■ HEALTH
Vaccine stocks fall short
Because of a global shortage in chicken pox vaccines, the nation's infants will be inoculated against chicken pox at the age of 15 months rather than 12 months starting next month, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday.
A statement released by the CDC said that although the Department of Health had tried to secure more vaccines from producers earlier this year to avoid shortages, only half the orders made by the department had been filled so far. With insufficient vaccine stocks, shortages can be expected nationwide starting as early as February. This change will be a temporary measure until vaccine stocks return to normal levels, the CDC said. Until then, medical care providers and parents are asked not to inoculate infants under the age of 15 months.
■ EVENTS
MRT prepared for party
With the Taipei 101 firework show expected to attract tens of thousands of people, the MRT will operate all night on New Year's Eve and Xinyi District traffic will be limited, the Taipei City Government said. According to the city's Department of Transportation, all lanes on Shifu Road (between Songshou Road and Songgao Road) and Renai Road will be closed from today to 10pm on Tuesday. Between 7pm and 10pm on Monday, traffic between Xinyi and Zhongxiao E. roads from Songren to Keelung roads will be diverted. The department urged residents who lived within 4.5km of the city hall to walk to the area rather than taking public transportation.
■ EDUCATION
Foreign student numbers up
The number of foreign students studying in Taiwan hit a record high of 17,742 this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The figure was 3,263 more people than last year's 14,479, an indication that the nation is gaining in popularity for foreign students interested in learning Mandarin, the ministry said. This year, 5,259 foreigners from 117 countries are pursuing degrees here. Students from Vietnam comprised the largest group, followed by students from Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan and the US. In addition, some 2,300 exchange students from 70 different countries are studying in Taiwan, mostly from Japan, Korea, the US, Germany and France. As of this month, 10,177 foreign students were enrolled at Chinese language learning centers across the nation. These students come mostly from Japan, the US, Indonesia, South Korea and Vietnam.
■ CRIME
Court to rehear case
The Supreme Court yesterday ordered the Taiwan High Court to rehear an insider trading case involving President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) son-in-law Chao Chien-ming (趙建銘) and Chao's father, Chao Yu-chu (趙玉柱). On June 26, the Taiwan High Court seAntenced Chao Chien-ming to seven years in prison and Chao Yu-chu to nine years and six months. The Chaos were also fined NT$30 million (US$927,000) each. The Taiwan High Court found the Chaos and two other codefendants made more than NT$100 million through insider trading of Taiwan Development Corp (TDC) shares. The Supreme Court yesterday said the Taiwan High Court's ruling was made based on a miscalculation of the profits the Chaos made through the transaction.
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