■SOCIETY
Centenarian numbers grow
The number of centenarians in the country has reached 1,223 as life expectancy in Taiwan continues to increase, a report released yesterday by the Ministry of the Interior showed. The data came from the annual census of centenarians conducted ahead of the Oct. 26 Double Ninth Festival that honors seniors. All citizens born before Dec. 31, 1909 were counted. The census found that 1,135 (92.8 percent) of the centenarians were between 100 and 104 years of age, while 84 were between 105 and 109 and four were 110 or older. The average age was 101.48. Women far outnumbered men: 853 to 370. The oldest centenarian is a 116-year-old woman in Kaohsiung City. A 113-year-old Hualien County man is the second-oldest.
■POLITICS
DPP threatens to sue
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) spokeswoman Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said yesterday the party would file a lawsuit if Taitung County Commissioner Kuang Li-chen (鄺麗貞) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) or her former husband, Wu Chun-li (吳俊立), runs in the Taitung legislative by-election. The by-election was called after KMT Legislator Justin Huang (黃健庭) resigned on Thursday to dedicate himself to running in the Taitung County commissioner election. There have been rumors for a while that Huang would step down to leave the seat open for either Kuang or Wu to run in exchange for their supporting his commissioner bid. Kuang had initially insisted on seeking reelection, but just a few days ago threw her support behind Huang. “It would prove that there was a deal between Huang, Wu and Kuang if Wu or Kuang registers to run in the by-election,” Hsiao said. “The DPP will sue it if that happens.”
■SOCIETY
Decision on Centrum soon
Consumers will soon get a clear answer on whether Centrum vitamins are a food or medicine, Vice Premier Eric Chu (朱立倫) said. The Department of Health considers Centrum a medicine because of its high vitamin content. “I will ask the Department of Health to make a decision by the end of this year,” said Chu, who is also chairman of the Consumer Protection Commission. Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆) has complained that one bottle of Centrum in April costs about three times more in Taiwan than it would in the US.
The Taipei Zoo on Saturday said it would pursue legal action against a man who was filmed climbing over a railing to tease and feed spotted hyenas in their enclosure earlier that day. In videos uploaded to social media on Saturday, a man can be seen climbing over a protective railing and approaching a ledge above the zoo’s spotted hyena enclosure, before dropping unidentified objects down to two of the animals. The Taipei Zoo in a statement said the man’s actions were “extremely inappropriate and even illegal.” In addition to monitoring the hyenas’ health, the zoo would collect evidence provided by the public
A decision to describe a Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement on Singapore’s Taiwan policy as “erroneous” was made because the city-state has its own “one China policy” and has not followed Beijing’s “one China principle,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Chung-kwang (田中光) said yesterday. It has been a longstanding practice for the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to speak on other countries’ behalf concerning Taiwan, Tien said. The latest example was a statement issued by the PRC after a meeting between Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on the sidelines of the APEC summit
A road safety advocacy group yesterday called for reforms to the driver licensing and retraining system after a pedestrian was killed and 15 other people were injured in a two-bus collision in Taipei. “Taiwan’s driver’s licenses are among the easiest to obtain in the world, and there is no mandatory retraining system for drivers,” Taiwan Vision Zero Alliance, a group pushing to reduce pedestrian fatalities, said in a news release. Under the regulations, people who have held a standard car driver’s license for two years and have completed a driver training course are eligible to take a test
‘SIGN OF DANGER’: Beijing has never directly named Taiwanese leaders before, so China is saying that its actions are aimed at the DPP, a foundation official said National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) yesterday accused Beijing of spreading propaganda, saying that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had singled out President William Lai (賴清德) in his meeting with US President Joe Biden when talking about those whose “true nature” seek Taiwanese independence. The Biden-Xi meeting took place on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Peru on Saturday. “If the US cares about maintaining peace across the Taiwan Strait, it is crucial that it sees clearly the true nature of Lai and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in seeking Taiwanese independence, handles the Taiwan question with extra
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