Taiwan has promised to donate US$1 million to the Geneva-based Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Washington sources said Thursday.
At the suggestion of the Bush administration, the sources said, Taiwan's government made the promise in March this year to signify Taiwan's commitment to actively taking part in international activities and paying the international community back for its help in the past.
According to the sources, President George W. Bush has attached great importance to the US role in the global fund. Bush held a joint news conference with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in the White House last May to explain the main purposes of the new fund.
When Bush administration officials sought Taiwan's support for the fund, the sources said, the proposal received an active response from Taiwan's representative to the US Chen Chien-jen (程建人) and director-general of the Department of Health Lee Ming-liang (李明亮). Shortly afterwards, the sources said, Taiwan's government offered to make the US$1 million donation to the fund.
The US government has pledged to donate up to US$500 million between 2001 and 2003, making the United States the largest donor to the special fund.
Statistical reports released by the fund showed that about 30 countries and institutions around the world have promised to donate a total of US$1.92 billion to the fund. Three other countries -- Kuwait, Austria and Zimbabwe -- have offered to donate the same amount of money as Taiwan.
Japan is so far the only East Asian donor country other than Taiwan, pledging to donate up to US$200 million. The charity foundation set up by Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates will donate US$100 million.
The global fund said it will begin to appropriate money to help finance various disease prevention and treatment projects this year, resulting in a 50 percent increase in the total budget for prevention of AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria in developing countries.
According to the fund, about 40 million people around the world have been infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. In 2001 alone, 5 million people contracted HIV, with more than 95 percent of them living in developing countries. In seven sub-Saharan African countries, more than 20 percent of the population is infected with HIV.
The fund said AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria claim 6 million lives every year.
The proposal to set up an international fund to fight the three diseases was first broached at the G-8 summit held in Okinawa, Japan in July 2000. The proposal received the unanimous support of all the participating countries to a UN-sponsored anti-AIDS meeting last June.
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
Temperatures are forecast to drop steadily as a continental cold air mass moves across Taiwan, with some areas also likely to see heavy rainfall, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. From today through early tomorrow, a cold air mass would keep temperatures low across central and northern Taiwan, and the eastern half of Taiwan proper, with isolated brief showers forecast along Keelung’s north coast, Taipei and New Taipei City’s mountainous areas and eastern Taiwan, it said. Lows of 11°C to 15°C are forecast in central and northern Taiwan, Yilan County, and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, and 14°C to 17°C
RSS