POLITICS
Poll favors Chen Shih-chung
A poll by the Taiwan Brain Trust yesterday showed that Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) was the Cabinet official whose performance was rated “most satisfactory,” garnering approval from 93.4 percent of the respondents, followed by Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) with 66.2 percent and Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) with 54.6 percent. President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) obtained 74.5 percent support, up 22.7 percentage points from a similar poll in December last year. Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) garnered 68.9 percent. The poll also showed that Minister of National Defense Yen De-fa (嚴德發), Minister of the Interior Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) and Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chen Ming-tong (陳明通) were the three officials deemed most deserving of losing their posts after May 20, when Tsai begins her second term. The poll, conducted from April 25 to Tuesday last week, collected 1,075 valid samples with a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
DIPLOMACY
Maldives flight mulled
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it is negotiating the evacuation of 28 Taiwanese stranded in the Maldives after India implemented a lockdown. Eva Airways Corp and China Airlines have no direct flights to the islands, so the ministry has had to consult with other airlines, it said. Two or three companies have quoted reasonable prices, it said. As a charter flight for 28 would be expensive for the passengers, the ministry hopes to arrange a flight that other nations could share, Department of East Asian and Pacific Affairs Director-General Baushuan Ger (葛葆萱) said.
HEALTH
Care for mothers urged
The John Tung Foundation yesterday urged people to reach out to new mothers after a study in the Maternal and Child Health Journal showed that about one in five with postpartum mood disorder do not disclose the condition to healthcare providers. Through an online survey that included measurements of “perceived barriers to treatment,” “social support” and “depression, anxiety and stress,” as well as questions over the disclosure of symptoms, the researchers found that while more than half of participants had postpartum mood disorder symptoms, one in five did not share their feelings with a healthcare professional.
HEALTH
Doctor warns over neck
The neck channels the carotid and vertebral arteries, and massaging or applying force to it can cause problems, Taichung Hospital Department of Neurology doctor Wu Yu-hsuan (吳宇軒) said on Friday last week, adding that such treatment should focus on the shoulders and back to prevent vertebral artery dissection. The hospital admitted a 37-year-old man surnamed Chang (張) in May or June last year, whose family brought him in after he reported feeling weakness on his right side and was unable to fully articulate sentences. The hospital diagnosed Chang with vertebral artery dissection on the left side with cerebral infarction. Chang had refused to go to hospital, saying he was young and healthy, Wu said. Chang was hospitalized for a week and discharged after the thrombosis was absorbed and the vertebral artery dissection healed, Wu said. Common symptoms of stroke include a sudden lack of strength or numbness on one side of the body, facial paralysis, including a drooping mouth, and an inability to clearly articulate sentences.
Agencies
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