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Taiwan quick take

■Diplomacy
Embassy staffers safe
Ambassador to Liberia Chen Yeong-cho (陳永綽) and two embassy staff members who have stayed behind in the war-torn country are safe and sound, although their residences have been looted by rebels, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official said yesterday. Francias C. R. Lee (李宗儒), director-general of the ministry's Department of African Affairs, said he talked with Chen by phone on Thursday morning. If the situation in Liberia worsens, then Chen and his two staffers will evacuate with US Embassy personnel, although the likelihood of a further deterioration seems unlikely, Lee said. He said that he learned from Chen that more than 100,000 refugees have converged on the Liberian capitol Monrovia and that the ambassador is distributing rice, donated by the government last month, to the refugees.

■ SARS
Jen Chi to reopen
The Jen Chi Hospital in Taipei City will resume operations tomorrow after the government closed it for more than 40 days because of a SARS outbreak there. Jen Chi Hospital was sealed off by the Department of Health April 29 after 15 hospital workers fell ill with the symptoms of SARS and three of them tested positive for the coronavirus, the virus that causes SARS. Jen Chi was the second hospital to be closed in Taipei because of SARS. Taipei Municipal Hoping Hospital was closed April 24 following a mass outbreak of SARS that affected medical staff, patients, family members of patients and caregivers. To lure customers back, the Taipei City Government will present, from tomorrow to late June, a series of activities in the Wanhua District and other commercial districts whose businesses were seriously affected by the SARS outbreak in Jen Chi Hospital.

■ Hakka Affairs
Chen opens institute
The inauguration of the Hakka College and Institute for Studies of Hakka Culture and Society at National Central University in Chungli is a milestone for the development of multiple cultures in Taiwan, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) said yesterday. Chen said at the inauguration ceremony that it is very important to promote Hakka culture at a time when the trend of globalization is overshadowing indigenous cultures, which is a basis for the development of national strength. Many government leaders and dignitaries attended the inauguration ceremony. They included Council for Hakka Affairs Chairperson Yeh Chu-lan (葉菊蘭) and Wu Po-hsiung (吳伯雄), president of the World Hakka Federation. Wu praised Chen's achievements in promoting Hakka culture during his presidency.

■ SARS
US doctor praises nation
The situation with SARS in Taiwan has improved to the extent that the country should be removed from the World Health Organization's (WHO) travel advisory list, a US virologist here said yesterday. Clarence James Peters, a professor with the University of Texas Medical Branch, who has been in Taipei over the past two weeks to help with SARS measures, said the WHO administrative process has been too slow, and judging from the current situation in Taiwan, the nation should be lifted from the WHO's warning list against non-essential trips. Known as the "Virus Hunter," with 30-years experience in virology and viral immunology, Peters arrived in Taipei June 1 at the invitation of Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou. He is scheduled to return to the US today.

Agencies
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