■ POLITICS
DPP to hold fundraiser
The Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Taipei branch announced on Saturday it would initiate a fundraising event next month to rekindle supporters’ faith and passion for the party, while urging the government to claim the nation’s sovereignty during the Olympic games. The DPP would seek to rediscover its grassroots spirit and attract public support by holding the event, Huang Chin-lin (黃慶林), director of the DPP’s Taipei branch, said yesterday during a press conference at Pinchiang Market. As a political party that grew from street protests, the DPP has been counting on supporters, rather than party assets, to help with the party’s finances, he said. The fundraiser will be held on Sept. 19 at the Pinchiang Market. Visit the branch’s official Web site at www.tpdpp.org.tw/webtpdpp for more information.
■ DIPLOMACY
Sa to replace Parris Chang
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced yesterday that former assistant representative to France Sa Chih-yuan (薩支遠) has been appointed to serve as the new representative to Bahrain, replacing former representative Parris Chang (張旭成), who was removed from the post earlier this month after he was discovered to have a US green card in June. Sa, a senior diplomat, has previously served as the representative to Zaire (now known as the Democratic Republic of Congo) and assistant representative to Belgium.
■ POLITICS
Minister defends cake ad
Minister of the Interior Liao Liou-yi (廖了以) defended himself yesterday after a report in the Chinese-language Apple Daily said he had made a 30-second commercial costing NT$1.5 million (US$45,000) to promote the sale of moon cakes for the benefit of disadvantaged groups. The report said the money could have bought 3,000 to 4,000 boxes of moon cakes. Liao said yesterday that figure was the total sum for the whole project, and included the cost of a press conference, printed advertising, telephone information service and distribution. Liao said the cost for the 30-second ad was NT$500,000. Liao said he was concerned that the sale of moon cakes for disadvantaged groups were not good, and added that the NT$500,000 spent on the ad was equivalent to selling 3,000 boxes of moon cakes at the most. Liao said he hoped the media attention would result in the public buying more moon cakes to show their concern for disadvantaged groups.
■ CROSS-STRAIT
Bush, Hu hold talks
Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) and US President George W Bush held formal talks on Taiwan and other issues yesterday, after Bush appealed for greater religious freedom during a church visit earlier in the day. Chinese state media quoted Hu as telling Bush that China remained opposed to formal independence for Taiwan and urged the US to “properly handle the Taiwan issue to support the peaceful development of cross-strait relations.” “No matter what kind of changes take place in the cross-strait relations, our stance of adhering to the “one China” principle and opposing ‘Taiwan independence’ secessionist activities will never change, and cannot be changed,” the Xinhua news agency quoted Hu as saying. Bush was quoted as saying that the US was happy to see the recent improvement in cross-strait relations. Hu said China would continue to “push for the peaceful development of relations across the Taiwan Strait.”
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