■ Foreign affairs
Japan releases fishing boat
Japan yesterday released a Taiwanese fishing boat and its crew, after detaining the boat early Sunday for allegedly intruding into Japan's exclusive economic zone. The boat was released at 6pm after the Taiwan Economic and Cultural Relations Office in Okinawa agreed to act as a guarantor and pay the Japanese government ¥4.2 million (US$35,600). The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) on Sunday urged Japan to release the boat and its crew unconditionally. MOFA spokesman Michel Lu (呂慶龍) made the request after the Suao-based Tsengjinshun No. 206 was detained by Japanese coast guard patrols for allegedly intruding into Japan's exclusive economic zone southeast of Miyako Island in Okinawa prefecture. Lu said the Tsengjinshun was operating in the overlapping areas of the two countries' 320km exclusive economic zones when it was chased and intercepted by Japanese coast guard patrols.
PHOTO: CHIANG CHI-HSIUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
■ Foreign affairs
Wang to attend inauguration
Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) will attend the presidential inauguration ceremony of Honduras' newly elected president Manuel Zelaya as President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) envoy late this month, Minister of Foreign Affairs Mark Chen (陳唐山) confirmed yesterday. Wang is slated to make a transit stop in Washington en route to Honduras during his trip. While in Washington, Wang said he will visit his old friends in the US Congress. But he said he would not deliver any message on behalf of Chen to the US government.
■ Society
New health site launched
The Taipei City Government's health bureau has established a Web site educating students on personal and social health issues. The site was launched in view of statistics indicating high incidences of teen pregnancy. A survey commissioned by the bureau found that 47.3 percent of adolescents aged between 15 and 19 who engage in sexual conduct don't use birth control, while statistics from the Ministry of the Interior show that the teen pregnancy rate is around ten in 1,000. The Web site used virtual cartoon characters to provide information on issues such as what constitutes healthy interaction between men and women, frequently asked questions about sex, how to use contraception, how to perform breast checks and the correct way to wear bras. The Web site is www.healthcity.net.tw.
■ Society
Youth suicide rate climbs
The number of youths committing suicide has continued to climb over the past decade, and suicide has become the No. 2 cause of death among Taiwanese youth aged 15-24, the National Youth Commission said yesterday. In a white paper on youth policy, the commission cited Department of Health statistics as saying that the top three causes of death among the nation's youth in 2003 were accidents (51.8 percent), suicide (10.7 percent) and malignant tumors (9.28 percent). Tallies released by the Ministry of Education show that a total of 91 youths committed suicide between January and November last year, up by 21 over the figure for the whole of 2004. The suicide rate among Taiwanese youths is 0.61 per ten thousand.
Former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) mention of Taiwan’s official name during a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on Wednesday was likely a deliberate political play, academics said. “As I see it, it was intentional,” National Chengchi University Graduate Institute of East Asian Studies professor Wang Hsin-hsien (王信賢) said of Ma’s initial use of the “Republic of China” (ROC) to refer to the wider concept of “the Chinese nation.” Ma quickly corrected himself, and his office later described his use of the two similar-sounding yet politically distinct terms as “purely a gaffe.” Given Ma was reading from a script, the supposed slipup
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,
The bodies of two individuals were recovered and three additional bodies were discovered on the Shakadang Trail (砂卡礑) in Taroko National Park, eight days after the devastating earthquake in Hualien County, search-and-rescue personnel said. The rescuers reported that they retrieved the bodies of a man and a girl, suspected to be the father and daughter from the Yu (游) family, 500m from the entrance of the trail on Wednesday. The rescue team added that despite the discovery of the two bodies on Friday last week, they had been unable to retrieve them until Wednesday due to the heavy equipment needed to lift