■ DIPLOMACY
MOFA offers condolences
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday expressed condolences for the deaths of Guatemalan Interior Minister Vinicio Gomez and Vice Interior Minister Edgar Hernandez, who died in a helicopter crash in northern Guatemala. MOFA Spokesman Henry Chen (陳銘政) said that the Taiwanese ambassador to Guatemala, Sun Ta-chen (孫大成), had immediately contacted the Guatemalan government after the crash to offer condolences on behalf of Taiwan and foreign minister Francisco Ou (歐鴻鍊), who was the ambassador to Guatemala prior to his appointment as minister. Guatemala is one of Taiwan’s 23 allies and one of its 12 in the Central and South American region. The two countries forged relations in 1935. In related news, Carlos Esteban Larios Ochaita, who is secretary-general to Guatemalan President Alvara Colom, will arrive in Taiwan tomorrow for a six-day visit.
■ FISHING
Tuna accord signed
An agreement aimed at suspending longlining for tuna was signed by fishery groups in Taiwan, Japan, China and South Korea amid soaring fuel prices, a report by Japan’s Kyodo News International said on Friday. The accord was also signed with the intention of restoring tuna resources that are in decline, it said. The groups belong to a Tokyo-based organization that covers most of the world’s tuna fishing boats and is tasked with promoting responsible tuna fishing. The report said that 204 of 387 Taiwanese longliners, 40 of the 120 Chinese boats, and some 10 percent to 20 percent of the 160 South Korean longliners had suspended operations as of Friday. Under the framework of the agreement, some 30 percent of a total of 1,200 tuna fishing boats around the world are expected to eventually stop fishing. If fuel prices continue to rise, the report added, the scale of the suspensions might also be expanded.
■ EVENTS
Foundation plans forum
The Foundation of International and Cross-Strait Studies announced yesterday that it would hold the “Taiwan-Japan Forum” Taipei 2008 International Conference on July 20. The conference, to be held at a Taipei hotel, will focus on the topics of “building a framework for order in the East Asian region,” “trends on the Korean Peninsula,” “the United States’ position in Asia” and “the development of Taiwan-Japan-China relations,” the foundation said. Participants will include Japanese Senator Hayashi Yoshimasa and Japanese House of Representatives member Seiji Maehara. This year’s gathering will be hosted by Chang King-yuh (張京育), chairman of the Taiwanese foundation, and Yoshio Ookawara, head of the World Peace Research Institute.
■ RELIGION
Buddhists to walk up hill
The Ling Jiou Mountain Buddhist Society is scheduled to celebrate its 25th anniversary today, with an expected 1,000 followers walking up the hill on which the monastery sits to “experience the hardship of its founding.” The group was founded in 1983 in Taipei County by Buddhist Master Hsin Tao (心道法師) with the aim of promoting Buddhism as well as harmony and co-existence of different religions and communities. The celebration will start with the welcoming of a statue of a golden Buddha to the monastery, followed by an activity in which 1,000 followers will hike from the foot of the hill to the monastery, which is situated on the top of the ridge. A hall in the monastery that followers are normally not allowed to enter and a grotto where Hsin Tao practiced Buddhism will be open to the public.
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