LABOR
Sleeping area rule revised
Taiwan is next year to adopt an International Labor Organization (ILO) standard that requires at least 3.6m2 of floor space per person in migrant workers’ sleeping areas, the Ministry of Labor said yesterday. The existing rule requires a minimum of 3.2m2 per person, meaning that the change would mean slightly more room for laborers, the ministry said. The new requirement, which only applies to industrial workers, was announced and included in the Guidelines for Foreign Workers’ Care Service Plan (外國人生活照顧服務計畫書裁量基準), it said, adding that employers have enough time to make the improvements before Jan. 1 next year. After an initial warning, companies failing to make the upgrades would face fines of NT$60,000 to NT$300,000 (US$2,028 to US$10,140), it said. The ILO’s Web site shows that rooms accommodating two workers should have at least 7.5m2 of floor area, while those housing more than four workers should have at least 3.6m2 per person.
SPORTS
Basketball tourney canceled
Basketball authorities on Thursday announced their decision to cancel this year’s William Jones Cup international basketball tournament due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The decision was made after consulting with the government, the national basketball association said, adding that both sides agreed that containing the spread of the coronavirus should be the nation’s priority. The 42nd edition of the tourney was scheduled to be held later next month. It marks the third time since the tournament’s founding in 1977 that it has been canceled, following cancelations after a fire in 1989 damaged the main stadium used for the event and during the 2003 SARS outbreak.
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Police to get stun guns
All police officers are to be issued stun guns by the end of the year as part of their standard equipment, Minister of the Interior Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) said on Tuesday. Stun guns can be an effective way for on-duty officers to incapacitate criminals or dangerous suspects, Hsu said. The new policy is being implemented under a NT$480 million budget announced last month by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to help improve benefits and equipment issued to police. The equipment upgrades would include the purchase of virtual reality training simulators, as well as new batons and walkie-talkies, Tsai said. Hsu said that the stun guns would be procured by September and issued to the police — including officers in the Railway Police Bureau and Aviation Police Bureau — by the end of the year. Standard equipment for on-duty police officers now consists of a sidearm, a body camera, a bulletproof vest, handcuffs, pepper spray and a flashlight.
CRIME
Ker Chun-yao out on bail
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Ker Chien-ming’s (柯建銘) son, Ker Chun-yao (柯鈞耀), was yesterday released on NT$100,000 bail for an alleged breach of the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act (毒品危害防制條例). The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office took up the case after the Maritime Affairs Division’s Keelung branch intercepted a package of cannabis extracts addressed to him. Ker Chun-yao, who had studied in the US, reportedly denied knowing the package’s contents, trafficking narcotics or using any illegal substances in Taiwan. Samples of his hair were sent to a lab for analysis, prosecutors said, adding that his telephone records would be pulled to corroborate his statement.
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