■ POLITICS
Swiss office marks 25 years
Taiwan's democratic development has been amazing, said Hans-Peter Fitze, deputy director of the Trade Office of Swiss Industries, in a press conference yesterday marking the 25th anniversary of the Swiss office in Taipei. Fitze said that approximately 50,000 Taiwanese tourists travel to Switzerland annually and he hoped to see the figure increase. Cultural and commerce exchanges have also increased over the years, he said. To celebrate 25 years of friendship, the Swiss office will hold a concert tomorrow featuring Swiss musician Eliana Burki, who will play the alphorn -- a traditional instrument played by Swiss mountain dwellers -- to modern funk and jazz tunes. The 24-year-old Burki started playing the 3m long instrument at the age of six. She will perform compositions from her own album, as well as some Taiwanese Aboriginal songs. The free event will start at 4pm at the Taipei Museum of Drinking Water.
■ CULTURE
Hakka opera next weekend
Rom Shing Hakka Opera Troupe (榮興客家採茶劇團) will present Brave Heart of 1895 (乙未丹心), a new composition based on traditional Hakka opera, in Taipei next Friday to Sunday. Produced in cooperation with the Council for Hakka Affairs, Brave Heart recounts the life of Wu Tang-hsing (吳湯興), a legendary resistance leader during the Japanese occupation of Taiwan. It will be shown at the Novel Hall at No. 3-1 Songshou Road. For more information, visit the council's Web site at www.hakka.gov.tw.
■ SECURITY
Hacking not encouraged
The National Security Bureau (NSB) has never advocated hacking activities nor any other type of attack on computer and Internet systems at home or abroad, the bureau said in a news release on Thursday. The statement was issued in response to a report by the Chinese-language China Times alleging that the NSB, the Ministry of National Defense and the Bureau of Military Intelligence often hack into each other's systems. Dismissing the report, the NSB said that Taiwan is a democratic country under the rule of law and the bureau has always behaved in line with the law. Any attempt to hack into a computer system or to steal classified information is illegal, it said. The NSB also responded to a recent report by the Chinese media accusing Taiwan's military and intelligence agencies of launching Internet attacks and stealing confidential data from China. The NSB said the report was an attempt by the Chinese government to shift attention away from Chinese hackers' attacks on other countries to collect intelligence.
■ AGRICULTURE
Strawberries top fruity poll
Strawberries beat mangoes to become the nation's No.1 fruit, the Council of Agriculture said yesterday. In a poll to determine the top 10 most popular fruits produced in the country, strawberries garnered approximately 197,000 votes with mangoes a close second with 187,000 votes. The poll ended on Wednesday. Strawberries were said to have been trailing behind mangoes and did not lead the race until three hours before the poll ended. The result was credited to a successful mobilization initiated by the Da Hu Farmers Association. The other eight fruits in the top 10 list were bell fruits, buddha head fruits, pears, lychees, grapes, bananas, watermelons and pineapples.
■ TOURISM
Weather limits sightseeing
The number of visits to local sightseeing spots and amusement parks dropped to 6.33 million in the first nine months of the year, a 16.32 percent reduction from the same period last year, statistics released by the Tourism Bureau this week show. The drop was attributed to rainy weather triggered by several cold fronts in March and April and four typhoons in August and September, Tourism Bureau officials said. They said the bureau would devise measures to help boost the local tourism industry.
■ SPORTS
Kaohsiung mulls Wang deal
The Kaohsiung City Government is studying the feasibility of renewing an agreement with the New York Yankees' Taiwanese pitcher Wang Chien-ming (王建民) to extend his services as spokesman for the 2009 World Games to be held in the city, an official said yesterday. Shih Che (史哲), director of the city's Department of Information, who is in charge of marketing for the World Games, told reporters that his department would conduct a further study on the issue with Chi Cheng (紀政), chief executive of the Kaohsiung Organizing Committee for the 2009 World Games, before making a final decision. Kaohsiung last year invited Wang to serve as the spokesman of the Games by paying his agent US$500,000 for a series of endorsement activities. The World Games, scheduled for July 17 to July 26, will be the largest international sporting event ever held in Taiwan. An estimated 6,000 athletes are expected to take part.
■ AGRICULTURE
Coast Guard seizes crabs
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) seized 3.5 tonnes of smuggled hairy crabs yesterday, the largest ever haul of its kind, CGA officials said. The seizure was made in Luchu Township (蘆竹), Taoyuan County, in a raid by the CGA's North Coast Patrol Office. They had received a tip-off that a ring was preparing to smuggle a large quantity of hairy crabs from China into Taiwan, the officials said. They said the hairy crabs have been sent to quarantine authorities for inspection to determine if they were contaminated with any toxins.
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