DIPLOMACY
Ma praises pope’s speech
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has sent a letter to Pope Francis spelling out his admiration and support for the pope’s call on Jan. 1 for more efforts to fight modern slavery worldwide. Ma’s office publicly released the letter, which was sent on Jan. 14, yesterday. The president said he was deeply touched by the pope’s “profound and thought-provoking views” in his speech to mark the World Day of Peace, titled “No longer slaves, but brothers and sisters.” Ma praised the pope’s reminder that slavery has not been left in the past and that action is still needed to combat injustice and poverty and care for the disadvantaged and defenseless. He said that helping the disadvantaged is an important element of traditional Chinese culture and that doing so is in line with Pope Francis’ New Year’s Day message.
UTILITIES
Water rationing to expand
Taiwan Water Corp yesterday said that phase two water rationing will hit major users of water like street cleaners starting on Feb. 26 after the Lunar New Year holiday due to a lack of rainfall. The company said that the affected regions will range from the north of the country to the south, covering New Taipei City’s Linkou (林口), Banciao (板橋) and Sinjhuang (新莊) districts; Taoyuan; Hsinchu; Miaoli; Taichung; the northern parts of Changhua County; Tainan; and Kaohsiung. Water supplies will be suspended there for water fountains, street cleaners and other major uses of water that are not urgent. Non-industrial users that consume more than 1,000m3 of water per month will see their supplies cut by 20 percent, while industrial users will have their supplies reduced by 5 percent. Medical institutions and other specified users will not be subject to the rationing. At swimming pools and car washers, water supply will also be cut by 20 percent.
DIPLOMACY
St Lucia to set up embassy
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it welcomes the decision by St Lucia to set up its first embassy in Asia in Taiwan, saying the move will help strengthen bilateral ties. The ministry issued a statement after St Lucian Minister of External Affairs, International Trade and Civil Aviation Alva Romanus Baptiste announced that the Caribbean country would open an embassy in Taipei. “The ministry will also provide any necessary assistance,” the statement read. Baptiste, who is on his second visit to Taiwan, said he had looked at some possible sites for the new embassy, which is expected to open by the middle of the year.
EDUCATION
Yu Ying-shih sets up grant
Historian and Tang Prize (唐獎) laureate Yu Ying-shih (余英時) has decided to use his NT$10 million (US$319,100) research grant from the prize to set up a scholarship in Taiwan with the hope of encouraging young researchers in the field of humanities. Tang Prize Foundation chief executive Chern Jenn-chuan (陳振川) and Huang Chin-shing (黃進興), director of Academia Sinica’s Institute of History and Philology, signed an agreement on Thursday to formally establish the scholarship. The scholarship will be awarded annually to six Taiwanese students under the age of 45 who are working on books or doctoral dissertations. Three will receive NT$360,000 each to assist in their work, while the others will receive NT$240,000 to help with their theses. The institute would be responsible for selecting recipients. Yu is hoping that the scholarship will encourage more young people to study the humanities, Huang 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