Stiffer fines for not yielding

The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday unveiled proposed traffic amendments that would increase penalties for motorists who do not give way to pedestrians on crosswalks. The proposal would fix the fine for drivers of small passenger vehicles and large commercial vehicles who fail to yield to pedestrians on crosswalks or at non-signalized intersections at NT$3,600, up from the current NT$2,000 to NT$2,600 and NT$2,800 to NT$3,600 respectively. The NT$1,200 to NT$1,500 fine for motorcyclists who breach the same rules remains unchanged, the ministry said. Meanwhile, drivers of small passenger vehicles who fail to yield to visually impaired pedestrians with a white cane or guide dog on a crosswalk would be fined NT$4,800 to NT$7,200, up from the current NT$3,600 to NT$5,400. The revised regulations are to take effect after a one-month preview period starting yesterday, the ministry said.

International same-sex couples register unions

Two international same-sex couples yesterday registered their marriages in Taipei, after the government last month recognized same-sex unions in which the foreign partner is from a jurisdiction that does not allow gay marriage, except China. The couples registered their marriages in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) Household Registration Office. Malaysian Chang Ssu-hsiang (張斯翔) proposed to his partner, Taiwanese Kang Ting-wei (康庭瑋), six years ago, but they could not register their marriage even after same-sex marriage was legalized in Taiwan. Chang said that he fought for his right in the hope of showing the public and the judiciary that international same-sex couples “are living people, not excluded data.” The purpose of getting married is to take care of each other and be together legally in a place that is familiar to the couple, he said. The other couple — Jonathan from Taiwan and Hank from Malaysia — said “marriage is the fruit of love,” adding that “love has no gender or nationality.” The Legislative Yuan in May 2019 passed the Enforcement Act of Judicial Yuan Constitutional Interpretation No. 748 (司法院釋字第748號解釋施行法), legalizing same-sex marriage. However, transnational couples in which one of the partners is from a country that does not allow gay marriage could still not get married in Taiwan. The Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnership Rights helped the couples file administrative appeals and administrative litigations, which have resulted in several favorable verdicts. The Ministry of the Interior on Jan. 19 notified local governments that all international same-sex marriages, except those involving a partner from China, should be recognized following then-premier Su Tseng-chang’s (蘇貞昌) instruction. Alliance attorney Victoria Hsu (許秀雯) yesterday congratulated the couples who were able to get married after fighting for their rights for a long time. “It is not easy to change society,” she said, adding that a more equal Taiwan is possible as long as people

By Wu Po-hsuan and Liu Tzu-hsuan

Bird owner to pay NT$3m to doctor after macaw attack

UNABLE TO PRACTICE: A doctor lost months of income after he injured his hip after being scratched by a macaw set loose by its owner

A man in Tainan has been ordered to pay NT$3.04 million (US$101,158) in damages to a doctor for injuries caused by his pet macaw in 2020. The man, surnamed Huang (黃), was ordered to compensate the doctor, surnamed Lin (林), for his financial losses over half a year when he was unable to practice due to the injuries caused by the macaw, the Tainan District Court said in a ruling issued on Dec. 30. The doctor suffered a hip joint dislocation and an acetabulum bone fracture on his right hip on the evening of July 13, 2020, when he was attacked by the macaw while jogging on an access road in Gueiren District (歸仁) after Huang released the bird without taking any precautions. Lin fell to the ground when the macaw suddenly approached him from behind and scratched the back of his head. Although Huang immediately called an ambulance to take Lin to a hospital, the doctor had to undergo one week of treatment there, and then rest at home for more than half a year and be looked after by a care provider. Lin sued Huang for NT$3.68 million in compensation for his financial losses, including a monthly salary of NT$220,000 and other medical and caregiving expenses, the ruling said. The court awarded Lin NT$3.04 million in compensation — a ruling that can be appealed. It also sentenced Huang to two months in jail for causing unintentional injuries.

Tsai open to meeting new Czech leader

CORDIAL TIES: Monday’s phone call between Tsai Ing-wen and the Czech president-elect is proof that Taiwan has build solid partnerships in Europe, a spokesman said

The government yesterday expressed its interest in holding an in-person meeting between President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and Czech president-elect Petr Pavel after Pavel suggested the idea during a telephone call with Tsai on Monday. “The president-elect has expressed his willingness [to hold a personal meeting]. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs [MOFA] will do its utmost to support efforts that would deepen the partnership between Taiwan and the Czech Republic,” ministry spokesman Jeff Liu (劉永健) said. Tsai congratulated Pavel with his election victory during their telephone conversation. The call was highly unusual, as Prague does not have official diplomatic ties with Taipei. Leaders of countries that recognize Beijing normally avoid having direct contact with Taiwanese presidents to avoid provoking China. Tsai previously spoke on the phone with then-US president-elect Donald Trump on Dec. 2, 2016, to congratulate him on his election win. Liu said that Monday’s call is concrete proof that Taiwan has over the past few years built solid partnerships with central and eastern European countries. Tsai told Pavel that Taiwanese and Czech have deep ties, and value freedom, democracy and human rights, Presidential Office spokeswoman Lin Yu-chan (林聿禪) said. Based on these cordial ties, the government looks forward to deepening exchanges and cooperation with the Czech Republic in key areas, including semiconductor design, talent cultivation in cutting-edge technologies and supply chain restructuring, Lin said. Pavel later on Twitter thanked Tsai for congratulating him during Monday’s call. “I assured her that Taiwan and the Czech Republic share the values of freedom, democracy, and human rights. We agreed on strengthening our partnership,” Pavel wrote. “I also expressed hope to have the opportunity to meet President Tsai in person in the future,” he added. Pavel, a retired general and former chairman of the NATO Military Committee, was elected to the mostly ceremonial post on Saturday. The 61-year-old is to replace Czech President

Ex-Indo-Pacific Command head visiting Taiwan

Retired US admiral Philip Davidson, who in 2021 warned of a potential Chinese conflict with Taiwan by 2027, is in Taiwan to discuss regional security-related issues. He was the head of the US Indo-Pacific Command at the time. Davidson is part of a six-member delegation from US-based think tank the National Bureau of Asian Research that arrived in Taiwan on Monday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. The group is scheduled to meet with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), and visit two government-funded non-governmental organizations — the Institute for National Defense and Security Research and Taiwan Foundation for Democracy — to exchange views on regional security issues during their stay, which ends on Saturday, the ministry said. Other members of the delegation are Tami Overby, senior adviser of the Albright Stonebridge Group; James Schoff, senior director of the US-Japan NEXT Alliance Initiative at the Sasakawa Peace Foundation USA; and research bureau members April Herlevi, Alison Szalwinski and Rachel Bernstein, the ministry said. During a stop in Japan prior to visiting Taiwan, Davidson told Japanese media that he stood by his remarks that China might attempt to attack Taiwan by 2027. Many media outlets described his remarks as predicting a Chinese “invasion” of Taiwan by 2027, but Davidson said in Japan that when he made the comment in 2021 at a US Senate hearing, he was not asked about an invasion, but about any potential conflict with Taiwan. “What does that include? In my mind, that can be many lesser things than an all-out invasion. One of those would be the threats to outer islands, and I think it’s a grave security concern of Taiwan’s,” he was quoted as saying by the Japan Times on Wednesday last week. In other news, Department of North American Affairs Director-General Douglas Hsu (徐佑典) yesterday said that the Taipei Economic and Cultural

Military to step up basic fitness training standards

The armed forces will soon increase the basic physical fitness standards for all ranks and ages of service members, a report by the Ministry of National Defense-run Military News Agency said on Saturday. As the commanding lieutenant general of a combined arms brigade must be physically fit to lead and fight alongside combat troops under their command, the fitness standard between the two must not be far apart, Army Deputy Chief of Staff Huang Hsien-jen (黃先任) said. Building up the strength of senior officers is key to increasing their chances of surviving on the battlefield and, therefore, their ability to complete their combat missions, he said. The new system is to utilize 13 elective test events emphasizing upper limb muscles, abdominal muscles, cardiovascular fitness and flexibility to complement the push-ups, sit-ups and 3km run employed in the current fitness test, he said. These elective events include pull-ups for men, hanging bends for women, lifting dumbbells, planking, a five-minute fast walk, an 800m swim, out-and-back progression running, seated forward bends, back scratches and others. The revised basic fitness test is to change physical training in boot camps for recruits and conscripts before they are assigned to further training according to their military occupational specialty, he said. Physical fitness tests are to be divided into three age divisions: 19 to 29 years old, 30 to 44 years old and 45 to 59 years old. This scheme is to replace the current system that has a separate standard for every five years of age after 19, while setting higher standards for older service members, Huang said. The ministry is working with other government departments to incorporate crunches and out-and-back progression running to the nation’s physical education so that young people would be better prepared for military service, he said. The addition of flexibility to fitness training is aimed at reducing long-term

By Jonathan Chin

New Cabinet, Presidential Office officials sworn in

CHALLENGES: The Cabinet aims to help people and companies affected by the pandemic, promote social welfare and focus on fighting crime, the premier said

The new Cabinet, led by Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁), and new Presidential Office appointments were sworn into office yesterday morning. President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) presided over the swearing-in ceremony at the Presidential Office, the office said in a statement. It marked the conclusion of a reshuffle of the Cabinet and the Presidential Office following the resignation of former premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) and his Cabinet on Monday. Also attending the ceremony were Vice President William Lai (賴清德) and National Security Council Secretary-General Wellington Koo (顧立雄), as well as the heads of the Judicial Yuan, Control Yuan and Examination Yuan, the statement said. During a separate ceremony yesterday at the Executive Yuan marking the handover of power from the outgoing Cabinet to the newly appointed one, Chen said he and his Cabinet would spare no effort in their tenure until the end of Tsai’s second term in May next year. Chen, who served as vice president during Tsai’s first term from 2016 to 2020, is expected to lead his Cabinet to resign en masse even if the Democratic Progressive Party wins the presidential election next year and stays in power. One of his Cabinet’s priorities is to further loosen COVID-19 disease prevention protocols with the aim of “bringing people’s lives back to normal,” Chen said. At the same time, the Cabinet will be dedicated to helping companies and individuals that have been economically affected by the pandemic over the past three years, he said. In particular, the government is planning to help boost small and medium-sized enterprises, and to improve the infrastructure of agricultural and fishing areas, he said. The Cabinet will seek to “lead Taiwan through various challenges” against the backdrop of a volatile global economy and inflation while turning Taiwan into a more resilient and competitive nation for the decades to come, he said. The Cabinet will roll

DPP upbeat, KMT critical on Chen and his Cabinet

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers yesterday expressed optimism over the inauguration of a new Cabinet headed by Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁), while opposition lawmakers outlined the challenges facing it. The DPP caucus said it hoped that Chen’s Cabinet would unite Taiwanese, take care of the masses, and win the trust of the public and the international community. “Chen is genteel and down to earth. I believe that he will meet public expectations in pushing reforms,” DPP caucus secretary-general Wu Chi-ming (吳琪銘) said. DPP caucus deputy secretary-general Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) said that the geopolitical changes in the Taiwan Strait and the international community call for Chen to be grounded and to adopt a “new mindset.” Hung praised the composition of the new Cabinet, with the addition of more female ministers and officials to represent the public. He added that he hoped Chen’s team would be caring, thoughtful and create new opportunities for the nation. Meanwhile, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus called on Chen to propose tangible policies to address four key issues: a slowing economy, low wages, the Labor Insurance System’s deficit and energy problems. It would not matter how the Chen Cabinet styles itself if it could not resolve these issues, which affect everyone in the country, KMT caucus convener William Tseng (曾銘宗) said. Chen’s Cabinet should have policies addressing a worsening economic situation, with GDP forecast to grow only 2.28 percent and the unemployment rate projected to reach 3.79 percent this year, he said. KMT Legislator Alex Fai (費鴻泰) said that as the head of pension reforms in 2017, Chen had suggested that the annual increase in the labor insurance premium be capped at 0.5 percent from 2018 to this year, when the Labor Insurance Fund and the Labor Pension Fund are to be merged. Chen also suggested at the time that if by this year, the

By Wang Chien-hao and Jake Chung

Taiwan News Quick Take

POLITICS Ko retires as professor Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday retired from his position as professor at National Taiwan University College of Medicine and National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH). Ko ended his eight-year term as Taipei mayor on Dec. 25 last year and returned to NTUH to resume his work as a professor and physician. However, on Jan. 13, he announced that he had applied for early retirement. Ko has previously indicated his interest in running for next year’s presidential election. Asked about his plans, Ko yesterday said he was still thinking about it. ASTRONOMY Comet livestream tonight The Taipei Astronomical Museum is to hold an online astronomical event tonight as it livestreams the flight of a comet that last passed by Earth about 50,000 years ago. The live stream tracking the movement of the comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF), expected to be at its closest to Earth today, is to begain at 7:30pm on its YouTube channel, with two “Vtubers” from the Xtreme Deep Field Project present to provide insight into comets, it said. The comet is expected to be bright enough for stargazers to observe with the naked eye if there is no light pollution and will appear as a blurred luminous globe in the sky, it said. The comet was “first identified in March 2022 by the wide-field survey camera at the Zwicky Transient Facility inside the orbit of Jupiter,” SPACE.com said. When first spotted, it was about 4.3 astronomical units (640 million kilometers) away from the sun and mistaken for an asteroid, but ongoing observation that detected a tail showed that it was a comet, the museum said. NATURE Hands off cameras: Chiayi The Chiayi Forest District Office yesterday urged visitors not to tamper with motion sensor cameras in forests, as more humans were captured by the cameras last year

Bee stings

Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che, second row, center, attends a photo op for the annual Beehive Fireworks Festival in the city’s Yanshui District. The two-day event, which starts on Saturday, is to see the simultaneous launch of more than 100 “firework citadels,” the largest of which is more than 16 levels high, the city government said.

The two towers

A 1987 limited-edition bottle of kaoliang liquor shaped like Kinmen County’s Jukuan Tower, left, and this year’s edition released yesterday are displayed in the county. The trial sale of the new edition begins today, with 100 bottles available at NT$2,680 each, and 2,000 bottles scheduled to hit the market on Feb. 15.

Taiwan’s tallest tree found

CHAMPION TREES: The team used light detection and ranging imaging to locate the tree, and found that it measured a height of 84.1m and had a girth of 8.5m

A team committed to finding the tallest trees in the nation yesterday said that an 84.1m tall Taiwania cryptomerioides tree had been named the tallest tree in Taiwan and East Asia. The Taiwan Champion Trees, a team consisting of researchers from the Council of Agriculture’s Taiwan Forestry Research Institute and National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), in June last year used light detection and ranging (LiDAR) imaging to find the giant tree, numbered 55214, upstream of the Daan River (大安溪). A 20-member expedition team led by Rebecca Hsu (徐嘉君), an assistant researcher at the Taiwan Forestry Research Institute, set out to find the tree on Monday last week, and measured it to be 84.1m tall. Hsu and Wang Chi- kuei (王驥魁), a professor at NCKU’s Department of Geomatics, initiated the champion trees program, and after analyzing 54,415 LiDAR topographic maps, they identified 941 giant trees that are likely to be more than 65m tall. Among the tallest trees found by the team, a 79.1m tall Taiwania cryptomerioides tree called the “Taoshan sacred tree” (桃山神木) was found in Shei-pa National Park in 2020, and the 82m tall “Ka’alang giant tree” (卡阿郎巨木), also a Taiwania cryptomerioides, was found upstream of the Ka’alang River (卡阿郎溪) last year. Tree No. 55214 was estimated to be at least 79m tall through LiDAR imaging, and Hsu believed that it could be the tallest tree in Taiwan based on the shape of the tree trunk and treetop from the LiDAR images. “Normally, it is difficult for the tree trunk to be visible on the LiDAR images, but the trunk of the No. 55214 tree was clearly presented,” she said. It is “because the tree is very healthy, and also because there are no other objects nearby blocking it,” Hsu said. When the team reached tree No. 55214, they found there were several giant trees taller

By Yang Yuan-ting

Taiwanese art tells immigrant stories in the US

HONORING WOMEN: The portraits document and acknowledge the diverse contributions female immigrants have made to the US, the painter said

Seventeen years after making San Francisco her home, Taiwanese painter Moo Tsung-wei (牟宗瑋) has not forgone her desire to speak for female immigrants in the US. Moo’s drive to document life after emigration can be seen in the seven portraits of women from Taiwan, Canada, China, Haiti, India, Japan, Mexico and South Korea produced for an exhibition hosted by the San Francisco Public Library. The subjects in Mothers and Daughters — Generations of Female Immigrants, which runs through March 30, are personally known to Moo, and include herself, as well as her mother and grandmother. Pointing to a portrait of her mother and grandmother in traditional garb, Moo said that the exhibition honors and acknowledges the contributions of female immigrants from different parts of the world to the US. Since childhood, she has been deeply inspired by her mother and grandmother, both immigrants, Moo said, adding that their influence has led her art to frequently center on women. “My grandma [came from such a poor family that she] wasn’t given a name. After World War II broke out, she fled Shandong Province in China to North Korea. She then escaped on foot to South Korea, where she gave birth to my mother,” Moo said. Moo said that her mother, who moved to Taiwan as part of an arranged marriage, was the one who had encouraged her to pursue art in the US. Moo, a former Taipei-based advertising art director, dedicated herself to creative pursuits, emigrating to San Francisco in 2005 and enrolling in fine art and ceramics courses in the city. Moo’s artwork has been honored by a string of organizations, including the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency. The seven portraits on display at the library are part of the San Francisco Arts Commission’s programs to support local artists. “We believe it’s very important to bring all

Book exhibition promotes global exchange, net zero

The six-day Taipei International Book Exhibition starts today, featuring Polish authors as the guests of honor, while promoting reading and the pursuit of net zero emissions. The exhibition is the most energetic and creative platform in the Chinese-speaking world for readers, authors and publishers to exchange ideas, Vice Minister of Culture Lee Lien-chuan (李連權) told a pre-exhibition news conference in Taipei yesterday. He welcomed Polish authors, illustrators and publishers to the exhibition, including best-selling author of The Witcher series Andrzej Sapkowski. To suit the exhibition’s goal of net zero emissions, visitors can enter the venue by paying with EasyCard, iPass and iCash electronic payment cards, as there would be no ticket booth, the event organizers said, adding that digital signs have been set up around the venues to provide information such as the venue map, event schedules and guest speakers. Many pavilions have been built with environmentally friendly materials. For example, the Belgian Pavilion was built out of recyclable bamboo, and no posters have been used in the Polish Pavilion, they said. Inspired by Polish traditional folk art, the Polish Pavilion has a red theme and is decorated with laser-engraved patterns to create a local atmosphere, they said. Polish YouTuber Mila and her Taiwanese partner, Sky, who run the YouTube channel meetworldhome, flew to Poland to promote the exhibition and are scheduled to participate in Poland Night on Saturday to introduce Polish cuisine, they said. The exhibition’s first-time participant, Italy, has arranged forums and events to celebrate the centenary of the birth of Italian author Italo Calvino, they added. The Bologna Children’s Book Fair curates the “exhibition without written words” to break down language barriers with a display of 50 picture books to stimulate readers’ imagination, they said. In the literature section, publishers and editors are to provide behind-the-scenes insight into the publishing industry, from proposing ideas and creating

By Liu Tzu-hsuan

Taoyuan mulls child subsidy increase

Taoyuan is considering a plan to increase childbirth subsidies by NT$10,000 for every child born to a family after its first, Taoyuan Mayor Simon Chang (張善政) said. The policy is designed to counter a declining birthrate by encouraging young people to have a second or third child, he said earlier this month in a call for Taoyuan City Council members to support an additional budget. The Taoyuan Department of Social Welfare was tasked with creating procedural rules to govern the subsidies program and developing a digital processing system, he said, adding that the council should approve the additional budget as soon as possible. Taoyuan last year had the second-highest birthrate among counties and special municipalities of a similar size, but the figure still represents a drop from the previous year, department Director Chen Pau-min (陳寶民) said. The city’s birthrate declined over the past few years, he said, adding that 52 percent of last year’s births were comprised of firstborn babies, while second-born and third-born children accounted for 36 percent and 9 percent of births respectively. The proposed policy is to give families a NT$30,000 subsidy for their first child, NT$40,000 for a second child and NT$50,000 for every child after that, he said. Couples with twins or triplets would receive a NT$10,000 bonus for each additional child, he said. The program would represent a significant increase over the current NT$30,000 subsidy for every child, NT$35,000 each for twins and NT$45,000 each for triplets, he said. At least one of the spouses in a married couple must be a registered resident of Taoyuan and children must be born on or after Dec. 25 last year to be eligible for the subsidies, he said.

By Jonathan Chin

New automated bus route to trial in Taichung in June

The first automated bus trial in Taichung is to take place in June for seven months, with the designated route taking passengers from the Taichung Public Library Dajia Branch to the Port of Taichung, the Directorate-General of Highways said. Pending the trial’s success and potential amendments to regulations on automated driving, automated buses could become part of the Demand-Responsive Transportation System (DRTS) aimed at supporting countryside public transportation, the agency aid. The DRTS program also aims to support the nation’s smart transportation industry, it said. The agency has allocated NT$100 million (US$3.3 million) to fund the program. The program would use a medium-sized vehicle that can carry about 10 passengers, it said, adding that trial tests in cordoned-off test areas and half-regulated grounds have been conducted. The route, which spans 12km from the library to the port, was chosen to facilitate local transportation for school children, public servants, individuals conducting business at the city’s Daan District Office and tourists, the agency’s Department of Construction deputy director Lee Chung-chang (李忠璋) said. Passenger trials are expected to start in June after preliminary systems have been tested to ensure they are stable, he said. A second phase would set the terminal at Changhua County’s Lugang Township (鹿港), expected to bring the route’s total length to 44km, he said.

By Cheng Wei-chi and Jake Chung

Japan, Taiwan ‘united in world peace’

ACTIVE ROLE: Japan should be confident about assuming a seat on the UN Security Council given its pacifist constitution, Representative to Japan Frank Hsieh said

Taiwan and Japan are of a “community of peace,” Representative to Japan Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) said in a television interview in Tokyo on Wednesday, while suggesting that Japan should play a more active role in maintaining world peace. “We often say that Taiwan and Japan are of the community of common destiny, but the two countries are of a ‘community of peace,’” Hsieh told Taiwan Voice program hosts Yanki Fujii and Lin Jian-liang (林建良). “Aside from bolstering defense capabilities, Japan cannot give up on peace,” he added. Lin, a physician and an expatriate living in Japan, has for many years been dedicated to Taiwan’s democratic development and independence, while Fujii is an expert on Taiwanese issues. Both have advocated Taiwanese sovereignty in print and online publications. Hsieh spent the first half of the two-hour interview discussing how his studies at Kyoto University, a school known for a rebellious spirit, inspired his devotion to democratic movements in Taiwan. This led to him becoming a defense lawyer for the accused in the Formosa Incident on Dec. 10, 1979, and his cofounding of the Democratic Progressive Party, Hsieh said. “China has been saying that Taiwan is its core interest, but peace is actually the core interest of the international community,” Hsieh said. “Communism is a power without love, while peace is a power with love.” Japan having experienced the only two atomic bombs used during wartime — at the end of World War II — led to a constitution based on pacifism, Hsieh said. As such, the country is most qualified to play a leading role in preserving world peace, he said. As Japan is likely to become a permanent member of the UN Security Council, many nations in East and Southeast Asia hope that Tokyo can be a leader in maintaining regional peace, he said, adding that the country

By Lin Tsuei-yi