■ POLITICS
CEC stands firm on polls
It would be almost impossible for the Central Election Commission (CEC) to reverse its decision to hold next year's presidential and legislative polls separately, a spokesman said yesterday. The decision has been criticized by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators. Commission Deputy Secretary-General Teng Tien-you (鄧天祐) said the CEC had held extensive talks on the issue. He also said it had sent letters to all the political parties to solicit their opinions before the decision was made, but the KMT had not responded. If lawmakers want the two elections to be held together, they should pass a law lengthening their legislative terms by two months to justify holding the two polls simultaneously, he said. Teng said if the presidential and legislative elections were combined without a change in the laws governing such polls there would be electoral chaos. He made the remarks after a delegation of KMT lawmakers went to the commission
yesterday to ask it to consider reversing its decision.
■ GOVERNMENT
Pay raise still being mulled
The Executive Yuan has not decided whether to hike the pay of military personnel, civil servants and teachers next year, Minister of the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting & Statistics Hsu Chang-yao (許璋瑤) said yesterday. He said his agency would discuss the matter after it finalized the estimates of the revenues and expenditures for next year. The Executive Yuan is expected to make a decision on pay raises on Aug. 10, he said. Central Personnel Administration Minister Chou Hung-hsien (周弘憲) told reporters the pay raise issued would be decided next month. A 3 percent pay raise would cost the government an extra NT$18 billion. The last pay raise was two years ago when the salaries for civil servants, the military and public school teachers were increased by 3 percent. Hsu briefed Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) on the screening principles for next year's budget appropriation yesterday. He said the details for next year's budget plan have yet to be finalized. The budget appropriations should be completed by late this month or early next month, he said. Recent media reports have said next year's budget could reach nearly NT$1.7 trillion (US$51.51 billion), with the national defense budget accounting for NT$350 billion.
■ TRAVEL
Japanese law amended
Taiwanese travelers in Japan will be able to drive with their Taiwanese drivers licenses this fall, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official said yesterday. Association of East Asian Relations Deputy Secretary-General James Liao (廖經邦) said that Japan's House of Representatives passed an amendment to its traffic law on June 14 which authorized Japanese police to recognize driver's licenses issued in Taiwan, although there must be a copy of the license translated into Japanese. Japanese travelers will be able to drive in Taiwan with a Chinese version of their driver's license, Liao said.
■ HEALTH
More dengue cases reported
The authorities confirmed 12 new indigenous dengue fever cases in Tainan yesterday. Centers for Disease Control head Chou Chih-hau (周志浩) said 32 indigenous dengue fever cases had been confirmed nationwide this year, including 26 in Tainan. The 12 new cases come despite efforts to kill mosquito larvae over the weekend. Chou said the 12 new patients had probably just passed their 14-day incubation periods when they displayed symptoms.
■ SOCIETY
Woman loses 100kg for love
A young woman lost 100kg in order to win the heart of a man she was in love with, TV reported on Monday. Overweight since her early childhood, the 26-year-old woman identified as Lee (李), from Kaohsiung, had difficulty finding a job and a boyfriend because of her size, ETTV reported. "It was strenuous for me to carry out my work. I was puffing even when I was standing," she said. At 155cm tall, Lee weighed 148kg before her transformation. But when, two years ago, a young man Lee was fond of was reluctant to date her, she made up her mind to lose weight. She persevered through a regimen that included diets, weight-loss pills, acupuncture and having her stomach stapled as well as three surgeries to remove an immense amount of sagging skin. ETTV said that at less than 50kg she has now regained her self-confidence and has won the heart of the young man. "I feel so light and life has become so easy for me," she said.
■ SOCIETY
Think tank hosts forum
Academics from eastern Europe will share their experiences of dealing with the assets of fallen regimes at a conference on transitional justice hosted by Taiwan Thinktank on July 28. Funded by the Cabinet's Research, Development and Evaluation Commission, the conference aims to provide attendees with an insight into the problems that were created in the aftermath of the collapse of Communism in Europe. Former East German primer minister Lothar de Maiziere heads a list of former officials and academics from Lithuania, Hungry, Germany, Mongolia and the US who will attend the conference at the Taipei International Shangri La Hotel. The opening speech will be made by President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).
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