■ SPORTS
Yao Ming applying for visit
Famed Chinese basketball player Yao Ming (姚明), a star performer with the Houston Rockets, has applied to visit Taiwan. Yao is pursuing three Taiwanese visas, two for competitions in Taiwan and one for "sports exchanges," Mainland Affairs Council spokeswoman Corinna Wei (魏淑娟) said yesterday. In principle, Yao should be allowed to visit Taiwan, even though Taiwanese authorities sometimes do turn away famous Chinese visitors, Wei said. Other Chinese athletes have visited as part of Taiwan's "long-standing" sports exchange programs, Wei said. The National Immigration Agency is still processing the 26-year-old, 2.26m-player's visa because his sponsor keeps changing the proposed itinerary, she said.
■ POLITICS
TSU sets up Taitung chapter
The Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) inaugurated its Taitung chapter yesterday, making it the second-largest political party in the southeastern county. The TSU's Taitung chapter has 400 members, including a township administrator and two elected rural township representatives, the party said. TSU Chairman Huang Kun-huei (黃昆輝) presided over the inauguration ceremony in which he presented a party flag to the chapter's first director, Chen Sheng-chung (陳勝宗). Outlining his long-term goals, Chen vowed to gain seats for the "pan-green camp," which is led by the Democratic Progressive Party, in the Taitung County Council. The TSU, founded in August 2001, views former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) as its spiritual leader.
■ JUDICIARY
More female justices mulled
President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday said he would nominate more than three female candidates to the Council of Grand Justices for confirmation by the legislature. Chen said he had originally planned to nominate three female candidates but changed his mind when he saw El Salvador has eight and Honduras has five. Chen made the remarks while addressing a state dinner held at his hotel for El Salvadoran President Antonio Saca and Vice President Vilma de Escobar, as well as the head of the Legislative Assembly, chief of the Supreme Court and other high-ranking officials. Chen said when he nominated three female grand justices four years ago, it was a record high number. He said he would like to nominate more after seeing women take up more than half of the 15-member El Salvadoran Grand Justices and one-third of the 15-member Honduran justice council.
■ AGRICULTURE
Farmers promised subsidies
Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) said yesterday that the government would provide relief subsidies to farmers who suffered crop losses and equipment damage in recent storms. Chang made the remarks at the Yenchao Main Workshop -- the maintenance base of Taiwan High Seed Rail in Kaohsiung County. Subsidies for damaged equipment were added this year into the government's existing subsidy system, which covers crop losses and low-interest loans to farmers, Chang said, adding that the new policy would help farmers cover their costs of purchasing equipment and materials such as seed and fertilizer. He expressed his gratitude for farmers' efforts and their contribution to the economy and assured them that the government would help them overcome their financial difficulties.
■ CULTURE
Orchestra debuts in Europe
The Taiwan-based Evergreen Symphony Orchestra is scheduled to stage three concerts in Norway and Britain this week, making its first ever performances in Europe. The first concert was staged yesterday at an indoor concert hall in Oslo. The orchestra performed several Norwegian folk songs with Norwegian singer Sissel Kyrkjebo. The second concert is scheduled for today at a plaza outside the concert hall and will be open to the public. The concert in Britain will be staged at the Westminster Central Hall in London and will feature Taiwanese folk songs, concert sources said. The orchestra is staging the performances at the invitation of the Norway-based marine insurer Assurance foreningen Gard and the Lloyd's List, a London-based newspaper reporting shipping movements, maritime news and other commercial information.
■ CULTURE
Medicine center opened
A center of traditional Taiwanese Aboriginal medicine was inaugurated in Pingtung County yesterday as part of local efforts to preserve traditional Aboriginal medicine and therapy. The facility, set up at the Pingtung Aboriginal cultural hostel, has been promoted by the Pingtung Christian Hospital with the support of the Council of Indigenous People. The center will focus on collecting data and artifacts related to traditional Aboriginal medicine, as well as conducting scientific research on the medicine's legendary effects of maintaining and improving health, the hospital said. Chi Ming-hsi (杞明錫), chief of the council's health and welfare department, and the hospital's president Cho Teh-sung(卓德松) jointly opened the cultural center.
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