President Chen Shui-bian (
Su, while answering a question asked by a nominee for this year's National Youth Public Participation Award, was caught off-guard at the Taipei Guest House yesterday morning when a man accused him of lying.
The man, Lee Chun-da (
Su responded by saying that some people might think that he did not care much about the relocation of the facility, but that was not the case. He added that the government has offered compensation to patients and built a new sanitarium for them, many of whom found the environment quite satisfactory.
"Liar!" Lee shouted.
Visibly stunned by Lee's jeering, Su paused for a moment before he went on to say that the Executive Yuan did not have the authority to approve or disapprove the decision of the Taipei City and Taipei County governments, which plan to take the hospital apart and reconstruct part of it somewhere else.
On whether the hospital should be preserved, Su said that he would leave it to the experts and government agencies in charge.
While the Taipei County Government is responsible for affairs of cultural preservation, the Taipei City Government is in charge of traffic construction projects. Su said the two governments notified the Executive Yuan of their decision last year.
"It is not easy to strike a balance between cultural preservation and construction," he said.
The sanitarium was built in 1930 in Sinjhuang (
The Japanese government has admitted its inhumane treatment of the patients and victims have taken their battle for compensation to the courts. They won a victory last year when a Japanese judge ruled they were entitled to redress.
The Taipei City and Taipei County governments had originally planned to demolish the 70-year-old facility to make way for the Xinzhuang Line of the mass rapid transit (MRT) line.
Patients and human-rights advocates, however, refuse to give up the hospital, and the Council for Cultural Affairs would like to see it preserved as an historic site.
Chen said yesterday that he believed both the central and local governments have exerted themselves in the matter, and if some people still find their behavior unsatisfactory, he would like them to talk to Su face-to-face to prevent any further misunderstandings.
also see story:
Indie-music scene mobilizes with concert to protest land grab
Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China’s large-scale military exercises was no accident, but rather the result of a “quasi-blockade” used to simulate creating the air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said. The disruptions occurred on Tuesday and lasted about 10 hours as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the air
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
A strong continental cold air mass is to bring pollutants to Taiwan from tomorrow, the Ministry of Environment said today, as it issued an “orange” air quality alert for most of the country. All of Taiwan except for Hualien and Taitung counties is to be under an “orange” air quality alert tomorrow, indicating air quality that is unhealthy for sensitive groups. In China, areas from Shandong to Shanghai have been enveloped in haze since Saturday, the ministry said in a news release. Yesterday, hourly concentrations of PM2.5 in these areas ranged from 65 to 160 micrograms per cubic meter (mg/m³), and pollutants were
RSS