■ CRIME
Police crack gown swindle
Police have cracked a criminal ring that had allegedly been swindling money by encouraging people to donate Buddhist gowns to change their fates, newspapers said yesterday. Five ring members were indicted on Saturday on charges of fraud by the Taipei Prosecutors’ Office. Since 2005, the five had been giving talks on radio and cable TV channels to discuss life’s problems and take calls from radio listeners and TV viewers. When someone called in to seek advice about a problem, the ring members would ask them to buy the Life Book the ring had written. The ring members would warn the caller that he or she was going to suffer a disaster, illness or divorce, unless the caller donated money to buy Buddhist gowns to be given to temples.
■ EDUCATION
‘Zeros’ may pass: official
It is possible, although unlikely, that students who score a zero on their college entrance examination would be accepted by universities this year, an official at the College Entrance Examination Center said. Kuo Kun-huang, director of the center’s Freshmen Placement Section, said that with the number of places at universities similar to the number of students applying to take this year’s examination, the above scenario was not impossible, although “it would be the last thing I’d want to see.” Noting that there are 88,000 students who have applied to take part in this year’s Assigned Subject Examination for College Admission, Kuo said that based on past experience, only 90 percent or so of the test takers would actually apply for admission at a local university.
■ DEFENSE
Arms sales statement issued
The Ministry of National Defense (MND) last night issued a statement saying that the US has not informed Taiwan that it will put arms sales on temporarily hold. The statement also stated that “Taiwan’s arms purchase policy has not changed, nor will Taiwan change its determination to defend itself as result of cross-strait conciliation.” In addition, it noted that the MND will continue to actively pursue all procedures completed in accordance with the law, all purchase bills approved by the legislature, and any purchase currently in progress. “The government has expressed a strong will to go through with the arms purchases through various channels and has also asked the US to sell Taiwan defensive arms as soon as possible,” it said.
■ POLITICS
Official plans green wedding
A Kaohsiung City councilwoman said yesterday she would rely on the MRT rather than a limousine to get around on her wedding day to help save energy and cut carbon dioxide emissions. Councilor Chen Hsin-yu (陳信瑜) of the Democratic Progressive Party said that on her wedding day on Sunday, she and her groom and relatives from both families would take the MRT from the Presbyterian church in the Cianjin District (前金) where they will be wed, to Hanshin Arena, the site of their wedding banquet, to demonstrate their resolve to help reduce global warming. Chen will be wearing her white wedding gown on her MRT ride. Huang I-chung (黃一中), director of Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corp’s (KRTC) Department of Public Affairs, welcomed Chen’s plan, saying that the KRTC would offer the couple a free ride as a gesture of its best wishes. Describing Chen’s plan to ride the MRT in her wedding gown as “innovative and unforgettable,” Huang encouraged other future newlyweds to follow in Chen’s footsteps.
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