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Taiwan Quick Take

■ Health
Blood led to AIDS case
The Center for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday revealed that a 38-year-old man has contracted AIDS through a blood transfusion. According to CDC Deputy Director Lin Ding (林頂), the man, the first to contract AIDS through a blood transfusion since 2001, will receive compensation of NT$2 million. Lin explained that when a new case of AIDS was recently reported to the CDC, the CDC checked the AIDS patient's blood donation records with the Chinese Blood Services Foundation. Lin said the blood had been donated during the 6- to 12-week incubation period during which the virus cannot be easily detected.

■ Diplomacy
Minister denies payments
Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Richard Shih (石瑞琦) denied yesterday that Taiwan has been paying the salaries of Costa Rica's foreign ministry workers, as reported by a Costa Rican newspaper and the Associated Press. La Nacion quoted Foreign Minister Roberto Tovar as saying Monday that the Taiwanese government had paid some US$22,000 a month to the Costa Rican Ministry of Foreign Affairs as salaries for its employees. It said the money was passed through a private group, the Association for the Development of Foreign Policy of Costa Rica. According to the daily, Tovar had confirmed the payments, which Shih called a groundless rumor.

■ Business
Hsu calls for talks
A local business leader urged Beijing and Taipei on Monday to open negotiations on business issues. Hsu Sheng-hsiung (許勝雄), president of the Taiwan Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers Association, said there are many issues requiring attention through negotiation aside from the direct cross-strait shipping links. Hsu listed the facilitating of shipments across the Strait in the absence of direct links, an accord to protect investment and a way of verifying certificates. Settlement of these issues would serve the interests of both sides, Hsu said. As a new law in Taiwan has paved the way for private groups to talk with their Chinese counterparts on behalf of the government, Hsu urged such talks.

■ Administration
Premier to brief lawmakers
Premier Yu Shyi-kun is scheduled to deliver an administrative report at the Legislative Yuan on June 1, marking the first such report since the new Cabinet was sworn in. Rumors had been circulating that the People First Party (PFP) might choose to boycott Yu's administrative report, as the party had said that it does not recognize the legitimacy of the president and his Cabinet. Yet the PFP legislators said yesterday that the delivering of reports by the premier to the legislature is a formality stipulated in the Constitution. Consequently, they said, they will not boycott Yu's report but do not exclude the possibility of taking measures to challenge the premier and his Cabinet.

■ Agriculture
Marketing seminar opens
The Council of Agriculture and the Asian Productivity Organization (APO) will co-sponsor a six-day seminar in Taipei to discuss ways on marketing and distributing Taiwanese agricultural goods in the global market, a council spokesman said yesterday. Representatives from more than a dozen Asian countries will take part in the seminar, which opens today. National Chung Hsing University and the China Productivity Center are also co-sponsors of the event.

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