Leading doctors yesterday affirmed the medical profession's traditional support for the pan-green camp, describing a recent pro-blue camp advertisement featuring former National Taiwan University (NTU) Hospital superintendent Yang Ssu-piao (
"NTU hospital has always been like a Democratic Progressive Party support community. I'd say the ratio of [President] Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) supporters to [Chinese Nationalist Party Chairman] Lien Chan (連戰) supporters is about nine to one," said Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), director of the Surgical Intensive Care Unit.
The medical community has traditionally been viewed as a stronghold of the pan-green camp.
PHOTO: CHEN TSE-MING, TAIPEI TIMES
However, in the advertisement on the front page of Monday's edition of the Liberty Times, Yang wrote:
"The Republic of China and the People's Republic of China are both a part of China. They are not two separate countries, nor are they two countries on each side of the Taiwan Strait."
Yesterday, around 60 prominent members of the medical community, including Foundation of Medical Professionals Alliance president Wu Shuh-min (
"If he paid for the advertisement himself, then I might be able to respect him a little more. However, I suspect that is not the case here," Twu said.
"I love my old teacher, but I love truth more," he said.
Twu also said that he spoke for the views of former DOH head Lee Ming-liang (李明亮), who was unable to attend.
While Yang's wife told reporters yesterday that he had shelled out a total of NT$200,000 for the advertisement, the Liberty Times advertising department said that the advertisement had been sold for NT$600,000.
"I wrote the open letter that was published in the newspaper because I have been very disappointed with the Chen administration these past four years," Yang said.
"I definitely did not take money from anyone to do this," he said.
He added that if Lien did not perform well in office it would be appropriate to support another candidate in the future.
But Yang's comments did not satisfy one medical professional.
"Yang is the medical community's equivalent of Buddhist Master Wei Chueh (
"And as such, I trust that his attempts will backfire just as they did for the monk," he said.
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
Taiwan’s two cases of hantavirus so far this year are on par with previous years’ case numbers, and the government is coordinating rat extermination work, so there should not be any outbreaks, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said today in an interview with the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper). An increase in rat sightings in Taipei and New Taipei City has raised concerns about the spread of hantavirus, as rats can carry the disease. In January, a man in his 70s who lived in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) tested positive posthumously for hantavirus, Taiwan’s
RSS