■ SOCIETY
Dog abuse misreported
The Thailand Trade and Economic Office (TTEO) in Taipei denied yesterday that Thai workers were involved in the maltreatment of a dog, an accusation leveled by local television news channels last week. “This news has damaged the Thai people’s image in Taiwan,” the TTEO said, adding that no Thai people were involved in the abuse. The news channels reported on Sept. 29 that six foreign workers had maltreated a pregnant dog in Kaohsiung County. Some of the channels claimed the workers were from Thailand. The TVBS news channel later released a correction on its Web site, saying that the six workers were not from Thailand, and instead two of the suspects were Vietnamese and Cambodian.
■ TRAVEL
Japan still requires visas
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) on Friday reminded those who want to study in Japan to seek a student visa before going there or face the possibility of being refused entry. The NIA issued the reminder after a Taiwanese student was rejected entry at Kansai International Airport outside of Osaka. Immigration officials said that Japan waived its visitor visa requirements for Taiwanese nationals two years ago, and some local residents have mistaken this to mean that they can enter and leave Japan freely. In fact, the visa-free treatment is for those who travel to Japan for sightseeing or to visit friends, the officials said, adding that those who want to engage in any other activities must still apply for the proper visa.
■ LABOR
Police arrest broker
Police discovered a human-smuggling ring in the mountains of Hsinchu County on Friday, rescuing 10 illegal workers — nine men and one woman — from Thailand. Police also arrested a suspect, surnamed Huang, who was turned over to the Hsinchu Prosecutors Office on charges of obstruction of freedom and violation of the Employment Services Act (就業服務法). Police said they received a tip that Huang and an accomplice surnamed Hsieh acted as brokers for illegal foreign laborers, finding them odd jobs. The foreign laborers, more than 50 of them at one point, were housed in tents in the mountainous region of Hsinpu Township (新埔). Huang seized the workers’ passports and residence permits to control them, police said. He demanded NT$800 per day from each laborer, netting NT$1 million, police said. He and his accomplice threatened to report the foreign laborers — who were on the run from their legitimate employers — to the authorities if they did not comply with demands, police said.
■ POLITICS
DPP event boycott proposed
Presidential Office spokesman Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) yesterday said the Presidential Office is in support of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus’ call for government officials not to attend events hosted by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus. The KMT caucus issued the call after Minister of the Department of Health Yeh Ching-chuan (葉金川) was caught in a scuffle between KMT and DPP legislators at the Legislative Yuan on Friday. KMT and DPP lawmakers later accused each other of grabbing Yeh by the neck and throttling him. Saying that the DPP lawmakers’ use of violence against government officials was what prompted the KMT caucus to issue the call, Wang yesterday said the Presidential Office in general supported the KMT caucus’ move, which he said was made to uphold government officials’ dignity and security.
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