RELIGION
Karmapa plans 19-day tour
Trinley Thaye Dorje, a claimant to the title of the 17th karmapa, spiritual leader of the Karma Kagyu sect of Tibetan Buddhism, is currently in the country to take part in a series of religious events. The Karmapa said he is very happy to be able to visit Taiwan again and hopes to have more contact with his followers here, adding that he will give his blessings to the country through the events scheduled to take place in northern, central and southern Taiwan. The Karmapa, who arrived on Monday, plans to stay for 19 days as part of a 180-day religious tour of the world. According to the Karma Kagyu Buddhist Association, which organized the visit, the religious leader has no plans to take part in any other activities besides the religious events. This is the Karmapa’s third visit to Taiwan.
CROSS-STRAIT TIES
Hubei’s governor to visit
The governor of China’s Hubei Province, Wang Guosheng (王國生), is scheduled to visit from Monday to May 14 to attend a series of industrial cooperation and development forums, and visit various organizations and business operations. He will arrive as the head of a 100-member delegation from the province, which will include Dongfeng Motor Co chairman Xu Ping (徐平) and Deng Qilin (鄧崎琳), general manager of Wuhan Iron and Steel. The delegation will visit several cities and counties during, including Taipei, Hsinchu, Greater Taichung, Greater Kaohsiung and Greater Tainan. The delegation will also visit popular tourist sites, including the National Palace Museum, Alishan (阿里山), Sun Moon Lake (日月潭) and the Chung Tai Chan Monastery.
WEATHER
Expect downpours: CWB
Torrential downpours are expected nationwide over the next few days as the first plum rains of the season arrive, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said yesterday. Rain has been falling heavily throughout Taiwan since a frontal system moved on Wednesday, with Greater Kaohsiung and Pingtung County recording precipitation of more than 130mm during the past 24 hours, the bureau said. The heavy rains are likely to continue nationwide until tomorrow, when the weather is forecast to stabilize as the front departs, the weather bureau said. Starting next week, cloudy skies with afternoon thundershowers can be expected in northern and central Taiwan, while daily temperatures will average 30°C nationwide, the bureau said.
HEALTH
Measles case sparks alert
People who had contact with a Chinese tourist infected with measles who recently left the country should closely monitor their health for a number of days, said Centers of Disease Control deputy director general Chou Jih-haw (周志浩). Chou said a man from China’s Jiangsu Province who arrived on April 18 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport aboard a Uni Air flight with a tour group from Nanjing developed a fever on April 21 and was confirmed as having measles the following day. The man left Taiwan on April 27 after treatment in quarantine, Chou said. Patients and medical personnel at the hospital where the man was treated, as well as passengers sitting three rows in front and behind him on the flight, should monitor their health until May 6, Chou said, adding that 89 people in total had been affected. Chou said the man also traveled on the No. 4187 train between Hualien and Yilan on April 24, so passengers who were on the train should also monitor their health for 18 days until May 12.
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