Several DPP Taipei City councilors urged Bureau of Health Director Chiu Shu-ti (
"Now that Twu has resigned, shouldn't [Chiu] resign?" DPP Councilor Wang Shih-chien (王世堅) demanded yesterday during a council session.
In response to Wang's questioning, Chiu said that she had already offered her written resignation to the mayor last week.
Taipei City Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), in support of Chiu, said, "I declined to accept Chiu's resignation because we are still struggling to gain control of SARS. It is simply not the right time for her to go."
Other DPP councilors raised similar questions.
DPP councilor Yen Sheng-kuan (
Ma said he did not know whether hospital outbreaks were going to happen again, and it was not the right time to change officials. "Otherwise, it could affect the morale of the SARS fighters," Ma said.
Although Ma was insistent on keeping Chiu, both he and Chiu offered their public apologies during the council meeting.
"I am sorry that the Taipei City Government could not control the epidemic immediately," Ma said.
Ma and Chiu also bowed to the councilors, as a gesture of apology to Taipei's citizens.
The gesture of remorse did not seem to impress the councilors. Some attacked Ma himself, instead of focusing on Chiu.
Wang told Ma, "All evidence so far has pointed towards Wu having been responsible for what happened in [Taipei Municipal} Hoping Hospital. Why did you decide to send him to Hoping when he was on trial for corruption in a purchase scandal?"
Ma replied by saying, "The trial was closed and Wu was proven innocent before he was made the Hoping superintendent."
Wang insisted that the trial was still ongoing.
DPP councilors also voiced their opposition to a plan for having Taipei Municipal Hoping Hospital focus on SARS treatment.
"If Hoping is going to have its equipment upgraded to care for more SARS patients, then other municipal hospitals should follow Hoping's example," New Party Councilor Chen I-chou (陳義洲) said.
"Why should Hoping take in more SARS patients than than other hospitals? Hoping is too close to the local residents, and the area around Hoping is densely populated. Is it really suitable for Hoping to take in so many SARS patients?" Chen demanded.
Ma answered that, "It would be nice if we could have a hospital big enough to contain all the SARS patients in one place, as they do in Singapore. "But Taipei simply cannot do this, due to a lack of resources," he said.
ALIGNED THINKING: Taiwan and Japan have a mutual interest in trade, culture and engineering, and can work together for stability, Cho Jung-tai said Taiwan and Japan are two like-minded countries willing to work together to form a “safety barrier” in the Indo-Pacific region, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday said at the opening ceremony of the 35th Taiwan-Japan Modern Engineering and Technology Symposium in Taipei. Taiwan and Japan are close geographically and closer emotionally, he added. Citing the overflowing of a barrier lake in the Mataian River (馬太鞍溪) in September, Cho said the submersible water level sensors given by Japan during the disaster helped Taiwan monitor the lake’s water levels more accurately. Japan also provided a lot of vaccines early in the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic,
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) on Monday announced light shows and themed traffic lights to welcome fans of South Korean pop group Twice to the port city. The group is to play Kaohsiung on Saturday as part of its “This Is For” world tour. It would be the group’s first performance in Taiwan since its debut 10 years ago. The all-female group consists of five South Koreans, three Japanese and Tainan’s Chou Tzu-yu (周子瑜), the first Taiwan-born and raised member of a South Korean girl group. To promote the group’s arrival, the city has been holding a series of events, including a pop-up
TEMPORAL/SPIRITUAL: Beijing’s claim that the next Buddhist leader must come from China is a heavy-handed political maneuver that will fall flat-faced, experts said China’s requirement that the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation to be born in China and approved by Beijing has drawn criticism, with experts at a forum in Taipei yesterday saying that if Beijing were to put forth its own Dalai Lama, the person would not be recognized by the Tibetan Buddhist community. The experts made a remarks at the two-day forum hosted by the Tibet Religious Foundation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama titled: “The Snow Land Forum: Finding Common Ground on Tibet.” China says it has the right to determine the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation, as it claims sovereignty over Tibet since ancient times,
Temperatures in some parts of Taiwan are expected to fall sharply to lows of 15°C later this week as seasonal northeasterly winds strengthen, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. It is to be the strongest cold wave to affect northern Taiwan this autumn, while Chiayi County in the southwest and some parts of central Taiwan are likely to also see lower temperatures due to radiational cooling, which occurs under conditions of clear skies, light winds and dry weather, the CWA said. Across Taiwan, temperatures are to fall gradually this week, dropping to 15°C to 16°C in the early hours of Wednesday
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