President Chen Shui-bian (
Chen was speaking to a group of Hakka primary students from the Young Elite News Camp at the Presidential Office.
A student asked, "If the court orders a re-election, are you confident of winning one?"
Chen replied: "Will I campaign for another election? I will not run for the presidency again. I've already done that.
"The 2000 and 2004 elections were tough work. I've completed the last election in my life. Regardless of how the situation changes in the future, it is impossible for me to run for election again," he said.
"I'm satisfied to be elected the president."
Chen said campaigning was the most demanding part of his career, and that he advises people who say they would like to run for office that campaigning is definitely not fun.
But, he said, it's human nature to want to run for election, so many things should be well thought out and planned beforehand. Chen said he would neither encourage nor discourage people from seeking office.
The students then asked the president what he would like to do after his term ends.
Chen said he would like to completely retire from the political arena to immerse himself in family life and live a life that belongs to himself. He said he then will be able to spend more time with his grandson "Little An-an" (
Chen also said that he had hoped to become a teacher when he was a child, and that he didn't expect to become a city councilor, legislator, Taipei's mayor and then president.
The president told the students that regardless of their dreams, as long as they study and work hard they won't feel too bad even if their goals are not achieved.
The young reporters asked if Chen will let Little An-an run for the presidency. Chen answered that since this will take at least 38 years, he would not be around, so even if he wanted to help, he will not be able to.
The students asked the president if he likes his job. Chen said he likes his work because it is a job that serves all citizens.
In his political life, Chen said, he has always sought to serve people, and that he treasures every second that he learns something.
"Look the part for what you do; then you will succeed," he advised.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
REVENGE TRAVEL: A surge in ticket prices should ease this year, but inflation would likely keep tickets at a higher price than before the pandemic Scoot is to offer six additional flights between Singapore and Northeast Asia, with all routes transiting Taipei from April 1, as the budget airline continues to resume operations that were paused during the COVID-19 pandemic, a Scoot official said on Thursday. Vice president of sales Lee Yong Sin (李榮新) said at a gathering with reporters in Taipei that the number of flights from Singapore to Japan and South Korea with a stop in Taiwan would increase from 15 to 21 each week. That change means the number of the Singapore-Taiwan-Tokyo flights per week would increase from seven to 12, while Singapore-Taiwan-Seoul
POOR PREPARATION: Cultures can form on food that is out of refrigeration for too long and cooking does not reliably neutralize their toxins, an epidemiologist said Medical professionals yesterday said that suspected food poisoning deaths revolving around a restaurant at Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 Store in Taipei could have been caused by one of several types of bacterium. Ho Mei-shang (何美鄉), an epidemiologist at Academia Sinica’s Institute of Biomedical Sciences, wrote on Facebook that the death of a 39-year-old customer of the restaurant suggests the toxin involved was either “highly potent or present in massive large quantities.” People who ate at the restaurant showed symptoms within hours of consuming the food, suggesting that the poisoning resulted from contamination by a toxin and not infection of the
BAD NEIGHBORS: China took fourth place among countries spreading disinformation, with Hong Kong being used as a hub to spread propaganda, a V-Dem study found Taiwan has been rated as the country most affected by disinformation for the 11th consecutive year in a study by the global research project Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem). The nation continues to be a target of disinformation originating from China, and Hong Kong is increasingly being used as a base from which to disseminate that disinformation, the report said. After Taiwan, Latvia and Palestine ranked second and third respectively, while Nicaragua, North Korea, Venezuela and China, in that order, were the countries that spread the most disinformation, the report said. Each country listed in the report was given a score,