WEATHER
Heat boosts water parks
Water parks nationwide have seen sales surge over the past few weeks thanks to persistent hot and sunny weather, park representatives said yesterday. Leofoo Water Park said there has been 35 percent year-on-year growth in the number of visitors since the beginning of this month, with average weekend arrivals reaching more than 30,000. “The summer heat has contributed greatly to the surge in business,” a park manager said, adding that he is expecting over 200,000 visitors over the summer vacation period. Likewise, Formosa Fun Coast and Janfusun Fancyworld said they have seen sudden increases in arrivals.
WEATHER
Tropical depression nears
A tropical depression near the Philippines may develop into a tropical storm over the weekend and affect Taiwan, the Central Weather Bureau said yesterday. The depression, around 350km south of Taiwan’s southernmost tip, is moving at 15kph in a west-northwestly direction, the bureau said. The depression is continuing to develop as it approaches Taiwan, forecasters said, adding that the depression may cross the Bashi Channel between the Philippines and Taiwan in the next few days and head to China. The depression’s outer rim may bring showers to southern and southeastern Taiwan until tomorrow, the bureau said, warning of high waves in coastal areas. Meanwhile, daily highs across the island are likely to fall between 33oC and 36oC this week, due to winds created by the depression.
HEALTH
Lectures address hepatitis B
About 10 percent of babies born to mothers with the hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) will become hepatitis B carriers, even with vaccination, a pediatrician said yesterday. Since the hepatitis B vaccine does not guarantee full protection against infection, it is important to keep track of high-risk children, said Chen Hui-ling (陳慧玲), a pediatrician at National Taiwan University Hospital. Citing a study of about 2,000 children, Chen said that infants born to HBeAg mothers have a higher chance of becoming carriers, even if a rigorous vaccination scheme is implemented 24 hours after birth. The vaccination regimen involves further shots before the baby turns one, she said, reminding HBeAg parents to have their babies tested for the virus at the age of one. In an effort to help mothers learn more about hepatitis B, 10 free lectures will be held nationwide from next month until December, the Taiwan Children Liver Foundation said.
IMMIGRATION
Foreigner numbers rise
The number of foreign nationals in the country, excluding Chinese citizens, was 630,678 as of the end of last month, 42,000 more than a year ago, according to statistics released by the Ministry of the Interior yesterday. Of that number, 535,123 were on resident visas, while the others had visitor’s visas or other types of visas, the statistics showed. The number of foreign nationals working in Taiwan was 440,000, or 69.8 percent of the total, according to the tallies. The statistics showed that 42.2 percent of the foreign workers were from Indonesia, 22.2 percent from Vietnam and 19.4 percent from the Philippines. The number of Indonesian workers increased by 19,000 year-on-year, while the number from Vietnam rose by 11,000, and from the Philippines by 6,000, according to the statistics.
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