DIPLOMACY
Regional group chief visits
Central American Integration System (SICA) -secretary-general Juan Daniel Aleman Gurdian arrived in Taipei yesterday for a five-day visit. SICA is a regional organization that aims to promote sustainable development in Central America through political, economic, social, cultural and ecological integration. Since Taiwan became an extra-regional observer at SICA in 2002, there have been many bilateral cultural and financial interactions, which have included Taiwanese aid to corporations in SICA countries. Aleman Gurdian was elected SICA secretary--general in 2009 and is an ally with Taiwan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. He is scheduled to attend a banquet hosted by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Hou Ping-fu (侯平福) and to visit the Mainland Affairs Council and the International Cooperation and Development Fund.
DIPLOMACY
Photo service suspended
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday suspended passport photograph services provided by a security guard at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Los Angeles following complaints over the quality of the photos and the security guard’s attitude. “We have informed the representative office of the suspension of the service because people think that the service was under par,” Bureau of Consular Director-General Affairs Thomas Chen (陳經銓) said. He said the office allowed the guard to take photos for passport applicants and charge US$10 per person “to save people from inconvenience” and the office also provided applicants with information about nearby photoshops. The -Chinese-language Apple Daily yesterday reported that a student had complained about the security guard’s bad attitude and unprofessional technique.
HEALTH
Cross-strait hotline planned
Medical institutes in Taiwan and China are planning to operate a joint medical hotline as early as October to allow people from both sides of the Taiwan Strait to seek emergency medical assistance. Emergency medical experts from the two countries met at a seminar in Taipei on Monday to discuss the operation of a special phone line — “79595” — to inform each other of casualties, assist patients or purchase return air tickets in case of emergency. Wang Tsung-lun (王宗倫), president of Taiwan’s Society of Emergency and Critical Care Medicine, said the hotline would allow medical professionals from either side of the Strait to share medical records in a timely manner and allow doctors to give professional advice over the telephone. Wang said the hotline would not be toll free, and it could begin operating once it is approved by China’s communications authorities. The emergency call number is in Taiwan is 119 and 120 in China.
ENVIRONMENT
Park seeks crab escorts
The Kenting National Park Administration is recruiting people to help land crabs cross the road starting on Sunday. Female land crabs carry their fertilized eggs to the sea during breeding season to release to release them into the water. The park is looking for volunteers to help starting at 7pm on Sunday, not only with crossing the road, but with observing the crustaceans’ night-time behavior as well. The park administration said the area was home to 20 species of land crab, which feed on deciduous leaves and fruits in the coastal forest.
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