A group of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers yesterday urged authorities to pay attention to student safety in and around water in the wake of an increase in drownings among schoolchildren.
Citing statistics from the Ministry of Education, KMT Legislator Chao Li-yun (趙麗雲) said that 22 students have drowned so far this year, 13 of whom were of primary-school age.
That marks a sharp rise from the 12 recorded during the same period last year, Chao said, adding the Ministry of the Interior should coordinate with other government agencies to integrate existing lifesaving resources.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
The Sports Affairs Council should set up more lifesaving stations around the country, she said, adding that the council should also teach -students lifesaving skills instead of focusing on posture and speed.
KMT Legislator Pan Wei-kang (潘維剛), who also serves as president of the Chinese Taipei Water Life Saving Association, said students should be taught how to remain calm, use rescue equipment and shout for help in the event of a life-threatening situation.
Chen Wen-lung (陳文龍), deputy director-general of the National Fire Agency, promised that his agency will step up its education and publicity campaign.
Wang Chun-chuan (王俊權), head of the education ministry’s Department of Physical Education, said most drowning incidents involving students occur during group outings. In many cases, the victims fell into the water by accident.
Thirty-six percent of drownings among students happen in rivers and 27.8 percent take place in the sea, much higher than the 4.8 percent in swimming pools, he 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