Taiwan Quick Take

■ Health
Pork imports banned
The nation has imposed a temporary ban on pork imports from the Netherlands over a dioxin scare there, a health department official said yesterday. "Imports of pork and pig viscera are suspended till the matter is clarified and sales of those already in here are banned too," a department spokesman said. The ban came after suspected cases of pig and chicken dioxin poisoning were reported in the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium, he said. Taiwan didn't import chicken from the three countries and only imported pork from the Netherlands. The countries have isolated over 650 farms suspected of using dioxin-contaminated feed made in Belgium, and the Netherlands has shut down some 260 farms, according to the health department.

■ Environment
Kenting cleanup nets junk
Around of junk was picked up from rivers in Kenting National Park in Pingtung County in the past year, according to the Kenting National Park Administration (KNPA). The trash was collected in a series of beach and marine cleanup campaigns launched by the national park administration, KNPA officials said. The junk included discarded tires, fishing nets, ropes, bottles, bicycles and even baby carts, the officials added. Meanwhile, with the growing cases of illegal fishing in waters off the park, the officials urged the public not to engage in this activity so that the park can be free from ecological disaster.

■ Military
Defense law put into effect
The National Defense Education Law (全民國防教育法) was formally put into practice this past Thursday, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) promulgated the law on Feb.2 with an aim to enhance local people's defense knowledge and reinforce their determination to support national defense development and safeguard national security, MND officials said. With China incessantly expanding its military buildup, conducting military exercises targeting Taiwan and speeding up "psychological and media warfare" to ease local people's "psychological defense and enmity toward China," the officials said the MND will play a leading role in promoting national defense education. According to the officials, the MND will integrate resources of various government agencies at central and local levels in carrying out national defense education programs at schools.

■ Society
Aboriginal name use urged
The Council of Indigenous Peoples under the Executive Yuan is encouraging aboriginals to officially adopt their indigenous names. Noting that the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) is renewing Identification Certificate cards through Dec. 31, the council is urging the country's Aborigines to take the chance to formally adopt their aboriginal names. Lin Chiang-yi (林江義), a council official and an Amis tribe member, said his council was asking the MOI to set up a "one-stop window" in counties with large Aboriginal populations where people could officially change their Chinese name back to their Aboriginal name. Although a 1995 act allowed Aborigines to substitute their Chinese name with an Aboriginal one, only 1,000 Aboriginals have adopted their own name so far, Lin continued. The official said his council was working to persuade several aboriginal communities to make the change en masse.