■ Education
Chen's resignation approved
Premier Frank Hsieh yesterday approved Council of Indigenous Peoples Chairman Chen Chien-nien's (陳建年) resignation from the position and is expected to nominate Non-Partisan Solidarity Union (NPSU) Legislator Walis Palin (瓦歷斯貝林) as the council's new head today, according to the Central News Agency (CNA). Walis is a pan-blue-friendly (NPSU) politician. Chen has been indicted for allegedly buying votes for his daughter Chen Ying (陳瑩) in last year's legislative elections. Chen Ying was elected as the first Aboriginal legislator to represent the Democratic Progressive Party in the legislature.
■ Politics
Wang hints at running
Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) yesterday said that he might run for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairmanship if Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) decides not to take part in the vote among party members. Responding to questions from reporters at the Legislative Yuan, Wang said he would consider running for the party's highest post only if Lien decided not to participate. It was the first time that Wang, a vice chairman of the KMT, revealed his intent to run. As to a media report that KMT Vice Chairman Chiang Pin-kun (江丙坤) might also join the contest and stands a good chance of winning, Wang claimed that he was not aware of this before reading newspaper reports. Meanwhile, aides to Chiang said he had no knowledge of the matter and called the report media speculation.
■ Politics
Bill spurs legislative reply
Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) will call for cross-party negotiations to seek support for a legislative resolution voicing opposition to China's proposed anti-secession legislation. The decision was made at yesterday's plenary legislative session after the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) legislative caucus filed a motion asking the legislature to respond to the planned legislation. TSU caucus whip Lo Chih-ming (羅志明) said the legislature is obligated to express the public's position on the matter. "Taiwan is an independent sovereign state and not part of China. The people of Taiwan should have the right to decide their own future and destiny and pursue such common values as freedom, human rights, democracy and peace," Lo said. China's proposed law not only infringes on Taiwan's sovereignty and identity, but will also meet with opposition and abhorrence from Taiwanese people, Lo said. "China should immediately stop the passage of the law, which is detrimental to mutual understanding and cross-strait exchanges and will alienate the people of Taiwan and China," he said.
■ Politics
Legislators sue UMC chair
Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) legislators Lo Chih-ming (羅志明), David Huang (黃適卓), Tseng Tsan-teng (曾燦燈) and Chen Yin-ho (陳銀河) yesterday filed a libel suit against United Microelectronics Corp (UMC) chairman Robert Tsao (曹興誠). On Feb. 23, Tsao ran an open letter in various newspapers stating that members of the TSU were regarded as "clowns" by the public. The TSU decided to bring a case against Tsao. According to Lo, the TSU had uncovered illegal investment by UMC in China ahead of a probe by the Bureau of Criminal Investigation. However, UMC denied any illegal investment. Tsao later admitted to having had a close relationship with China's He Jian Technology (Suzhou) Co, contradicting his earlier denial.
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
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
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