■ National Security
Spy returns from China
A former intelligence agent once declared dead by the Bureau of Intelligence returned to Taipei on Friday after spending 27 years in prison in China. Lee Chun-min (李俊敏) left the airport security area surrounded by a wall of Aviation Police and officers from the National Security Bureau and Military Intelligence Bureau (MIB), according to reports in the Chinese-language China Times. Lee did not say anything to reporters, who were kept at arms length by his escorts, the paper said. Lee was instructed not to talk to the media by MIB personnel, the paper said, although his wife said she was glad to have her husband back.
■ Health
Teen died of flu, DOH says
An 18-year-old student who died in Kaohsiung last Sunday has been confirmed as this year's first influenza fatality. The Department of Health said on Friday that the student became ill on Nov. 26 and died of respiratory difficulties, pneumonia and multiple organ failure a week later. Center for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Chou Chih-hao (周志浩) said that this year's flu season is more severe than last year's. "Those who fall ill should try to stay at home and rest once they've been to see a doctor," Chou said. "Face masks and frequent hand washing also help prevent the virus from spreading."
■ Crime
Pigeon smugglers nabbed
Two men were arrested yesterday on a freighter in Putai Port, Chiayi County, with 179 stud pigeons smuggled from China they planned to sell in Taiwan, coast guard officials said. According to police, the men said the pigeons were worth nearly NT$20 million (US$617,280).
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