■Defense
Germany denies rumors
The German Ministry of Economics on Thursday denied a press report that Taiwan was set to buy German-built tanks following the nation's removal from Berlin's arms export blacklist. "We do not have any knowledge of such an interest in Taipei," a ministry spokesman said. The United Daily News claimed on Thursday that Taiwan was set to buy Leopard 2 tanks made by Germany's Krauss-Maffei Wegmann after "the German government quietly removed Taiwan from its list of bans on arms export." But the spokesman dismissed the report, saying, "German policy toward Taiwan remains unchanged." Taiwan's army earlier this year offered to buy M-A2 tanks from the US, but analysts said the nation's terrain would be difficult for the 70-tonne M-A2s to handle.
■ Direct links
Lawmaker promotes Penghu
Charter-flight services between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait could start from Makung airport on the offshore island of Penghu, independent lawmaker Lin Ping-kun (林炳坤) suggested yesterday. Lin, who is also a party whip of the alliance of non-partisan legislators, said in a question-and-answer session at the legislature that the government's cross-strait policy is too timid and wavering. "Why can't the government be more daring?" He said that if the government decides to open charter-flight services between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, Makung airport should be used on a trial basis. Responding to his suggestion, Premier Yu Shyi-kun said that, as charter-flight services would involve the interests of all the people, the government's stance is that it cannot simply "give it a try."
■ Missile threat
Panama seeks disarmament
Panama's Legislative Assembly unanimously passed a resolution on Thursday calling for disarmament across the Taiwan Strait. The resolution said tensions across the Taiwan Strait undermine the economic development in the Asia-Pacific region and negatively affected other parts of the world. Noting that Japan has appealed for dialogue between Taiwan and China and that the European Parliament has urged China to withdraw its missiles aimed at Taiwan, the resolution said the Panama Legislative Assembly hopes China and Taiwan will abide by international norms and solve their disputes peacefully and make the Strait a non-military zone. Disarmament would benefit not only the people and nations in the region but also international trade, the resolution said. The move was put forward by Carlos Alvarado, speaker of the Legislative Assembly.
■ Energy
Taipei to host conference
Taiwan has obtained the rights to host the 2005 conference of the International Association for Energy Economics (IAEE), Regis Chen (陳朝威), president of the Chinese Association for Energy Economics, announced yesterday. Chen said that former premier Vincent Siew (蕭萬長), who now serves as chairman of the Chung Hua Institute for Economic Research, will preside over the conference to be held in Taipei. The US-based international organization was founded in 1977 in response to the 1970's energy crisis. It now has 3,400 members in more than 70 nations. The conference will be one of the largest international events slated for the next few years in Taipei, Chen said.
Agencies
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
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater
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