SOCIETY
Hunting for food is legal
Aborigines can legally hunt to provide food for themselves and their families, according to an interpretation of the Wildlife Conservation Act (野生動物保育法) published by the government yesterday. As long as wild animals are not caught for the purpose of making a profit, it is not illegal for Aborigines to hunt them, the Council of Agriculture and the Council of Indigenous Peoples said in their interpretation of the law. Wild animals may be caught as food for hunters and their families or for sharing with others, in accordance with traditional Aboriginal culture, the two agencies said. The interpretation was issued to address a dispute over whether hunting for self-consumption was permitted under Article 21-1 of the act.
HEALTH
Woman has encephalitis
Doctors confirmed that a 45-year-old Ukrainian woman working in Tainan has contracted Japanese encephalitis, the second such case this year, the Centers for Disease Control said yesterday. The woman initially experienced a severe headache and fever before losing consciousness and was hospitalized on May 30, the agency said, adding that she was confirmed as having contracted Japanese encephalitis on Wednesday. The agency said health officials have determined that the woman had not received related vaccinations and had not traveled overseas recently, adding that they identified her daily routine as traveling from her residence to her place of work in Danei District (大內), with occasional shopping trips to Yujing District (玉井).
WEATHER
Dry weather forecast
The nation is to enjoy dry, cloudy and hot weather until Sunday, with afternoon showers in mountainous areas in the north, the Central Weather Bureau forecast yesterday. However, from Monday the weather is to become unstable, the bureau said, forecasting that the instability will become more apparent the following day due to the arrival of a weather front and southwesterly winds. On Tuesday, showers or thundershowers, with occasional heavy rain, are to begin to hit, the bureau said, adding that the stationary front — a typical plum rain feature — would affect the nation for about five days. Yesterday, peak temperatures nationwide dropped slightly to between 31°C and 34°C thanks to a weak frontal system passing over the seas north of Taiwan, the agency said.
DIPLOMACY
President thanks Harris
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday expressed gratitude to Saint Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Timothy Harris for his long-standing and unwavering support of Taiwan in its efforts to attend the World Health Assembly (WHA) and other international organizations. In a meeting with a visiting Saint Kitts and Nevis delegation led by Harris, Tsai said that she hopes the nation will continue to support international participation that allows Taiwan to make greater contributions to the international community. Tsai said that Harris has visited Taiwan several times, including to attend her inauguration ceremony last year, and established good relations with officials. She thanked Harris for speaking in favor of Taiwan’s participation at the UN General Assembly in 2015 and last year, as well as Saint Kitts and Nevis’ support for Taiwan to attend this year’s WHA in Geneva, Switzerland, last month.
HEALTH
Food safety to be checked
Big food producers and registered importers of certain categories of food products are to soon be required to conduct regular food safety checks, according to a set of draft regulations published on Wednesday by the Food and Drug Administration. Businesses are to also have to draw up a food safety monitoring plan and implement it, or risk a fine of NT$30,000 to NT$3 million (US$996.5 to US$99,651), the draft regulations state. The draft regulations are to be open to public review until Aug. 7, after which they will be finalized and put into effect, the agency said. The new regulations would apply to more than 20,000 businesses, including companies or factories that import agricultural plants, frozen, chilled, dehydrated and pickled mushrooms and algae, vegetable protein and its products, and processed soybean products, the agency said. Registered importers of baby foods and processed meat, dairy and fish products, as well as registered food producing and processing factories with a contributed capital of NT$30 million or more are to also be on the list, it said.
CHARITY
Rummage sale at TAS
The Taipei American School (TAS) Orphanage Club is to host its annual spring rummage sale — its 47th — tomorrow from 10am to 5pm. Club members have collected a wide variety of new and second-hand clothing, household items, shoes, toys, games, electronic items and appliances. The sale is to be held in the school’s forecourt and lobby come rain or shine. All of the proceeds go to the club’s funds for needy children and orphans in Taiwan and overseas. The school is at No. 800 Zhongshan N Rd Sec 6 in Tianmu (天母).
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard