A Guinness World Record was set yesterday as 3,000 Taiwanese born through in vitro fertilization (IVF) gathered in Taichung to form a map of the world.
Vice President Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) told the gathering that it was advances in medical science that made such a large number of IVF births possible.
The event was especially significant due to China’s political pressure, which obstructs Taiwan from sharing its achievements in medical science and immunology with the world through participation in the WHO and other international medical organizations, Chen said.
Photo: Chen Chien-chih, Taipei Times
The nation’s IVF achievements have also played a role in its relationships with Southeast Asian nations, he said, adding that Taiwan has helped 700 Filipino couples have children through IVF.
Taiwan would do its utmost to help others through its New Southbound Policy, Chen added.
Taichung-based Lee Women’s Hospital, which specializes in IVF and fertility treatments, organized the event as part of yesterday’s IVF World Expo.
Photo: CNA
The first IVF operations in Taiwan were conducted in 1987, and Taiwanese doctors had a 20 percent success rate, hospital director Lee Mao-sheng (李茂盛) said.
Today, with the assistance of artificial intelligence, the hospital has an 80 percent success rate, he said.
As people are getting married later, more people are seeking IVF treatment, and the average age of women requesting the procedure is 39, he said.
Chen Ying-chieh (陳英傑), who was the first Taiwanese to be born through IVF, attended the event to thank Lee.
Lee said he recalled the efforts of Chen Ying-chieh’s mother, who underwent six rounds of IVF treatment before doctors were successful.
For the photograph, participants donned caps colored according the continent that they were representing and then arranged into the shapes of continents.
However, Taiwan was larger proportionately to recognize the contributions Taiwanese doctors have made to IVF, the hospital said.
The photograph was taken by an aerial drone.
The hospital set a world record in 2011 for the most people born through IVF gathered in one place, when 1,232 people attended, hospital officials said.
Several politicians attended yesterday’s event, including New Power Party Legislator Hung Tzu-yung (洪慈庸), Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators Huang Kuo-shu (黃國書) and Chang Liao Wan-chien (張廖萬堅), who represent electoral districts in the city; Chuang Ching-cheng (莊競程), an assistant professor of biomedical engineering at National Chiao Tung University who is standing for the legislature for the DPP for a Taichung seat; and Taiwan Statebuilding Party spokesman Chen Po-wei (陳柏惟).
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
NOVEL METHODS: The PLA has adopted new approaches and recently conducted three combat readiness drills at night which included aircraft and ships, an official said Taiwan is monitoring China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) exercises for changes in their size or pattern as the nation prepares for president-elect William Lai’s (賴清德) inauguration on May 20, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. Tsai made the comment at a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, in response to Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wang Ting-yu’s (王定宇) questions. China continues to employ a carrot-and-stick approach, in which it applies pressure with “gray zone” tactics, while attempting to entice Taiwanese with perks, Tsai said. These actions aim to help Beijing look like it has
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,