■ Health
Taiwan must join WHO: Chen
President Chen Shui-bian yesterday (陳水扁) stressed the importance of Taiwan obtaining access to the World Health Organization (WHO). Speaking at a ceremony to honor senior medical workers, Chen said the reappearance of SARS in Taiwan has reminded the world of the loophole in its anti-epidemic frontline caused by Taiwan's absence from the WHO, which coordinates the global efforts to fight epidemics. Noting that Taiwan succeeded in overcoming the disease on its own earlier this year, Chen said the episode brought home to both the international community and the country that epidemics know no political boundaries and that the world's attempts to bring epidemics under control are hampered by shutting Taiwan out for political reasons. Now that the disease has reappeared in Taiwan due to the negligence of a scientist engaged in SARS research that caused him to become infected by the disease on Dec. 17, the president said the case serves as a warning to both the world and the country that Taiwan should be included in the WHO as soon as possible.
■ Culture
Austronesian fest opens
The 2003 Austronesian Cultural Festival opened yesterday in Taitung, focusing on the weaving and knitting skills of Austronesian civilization. The festival, organized by the Taitung County Government and the National Museum of Prehistory in Taitung City, is the final large-scale tourist activity to be held by the government this year. It will run through Dec. 30. In addition to Taiwan's 10 Aboriginal groups, the organizers have also invited performance troupes from Canada, Japan, Indonesia, South Korea and Hawaii to take part. Festival-goers will be able to get a better understanding of the movements of the Austronesian people and of their marine and terrestrial cultures. On the evening of Dec. 31 there will be a party, featuring various types of music, including jazz and Latin from Cuba and Brazil.
■ Economics
Trade with China up 29.4%
Trade between Taiwan and China amounted to US$44.63 billion in the first 10 months of this year, an increase of 29.4 percent over the same period of last year, according to a report by the New China News Agency. The report quoted an official of China's Ministry of Commerce as saying that the outbreak of SARS earlier this year had little impact on cross-strait trade, because 80 percent of Taiwan's investments in China are in manufacturing industries. In the first 10 months of this year, Chinese imports from Taiwan totaled US$39.59 billion, an increase of 28.7 percent over the same period of last year. China's exports to Taiwan totaled US$7.04 billion in the same period.
■ Architecture
Skyscraper fails to impress
Plans to build the world's tallest skyscraper in New York barely caused a ripple yesterday in Taipei, home to the building that currently claims that title. The island's media paid little attention to the plan announced in New York on Friday to build a 532.8m glass tower on the site where terrorists destroyed the World Trade Center and other buildings on Sept. 11, 2001. The New York structure, dubbed the Freedom Tower, would top Taipei 101, which stands at 502.8m. A Taiwanese architect said no one expected Taipei 101 to stay the world's tallest building forever. "With technology advancing constantly, it's only a matter of time before a higher building will be completed," Richard Lee said.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai