SOCIETY
Bank to hold draw
State-owned Bank of Taiwan on Monday said that it is accepting applications for a draw to pick three people who would be eligible to purchase a limited-edition commemorative coin set made by the Japan Mint for the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo. Each set, which features 37 coins of different values and designs, would retail for NT$499,800, the bank said. The mint has produced 1,000 sets, but only 80 are destined for the global market, of which three were allocated to Taiwan, it said. Applications can be submitted through Thursday next week and the winners would be announced on the bank’s Web site on July 29, it said. Those interested can download an application form online and e-mail it to bot23306@mail.bot.com.tw, it said. The coins, made of gold, silver or an alloy, are in denominations of ¥10,000 (US$91), ¥1,000, ¥500 and ¥100, and are packaged in a walnut box bearing the Tokyo Games logo, the bank said.
DIPLOMACY
New AIT official arrives
American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) director-designate Sandra Oudkirk arrived in Taiwan on Monday, the US’ de facto embassy said in a statement. “After following the regulations of the Taiwan Central Epidemic Command Center’s COVID-19 Prevention Program, including going through a 14-day quarantine and seven days of self-health management, director-designate Oudkirk will be ready to report for duty,” the AIT said. “She will assume her position as AIT director upon the departure from Taiwan of AIT Director Brent Christensen.” Oudkirk arrived on a United Airlines flight shortly before 7pm and was welcomed by Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials including Department of North American Affairs Director-General Douglas Hsu (徐佑典). Oudkirk speaks English, Mandarin and Turkish, and has been posted in Ireland, Turkey, Jamaica and Beijing, the AIT said last week. Oudkirk visited Taiwan in October 2019 to attend the inaugural Pacific Islands Dialogue. Taipei was also her first overseas assignment after she joined the US Foreign Service in 1991.
CULTURE
VR short film wins
A virtual reality (VR) production directed by Taiwanese Huang Hsin-chien (黃心健) yesterday beat 15 other nominees to win the VeeR Future Award for Best VR Story at Cannes XR, the Taiwan Creative Content Agency said. Huang is a professor at National Taiwan Normal University’s Department of Design. The 20-minute Samsara Ep. 1 (輪迴) explores multiple social issues, including the environment, technology, natural resources and war, the university said. Huang applies the concept of “embodied cognition” to allow audiences to switch bodies and experience the world depicted in the film from different perspectives, it said. The full version of the film is to begin its global tour in September and travel to Kaohsiung for its Asia premiere in October, it said.
SEISMICITY
Two quakes hit Hualien
Two earthquakes hit Hualien County at about 7:41am yesterday, but no immediate damage or injuries were reported, the Central Weather Bureau said. The quakes were 20 seconds apart, the bureau said, adding that such a close interval was not unusual in Hualien. The first, a magnitude 3.4 temblor, was centered 5.6km south of Hualien County Hall at a depth of 5.5km, the Seismology Center said. The second, with a magnitude of 3.6, was centered 6.1km south-southwest of Hualien County Hall at a depth of 8.6km, it 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