■ LABOR
Taiwan labor ‘mostly free’
The Washington-based Freedom House has listed Taiwan as “mostly free” in a report on labor rights it released earlier this week. In “The Global State of Workers’ Rights: Free Labor in a Hostile World,” Taiwan and Japan, along with 36 other countries, were included in the “mostly free” group — the second best of five classifications used by the independent watchdog organization. South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and 38 other countries received the top ranking of “free”; China, Singapore, Afghanistan, Cambodia and 22 others were in the “repressive” group; and 14 countries including Myanmar, Laos, North Korea and Vietnam received the worst ranking of “very repressive.” After assessing trade unions and worker freedom in 165 countries, Freedom House said that one-third of the global population lives in societies in which “workers’ rights suffer a significant degree of repression.”
■AGRICULTURE
COA thanks fruit buyers
The Council of Agriculture (COA) yesterday expressed gratitude toward 16 enterprises and government units for purchasing overproduced fruit. Companies such as Yulon Group, First Bank, Quanta Computer and government ministries including the Ministry of National Defense bought 1,480 tonnes of bananas, papayas, guavas and oranges this year to help farmers handle the glut, the council said. Agriculture and Food Agency Director-General Chen Wen-deh (陳文德) said measures have been taken to deal with the problem, including decreasing farm lands devoted to fruit. For example, the state-run Taiwan Sugar Corp has cut the amount of farmland it leases to banana farmers from 1,900 hectares in 2006 to 500 hectares this year, Chen said. Banana sales often slow in the domestic market in July and August because many other types of fruit are available in the summer, council officials said.
■AGRICULTURE
Kinmen cattle shipped
Fourteen yellow cattle bred on Kinmen were shipped to Taiwan proper on Friday, the first live cattle to be sent outside Kinmen since a 10-year ban came to an end at the end of last year. The ban was launched in 1999 because of an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, almost causing the collapse of Kinmen’s livestock industry. Before the ban, there were about 5,000 head of cattle in Kinmen, local breeder Hsueh Hseng-shen (薛承琛) said. “Kinmen paid a painful price” for an epidemic that resulted from smuggling cattle from China, he said. Hsueh said Kinmen was a perfect place to raise cattle thanks to Kaoliang Liquor distillery cellars, which provide high-quality feed — distillers’ grains — for livestock.
■TRADE
Processed meats get nod
The COA said yesterday that Taiwan would be able to sell about 50 types of processed meat products to China after the two sides complete negotiations on the quarantine and inspection of agricultural products. The 50 items will include cooked pork, chicken and dumplings, said Hsu Kuei-sen (許桂森), chief of the Animal Husbandry Department. However, Hsu said he was not sure when the arrangements on quarantine and inspection would be finalized. All 50 products would carry the certified agricultural standards (CAS) logo, he said, adding that the COA has registered Taiwan’s CAS logo in China twice over the past five years to prevent it from being used by Chinese businesses. Taiwan launched the CAS program in 1989 to promote its agricultural products.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
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