UTILITIES
Water rationing ends
The worst water shortage to hit the nation in decades is finally over thanks to the seasonal plum rains. The Water Resources Agency yesterday said it had lifted phase-one water rationing measures implemented in New Taipei City’s Banciao (板橋), Sinjhuang (新莊) and Linkou (林口) districts, Taoyuan, Miaoli County, Taichung, northern Changhua County, Chiayi city and county, and Tainan. The announcement means that there are no longer any rationing measures in place in the nation. The government adopts a three-phase water rationing system: Phase-one means reduced water pressure at night; phase-two calls for water supply restrictions for big users that usually consume more than 1,000 cubic meters per month; and phase-three rationing cuts the water supply to entire areas for two days a week on a rotating basis. At the height of the water shortage in early April, phase-three water rationing was implemented in parts of northern Taiwan.
FOREIGN RELATIONS
Taiwan, Nauru sign MOU
Taiwan and Nauru sealed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) yesterday to cooperate on immigration and the prevention of human trafficking. The MOU was signed by Minister of the Interior Chen Wei-zen (陳威仁) and Nauru Minister of Justic David Adeang on behalf of their respective governments. Chen said human trafficking is a serious crime infringing on human rights that cannot be effectively stopped through unilateral efforts, and Taiwan is seeking cooperation with other countries to address the problem. Taiwan has been listed as a Tier 1 country in the US Department of State’s Trafficking in Persons Report for five consecutive years — the only Asian country other than South Korea to have received the US’ highest rating over that period, Chen said. Nauru is the 14th nation to sign a human trafficking prevention MOU with Taiwan.
ENTERTAINMENT
Funeral held for An
A funeral ceremony for Taiwanese actor Shone An (安鈞璨), who died of liver cancer on Monday last week, was held yesterday in Tainan. Relatives and many celebrity friends of An gathered at the Tainan City Mortuary Services Office to pay their last respects. TV host Kang Kang (康康) said An’s death is a reminder for people to take good care of their health. “It’s a pity to die at such a young age. Living is not only for yourself, but also for the people you love and those who love you,” he said. An died at the age of 31 at his home in Tainan. He was a member of boy band Comic Boyz, which disbanded in 2005. He also appeared in films and TV dramas such as Case Sensitive and The Emperor’s Harem.
CRIME
Owner indicted over death
The head of an illegal paraglider operation in Pingtung has been indicted for manslaughter after one of its patrons fell to his death earlier this year. The Pingtung District Prosecutors’ Office said that a group of 21 South Koreans visited Pingtung’s Saijia (賽嘉) in January to go paragliding. A 51-year-old member of the group fell from the sky after his paraglider took off and collided with another paraglider piloted by a Canadian man. The operation was run by a man, surnamed Su (蘇), who ostensibly runs a high-tech company, and he had not applied to the Pingtung County Government for a license. He charged his customers NT$1,500 per flight. Su, who is also a paragliding instructor, has been operating illegally in Saijia for years and has previously been fined NT$10,000 by the county government for the same offense.
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