AVIATION
Flights to be disrupted
The Civil Aeronautics Administration yesterday cautioned about possible flight delays this morning because of air force acrobatic maneuvers and drills as part of Double Ten National Day celebrations. Because the maneuvers are to require use of the airspace above Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport), civil flight schedules might be disrupted, the agency said. The affected periods would be 7:30am to 8am, 9:30am to 10am and 11:25am to 12pm, it said. Meanwhile, due to a fireworks display tonight at the Port of Hualien, all flights at Hualien Airport are to be suspended between 8pm and 9pm, the agency said.
ENTERTAINMENT
New Year show to be longer
Taipei 101 is to again showcase its LED system at this year’s New Year’s Eve fireworks display, Taipei Financial Center Corp said yesterday, adding that the show is to be about one minute longer than last year’s. The fireworks and light display, which typically starts after the countdown to the new year, is to last six minutes, compared with five minutes last year, even though it would have the same number of fireworks (16,000) and LED lights (14,000), said the company, which owns the skyscraper. The number of fireworks used in last year’s show was cut nearly in half to 16,000 from 30,000 to reduce air pollution. This year’s show is also to feature the T-Pad wall design, the company said, citing the same concerns. Part of the plan is to be unveiled in the middle of next month, it added.
DIPLOMACY
Vega quits after allegation
Paraguayan Immigration Bureau Director Julian Vega has resigned, allegedly over an accusation that he sexually harassed a woman in Taipei, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday. Ministry spokesman Andrew Lee (李憲章) confirmed that Vega had tendered his resignation and it was accepted by Paraguayan Minister of the Interior Juan Ernesto Villamayor. The ministry and its Paraguayan counterpart had over the past few days been in close contact over the “regrettable incident,” Lee said. Vega, who was in Taipei last week on an international training program hosted by the National Immigration Agency, allegedly sexually harassed his interpreter, who filed a report with the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week, media reported. The woman later withdrew the complaint after she and Vega reached an agreement, the agency said.
DIPLOMACY
Indonesia donation made
The government yesterday donated US$500,000 to Indonesia to help with relief efforts in the wake of a magnitude 7.5 earthquake that hit the island of Sulawesi on Sept. 28, triggering a tsunami and killing at least 1,948 people. Representative to Indonesia John Chen (陳忠) made the donation in Jakarta on behalf of the government. Chen conveyed President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) concern and sympathy for the victims, saying that the government decided to make the donation to support relief efforts and help the victims return to normal life. Taiwan is also collecting supplies to donate to the victims, he added. The government had already donated US$250,000 to help with relief efforts after a magnitude 7 earthquake in July left hundreds of people dead on Lombok, Chen said.
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