Academia Sinica yesterday denied a claim by the Chinese media that China deserved credit for the institute’s development of a rapid screening reagent for COVID-19.
“China has nothing to do with the success,” Academia Sinica President James Liao (廖俊智) said in response to media queries, adding that Taiwan on its own merit synthesized monoclonal antibodies that can identify the protein of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
The institute would soon collaborate with the Ministry of Health and Welfare, private companies and research bodies to quickly verify and mass produce the reagent and start clinical trials, Liao said.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
Lawmakers at a meeting of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee praised the institute’s achievement.
Several Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers also called for Academia Sinica to change its name in English and other languages to avoid confusion with the Beijing-based Chinese Academy of Science and help Taiwan gain greater exposure in the international community.
“As ‘Sinica’ means ‘Chinese’ in Latin, the organization should consider altering its name to avoid possible confusion,” DPP Legislator Fan Yun (范雲) said.
Foreign academics often ask why the government does not change “Sinica” into “Taiwanica,” she said.
She asked the institute, which has used Academia Sinica as its English name since 1928, to submit a report on the issue within three months.
DPP Legislator Chang Liao Wan-chien (張廖萬堅) backed Fan’s proposal, saying that many Europeans mistook him for a Chinese national when he visited the region after COVID-19 broke out in China.
This is a good time to change the name, as the outbreak has led many Taiwanese to reshape their national identification, he added.
Liao said the institute is willing to discuss the issue, but added that the central government has the final call.
Additional reporting by CNA
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)