The quasi-official Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF), which serves as the sole civil organization authorized to conduct cross-strait negotiations, yesterday elected its fifth board of directors, replacing 12 incumbents.
With the appointments, PFP and TSU representatives were elected to the board for the first time.
The board also approved a proposal to revise its constitution to downsize itself from 49 members to between 25 and 31, and to guarantee the government at least 10 seats.
The current board's term expires on Dec. 2. Most incumbents will retain their posts for another three-year term.
Also on Dec. 2, the new board will elect the foundation's chairman, vice chairmen and secretary-general.
Party representation
The new board includes one representative from each major political party. DPP Legislator Chen Chung-hsin (
The PFP and TSU now have members on the board for the first time. Representing the PFP is Chang Hsien-yao (
"The new board is more comprehensive as its reflects current party politics by including PFP and TSU representatives," said the foundation's secretary-general, Shi Hwai-yow (
The PFP, established in 2000, and the TSU, established last year, were formed after the foundation's last reshuffle three years ago.
SEF Chairman Koo Chen-fu (
Speculation
However Koo declined to confirm such speculation yesterday.
"Leadership of the SEF is generated by political appointments. We will respect the arrangements from the government," he said.
At least 18 board members, however, will not retain their posts for the full three-year term. The downsizing approved yesterday will take effect once the foundation's constitution has been amended to reflect the decision and the revision has been approved by the Mainland Affairs Council.
According to Shi, the board's downsizing will be accomplished "within months."
"The current size of the board of directors is too big to enable us to operate effectively," Shi said.
Shi denied the connection between the downsizing of the board of directors and rumors that the foundation had been rendered redundant by strong control from the government.
He said that the average size of the board of directors for domestic civil organizations is around 20 members.
FLU SEASON: Twenty-six severe cases were reported from Tuesday last week to Monday, including a seven-year-old girl diagnosed with influenza-associated encephalopathy Nearly 140,000 people sought medical assistance for diarrhea last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said on Tuesday. From April 7 to Saturday last week, 139,848 people sought medical help for diarrhea-related illness, a 15.7 percent increase from last week’s 120,868 reports, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The number of people who reported diarrhea-related illness last week was the fourth highest in the same time period over the past decade, Lee said. Over the past four weeks, 203 mass illness cases had been reported, nearly four times higher than the 54 cases documented in the same period
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching