■ POLITICS
Wu heads to Southeast Asia
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) will depart today on a trip to the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore to promote party diplomacy and meet expatriates, KMT spokesman Lee Chien-jung (李建榮) said yesterday. Building on the nation’s close economic and trade relations with the three Southeast Asian countries, Wu will also meet political figures to discuss bilateral ties and regional cooperation, Lee said. Wu is scheduled to meet leaders of the People’s Action Party of Singapore and the Malaysian Chinese Association, Lee said. Meanwhile, Wu will brief expats on government policies implemented since the KMT returned to power last May and will thank them on behalf of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) for supporting the new administration, Lee said. Wu is scheduled to return on March 5.
■ TRAVEL
Ireland mulls visa-free entry
Ireland is considering following the UK’s lead in offering visa-free travel to Taiwanese, an Irish government source said on Saturday. Because of the Common Travel Area between Ireland and the UK, it is important that the Irish and British visa lists are similar, an official with the Department of Justice said. This being the case, “Ireland must take serious account of any alterations in the UK visa regime,” the official said. “Full and immediate consideration will be given to the issue of Taiwan.” It is hoped this process will be completed before the UK arrangements take effect, the official said. The UK announced on Feb. 9 that it would waive visa requirements for Taiwanese visiting for less than six months, effective March 3. The Irish government said the number of applications by Taiwanese passport holders for entry to Ireland was around 1,200 per year. Taiwan allows holders of Irish passports 30-day visa-free entry.
■ SOCIETY
Guandu seeks volunteers
Guandu Park is seeking recruits for its volunteer program. The park, which includes a wetland and is home to an array of protected plants and animals, is accepting applications for its volunteer training program from now through April 15. In addition to volunteers, the park is also looking for short-term translators for the Guandu International Outdoor Sculpture Festival in June. The translators will be invited to participate in a two-day workshop, where they will learn about the wetlands, biodiversity and land conservation, park officials said. Details are available at www.gd-park.org.tw.
■ PUBLIC WORKS
MRT construction continues
Construction of three projects on the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT will start today in Taipei County. The Bureau of High Speed Rail is scheduled to hold a ground-breaking ceremony for the construction of several stations and other facilities in Taipei County. The projects include three elevated stations in Sanchong (三重), Wugu (五股) and Sinjhuang (新莊), two elevated stations in Taishan (泰山) and a bridge and two tunnels, a bureau official said yesterday. There will be 22 stations along the line, with seven underground and 15 elevated. Extended airport services will be provided at Taipei Main Station, Wugu Industrial Park Station and the Taiwan High Speed Rail’s Taoyuan Station to allow airline passengers to check-in at those points. The new MRT line will be 51.03km long.
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