The Department of Health official who acquired samples of Burkholderia pseudomallei -- a bacterium which can be used as a biochemical weapon -- from a public hospital for use in her own research without obtaining official permission will be dealt with soon, Minister Hou Sheng-mou (
Answering questions at a meeting of the Legislative Yuan's Health, Environment and Social Welfare Committee, Hou said that the department would take appropriate disciplinary action against Su Hsun-pi (
Hou said that although the bacterium is an important cause of acute fulminant pneumonia and septicaemia in tropical regions and could be used by terrorists as a biochemical weapon, the bacterium's isolates are not spread person-to-person.
Hou made the remarks in response to criticism leveled against the department by opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Tsai Chin-lung (蔡錦隆), who accused the department of negligence for failing to discipline Su -- the younger sister of Yunlin County Commissioner Su Chih-fen (蘇治芬) -- four months after the incident was exposed by media.
KMT Legislator Lai Shyi-bao (賴士葆) lashed out at Su for creating a "hole" in Taiwan's disease prevention network by rashly acquiring the strains from a hospital for her own research without following standard control procedures.
"How could the department think of joining the WHO should news of this incident be reported abroad?" he asked.
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
The eastern extension of the Taipei MRT Red Line could begin operations as early as late June, the Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems said yesterday. Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said it is considering offering one month of free rides on the new section to mark its opening. Construction progress on the 1.4km extension, which is to run from the current terminal Xiangshan Station to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, was 90.6 percent complete by the end of last month, the department said in a report to the Taipei City Council's Transportation Committee. While construction began in October 2016 with an
NON-RED SUPPLY: Boosting the nation’s drone industry is becoming increasingly urgent as China’s UAV dominance could become an issue in a crisis, an analyst said Taiwan’s drone exports to Europe grew 41.7-fold from 2024 to last year, with demand from Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression the most likely driver of growth, a study showed. The Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET) in a statement on Wednesday said it found that many of Taiwan’s uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) sales were from Poland and the Czech Republic. These countries likely transferred the drones to Ukraine to aid it in its fight against the Russian invasion that started in 2022, it said. Despite the gains, Taiwan is not the dominant drone exporter to these markets, ranking second and fourth
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comment last year on Tokyo’s potential reaction to a Taiwan-China conflict has forced Beijing to rewrite its invasion plans, a retired Japanese general said. Takaichi told the Diet on Nov. 7 last year that a Chinese naval blockade or military attack on Taiwan could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, potentially allowing Tokyo to exercise its right to collective self-defense. Former Japan Ground Self-Defense Force general Kiyofumi Ogawa said in a recent speech that the remark has been interpreted as meaning Japan could intervene in the early stages of a Taiwan Strait conflict, undermining China’s previous assumptions
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