CRIME
Stanton meets MOJ boss
American Institute in Taiwan Director William Stanton said yesterday that Taiwan had made good progress in combating human trafficking. Before a closed-door meeting with Minister of Justice Tseng Yung-fu (曾勇夫) at the Ministry of Justice (MOJ), Stanton told reporters that he appreciated the effort Taiwan was making in combatting sex trafficking. He also said the US and Taiwan could reach agreements on a number of judicial issues — including passport security and extradition of fugitives, before adding that he and Tseng were “old friends.” Stanton refused to comment on Taiwan’s execution of several death row prisoners earlier this year or whether the US would extradite white collar criminals such as former Rebar Group chairman Wang You-theng (王又曾), who fled to the US in 2007.
TRAVEL
MOTC launches sign contest
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) yesterday invited the public to submit examples of problematic bilingual signs to help improve travel for foreign visitors. People who upload photos of incorrect signs at railway stations, freeway service areas or national scenic areas administrated by the ministry to its Facebook page before the end of January will have the chance to win a Wii or an iPod, each worth more than NT$10,000, the ministry said. Many bilingual traffic signs are incorrect and can confuse visitors or otherwise inconvenience them, ministry officials said, who cited one sign that reads “Beware of missing foot,” instead of simply saying “Unstable footing.”
TRAVEL
Visa plan boosts UK visits
The UK’s inclusion of Taiwan in its visa-exemption scheme from March last year has led to a marked increase in the number of Taiwanese visitors, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. A total of 80,935 Taiwanese visited the UK last year, Department of European Affairs Director-General James Lee (李光章) said. That was a 56 percent increase over the 51,930 who visited in 2008, he said, citing statistics from the UK Border Agency. “The number of short-term visitors rose 107 percent rise from 2008 to 2009, and 150 percent — from 18,655 to 46,720 — if business travelers were differentiated from short-term visitors,” Lee said. Bilateral relations have also become closer since the UK granted visa-free privileges, he said. The number of short-term students heading to the UK also increased, from 1,940 in 2008 to 3,305 last year, he said.
CRIME
Baseball player still held
A Nicaraguan baseball player accused of sexual assault has not been bailed and remains at the Taichung Detention Center, the Taichung District Prosecutors Office said yesterday.
Gustavo Horacio Lopez came to Taiwan with his team for the Intercontinental Cup baseball tournament, which ended on Sunday. He has been accused of sexually assaulting a Taiwanese woman in a hotel on the evening of Oct. 26. He cannot afford the NT$200,000 bail and no one has come forward to pay the bond on his behalf, chief Prosecutor Wu Tso-yan (吳祚延) said. If the investigation is not closed and no one posts bail by the time Lopez’s initial detention period ends in next month, prosecutors could apply to keep Lopez behind bars for another two months.
HEALTH
Some Yogurt drinks fail
More than 10 percent of diluted yogurt drinks sold locally were found to be substandard, according to the Taipei County Public Health Bureau. Results of a test conducted by the bureau showed two of the 15 diluted yogurt drink brands were found to contain far fewer lactobacillus bacteria than the level set by the Department of Health (DOH). One of the two substandard products contained only 7,600 lactobacillus bacterium per gram — an extremely small amount compared with the 1 million lactobacillus bacterium per gram required by the DOH. Vendors throughout the county have been ordered to remove the items from their shelves, bureau officials said. Noting that manufacturers of the substandard products were located in Hsinchu County, the officials said they have informed the Hsinchu County Government of its test results and asked that the producers be ordered to make improvements within an appropriate period.
TRANSPORTATION
Gondola adds glass cars
Twenty cars equipped with transparent, crystal-like glass floors joined the Maokong Gondola service on Tuesday. The glass-floored cars, dubbed the “Eyes of Maokong Gondola,” allow passengers to better enjoy the scenery during the ride between the southern suburb of Muzha (木柵) and the mountainous Maokong (貓空) area, gondola operator Taipei Mass Rapid Transit Corp said. The cars were manufactured by Sigma, a subsidy of French company Poma, a world leader in building cable-driven lift systems, the Taipei-based company said. The Maokong Gondola, which has regularly maintained 129 cars in operation, has provided 7.58 million rides to tourists since it was inaugurated on July 4, 2007, despite a service hiatus of 18 months through March because of safety concerns.
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