■ EDUCATION
Group protests tuition hikes
An advocacy group staged a demonstration at the Ministry of Education yesterday to protest the high cost of university education and call for a freeze of tuition fees for the next academic year. Around 30 students from the Coalition Against High Tuition in Taiwan protested in front of the ministry to condemn the increasing commercialization of education, arguing that "education is by no means a commodity" and that "tuition fees should not be adjusted in accordance with the consumer price index." The demonstrators condemned a number of colleges and universities for taking special funding from the ministry while continuing to increase tuition fees. They were referring to 23 universities that received funding under a five-year, NT$50 billion (US$1.5 billion) higher education and teaching excellence subsidy program.
PHOTO: CHEN TSE-MING, TAIPEI TIMES
■ WEATHER
More heavy rain expected
Central Weather Bureau forecaster Hsiao Chia-sen (蕭家森) said yesterday there were no changes to the weather system over the country and that the weather would remain unstable during the coming week. Hsiao said that the nation could experience torrential rainfall at least until Wednesday and that the situation after Thursday remained uncertain. The bureau warned that while the weather front remained unchanged, residents should be prepared for heavy rain and lightning. Hsiao said residents in low-lying areas should take measures to prevent flooding while those in mountainous areas should watch for landslides and falling rocks.
■ POPULATION
Fertility rate dropping
The Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said that the country's total fertility rate (TFR) dropped by more than 60 percent over the last 30 years, with its TFR dwindling from 3.4 children in 1975 to 1.4 in 2005. The country's 60.2 percent fall in TFR -- the average number of babies born to women during their reproductive years, from 15 to 49 -- was greater than the world's average 40.7 percent decline during the same 1975 to 2005 period, which went from 4.5 to 2.7 children, the DGBAS reported. In Asia, South Korea registered the largest decrease in TFR, at 71 percent, followed by Hong Kong at 67.5 percent and China at 65 percent, the DGBAS said. TFR is the single most important factor in determining future population, experts said.
■ POLITICS
Yeh reveals intentions
Former vice premier Yeh Chu-lan (葉菊蘭) yesterday said that she would not pass up the opportunity if she was called upon to be Frank Hsieh's (謝長廷) presidential running mate. It was the first time Yeh had made her intentions known since Hsieh was nominated as the Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate. Yeh, however, declined to reveal whether she had obtained the backing of the party or whether there was any mutual understanding between her and Hsieh. There is mounting speculation that President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) favors former premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) as Hsieh's running mate, while Hsieh is widely believed to favor Yeh.
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