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Taiwan News Quick Take

■ POLITICS

Watchdog cases piling up

The number of cases backlogged at the Control Yuan has reached 32,034, officials said yesterday. The watchdog arm of the government has been paralyzed since Jan. 31, 2005, when the terms of the previous members expired and no replacements were appointed. Among the thousands of cases, more than 1,300 involve civil servants accused of irregularities, such as taking bribes from construction companies. Other cases concern allegations of misbehavior by military personnel and charges of negligence at state enterprises resulting in frequent construction accidents. The officials said that the Legislative Yuan’s failure over the last three years to approve the list of Control Yuan members proposed by former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) has obstructed the supervisory function of the watchdog and violated the rights of citizens who have filed grievances with it.



■ POLITICS

Wang mulls Paralympics

Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) said yesterday that he was considering leading the nation’s delegation to the 2008 Paralympics, which will be held in Beijing in September. Wang said he would consider attending if it would benefit Taiwan. China would like Taiwan to send a delegation to the event, which is scheduled to run from Sept. 6 to Sept. 17, Wang said. But Wang said China had yet to send him an invitation to attend the world’s biggest sports event for people with physical disabilities. He said he would make a decision as soon as he received an invitation. As to whether he would attend the Olympic Games in Beijing in August, Wang said it would not be an appropriate time to visit China in his capacity as legislative speaker. However, he had been invited by Chinese authorities, he said.



■ IMMIGRATION

MAC mulls visa change

The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday it would consider easing visa restrictions on Chinese coming to Taiwan to facilitate an influx of Chinese tourists starting next month. During a question-and-answer session at the legislature, MAC Chairwoman Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛) said the government would assess the possibility of allowing landing visas for Chinese tourists and promised to have a more definitive answer in one month. All Chinese nationals must apply for a Taiwan entry permit before entering the country. The process usually takes three or four days.



■ HEALTH

Travel warning issued

A health official advised the public on Tuesday to refrain from taking young children with them while traveling to Japan because of reports of a large number of cases of pertussis, better known as whooping cough. Chou Chih-hao (周志浩), deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control, said the number of cases in Japan reached 2,177 this year. That number represents a new high for the period in nearly a decade, Chou said. Chou warned parents not to take children under 12 months to Japan and said that if they did, they should avoid crowded or poorly ventilated places. He said that whooping cough often peaks in Japan between May and July and that although there have been no domestic outbreaks in recent years and no imported cases last year, the public should remain on guard, given the close exchanges between the two countries.
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