■ Crime
Police allege drunk-driving
Hsieh Yao-kuan (謝耀寬), an aide to Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko Chun-hsiung (柯俊雄), was pulled over on suspicion of drunk-driving, then yelled at police, saying he was Ko's aide. Police said Hsieh was driving Ko's Mercedes when he ran a red light in Taipei on Sunday. Police eventually pulled him over and suspected that Hsieh had been drinking, so officers asked him to take a breath test. Hsieh refused, yelled at the officers, stated he was Ko's aide in the legislature and asked the officers to let him go. Instead, he was arrested, taken to the police station and issued a NT$60,000 ticket while other officers impounded the car. Later, Ko called the chief at the police station, and allegedly asked whether he could give Hsieh "a break," but he was turned down.
■ Health
Pregnant women face fines
Pregnant women who smoke may soon face fines of up to NT$50,000, according to the latest draft of the Tobacco Control Act (菸害防治法). According to the draft, pregnant women who smoke, as well as people or stores that sell tobacco products to pregnant women, will both be fined between NT$10,000 and NT$50,000. The draft expands the list of tobacco-free areas to include school campuses and indoor swimming pools. Anyone who smokes in the prohibited areas will also be fined. According to the Bureau of Health Promotion, smoking has a negative effect on the health of a fetus. The miscarriage rate of pregnant women who are smokers is 1.6 times higher than for non-smoking ones, the bureau said. Anti-smoking groups lauded the draft for protecting the health rights of fetuses.
■ National security
Anti-terror defense unveiled
The Coast Guard Administration unveiled its Secret Service Company yesterday in a bid to strengthen anti-terrorism warfare in Taiwan's waters. Director of the Coast Guard Administration Syu Huei-you (許惠祐) said the agency will hold a drill in May, in which the newly established company will rescue a civilian ship occupied by terrorists. He said the 72 members of the company had all volunteered for service. They will be dispatched in four different units around the nation in charge of the special mission. The company yesterday displayed their combat skills to reporters. They dived for more than three minutes without any equipment and also demonstrated the rescue of two men from a helicopter.
■ Diplomacy
HK to consider Taiwan office
Donald Tsang (曾蔭權), Hong Kong's acting chief executive, said yesterday Hong Kong is considering setting up an economic and trade office in Taipei in order to facilitate exchanges between the two sides. It is the Hong Kong government's first positive response to the proposal of establishing a trade office in Taipei. The Mainland Affairs Council, which is also in charge of Taiwan's affairs with Hong Kong and Macau, has repeatedly called on Hong Kong to open a trade office in Taipei. Tsang told the Central News Agency that he is willing to do anything that is beneficial to exchanges between Taiwan and Hong Kong, but noted he also has to abide by Beijing's cross-strait policies. Tsang said it is a good idea to open a trade or cultural office in Taipei, adding the Hong Kong government has been circumspect in dealing with Taiwan because of the sensitive nature of the two sides' relations.
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