TRADE
No info on chip talks: MOEA
The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) on Thursday said it was not informed of a semiconductor-related meeting that officials form Taiwan, the US, South Korea and Japan are reportedly to attend. Taiwan has always cooperated closely with the US on supply chains, it said. South Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs Park Jin earlier this week said South Korean officials would attend such a US-led meeting. Another South Korean official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the date and location of the proposed meeting have yet to be decided. “In the past, there were exchanges and dialogue between Taiwan and the US. The US did propose similar ideas, but there was no specific content at the time,” the economics ministry said.
SOCIETY
Life expectancy dips
Average life expectancy in Taiwan fell slightly last year as the crude death rate spiked, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. Average life expectancy was 80.86 years last year, down by 0.46 years from the previous year, as deaths rose to 184,457 from 173,162 and the crude death rate jumped to 7.86 from 7.34, ministry data showed. Average life expectancy at birth for men and women was 77.67 years and 84.25 years respectively, down 0.44 years and 0.50 years year-on-year. More deaths occurred last year than expected based on the age distribution of Taiwan’s population, likely an effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, average life expectancy has steadily risen over the past decade, from 79.15 years in 2011 to 80.86 last year, the ministry said.
HEALTH
Local dengue case detected
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) on Thursday reported Taiwan’s first domestic case of dengue fever in more than a year. The case is a salesman in his 50s, who lives in Taichung’s Tanzi District (潭子), CDC Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said. On Tuesday last week, the man started experiencing symptoms including a fever, fatigue and discomfort, Chuang said, adding that he sought medical treatment five times from Wednesday last week to Wednesday, when an antigen test showed that he had the mosquito-borne illness. The man did not travel overseas recently, but has visited Taichung and industrial areas in Changhua County, Chuang said. An ongoing investigation has so far shown that the vector mosquito index of places that the man visited is relatively high, Chuang said, adding that efforts to remove breeding sources are under way. The case might be connected to shortened COVID-19-related quarantines for incoming travelers, Chuang said, adding that there have so far this year been 20 imported dengue fever cases.
TRAVEL
Bangkok flights resume
Low-cost carrier Thai Vietjet on Thursday resumed flights between Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport, as Thailand seeks to attract Taiwanese tourists, said Twekiat Janprajak, executive director of the Thailand Trade and Economic Office in Taipei. No quarantine is required for travelers to Thailand since July 1, and the country is ready to welcome back tourists, the official said. At least 700,000 to 800,000 trips to Thailand were made by Taiwanese every year before the COVID-19 pandemic, and Thailand has planned a series of promotional campaigns to bring back tourists, he said. Thai Vietjet offers one weekly round-trip.
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