■ ENVIRONMENT
Agencies black out
The Presidential Office and several government agencies switched off their lights at 8:30pm yesterday for one hour as part of the global “Earth Hour” campaign observed by more than 120 countries. Wu Chia-ling (鄔嘉綾), an executive at the Society of Wilderness, which is leading a carbon-reduction drive in Taiwan, said that aside from the government, the private sector, including prominent buildings in Taipei City such as Taipei 101, the Grand Hyatt Taipei hotel and NEO19, also took part in the activity. Wu said the one hour lights-out campaign in Taiwan would save between 250,000 and 280,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity, which is equivalent to cutting 170 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions. Hundreds of thousands of individuals also took to the streets in eastern Taipei City yesterday afternoon in a show of support for the campaign, she said.
■ DIPLOMACY
Tung visits Taiwan: report
Former Hong Kong chief executive Tung Chee-hwa (董建華) arrived in Taiwan yesterday for a six-day visit, a local report said yesterday. Tung is now vice chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). The CPPCC has no legislative power, but in theory advises China’s rubber-stamp parliament, the National People’s Congress. The former shipping magnate is expected to visit the nation’s largest port in Kaohsiung and meet Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Honorary Chairman Lien Chan (連戰), the United Evening News quoted unnamed sources as saying. However, in a bid to keep his trip low-profile because of the political sensitivity associated with his position, Tung is not scheduled to meet any government officials, the report said. Tung lead the former British colony from its handover to Chinese rule in 1997 until his resignation in 2005. He never visited Taiwan during his terms.
■ TOURISM
Thai office holds food fair
A food and products fair was launched yesterday in Taipei as the final event in “Thailand Week 2010,” which aims at promoting better understanding of the Southeast Asian country. At the fair, 20 booths set up in the plaza in front of Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in Taipei offered food, handicrafts and tourism and visa services. “The purpose of this event is not only to promote Thailand tourism and food, but also to showcase every aspect of Thailand to the people of Taiwan and others who are currently in Taipei,” said Arbhorn Manasvanich, executive director of the Thailand Trade and Economic Office.
■ CRIME
UK citizen detained
A British-Indian businessman was in police custody yesterday over his alleged involvement in a hit-and-run in Taipei City. In the early morning on Thursday, scooter rider Huang Chun-te (黃俊德), 32, was hit from behind and killed at the scene. Video clips from a nearby security camera showed a black Mercedes hit him from behind and immediately left the scene. Chen Wen-chih (陳文智), deputy chief for Taipei City Police Department’s Da-an Precinct, said Yang Sheng-hung (楊盛宏), a retired sergeant from the Taipei City Police Department, took his car to a car maintenance shop and saw the Mercedes, which was also there for maintenance. Chen said Yang felt there was something wrong with the Mercedes and called police to tip them off. At press time, the businessman was being interviewed at the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office. Prosecutors have barred him from leaving the country.
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