■ Defense
US denies bullet report
The US Army on Friday denied it is seeking to buy bullets from Taiwan to replenish supplies that, according to a report in a Chinese-language newspaper, have run low after wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. A local evening paper cited Taiwanese military sources last week as saying the US had made a request to buy some 300 million 5.56mm bullets for rifles for an estimated NT$2 billion (US$62.5 million). "The army is successfully fielding ammunition to our soldiers around the world and does not need ammunition from Taiwan," Brigadier General Paul Izzo, the executive officer for the army's ammunition program, said in a statement. "Contrary to media reports, the army has not made a request to purchase 300 million 5.56mm bullets," he said.
■ Diplomacy
Delegation to head to the US
Mainland Affairs Council Chairman Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) confirmed yesterday that that he would lead a delegation to visit the US and "elaborate" Taiwan's stance on China's anti-secession law. Local media reported that the government would send delegations to the US, Japan, Southeast Asia and Europe to talk about the intentions behind China's anti-secession law. The group will explain Taiwan's view that the goal of the law is to change the status-quo in the Taiwan Strait unilaterally, and that it will endanger regional peace. The delegation traveling to the US will be led by Wu, local media reports said, and Wu confirmed the reports yesterday. "I will visit the US and meet with friends from US think tanks and Congress, and the anti-secession law would be the most important subject we'll touch upon," Wu said. Wu said that he would elaborate Taiwan's position on the law clearly to allow the US to understand Taiwan's stance better. The reports said that Wu may set off for the US next week.
■ Earthquake
Moderate temblor strikes
A moderate earthquake shook northeastern Taiwan yesterday, the Central Weather Bureau said. No damage or injuries were immediately reported. The 5.1-magnitude quake was centered under the ocean 63km east of Suao at 1:02pm, the weather bureau said. Suao is 80km southeast of Taipei.
■ Environment
`Guardians' in training
A team of 1,000 "mountain guardians" currently undergoing training are set to start service May 20 to help with rescue operations and ecological conservation in mountainous areas, Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) said yesterday. Of the 1,000 trainees, 500 are doing alternative military service, while the other 500 are residents of mountainous aboriginal communities, Lu said. The mountain guardians are expected to improve the government's response to natural disasters such as flooding and mudflows triggered by typhoons, Lu said. In light of the fact that up to three-quarters of Taiwan is mountainous, Lu proposed that the country's administrative regions be re-mapped to set up a special mountainous administrative region directly under the control of the central government. Meanwhile, she reaffirmed the government's plan to draw on its success in developing science-based industrial parks to help its diplomatic allies in Central America set up similar facilities. Lu made the remarks while giving a keynote speech at a luncheon with legislators-elect of the Democratic Progressive Party.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching