■ 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";
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:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
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
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater