HEALTH
Baby dies of enterovirus
A 10-month-old baby girl in Taipei died of enterovirus earlier this month, making her the first in the country to succumb to the highly contagious disease this year, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. CDC Deputy Director-General Shih Wen-yi (施文儀) said the girl was initially diagnosed as suffering from herpangina on July 5, with signs of drowsiness, reduced appetite and fever. However, her condition quickly deteriorated and she was admitted to a hospital on July 8, where she died the following day. Lab results later showed that the baby died of enterovirus 71 — the most virulent form of the disease. No one else in her family was infected. Shih reminded parents with children under the age of five to ensure frequent hand-washing to reduce the risk of infection and to seek immediate medical attention should their children develop symptoms of drowsiness, weakness or loss of consciousness.
CHARITY
Tzu Chi to help quake victims
Representatives of the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation left for Japan on Thursday in the group’s latest efforts to help survivors living in disaster-stricken areas most affected by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. The foundation is set to deliver donations to Yamada-cho and Maul-cho in northeastern Japan’s Iwate Prefecture. The donations are expected to help nearly 50,000 quake victims. The charity group also plans to fund school lunch programs in the region, helping about 3,000 children. The 100-strong volunteer group is set to distribute the money, totaling ¥45 million (US$569,800), to the victims this weekend. The two areas were engulfed in flames after fires broke out at oil pipelines in the region following the quake. Nearly 10,000 people in Yamada-cho remain missing.
SOCIETY
Concert postponed
A charity concert scheduled for tomorrow has been postponed because of potential bad weather, the organizer said yesterday. Organized by the Taipei-based Huashan Social Welfare Foundation, the benefit concert at National Taipei University of Technology had been canceled because of uncertainty over the effect of the approaching Typhoon Ma-on and “concern over the safety of the elderly and other participants,” it said in a news release. Asked about reports that only 10 percent of the tickets had been sold so far, the foundation said that this factor played “only a minor role” in the decision to postpone the event. The Central Weather Bureau said although uncertainty remained over whether Ma-on would strike Taiwan, the weather would be unstable because of the effects of the low pressure system.
CULTURE
Honorary citizenship granted
Taiwanese Representative to France Michel Lu (呂慶龍) and a French musician were granted honorary citizenship by the Mezin commune in France earlier this week for their efforts to promote cultural and civilian exchanges between the two countries. Mezin Mayor Christian Bataille awarded Lu and famed French violinist Christoph Boulier, who has traveled between France and Taiwan to teach students and perform with Taiwanese orchestras for 23 years. Lu said Boulier had received honorary citizenship in Taitung County in 2009. Lu also invited Bataille to visit Taiwan. Mezin is a commune situated in the Lot-et-Garonne region in southwestern France. It is located about 800km southwest of Paris.
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