■ Diplomacy
Japanese MP welcomed
President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) received visiting Japanese parliamentarian Tokuichiro Tamazawa yesterday at the presidential office and thanked him for his long-term support of Taiwan. During the meeting, Chen also asked his guest to convey his congratulations and regards to Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi for the Liberal Democratic Party's victory in parliamentary elections. Chen asked Tamazawa to help him arrange another meeting with former Japanese prime minister Yoshiro Mori. With Tamazawa help, Chen met with Mori for the first time in June 1999, before either of them had been elected. Chen expressed the hope that Mori would visit Taiwan as soon as possible.
■ Construction
Premier promotes projects
Premier Yu Shyi-kun urged legislators Friday to put their weight behind his Cabinet's five-year, NT$500 billion (US$14.7 billion) 10 new major public construction projects for the benefit of future generations. He was speaking after the conclusion of the general interpellation in the Legislative Yuan that started on Sept. 23. Yu said that, confined by a rigid expenditure structure, the government's investment in public construction has continued to decline, resulting in a slow pace of growth and a loss of momentum in upgrading the nation's competitive edge. For this reason, he said, the Executive Yuan has unveiled its 10 new major public construction projects, which include the building of a third freeway in central Taiwan, the nurturing of the top-notch universities and research centers, and the expansion of Kaohsiung Harbor to turn it into an intercontinental container center, as an investment in the nation's future.
■ Culture
Show for foreign spouses
A weekly radio program catering to the needs of Chinese spouses of local citizens will be launched on the Taipei Broadcasting Station today, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. The MAC said it has commissioned a private cultural and educational foundation to produce the one-hour program, which is aimed at helping spouses from the PRC adapt to Taiwan's lifestyle and social customs. MAC Vice Chairman Chen Ming-tong said 190,000 Taiwanese citizens have married people from China, making them the largest group of immigrants to Taiwan. The program will be aired on FM 93.1 and AM 1134 from 3pm to 4pm every Saturday. Government officials will be invited onto the program to explain official policy and relevant regulations, particularly those related to cross-strait marriages outlined in the newly passed amendments to the statute governing cross-strait exchanges.
■ Health
Walking campaign held
The Hope Foundation (希望基金會) is organizing an alternative New Year celebration -- the group is urging the public to take part in a walking campaign on New Year's Eve to promote public health and pray for Taiwan's future. The event will take place around the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall from 9pm on Dec. 31 to 9am on Jan. 1. People can choose to join in or leave at any time during this period. Celebrities such as Chi Cheng (紀政), the winner of the bronze medal in the 80m hurdles at the 1968 Mexico Olympics, will also take part. Those interested can call (02) 8647-3571 or visit diable.yam.com/org/hope (Chinese only) to register. The registration fee is NT$500, and all proceeds will go to charity.
staff writer, with agencies";
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,
FLU SEASON: Twenty-six severe cases were reported from Tuesday last week to Monday, including a seven-year-old girl diagnosed with influenza-associated encephalopathy Nearly 140,000 people sought medical assistance for diarrhea last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said on Tuesday. From April 7 to Saturday last week, 139,848 people sought medical help for diarrhea-related illness, a 15.7 percent increase from last week’s 120,868 reports, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The number of people who reported diarrhea-related illness last week was the fourth highest in the same time period over the past decade, Lee said. Over the past four weeks, 203 mass illness cases had been reported, nearly four times higher than the 54 cases documented in the same period
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
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: