■ TRADE
WTO picks Taiwanese chair
The WTO earlier this month selected a Taiwanese to chair one of its committees for the first time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday at its weekly briefing. Henry Liu (劉志宏) was elected chairperson for the Committee of Trade-Related Investment Measures under the body’s Council for Trade in Goods on April 8. Liu is the first Taiwanese national to hold a leadership position in the WTO since Taiwan’s admittance to the body six years ago. The official name that Taiwan uses in the WTO is “Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu.”
■ TRANSPORTATION
Hsuehshan tunnel faster
Starting next month, the minimum driving speed inside the Hsuehshan Tunnel will be raised from 50kph to 60kph, the Taiwan Area National Freeway Bureau said yesterday. The bureau said in a statement that it initially set the speed limit at 70kph and the minimum driving speed at 50kph between Taipei’s Nangang (南港) and Toucheng (頭城), Ilan County, on the Chiang Wei-shui Freeway (Freeway No.5), as motorists lacked experience driving in long tunnels. It has gradually raised the limit since then. Last October, the speed limit for the Nangang-Toucheng section was increased from 70kph to 80kph, except for the Hsuehshan Tunnel. Last month the bureau raised the speed limit inside the Hsuehshan Tunnel from 70kph to 80kph. The minimum driving speed is set to facilitate traffic flow inside the tunnel, the statement said. “Motorists are banned from switching lanes inside the tunnel. Traffic will be slowed if motorists drive too slow or drive too far behind other vehicles,” it said.
■ COMMODITIES
Tax on cooking wine cut
The Legislative Yuan yesterday passed an amendment to the Tobacco and Wine Law to lower the tax on rice wine for cooking. Under the amendment, the tax on rice wine for cooking will be reduced from NT$22 (US$0.72) per liter to NT$9 per liter. Cooking wine is considered to be an essential ingredient in Chinese cuisine. The legislature also passed a complementary resolution requiring the Ministry of Finance and the Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corp to ensure that the final price of the wine reflects the tax reduction. Martin Tsai (蔡木霖), chairman of the Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corp, said recently that if the amendment were passed, the retail price of the company’s rice cooking wine would drop. If the company adheres to its promise following the amendment’s passage, the price of 40-proof rice cooking wine will drop from NT$48 per bottle to NT$40 per bottle, while that of an 80-proof bottle of rice cooking wine would decrease from NT$64 to NT$56, and that of a 160-proof bottle from NT$90 to NT$82.
■ EDUCATION
NCU celebrates Book Day
National Central University (NCU) began a series of activities yesterday to mark World Book and Copyright Day, launched by UNESCO to encourage reading and held every April 23. The NCU opened an eight-day book exhibition in the lobby of its library yesterday to mark the day, with more than 100 books on display that focused on the concept of life education. The university is encouraging people to donate books for children living in remote and poor areas. The school will also hold a movie festival on its campus with a life education theme and will screen award-winning and popular movies such as Children of Heaven, Marvin’s Room and Good Will Hunting.
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