■ DEFENSE
Official holds talks in US
A top army official is visiting the US to hold talks about purchasing advanced fighter jets, a report said yesterday. Chief of General Staff Ho Shou-yeh (霍守業) led a delegation to Washington this week for talks with US defense officials, the Chinese-language China Times said, quoting unnamed sources. Ho also hoped to meet "by chance" with US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, the newspaper said. Ho was seeking to reaffirm a deal to buy 66 F-16C/D fighterjets after concerns that the US appeared to be dragging its feet on finalizing arrangements, the paper said.
■ CULTURE
Taipei celebrates park
To celebrate the 100th Anniversary of Taipei Water Park and the inauguration of the second phase water park construction, the Taipei Water Department invites the public to cool down and enjoy folk art performances in the Gongguan park today. The park will open many attractions all day long, including the Water Country Garden, the Fountain Garden and the Kid's Pond, to suit children of different ages. The park also invites adults to enjoy music and drinks at its Beer Pub along the Water Pipe Bridge in the afternoon. In addition, the department said that performers would offer entertainment every Saturday afternoon starting today, with acts ranging from rock and jazz music to family games on Father's Day and love songs on the lunar Lovers' Day.
■ DIPLOMACY
Nicaragua gets donation
Taiwan donated cash to Nicaragua on Thursday to procure generators to satisfy the country's growing demand for energy. Ambassador to Nicaragua Wu Chin-mu (吳進木) handed over a US$30 million check to the Nicaraguan government at a ceremony held at Nicaragua's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Speaking at the ceremony, Wu said the donation was made at the request of the Nicaraguan government to help improve its increasingly serious problems with power shortages and to cement diplomatic relations between the two nations. Nicaraguan Minister of Foreign Affairs Samuel Santos said Taiwan's donation was of great importance, especially now when his country is facing a energy crisis. Santos said the donation was made in accordance with an agreement reached between Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and Minister of Foreign Affairs James Huang (黃志芳) in May.
■ POLITICS
KMT speaks through food
To commemorate former president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) and his love of Taiwanese food, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday offered food from stores Chiang had visited nationwide and invited the public to taste the local delicacies. Stands featuring Chiang's favorites, including Hwang Ryh Shiang's bean curd from Taoyuan, Wan Luan pig hocks from Pingtung and Yi Hsian wonton from Hualien, demonstrated Chiang's efforts to better understand the lives of Taiwanese by visiting cities and counties and tasting local food, the party said. "These shops highlighted president Chiang's contributions for building the nation from scratch and his identification with the local people as the national leader," KMT Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) said yesterday at the commemoration event in Taipei's Xinyi District Citizen Meeting House. The event also featured snacks and folk games from the Martial Law era.
■ HEALTH
CDC warns on hepatitis A
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) confirmed yesterday that four members of a tour group that visited Malaysia late last month had contracted hepatitis A. "The disease has a 15 to 50 day incubation period, which is why it took so long for these cases to come to light," CDC deputy director Chou Chih-hao (周志浩) said. Symptoms of hepatitis A are often minor, and may be mistaken for a flu. Some sufferers, especially children, may exhibit no symptoms at all. The CDC said those who had fallen ill lived separately in Taipei City, Taipei County and Taoyuan County. All four had been released from hospital and the other members of the 38-person tour group were under observation, officials said. The CDC warned travelers to other countries in Southeast Asia, China, Africa, Central America and South America to take precautions such as avoiding eating raw food and drinking only bottled water.
■ DIPLOMACY
Taiwan makes donation
The government donated equipment to the Panamanian National Police on Thursday to help the Central American country improve its ability to maintain order. The donation, which included 30 six-wheeled Ford police cars, 30 Suzuki motorcycles, 500 portable wireless telecommunications devices and 5,000 police uniforms, was made by Taiwan's ambassador to Panama, Tomas Hou (侯平福). The equipment was accepted by Panamanian Minister of the Interior and Justice Olga Golcher. Hou said the donation was part of a bilateral cooperation project and added that Taiwan had donated another 40 vehicles earlier this year to serve as patrol cars. Golcher and Panamanian National Police Director-General Rolando Mirones thanked the Taiwanese government for the donation.The pair said the equipment would go a long way toward improving the Panamanian police's law enforcement capabilities.
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