■ FOOD
Meat found in vegetarian food
The Investigation Bureau recently found that some processed foods advertised as vegetarian contained meat and said it would refer producers who knowingly added meat to their products for prosecution on fraud charges. Pu Chang-en (蒲長恩), a technician at the bureau’s Department of Forensic Science, said yesterday that among samples collected from 31 vegetarian food vendors in Taipei City and County for safety checks, food taken from 17 vendors contained meat. An investigation targeting the producers of the processed food was launched to determine whether meat was deliberately added to the soybean-based products to enrich their texture and flavor. Fu said it was possible that vegetarian food showing small traces of meat was contaminated by poorly cleaned work tables or cooking equipment in factories where meat products are also processed. Producers who have not deliberately defrauded consumers would not be subject to prosecution, Fu said.
■ NATURE
Liao roots for Yushan
Minister of the Interior Liao Liou-yi (廖了以) told a rally organized by the National Park Association of Taiwan in Taipei yesterday that everyone — regardless of their nationality — should vote for Yushan (玉山) to help it become one of the new seven wonders of nature. At 3,952m, Yushan is the highest mountain in Taiwan. After a nomination process in which 500,000 people from 224 countries voted, Yushan became one of the 77 candidate sites competing to become one of the 21 finalists. For the past 14 weeks, Yushan has been No. 1 in the mountains category. Voting will end on July 7, whereupon a panel of judges will choose the new seven wonders of nature among the 21 finalists.
■ SOCIETY
Taipei seeks makeovers
In its bid to make itself more attractive, Taipei City will offer more generous incentives to building owners — especially high-rise buildings — who want to give the structures a facelift. Hoping to improve the city’s appearance ahead of the 2010 Taipei International Flora Expo, the city government recently increased the subsidy it provides for renovating an old building’s exterior to 75 percent of the total cost, from 33 percent. The Taipei International Flora Expo, which will be held from Nov. 6 next year, through April 24, 2011, at four venues in Taipei is aimed at showcasing Taiwan’s technical strength in the horticulture industry, its ability to organize major events and its capacity to generate economic activity. Some 6 million people from Taiwan and abroad are expected to attend. Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) said yesterday the city had subsidized 33 percent of the cost of renovating olds building since 2006. To date, 30 projects benefiting from the incentive program have been completed, he said.
■ SOCIETY
Teens hooked in TV, Web
The nation’s teenagers remain addicted to TV and the Internet on weekends, a survey showed yesterday. The poll conducted by the King Car Education Foundation on 2,418 teenagers in April showed that 96.33 percent of respondents usually watched TV on the weekend, with 36.54 percent spending between two and four hours in front of the tube. More than 95 percent of children said they surfed the Internet on the weekend, with the majority spending a maximum of two hours online. Almost 15 percent said they stayed online for a minimum of six hours during the weekend, the survey found.
SCENARIOS: A potential conflict with Beijing would not be similar to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and China would target energy and food supplies, a researcher said China is likely to continue using economic and cyberoperations against Taiwan to force it to capitulate without resorting to a military attack, Fox News reported yesterday, citing the outcome of a tabletop exercise. Washington-based think tank the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) earlier this month held a tabletop exercise in Taipei focusing on Beijing’s use of economic and cybercoercion against Taiwan. The FDD mentioned an “anaconda strategy,” in which Beijing would likely use cyberwarfare and disinformation campaigns followed by a blockade or other measures to strangulate Taiwan, rather than attempting an invasion, the report said. A large-scale cyberattack would be
HSINCHU CASES: Five people among 35 who were reported being sick were still in hospital after eating at a vendor in a market in Jhubei, the local health agency said Thirty-five people have sought medical treatment for acute symptoms after allegedly eating banh mi (Vietnamese sandwiches) from a vendor in Jhubei City (竹北), the Hsinchu County Public Health Bureau said yesterday. The bureau said that since Saturday, it has received several reports of suspected food poisoning from hospitals. The vendor has been ordered to temporarily suspend its business, it said, adding that tests were being conducted to determine whether the people had food poisoning, with results expected in about two weeks. A preliminary investigation showed that the people who sought treatment had recently eaten banh mi at a vendor at a retail market
GOOD MODEL: Speaking at his book launch, Law said that Taiwan is the most democratic Chinese-speaking country, which is why Hong Kongers relocated here China has suffocated Hong Kong’s civil society and its next target could be Taiwan, Nathan Law (羅冠聰), cofounder of the disbanded pro-democracy Hong Kong political party Demosisto, said in Taipei yesterday. Law made the remarks at a launch in Taipei for his book When the Wind Blows — the Struggles for Freedom of Hong Kong (時代推著我們前行:羅冠聰的香港備忘錄). Law has been living in the UK since he fled Hong Kong in 2020, and the book is about his fighting for the cause of freedom in the area. He was granted political asylum in 2021. “Fleeing is a long and distressing process, but it also
IMITATING OTHERS? Tsai Ing-wen’s office said the former president rents a commercial unit for her personal office and had never used election funds to purchase real estate Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday confirmed that he used about NT$43 million (US$1.35 million) from his presidential election subsidy to purchase an office unit near the Legislative Yuan in May. Ko made the remarks after Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) earlier in the day told a news conference that she received a tip-off that the TPP chairman had purchased a 48.76 ping (161.2m2) office unit at Jinan Building (濟南大樓), a commercial building in Taipei’s Zhongzheng District (中正). Lin said that Ko purchased the unit on May 10, paying about NT$43 million in cash,