■ HEALTH
HIV births declining: DOH
The number of babies born with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is declining, with statistics showing that since last year there have been no recorded births of HIV-infected infants, the Department of Health reported on Tuesday. Department statistics showed that Taiwan had recorded five cases of babies born with HIV in 2005 and four in 2006. As of Nov. 30, the number of children born with HIV stood at 27, the figures showed. The department in 2005 implemented a number of measures to stem mother-to-infant HIV transmission during pregnancy. The measures focused on three major areas — disease screening, medical treatment and healthcare. As a result, since 2005, 95 babies born to HIV-positive mothers have tested free of the disease, the department said. The department estimates that the risk of mother-to-infant HIV transmission during pregnancy would drop from 45 percent to 2 percent if the mothers adopt preventative medical care.
■ SOCIETY
‘Chaos’ is word of the year
“Chaos” has been chosen as the word of the year after a turbulent 12 months marred by high-profile corruption scandals implicating former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and top officials. Among 61,600 people who took part in a telephone poll, nearly 8,000 voted for the Chinese character luan (亂, chaos), followed by pian (騙, lie) and can (慘, miserable), said the Chinese-language United Daily News, a co-organizer of the survey. Also on the list of the top 10 annual characters were “corrupt,” “depressed” and “love” — the only positive word of the year.
■ DIPLOMACY
AIT closes for Christmas
All offices of the American Institute (AIT) in Taiwan will be closed next Thursday and Friday for Christmas. This includes the Consular Section, the Commercial Section, the Agricultural Trade Office, the American Cultural Center and the AIT Kaohsiung branch office. All offices will reopen on Dec. 29 at the usual time.
■ CRIME
Egg thrower fined
Chiayi resident Lee Chung-ching (李仲清) was fined NT$1,000 on Tuesday for throwing eggs at the Presidential Office. Taipei District Court said that Lee, 57, arrived outside the Presidential Office on July 21 to protest against the government’s policy to lift the ban on chipmakers relocating factories to China. Lee purchased 12 eggs at a convenience store and threw them at the Presidential Office. He was immediately arrested by military police and transferred to the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office, where he was indicted on charges of making a public insult.
■ JUSTICE
Cheng Yung-chin cleared
The Hsinchu District Court on Tuesday dismissed a corruption case involving Hsinchu County Commissioner Cheng Yung-chin (鄭永金). In its verdict, the court said judges had dismissed the case against Cheng as the evidence presented by prosecutors was insufficient to support the charges. In the same case, Hsinchu County Secretary-General Chan Chien-tung (詹前通) and employee Huang Chin-chiu (黃金球) were sentenced to five months and 12 years in jail respectively. Cheng, Chan and Huang were indicted by Hsinchu District prosecutors in August 2006 on allegations they accepted a NT$1 million (US$30,000) bribe in return for helping expedite a construction company’s application for a construction license.
■ TELEVISION
NCC targets ad
The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said it had asked 17 TV stations to reschedule the broadcast of a motorcycle commercial until after 9pm as the content was deemed inappropriate for minors. NCC spokesperson Lee Ta-sung (李大嵩) said the commission had entrusted an independent committee to review the commercial, which showed a young couple getting into a fight on an overpass. The committee of media researchers and children’s rights advocates said scenes in the commercial were likely to set a bad example for young people, as the commercial shows a person dropping a handbag from the overpass into the traffic below. A person then speeds over a railway crossing to retrieve the bag. In addition to rescheduling the broadcast, the committee said a warning must be added to the commercial.
■ SOCIETY
Kaohsiung to hold parade
For the first time, Kaohsiung City’s New Year celebration will feature a large-scale balloon parade, a firework display over a Ferris wheel and a New Year’s Eve concert, Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) said yesterday. At a press conference in Taipei, Chen said the parade was scheduled to begin at 2pm on Dec. 27 along Time Avenue (時代大道) with about 1,000 people from some 20 performance groups and cheer-leading squads from the Kaohsiung Organizing Committee of the 2009 World Games marching down the 1km-long road. The parade is expected to attract about 150,000 people, she said. The event will be followed by a New Year’s Eve concert starting at 7pm on Dec. 31, with highlights such as a performance by Van Fan (范逸臣), the lead actor of this year’s hit movie Cape No. 7, she said.
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