The Legislative Yuan Interiors Committee asked the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday to allow doctor-legislator Kao Ming-chien (高明見) to practice medicine in China when Kao visits there sometime later this month.
Yeh Yi-ching (
Yeh also requested that Kao, a Japan-trained neurosurgeon who did research at Harvard University, take his time while visiting Shanghai to convey the idea that "medicine is a borderless practice" to the Chinese authorities and to call for China's leaders to stop obstructing Taiwan's entry into the World Health Organization.
Kao, who is currently a PFP legislator at large, is scheduled to head to Shanghai later this week to deliver a speech at a China-Japan academic symposium on neurosurgery slated to open at Ryi Jin Hospital (瑞金醫院) Thursday.
Kao said he will also take the time to treat Shanghai-based Tai-wan business people during his stay in Shanghai.
He will also visit Guangzhou following his visit to Shanghai.
After being informed of the MAC's vaguely negative attitude on the issue, Kao said at the Interiors Committee's session yesterday that treating Taiwan business people in China will neither "hollow out" Taiwan's business clout nor cause a crisis in the country's national security.
Kao noted that he is determined to treat the Taiwan business people in Shanghai even if he might face punishment from the government for what it might consider a violation of national security interests.
MAC Vice Chairman John Teng (
Teng said the MAC will make a decision on Kao's case "at the earliest possible date" after consulting other relevant agencies such as the Department of Health.
For his part, Kao said he sees no reason for the MAC to be hesitant about signaling a green light for his plan to provide medical treatment in Shanghai exclusively for patients from Taiwan since the Ryi Jin Hospital authorities have already approved his treatment plan.
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