ASTRONOMY
Solar eclipse expected
The most significant celestial event of next year is expected to be a total solar eclipse on March 9, part of which will be visible from the nation, with the sun about 20 percent obscured by the moon, according to the Taipei Astronomical Museum. In Taipei, the eclipse is set to begin at 8:19am, reach its zenith at 9:14am and end at 10:15am, the museum said, adding that the maximum effect would last for 1 hour, 55 minutes and 40 seconds. In addition to the solar eclipse, there will also be several observable meteor showers next year, including the Quadrantids on Jan. 4 and the Perseids on Aug. 12, the museum said. The planets Mars, Jupiter and Saturn will be well-placed for observation on certain dates next year, it said, adding that local astronomers can expect a “supermoon” on Nov. 14 — the biggest full moon for 40 years.
ENTERTAINMENT
Events to mark the new year
Pop singer Chang Hui-mei (張惠妹), also known as A-mei (阿妹), is among the celebrities to star at events across Taiwan on New Year’s Eve. Singers Elva Hsiao (蕭亞軒), William Wei (韋禮安), Wilber Pan (潘瑋柏) and electropop diva Jeannie Hsieh (謝金燕) are set to rock the stage at the Taipei Civic Square, with a fireworks display lasting 238 seconds to be held at Taipei 101. Two main countdown parties are to be held in Kaohsiung — one at Dream Mall and the other at E-Da World. The Kaohsiung City Government said that it would not fund a countdown party this year and would instead use the money saved to print 300,000 calendars for city residents. An event is to be held in front of the high-speed railway’s Tainan Station and National Taiwan University of Physical Education and Sport is holding a party in Taichung.
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