■ CULTURE
Calling amateur cartoonists
In cooperation with several social groups and businesses, Asia Manga is calling on amateur cartoonists in Taiwan to take part in the group’s second annual manga contest by sending in their works via e-mail before Oct. 5. As the Animal Protection Association and the Taiwan Institute for Sustainable Energy are co-hosts of the event, the two themes of this year’s contest are “animals” and “energy-saving.” While there is no limit on age or nationality of contestants, all dialogue in the cartoons must be in traditional Chinese. For more information visit 3cc.cc/2008scc.
■ JUSTICE
New twist in ‘murder’ case
A man who drove a nail and a screw into his forehead is recovering from the wounds, but faces charges of defamation for accusing his Chinese wife of attempting to murder him, local media reported on Saturday. On Aug. 15, the 71-year-old man, surnamed Lin, was rushed to a hospital with a 6cm nail and a 5cm screw lodged in his forehead. Lin told police that his wife, surnamed Chen, drugged him with sleeping pills and drove the nail and screw into his head to try to kill him. Chen, 45, denied the charge. On Friday, Lin admitted to police that he injured himself after police had found out that Chen arrived in Taiwan seven years ago and planned to deport her to China. Over the past seven years, Chen had been paying him NT$5,000 per month as arranged by a human-smuggling ring. If Chen was deported, Lin would no longer get the money. Lin said his despair led him to commit suicide. After drinking liquor, he used a brick to drive the nail and a screw into his forehead.
■ POLITICS
Group calls for rally today
A pro-Taiwan independence group yesterday called on the public to join a “nation-building” campaign in front of the Presidential Office today to protest President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) pro-China polices. Peter Wang (王獻極), the convener of “the 908 Taiwan Nation Movement,” said the event’s highlight would be a flag-raising ceremony and a chorus of the Republic of China’s national anthem at 2:28pm — chosen to mark the massacre that began on Feb. 27, 1947 when Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) troops suppressed a Taiwanese uprising, leaving tens of thousands dead, missing or imprisoned. Instead of the national flag, the campaign today will present the crowd with a flag with a white background and the shape of Taiwan in green in the center, symbolizing Taiwan as a peaceful and friendly “maritime state.” Wang said he hoped the flags would be raised around the country and that one day the flag would fly in front of UN buildings among the flags of other UN members.
■ SPORT
Ilan boy wins bike race
A 19-year-old boy from Ilan emerged the winner yesterday from more than 4,000 cyclists in a 55km road race spanning a high school in Nantou County to Wuling (武陵) — the highest point on Taiwan’s road system. Lin Huan-tser (林寰澤), who began to ride on highways a year ago, cycled up the winding mountain road in 2 hours, 56 minutes, 7 seconds. Lin said this was the first time that he took part in the Wuling challenge, part of the “2008 never stop” series for Taiwan’s cyclists. Wuling, a ridge of Hohuanshan (合歡山), is located on the New Cross-Island Highway — 3,275m above sea level. The bicycle challenge, sponsored by the Nantou County Government, started at 5:30am, with the 4,167 competitors setting off from Puli Industrial Vocational Senior High School.
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