Taiwan quick take

■Labor
Vietnam workers banned
Vietnam banned sending workers to Taiwan because of SARS, an official said yesterday. "We have responsibility to protect Vietnamese workers sent abroad," said Le Gia Liem, deputy director of the information office of the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs. "We do not know how long the ban will last, but if the World Health Organization announces that Taiwan has contained SARS, we will lift the ban and resume the export of workers," Liem said. About 40,000 Vietnamese work in Taiwan and one Vietnamese woman died of SARS in Taipei last Tuesday.

■ Health
More donations to arrive
The first batch of 270,000 surgical masks donated by Taiwanese expatriates in southern Africa is scheduled to arrive in Taipei tomorrow, Du Ling (杜稜), representative of the Taipei Liaison Office in the Republic of South Africa, said on Thursday. Du said that a second batch of medical supplies, including 201,100 surgical masks and 315 sets of protective outfits was airlifted to Taipei on Thursday and is slated to arrive on Monday. Various organizations of overseas Chinese in South Africa, Lesotho and Mauritius have made donations money and goods, including US$92,000, since a donation campaign launched by his office, Du said.

■ Health
Army cleans Hsinchu park
The army launched a disinfection campaign at the Hsinchu Science-based Industrial Park yesterday to help prevent SARS from spreading to the park. A total of 130 soldiers from the 6th Army Corps, riding in 13 T486 light chemical vehicles and two five-ton chemical tenders, began the disinfection work in the park's public areas and open spaces at 9am. According to Lee Chieh-mu (李界木), the park's administrator, there are about 380 companies with high-tech manufacturing operations in the park. Although a dozen or so employees from the park have been put into home quarantine since returning from business trips to China, no SARS cases have been reported in the park, Lee said. He presented the army with NT$30,000 as a token of his appreciation for the soldiers' hard work.

■ United Nations
Journalists protest to Annan
Journalists at the UN on Thursday protested Secretary-General Kofi Annan's decision to bar a Taiwanese diplomat from holding a news briefing at its headquarters last week. The UN Correspondents Association, or UNCA, invited envoy Andrew Hsia (characters) to discuss the country's handling of the SARS outbreak, but he was stopped at the gate on Annan's order, after China objected. Annan told a news conference this week that Hsia's appearance would have violated the UN' "one China" policy, and that member nations, which in principle own the New York headquarters building, have the power to control access. UNCA president Tony Jenkins said international human-rights laws granting freedom of expression "trumps any privilege that any member state may wish to assert in blocking the expression of views by any person or organization invited to speak at our club." Jenkins also wrote a letter of protest to Chinese Ambassador Wang Yingfan (王英凡) saying the incident had done "serious harm" to China's image in the UN press corps.

Agencies