HEALTH
Taiwanese lighter: survey
The percentage of Taiwanese adults who are overweight or obese dropped to 38 percent last year, declining for the first time in two decades, according to the latest survey by the Health Promotion Administration. The survey showed a decrease of 6 percentage points from the previous one conducted from 2005 to 2008, when 44 percent of adult Taiwanese were found to be overweight or obese, the agency said. Last year, the obesity rate was 45.9 percent among men and 33.1 percent among women, down from 51 percent and 36 percent respectively, the survey found. In the first national survey, conducted from 1993 to 1996, 33 percent of adults were found to be overweight or obese. In subsequent surveys, the rate showed an upward trend until last year, the agency said.
TOURISM
Tourist killed in Yilan
A Chinese tourist has died after the pedal boat he was riding in a scenic area in Yilan County overturned, local authorities said yesterday. Chen Guangjun (陳廣駿) was among a group of about 40 tourists who arrived in Taiwan on Wednesday. National Yang-Ming University Hospital in Yilan City said doctors temporarily restored Chen’s heartbeat and breathing, but he was pronounced dead late on Thursday. The man from Shanghai was found trapped under a capsized pedal boat in the Dah-hu Scenic Area and rushed to the hospital. He had no vital signs when he was pulled from the lake, emergency workers who were called to the scene said. He might have been trapped for as long as 20 minutes, a fellow tourist said. Chen had been on the boat with another tourist, surnamed Fan (樊), when the accident occurred. Fan alerted the others, saying the boat had overturned and Chen had gone missing.
SOCIETY
UK exhibition opens
Taiwanese interested in studying in the UK have a chance to learn more as the British Council in Taiwan is to hold an education fair in Taipei today. Representatives from nearly 30 British language schools, secondary schools, colleges and universities are participating in the Education UK Spring Exhibition today through Monday in Taipei before it moves to Greater Kaohsiung, the British Council said. The London branch of world famous culinary institute Le Cordon Bleu has been lined up to speak with aspiring Taiwanese chefs and restaurant managers. Several prominent art schools, including the University for the Creative Arts, are also scheduled to answer questions amid what the council said is a trend of more students going to the UK to study fine arts.
DIPLOMACY
ARATS chief visits panda
China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits Chairman Chen Deming (陳德銘) fulfilled his wish to see the giant panda cub at the Taipei Zoo, making a visit there yesterday before leaving Taiwan at the end of a three-day trip. The eight-month-old cub, called Yuan Zai (圓仔), was active in her enclosure and the visitors posed for pictures with it. When Chen visited Taiwan for the first time in November last year, Yuan Zai was too young to be put on public display. At the time, Chen said he he hoped to see her on his next visit. In an apparent attempt at making a panda punchline, Chen told Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) that the mayor looked like a giant panda.
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