■ Society
Group denies Nazi links
A pro-Hitler student group on Saturday denied being a Nazi organization, as it announced the founding of a political party, the National Socialism Party. In a statement released to the cable TV channel TVBS, the National Socialism Association said it has nothing to do with Nazis and does not aim to create fear. The association apologized to the Jewish people and others for the "rumors" that it is linked with Nazis. "It was a misunderstanding. We hope people will not think too much about it," the statement said. It is not clear whether the association will register the new party with the Ministry of Interior, but its establishment has already triggered condemnation from Israel's trade office and the Simon Wiesenthal Center.
■ Politics
Hung announces eligibility
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) yesterday said she is now eligible to register in the by-election for the party's chairman after collecting the required number of signatures from party members in support of her campaign. Hung's competitor, former KMT acting chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄), officially registered as a candidate yesterday. Hung called on the party to hold at least 10 debates to help party members make selection, but Wu said that debates are only necessary when they can contribute to party solidarity. The threshold for a KMT member to register as a candidate for chairman is about 33,000, or 3 percent of the party's 1 million members.
■ Tourism
Tourism mission exhibits
A tourism promotion mission is taking part in travel fairs in Singapore and Malaysia in order to attract tourists to Taiwan. According to a member of the mission, the group, composed of officials from the Taipei City Government, the Tourism Bureau under the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, and the semi-official Taiwan Visitors Association, will visit Singapore this week, where they will exhibit at a travel fair from March 23 to March 25. To help people in Singapore and Malaysia gain a better understanding of Taiwan's culture, a troupe of performers is also traveling with the group to perform Taiwanese religious rituals at the travel exhibitions. The nation is keen to court international tourists as the government has set a goal of doubling the number of foreign tourist arrivals by next year. Last year, the number of tourists from Singapore to Taiwan grew by 10.8 percent and that from Malaysia climbed 7.1 percent, official statistics showed.
■ Health
Stores sign tobacco pact
Four major convenience store chains -- FamilyMart, Nikomart, OK, and Hi-Life -- signed a covenant earlier this week, promising that their 4,500 stores throughout the country will strictly abide by the Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act (菸害防治法) and not sell cigarettes to youngsters under the age of 18. Under the pact, store cashiers should turn down children who purchase cigarettes on behalf of adults. They must also ask those who seem to be under 18 to produce an ID before selling cigarettes to them. Although another major convenience store chain, 7-Eleven, did not sign the covenant, its top executive indicated that 7-Eleven's 4,000 outlets throughout the country have already been observing the practice. The 1997 Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act bans the sale of cigarettes to anyone under 18.
■ Society
Pet food safe, firm says
A brand of pet food recalled in the US had not been imported to Taiwan, so there was no need for people to panic, Proctor and Gamble Co, the manufacturer, said yesterday. The company's announcement was prompted by the recall of the Menu Foods brand in North America after news that a number of cats and dogs had suffered kidney failure and about 10 had died after eating the tainted food. The recall would cost the company US$26 million to US$34 million, said Paul Henderson, the company's president. Menu Foods said it would post a full list of brand names and lot numbers covered by the recall on its Web site (www.menufoods.com/recall).
■ Medicine
Drug treats rare disease
A new medicine to treat Mucopolysaccharidosis II (MPS II) disease -- also called Hunter Syndrome -- will benefit nine patients in Taiwan, said Tsai Chiung-wei (蔡瓊瑋), founder of the Taiwan MPS Association. Tsai said Elaprase is the first product to treat the rare disease caused by an inherited deficiency of a specific enzyme to metabolize MPS in the body, leaving the patient with severe organ damage. MPS II has more patients than other types of MPS disease. Taiwan has 49 people who have MPS II, but only nine of them -- aged from five to 22 -- can be treated with Elaprase. The others are either too young or have brain damage that is too severe to be treated by the medicine. Tsai said Taiwan is the first country in Asia to cover the cost of the medicine through national health insurance. A person with MPS II would have to pay NT$1.6 million (US$48,341) per month if he or she were not covered by health insurance.
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