■ Politics
NTU activists continue sit-in
Lecturers and students from National Taiwan University continued a sit-in yesterday to express their opposition to Beijing's of the "Anti-Secession" Law targeting Taiwan. The sit-in began March 15 at noon, one day after China's rubber stamp National People's Congress passed the legislation in which Beijing gives itself the authority to use "non-peaceful means" against Taiwan should the nation seek formal independence. NTU students and some professors have been taking turns sitting in front of the NTU campus on Roosevelt Road in Taipei, to make known their opposition to the law. As their sit-in proceeded into its fourth day, more students from National Chengchi University joined the group. According to Yeh Hung-ling (葉紘麟), a graduate student at the NTU Institute of Political Science, the sit-in will go on until March 26 when a nationwide rally is expected to draw 1 million people to protest against the Anti-Secession Law.
■ Politics
Washington protest planned
Taiwanese expatriates in the US are scheduled to stage a demonstration in Washington on March 26 against China's "Anti-Secession" Law, organizers said on Thursday. The members from at least 13 Taiwanese groups led by the pro-independence Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA) will protest to the Chinese embassy in Washington and gather on Capitol Hill to express their opposition to the law, which legalizes the use of force against Taiwan, FAPA officials said. They said the protesters will also urge the EU not to lift its arms embargo against China in light of Beijing's military threat against Taiwan.
■ UN Bid
Hsieh names top monikers
Taiwan and the Republic of China (ROC) are "top priority choices" for the name under which Taiwan should bid for its re-entry into the UN, Premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) said yesterday. Hsieh made the remarks during an interpellation session at the legislature when Legislator Huang Hsih-cho (黃適卓) of the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) asked if it is possible for the government to make its bid under the name of "Taiwan" after past bids under the name of the "ROC" have failed for 12 consecutive years. The premier said that both "Taiwan" and the "ROC" are top priority choices, adding that the name does not necessarily have to conform with the official name. The name of "Taiwan" can be used to join international organizations, while other names are equally acceptable if difficulties are encountered. Minister of Foreign Affairs Mark Chen (陳唐山) also said it will be very difficult for the government to promote a return to the UN under the name of the Republic of China and said it is mulling a new mindset to promote the bid, although the name issue is yet to be finalized.
■ Culture
Group readies for US festival
People First Party (PFP) Legislator Lin Cheng-erh (林正二) formed a preparatory group yesterday for Taiwan's participation in an Asian festival that will take place in Los Angeles and San Francisco in May. Lin, who is a lawmaker for Taiwan's aborigines, said the US set May aside as Asian Month in America in 1998. Many US cities, such as Los Angeles and San Francisco, have since used the month to celebrate Asian cultural traditions, promote the understanding of Asia and Asian communities in America, and establish a strong bond between the Asian and non-Asian communities.
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