DIPLOMACY
Ministry touts TV drama
For the first time, a Taiwanese TV drama will be aired in Latin America, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, adding that the move was an effort to promote bilateral exchanges in the field of pop culture. The drama, The Fierce Wife (犀利人妻), is to be broadcast on 10 TV channels in Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and Paraguay — five of Taiwan’s 22 diplomatic allies — as well as in Chile, Argentina and Ecuador, the ministry said. The drama, which is popular among young people in Taiwan, will be dubbed in Spanish for Latin American audiences and is to debut in Nicaragua late this month, it added. Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Vanessa Shih (史亞平) said many of the nation’s diplomatic allies are Spanish-speaking countries in Latin America, adding that she hopes the initiative will help improve bilateral relations.
DIPLOMACY
Soldier ad draws warning
The Bureau Francais de Taipei said it is not aware of any recruitment efforts by the French Foreign Legion in the nation and suspects a scam after local media outlets reported the office was recruiting Taiwanese to work in France for high salaries. Local reports have been covering an employment agency advertisement that promised prospective Taiwanese mercenaries yearly salaries of at least 40,000 euros (US$42,300), and permanent residency in France if they are chosen by the Foreign Legion and complete at least five years of service. The bureau said that according to the law, the Foreign Legion is only authorized to recruit on French soil, adding that it is unlikely that the military service wing of the French Army would require the services of a Taiwanese employment agency for recruits. Recruitment requirements listed by the advertisement stipulated that candidates must be less than 40 years old and have no history of tuberculosis. It also asks for NT$69,000 in consultation fees, which excludes air fares, accommodation and other expenses accumulated prior to visiting one of the legion’s recruitment centers in France. The bureau advised people to be wary of such advertisements.
DIPLOMACY
Thailand to free Taiwanese
Nine Taiwanese were among more than 30,000 prisoners given amnesty by Thailand’s authorities to mark the 60th birthday of Thai Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn on April 2, according to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Thailand. The office said it was notified by the Thai administration that nine Republic of China nationals were on the amnesty list, adding that it has helped with paperwork so that they can be released.
CRIME
Coast guard seizes orchids
The Coast Guard Administration said it seized in Yunlin County on Friday about 12,000 lady’s slipper orchids worth an estimated NT$5 million (US$160,000) that were allegedly smuggled into the nation from China. The coast guard arrested a man surnamed Shen (沈), who is suspected of smuggling the orchids from Guangxi Province through express delivery and mini-links ferry services between Taiwan-controlled offshore areas and ports in China’s Fujian Province. Shen bought the orchids at a cost of NT$5 each and sold them for between NT$300 and NT$1,500 each, coast guard officials said. According to the agency, the flower is extremely rare and cannot be shipped without permits from both the exporting and importing countries. Importing lady’s slipper orchids from China is forbidden under existing laws, the agency added.
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