SOCIETY
Phillips memorial to be held
The Taipei American School (TAS) has organized a celebration on Sunday to commemorate Hope Phillips, a long-time staff member who died on Jan. 22 in Washington. Phillips, who arrived in Taiwan in 1955 with her family, served as an English teacher, college counselor and middle-school principal at TAS. After retiring from the school, she worked as executive director of American Bureau for Medical Advancement in China. She coordinated TAS’ 50th anniversary celebrations over the 1999-to-2000 school year before moving to the US in 2001. Sunday’s celebration is scheduled to begin at 3pm at the Upper School Joanna Nichols Information Commons on the fourth floor. TAS is at No. 800, Sec 6, Zhongshan N Road, Tianmu (天母). People interested in attending the event are asked to RSVP by e-mail to alumni@tas.edu.tw, by telephone at (02) 2873-9900 ext 368 or online at www.tas.edu.tw/page.cfm?p=1452&LockSSL=true.
SOCIETY
Consumers group to sue
The Consumers’ Foundation yesterday said that it is to file a class-action suit next month against four producers of allegedly tainted edible oils seeking compensation of more than NT$30 million (US$947,500). The four — Chang Guann Co (強冠企業), Ting Hsin Oil and Fat Industrial Co (頂新製油實業), Cheng I Food Co (正義股份) and Beei Hae Oil and Fats Co (北海油脂) — have been accused of using ingredients not fit for human consumption, such as oils used in animal feed and those extracted from restaurant waste. The tainted oil scandal first surfaced in September last year, and the foundation was later authorized by the Executive Yuan’s Consumer Protection Committee to file suits against the four suppliers on behalf of consumers. As of Thursday last week, 2, 761 consumers had agreed to allow the foundation to claim damages from the four companies on their behalf.
RETAIL
Online bookstore expands
Books.com.tw, Taiwan’s largest online bookstore, added Macau to its fast-delivery overseas distribution network yesterday. The addition of Macau came nearly a year after the bookseller set up its first overseas operation in Hong Kong in April last year offering 20 to 30 percent cheaper books than domestic vendors and fast delivery through the 7-Eleven convenience store chain. The online bookseller said its Hong Kong sales revenue has increased four times over the past year since it launched delivery services through the chain. Given the similar reader preferences in the two regions, Books.com.tw has decided to expand into Macau to meet consumers’ expectations there.
AVIATION
Attendant warms hearts
A Taiwanese flight attendant has attracted media attention after a photograph of him helping a disabled passenger was posted on Facebook on Saturday. China Airlines cabin manager Chiang Chia-yang (姜嘉揚) was photographed feeding a disabled passenger in a photo posted by passenger Wu Yi-cheng’s (吳翊丞) on Facebook. In the post, Wu said after noticing that the disabled man needed help to take his meal, Chiang patiently spoon-fed him and even cut fruit into pieces to make it easier for the man to chew. He said Chiang spent 25 minutes feeding the man, before cleaning the table and leaving. “I am very much moved and I really hope I can take his plane again in the future,” Wu said. Declining to be interviewed, the flight attendant said yesterday that “it is nothing but my duty.”
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