■EDUCATION
IELTS scores improve
The scores of Taiwanese taking the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) exam improved last year, ranking 12th among Asian countries, according to newly released data from the University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations, which runs the test. The overall score of Taiwanese IELTS test-takers was 5.72 last year, which was slightly higher than the previous year’s 5.66, according to the data. In the Asian rankings, the top score was achieved by Malaysian test-takers, with an overall rate of 6.76, followed by the Philippines and Hong Kong. Taiwan’s 12th place among Asian countries was higher than China’s 15th place ranking. Among the global rankings, the top three were Germany, Poland and Malaysia, with Taiwan ranked 29th.
■ENVIRONMENT
Kuokuang plant opposed
A group of Changhua residents and environmental activists staged a rally in front of the Construction and Planning Agency in Taipei yesterday to protest the building of a new petrochemical complex in the county. According to the protesters, the project could cause severe damage to the county’s coastal wetlands and ocean ecology and could have an adverse effect on the livelihoods of the area’s residents. Shih Yueh-ying (施月英), chief executive of the Changhua County Environmental Protection Alliance, said Kuokuang Petrochemical Ltd’s plan to construct a petrochemical complex along the coast of the county’s Fangyuan (芳苑) and Dacheng (大城) townships by means of land reclamation could affect the area’s wetland ecology, threaten the survival of a species of mud shrimp that lives in the region and damage the livelihoods of local fishermen. Protesters also pointed out that the Changhua coast is located between the coastlines of Tainan and Miaoli counties, which together provide the habitat of the critically endangered Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin. A petrochemical complex on the coast could lead to the extinction of the species, they said.
■AGRICULTURE
COA hopes for mango fever
The Council of Agriculture’s Department of International Affairs Deputy Director Hsiao Tung-chung (蕭柊瓊) said yesterday that the council will hold three Taiwanese fruit fairs at three Keio department stores in Tokyo. She expressed hope the promotions will once again trigger a “fever” for Taiwanese Irwin mangoes in Japan after the fruit captured the hearts of Japanese consumers in 2007. In an online poll on the Japan Yahoo Web site in 2007, Taiwan’s Irwin mangoes won the support of 76 percent of voters, beating local varieties, Hsiao said. Citing government export statistics, Hsiao said Japan is the major market for Taiwanese fruit. Taiwan last year shipped US$20.18 million in fresh fruit to Japan, accounting for 47 percent of the country’s total fresh fruit exports for the year.
■POPULATION
Baby slogans pile up
More than 28,000 people have submitted slogans for a contest to find the best slogan to promote childbirth, Deputy Minister of the Interior Chien Tai-lang (簡太郎) said yesterday. The Ministry of the Interior’s contest closed at midnight on Thursday. A panel of 11 judges will select the best 20 slogans, and then place the top 20 on the Internet next month for a vote, he said. Chien said he was surprised by the enthusiasm of some of the participants. For example, all of the prisoners at one prison submitted slogans, while entire classes at some schools also took part.
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