Less than a week ahead of the presidential inauguration, five snakes were found at Tainan's Chi Mei Medical Center, the hospital that treated President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) after the shooting on the eve of the presidential elections.
According to a public relations officer at the hospital, the snakes were found at roughly 5:30pm on Monday, when a patient had spotted them in a third floor bathroom.
The hospital said that the snakes were not poisonous.
A total of five snakes were found in the hospital with three in the third floor bathroom, one by an emergency exit on the seventh floor, and one on a tenth floor skywalk connecting two hospital buildings. One of the snakes on the third floor was dead; the other four were alive when discovered.
While Chi Mei hospital officials suspect that the case could be just a prank, the events have been reported to the police for further investigation. However, hospital officials pointed out that it would be difficult to draw a connection between the placement of the snakes and the March 19 shooting of Chen and Vice President Vice President Anette Lu (呂秀蓮).
As soon as the hospital management learned that snakes had been placed in three different locations throughout hospital buildings, the fire department had been called to deal with the snakes.
The hospital also said that while security cameras had been installed near the hospital's main entrances, none had been placed around emergency exits or the skywalk. As such, no footage of the placement of the snakes had been found.
In addition, security precautions have been heightened at the hospital in light of the discovery of the snakes in public areas.
FAST TRACK? Chinese spouses must renounce their Chinese citizenship and pledge allegiance to Taiwan to gain citizenship, some demonstrators said Opponents and supporters of a bill that would allow Chinese spouses to obtain Taiwanese citizenship in four years instead of six staged protests near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday morning. Those who oppose the bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) demanded that Chinese spouses be granted citizenship only after renouncing their Chinese citizenship, passing a citizenship test and pledging allegiance to Taiwan. The demonstrators, who were protesting at a side entrance to the Legislative Yuan on Jinan Road, were mostly members of the Taiwan Association of University Professors and other organizations advocating Taiwanese independence. Supporters of the bill, led
SILENT MAJORITY: Only 1 percent of Chinese rejected all options but war to annex Taiwan, while one-third viewed war as unacceptable, a university study showed Many Chinese are more concerned with developments inside their country than with seeking unification with Taiwan, al-Jazeera reported on Friday. Although China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to annex it, by force if necessary, 23-year-old Chinese Shao Hongtian was quoted by al-Jazeera as saying that “hostilities are not the way to bring China and Taiwan together.” “I want unification to happen peacefully,” Shao said. Al-Jazeera said it changed Shao’s name to respect his wish for anonymity. If peaceful unification is not possible, Shao said he would prefer “things to remain as they are,” adding that many of his friends feel
Taiwan has “absolute air superiority” over China in its own airspace, Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Monday, amid concern over whether Taipei could defend itself against a military incursion by Beijing. Po made the remarks in response to a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) on whether Taiwan would have partial or complete air superiority if Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes were to enter Taiwan’s airspace. Po, a retired pilot, said that the Taiwanese military has “absolute air superiority” over PLA
A shipment of basil pesto imported by Costco Wholesale Taiwan from the US in the middle of last month was intercepted at the border after testing positive for excessive pesticide residue, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. Samples taken from a shipment of the Kirkland Signature brand of basil pesto imported by Costco contained 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of ethylene oxide, exceeding the non-detectable limit. Ethylene oxide is a carcinogenic substance that can be used as a pesticide. The 674kg shipment of basil pesto would either be destroyed or returned to its country of origin, as is the procedure for all