Premier Yu Shyi-kun said yesterday the Cabinet will decide today whether to suspend the "small three links" as a preventative measure against the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) to Taiwan's frontline islands.
Yu made the remarks after the Lienchiang County Government came up with the proposal amid concerns over the current global outbreak of SARS.
As Fujian abuts the southern Chinese province of Guangdong, which is thought to be the origin of the SARS outbreak, the Lienchiang County Government sent a letter to the Cabinet last Friday calling for a temporary suspension of the "small three links." The Kinmen County Government may also make a similar request later.
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Yu said several elements must be weighed in tackling the issue, including public health, national development and the international response.
"We should evaluate whether suspension of the `small three links' at this moment might cause unnecessary misunderstanding in China and the international community," he explained, adding that the Cabinet is conducting an overall review and that a final decision is expected to be made today.
Meanwhile, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen (
Tsai will call a MAC meeting after her return, and will present her conclusions at the meeting which will be referred to the Cabinet to serve as a reference in deciding whether to suspend the "small three links."
As of noon yesterday, Taiwan had reported 62 suspected SARScases, with 12 listed as "probable cases."
Lee Lung-teng (李龍騰), deputy director of the Center for Disease Control (CDC) under the Department of Health, said the coming two weeks could be a "peak season" for the SARS outbreak in Taiwan.
To more effectively contain the spread of the disease, Lee said, the CDC will send staff members to Hong Kong to acquire relevant viral testing materials to speed up the screening of possible SARS carriers.
Meanwhile, the CDC issued "home confinement" notices to 200-plus probable SARS carriers yesterday. More than 500 people around the country have been subject to the strict "stay home" quarantine measure so far. This high-risk group of people include medical staff who have treated SARS patients, passengers who had been aboard the same flights as SARS carriers, and family members of SARS patients.
Starting yesterday noon, all inbound and outbound passengers will be required to fill out a SARS survey form at Taiwan's main gateways -- CKS International Airport in the north and Kaohsiung International Airport in the south.
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:
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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