The new Shanghai Ruidong Hospital, recently bought out by a Taiwanese company headed by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) heavyweight Hsu Li-teh (徐立德), was inaugurated on Thursday as an institution providing upscale medical care mainly to China-based Taiwanese businesspeople and their families.
The hospital, formerly the Pudong branch of the Shanghai Ruijin Hospital, an affiliate of the Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, is the first Taiwanese-financed hospital in the Shanghai area to obtain a business license from Chinese authorities.
Addressing the opening, Hsu, who served as Taiwan’s vice premier between 1993 and 1997, said the hospital was an “invaluable product” of cross-strait collaboration and peaceful exchanges.
“I expect this hospital will not only provide sound medical services to Taiwanese people living in China, it will also kick start a new mode of cooperation between medical sectors across the [Taiwan] Strait,” Hsu said.
He said Taipei-based Global Investment Holdings (GIH), for which he serves as chairman, spent about NT$200 million (US$6.2 million) to acquire a 55 percent share in the hospital.
“No KMT funds were used in the investment,” Hsu said, dismissing speculation that he might be the KMT’s figurehead in the joint venture.
Hsu said that GIH received approval for the investment from the then-Democratic Progressive Party administration three years ago.
Hsu said that he hoped that in the future Taiwanese living in China would be able to use Republic of China national insurance cards at Taiwanese-financed hospitals in the country, such as the Shanghai Ruidong Hospital.
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
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