SOCIETY
Rizzi Giovanni honored
Nearly 1,000 people yesterday took part in a Mass and memorial service for Rizzi Giovanni, an Italian priest of the Camillians religious order who had served in Taiwan for more than six decades. Giovanni died on April 18 of heart failure. He was 93. Giovanni in 1952 became the third priest in his family and was sent to Taiwan two years later. To get closer to people in Taiwan, he learned Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese) and frequently told people that he was a “genuine Taiwanese,” said a statement issued by Camillian Saint Mary’s Hospital Luodong, which was established by the order. Giovanni was honored with a Medical Contribution Award from the Health, Welfare and Environment Foundation and the Order of Brilliant Star with Violet Grand Cordon from the Presidential Office, and received other forms of recognition, the statement said. In December 2017, Giovanni was granted citizenship due to his contributions to society.
SOCIETY
Maps show Taiwan’s past
Maps showing the development of Taiwan and transportation routes in China during the Ming and Qing dynasties went on display at the National Palace Museum in Taipei on Friday. The exhibition, titled “Stories of Ancient Maps,” offers a rare chance to see large-scale maps — several meters in length — and to “discover stories of the time in the detailed depictions in these maps,” the museum said in a statement. There are four maps of Taiwan, drawn between 1666 and the mid-18th century, which show how the Qing government’s understanding of Taiwan improved over the century, from initially seeing it only as an island of military importance to appreciating its natural scenery, Aborigines, culture and customs, it said. The exhibition also showcases four maps depicting land and water transport in China, including two focusing on the Yangtze River. The exhibition runs until July 22.
TRAFFIC
Buses and SUV crash
A crash involving two tour buses and an SUV in Nantou County late yesterday afternoon injured 11 people, the Nantou County Police Department said. The crash was on Renhe Road, part of a provincial highway that links the Wushe (霧社) and Cingjing (清境) areas of Renai Township (仁愛). One of the buses was rear-ended by the other and hit an SUV traveling in the opposite direction after the driver lost control, police said. As of 7pm, the 11 people had been taken to hospital and only one lane of the road was open for traffic in both directions, police said, adding that an investigation into the crash was ongoing.
LITERATURE
Li Kotomi shortlisted
Li Kotomi (李琴峰) became the first Taiwanese shortlisted for Japan’s Mishima Yukio Prize since its establishment in 1988, her publisher in Taiwan said on Wednesday. Li, who was born in Taiwan in 1989 and in 2013 moved to Japan to study, is the only woman among this year’s five nominees, who were announced the same day, Unitas Publishing Co editor-in-chief Jennifer Chou (周昭翡) said. She was picked for her Japanese-language work The Island Where the Red Spider Lily Blooms, which was first published in the March edition of the Japanese literary magazine Bungakukai. The winner is to be announced on May 14. The prize, named after late Japanese writer Yukio Mishima, is held annually by Shinchosha Publishing and is a great achievement for Li, who only began learning Japanese when she was 15, Chou 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