling dolphin meat in an Yulin County market a coastguard official said yesterday. Huang You-wen (黃有文), 60, was caught on Tuesday peddling 23.4kg of dolphin meat for NT$9,000 (US$287) in the town of Shihu, said Wu Chia-cheng (吳家正), a coastguard official. It was the largest amount of dolphin meat confiscated since it was outlawed in 1989, Wu said. Huang had sold the dolphin meat -- which he bought for NT$116 per kilogram from fishing boats -- for NT$416 per kilogram before being caught, Wu said. "His business boomed during the Lunar New Year holidays because many people believe that the nutritious dolphin meat can help them resist the cold weather," he said. Huang faces a maximum seven-year prison term and a maximum fine of NT$500,000.
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