■ SARS
Nation to sponsor meeting
Taiwan is slated to sponsor an international seminar on severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) late this month, with about 400 foreign and local experts expected to take part, officials of the Department of Health said yesterday. Participants from Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, the Philippines and the US will discuss SARS-related issues at the international meeting slated for April 20 to April 21, the officials said, noting that they have not sent invitations to any academics or specialists in China.
■ Health
Enterovirus alert issued
With the advent of summer, the Department of Health has heightened its alert for a possible enterovirus outbreak, officials said yesterday. The department's Center for Disease Control has reported 54 enterovirus cases nationwide, with three deaths and 25 cases listed as "serious." In comparison, 33 serious cases were reported during the same period last year, six of which proved fatal. Health officials said central Taiwan has the largest number of reported cases so far. Enterovirus Type 71 was to blame for all three of this year's deaths, the officials said. Nearly all of the enterovirus patients are young children, including 17 who are aged between one and four years old.
■ Diplomacy
MOFA favors Washington
The US capital has been listed as the most favored transit site for President Chen Shui-bian's upcoming trip to Central and South America, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Michael Kau (高英茂) said yesterday. The foreign ministry's blueprint is to endeavor to push for Chen's transit in Washington, Kau told a legislative subcommittee yesterday in response to a question from PFP Legislator Sun Ta-chian (孫大千). Kau declined to reveal details of Chen's trip, dubbing it "politically sensitive." The US has banned the nation's top leaders from visiting Washington, including the president, vice president, foreign minister and defense minister.
■ Environment
Chen reassures islanders
President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) said problems pertaining to radioactive waste stored on Orchid Island would be solved by the end of this year. Steven Chang (張海嶼), a minister, and Hsieh Ching-kuang (謝慶廣), a representative of islanders, met with Chen yesterday and told him that residents demanded a clear timeframe for the removal of the radioactive material, a project has been delayed for four months. Currently, 97,672 barrels of low-level radioactive waste are stored at the site. Chen said that he felt sorry for the delay of the removal project, which was designed and carried out by Taiwan Power Company (Taipower). "However, the final repository for radioactive waste will never be established on Orchid Island," Chen said.
■ Earthquake
No damage from temblor
A mild earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 4.9 on the Richter scale rattled eastern and central Taiwan yesterday. No damage was reported. Central Weather Bureau officials said that the epicenter of the quake was located 38km southeast of the Nanao seismic station in Ilan County and was 47.6km below the surface of the earth. The quake, which occurred at 6:19am, had an intensity of 3 in Ilan County's Nanao and 2 in Ilan County's Suao Harbor, Hualien County's Hoping township and Taichung County's Techi.
Former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) mention of Taiwan’s official name during a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on Wednesday was likely a deliberate political play, academics said. “As I see it, it was intentional,” National Chengchi University Graduate Institute of East Asian Studies professor Wang Hsin-hsien (王信賢) said of Ma’s initial use of the “Republic of China” (ROC) to refer to the wider concept of “the Chinese nation.” Ma quickly corrected himself, and his office later described his use of the two similar-sounding yet politically distinct terms as “purely a gaffe.” Given Ma was reading from a script, the supposed slipup
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,
The bodies of two individuals were recovered and three additional bodies were discovered on the Shakadang Trail (砂卡礑) in Taroko National Park, eight days after the devastating earthquake in Hualien County, search-and-rescue personnel said. The rescuers reported that they retrieved the bodies of a man and a girl, suspected to be the father and daughter from the Yu (游) family, 500m from the entrance of the trail on Wednesday. The rescue team added that despite the discovery of the two bodies on Friday last week, they had been unable to retrieve them until Wednesday due to the heavy equipment needed to lift