Unable to stop the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak and the international criticism of its disastrous handling of the epidemic, the Chinese Communist Party expelled the country's health minister Zhang Wenkang (
Background and personal connections are important resources in Chinese officialdom. Zhang used to be Jiang Zemin's (
The SARS outbreak has shown that Taiwan and China are separate countries, President Chen Shui-bian (
The large volume of passenger traffic between the two shores of the Taiwan Strait means the spread of SARS to Taiwan will be inevitable. However, all suspected cases so far have been infections from outside Taiwan. Until recently there has been no case of community-acquired infection within the country, no death from SARS and no export of SARS to other countries.
But Taiwan may now be in danger of losing this "three zeros" record, given that a suspected case of community-acquired infection has been reported in Changhua County. Meanwhile, a man in his 70s is suspected to have died from SARS on the offshore island of Kinmen.
The DOH should learn from China's mistakes and understand that honesty is the best policy. It should use strict standards in checking and defining all suspected SARS cases. The government certainly stands to lose face from a first case of domestic SARS infection and a first probable death from SARS, but the people's health is far more important than the government's face. It would be better for the health authorities to adopt rigid policies and prevention measures than refuse to own up to the situation and thereby delay the necessary prevention work until it's too late. Yesterday, Premier Yu Shyi-kun personally announced that, in order to close the paths of infection, all incoming visitors are required to have their body temperatures checked upon arrival. Taiwan is fulfilling its duty in the international SARS prevention effort. A comparison with China's attitude certainly brings one to the conclusion that Taiwan and China are indeed separate countries.
Could Asia be on the verge of a new wave of nuclear proliferation? A look back at the early history of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which recently celebrated its 75th anniversary, illuminates some reasons for concern in the Indo-Pacific today. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin recently described NATO as “the most powerful and successful alliance in history,” but the organization’s early years were not without challenges. At its inception, the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty marked a sea change in American strategic thinking. The United States had been intent on withdrawing from Europe in the years following
My wife and I spent the week in the interior of Taiwan where Shuyuan spent her childhood. In that town there is a street that functions as an open farmer’s market. Walk along that street, as Shuyuan did yesterday, and it is next to impossible to come home empty-handed. Some mangoes that looked vaguely like others we had seen around here ended up on our table. Shuyuan told how she had bought them from a little old farmer woman from the countryside who said the mangoes were from a very old tree she had on her property. The big surprise
The issue of China’s overcapacity has drawn greater global attention recently, with US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen urging Beijing to address its excess production in key industries during her visit to China last week. Meanwhile in Brussels, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last week said that Europe must have a tough talk with China on its perceived overcapacity and unfair trade practices. The remarks by Yellen and Von der Leyen come as China’s economy is undergoing a painful transition. Beijing is trying to steer the world’s second-largest economy out of a COVID-19 slump, the property crisis and
As former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) wrapped up his visit to the People’s Republic of China, he received his share of attention. Certainly, the trip must be seen within the full context of Ma’s life, that is, his eight-year presidency, the Sunflower movement and his failed Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, as well as his eight years as Taipei mayor with its posturing, accusations of money laundering, and ups and downs. Through all that, basic questions stand out: “What drives Ma? What is his end game?” Having observed and commented on Ma for decades, it is all ironically reminiscent of former US president Harry