SOCIETY
Halal vending makes debut
The first halal-certified vending machine in Taiwan made its debut at the Taipei International Convention Center yesterday, paving the way toward building an even more friendly environment for Muslims. Thanks to cooperation between the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) and the OK Mart convenience store chain, Taiwan’s first “OK mini” vending machine was unveiled at the convention center. It dispenses more than 20 halal-certified Taiwanese products, and accepts various forms of electronic payment, such as EasyCards, credit cards or mobile payments. TAITRA is also planning to team up with the Tourism Bureau to install the OK mini vending machines in 13 national scenic areas and tourist service centers throughout the country, TAITRA president and chief executive officer Walter Yeh (葉明水) said. Taiwan has worked toward building a Muslim-friendly environment in the past few years, and this year ranked No. 3 — along with the UK and Japan — in Mastercard’s Global Muslim Travel Index. According to TAITRA statistics, 1,075 businesses in Taiwan have been granted halal certification, including 252 restaurants and hotels.
SOCIETY
Student still missing
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday said that the search continues for a Taiwanese student who has been missing for three weeks in the US state of Alabama. Auburn police on Aug. 21 said that Lai Chih-kai (賴致愷), a 21-year-old from National Taipei University of Technology who was attending Auburn University in Alabama as an exchange student, was reported missing. He last contacted his family on Aug. 17, the police said. Police have been searching for him extensively since then. Police on Monday released a surveillance photograph taken near Lai’s apartment before his disappearance. In the photo, Lai is seen wearing black warm-up pants with white stripes, running shoes, a T-shirt and glasses, according to a local TV station. Police urged anyone who might have seen, or been in communication with Lai since midday on Aug. 18, or who might have information regarding his whereabouts, to call the Auburn Police Division Detective Section.
DIPLOMACY
China axes Prague show
In the latest in a string of moves reportedly aimed at embarrassing the Taiwan-friendly mayor of Prague, China on Thursday announced that it had canceled a scheduled performance by a musical trio from the European city. Ivan Klansky, a classical pianist and a member of the Guarneri Trio Prague, said he had a feeling that the group would encounter the same problem as the Prague Philharmonia, which also had their performance in China canceled this month. China last month canceled a scheduled performance by the Prazak Quartet and another by the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra. According to Czech media reports in April, such actions by China are aimed at humiliating Prague Mayor Zdenek Hrib, who visited Taiwan in March and has been a vocal critic of China’s human rights record. Hrib, who took office in November last year, said that in a twin-sister agreement between Prague and Beijing, he wanted to remove the clause that stated: “Taiwan is a part of China,” because of concerns that it would be unfair to Taiwan. During his visit to Taiwan in March, Hrib praised Taipei’s Mass Rapid Transit System and said he hoped to cooperate with Taipei in building smart cities.
Former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) mention of Taiwan’s official name during a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on Wednesday was likely a deliberate political play, academics said. “As I see it, it was intentional,” National Chengchi University Graduate Institute of East Asian Studies professor Wang Hsin-hsien (王信賢) said of Ma’s initial use of the “Republic of China” (ROC) to refer to the wider concept of “the Chinese nation.” Ma quickly corrected himself, and his office later described his use of the two similar-sounding yet politically distinct terms as “purely a gaffe.” Given Ma was reading from a script, the supposed slipup
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,
The bodies of two individuals were recovered and three additional bodies were discovered on the Shakadang Trail (砂卡礑) in Taroko National Park, eight days after the devastating earthquake in Hualien County, search-and-rescue personnel said. The rescuers reported that they retrieved the bodies of a man and a girl, suspected to be the father and daughter from the Yu (游) family, 500m from the entrance of the trail on Wednesday. The rescue team added that despite the discovery of the two bodies on Friday last week, they had been unable to retrieve them until Wednesday due to the heavy equipment needed to lift