■MEDICINE
Speedy doctor reprimanded
A doctor has been told to spend a little longer on his patients after an investigation showed he needed just 84 seconds on average to reach a diagnosis. The unidentified orthopedist diagnosed 61,366 patients last year, according to an investigation by the Control Yuan, a watchdog that monitors other branches of government. He diagnosed up to 339 outpatients a day, taking an average of 84 seconds, showed the investigation, which triggered a request to the health ministry to make sure he spends more time on his patients in the future. Local media identified him as Wu Ming-feng (吳明峰) of the private Minsheng hospital in Kaohsiung City. TV stations showed footage of him defending his work style. “If the government wants to restrict the daily number of patients, that’s OK with me. I don’t even want to have so many patients. I just thought it would be unfair not to see them,” Wu told the CTI TV cable news channel.
■DIPLOMACY
Taiwan holds cocktail party
Taiwan’s representative office in Edinburgh hosted a cocktail party on Wednesday to celebrate the establishment of a Taiwan friendship group in the Scottish Parliament aimed at facilitating political, cultural, educational and economic links between Taiwan and Scotland. Chu Rey-yuan (朱瑞園), director of the office, said he expected the group to become an important platform for promoting Taiwan-Scotland ties. Ian McKee, a member of the Scottish Parliament who serves as the group’s chairperson, said he last visited Taiwan in October and was impressed by its progressive society, democracy and economic liberalization. He described Taiwan as a bridge for other countries to access the Chinese market and said he was very honored to be one of the founding members of the Taiwan group.
■HEALTH
World Health Assembly ends
Department of Health Minister Yaung Chih-liang (楊志良) returned yesterday from Switzerland, where he attended the World Health Assembly (WHA) as Taiwan’s representative. This marked the second consecutive year Taiwan was invited to attend the annual meeting of the WHO’s congress as an observer under the designation “Chinese Taipei.” On the sidelines of the WHA, Yaung met with health officials of WHO member states, including China’s Minister of Health Chen Zhu (陳竺) and US Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
■EDUCATION
Soccer match sparks row
A group of students and parents at Taipei City’s Qingjiang Elementary School yesterday urged the Taipei City Department of Education to investigate allegations that two elementary schools fixed a match during a municipal soccer championship. Taipei Zhongshan and Taipei Dalong elementary schools allegedly agreed to fix their game on Wednesday, a parent surnamed Kao (高), said yesterday. Relating her complaints by telephone to Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Lai Su-ju (賴素如), Kao said parents and students who went to the game were surprised by the apparent “fixing” of the result. “If the department ignores the game-fixing, then I really don’t know how to educate my children about sportsmanship,” she said. Education Department Deputy commissioner Tseng Tsan-chin (曾燦金) defended the two schools, saying there was no conceivable reason for the match to be fixed as no money was involved and the game did not affect the ranking of either team. Nevertheless, Tseng promised to look into the matter
FAST TRACK? Chinese spouses must renounce their Chinese citizenship and pledge allegiance to Taiwan to gain citizenship, some demonstrators said Opponents and supporters of a bill that would allow Chinese spouses to obtain Taiwanese citizenship in four years instead of six staged protests near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday morning. Those who oppose the bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) demanded that Chinese spouses be granted citizenship only after renouncing their Chinese citizenship, passing a citizenship test and pledging allegiance to Taiwan. The demonstrators, who were protesting at a side entrance to the Legislative Yuan on Jinan Road, were mostly members of the Taiwan Association of University Professors and other organizations advocating Taiwanese independence. Supporters of the bill, led
SILENT MAJORITY: Only 1 percent of Chinese rejected all options but war to annex Taiwan, while one-third viewed war as unacceptable, a university study showed Many Chinese are more concerned with developments inside their country than with seeking unification with Taiwan, al-Jazeera reported on Friday. Although China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to annex it, by force if necessary, 23-year-old Chinese Shao Hongtian was quoted by al-Jazeera as saying that “hostilities are not the way to bring China and Taiwan together.” “I want unification to happen peacefully,” Shao said. Al-Jazeera said it changed Shao’s name to respect his wish for anonymity. If peaceful unification is not possible, Shao said he would prefer “things to remain as they are,” adding that many of his friends feel
Taiwan has “absolute air superiority” over China in its own airspace, Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Monday, amid concern over whether Taipei could defend itself against a military incursion by Beijing. Po made the remarks in response to a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) on whether Taiwan would have partial or complete air superiority if Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes were to enter Taiwan’s airspace. Po, a retired pilot, said that the Taiwanese military has “absolute air superiority” over PLA
A shipment of basil pesto imported by Costco Wholesale Taiwan from the US in the middle of last month was intercepted at the border after testing positive for excessive pesticide residue, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. Samples taken from a shipment of the Kirkland Signature brand of basil pesto imported by Costco contained 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of ethylene oxide, exceeding the non-detectable limit. Ethylene oxide is a carcinogenic substance that can be used as a pesticide. The 674kg shipment of basil pesto would either be destroyed or returned to its country of origin, as is the procedure for all