Lawmakers across party lines yesterday expressed their support for President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) choice of Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) to stand in for him at the informal APEC leaders' summit next month.
The proposal was presented by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus and endorsed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), People First Party (PFP), Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) and Non-partisan Solidarity Union (NPSU) caucuses.
Motion planned
The DPP caucus plans to file a motion during today's plenary legislative session to ask the legislature to reach a resolution.
DPP caucus whip William Lai (賴清德) yesterday said that it is a rarity that all caucuses see eye to eye on an issue and called on the pan-blue camp to jointly condemn China's bullying behavior.
As a member of APEC, Lai said, Taiwan is entitled to the same rights other member econ-omies enjoy. In other words, Chen should be able to attend the informal summit in person, rather than having to send an envoy.
As Wang is the leader of the highest representative body of the people and has long been involved in economy-related issues and bills, Lai said that he is a perfect choice and the arrangement is a reasonable one.
South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon has said that his country has difficulties in welcoming Wang. He urged Taiwan to send another candidate with a background in economic affairs.
Discussions
In response, the Presidential Office said that it will continue to hold discussions with the host country and that Wang remains the president's top choice.
Meanwhile, an Aboriginal pressure group yesterday voiced their firm opposition to the cross-strait peace advancement bill proposed by the PFP.
The bill is scheduled to be tackled during today's plenary legislative session. While law-makers across party lines are still divided on the controversial issue, it is widely believed that the bill will not be addressed in full during today's sitting.
Opposition
The Autonomy Alliance of Aboriginal Tribes yesterday issued a "peace statement" to express their opposition to the contentious bill, labeled by the DPP and TSU caucuses as a "capitulation law" and a bylaw to China's "Anti-Secession" Law.
Mayaw Kumu (
In a pluralistic society, he said, the voice of the Aborigines should be taken into account and the Taiwan conscience should be well-safeguarded in a bid to ensure the safety of the country and its people.
"Taiwan is our country and we indigenous people are not Chinese," he said.
FLU SEASON: Twenty-six severe cases were reported from Tuesday last week to Monday, including a seven-year-old girl diagnosed with influenza-associated encephalopathy Nearly 140,000 people sought medical assistance for diarrhea last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said on Tuesday. From April 7 to Saturday last week, 139,848 people sought medical help for diarrhea-related illness, a 15.7 percent increase from last week’s 120,868 reports, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The number of people who reported diarrhea-related illness last week was the fourth highest in the same time period over the past decade, Lee said. Over the past four weeks, 203 mass illness cases had been reported, nearly four times higher than the 54 cases documented in the same period
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